37/47 Annual report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
Document Type: Final Report
Date: 2018 Jan
Session: 37th Regular Session (2018 Feb)
Agenda Item: Item3: Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development
GE.18-00249(E)
Human Rights Council Thirty-seventh session
26 February–23 March 2018
Agenda item 3
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to development
Annual report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
Note by the Secretariat
The Secretariat has the honour to transmit to the Human Rights Council the report of
the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict,
Virginia Gamba. In the report, which covers the period from December 2016 to December
2017, the Special Representative outlines the activities undertaken in discharging her
mandate and the progress achieved in addressing grave violations against children. The
Special Representative also explores the challenges in strengthening the protection of
children affected by armed conflict, including by addressing the impact of trafficking and
the sale of children in situations of armed conflict, the emerging and recurrent challenges
related to the denial of humanitarian access to children and progress in ending grave
violations against children, in particular through direct engagement with parties to conflict.
Lastly, the Special Representative sets out recommendations addressed to the Human
Rights Council and Member States to further the protection of children’s rights.
United Nations A/HRC/37/47
Annual report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
Contents
Page
I. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 3
II. A vision going forward following 20 years of the children and armed conflict mandate ............. 3
III. Progress and challenges in addressing grave violations against children in armed conflict .......... 5
A. Denial of humanitarian access and its impact on the human rights of children .................... 5
B. Grave violations, trafficking and the sale of children ........................................................... 6
C. Engagement with government forces .................................................................................... 8
D. Addressing grave violations by non-State armed groups ...................................................... 10
IV. Raising global awareness and mainstreaming ............................................................................... 10
A. Field visits and awareness-raising ........................................................................................ 10
B. Working with regional organizations .................................................................................... 12
C. Building support with civil society ....................................................................................... 13
D. Building support for partnerships with human rights entities and United Nations
mechanisms .......................................................................................................................... 13
V. Recommendations ......................................................................................................................... 15
I. Introduction
1. The present report covers the period from December 2016 to December 2017 and is
submitted pursuant to General Assembly resolution 71/177, in which the Assembly
requested the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed
Conflict to submit a report to the Human Rights Council on the activities undertaken in
fulfilment of her mandate, including information on her field visits, on the progress
achieved and the challenges remaining on the children and armed conflict agenda.
II. A vision going forward following 20 years of the children and armed conflict mandate
2. Since the inception of the mandate, the Special Representative and the Office of the
Special Representative have played a central role in strengthening the protection of the
rights of children affected by armed conflict, including through raising awareness and
ensuring that the issue is prioritized on the international agenda. The appointment of the
new Special Representative, Virginia Gamba, in early May 2017, therefore presented a
timely opportunity to look forward and analyse how efforts could be elevated to end and
prevent grave violations affecting children in conflict. To that end, the new Special
Representative is aiming to enhance her mandated activities, both in terms of raising public
awareness to mobilize global action and garnering lessons learned, and developing best
practices to aid practitioners and Member States. Geneva-based mechanisms and entities
will be a key part of that vision moving forward.
3. In the two decades since the establishment of the mandate, the United Nations has
developed innovative methods to engage with both Governments and armed groups for the
benefit of children most affected by war. As a result, 29 action plans have been signed with
parties to conflict to end violations against children and establish mechanisms to prevent
them. Where the context was conducive and political will was strong, steady progress was
achieved, which led to the full implementation of action plans and the subsequent delisting
of 11 parties to conflict from the annexes to the annual report of the Secretary-General on
children and armed conflict. That represents a significant impact on the protection of the
rights of children during armed conflict.
4. The public awareness campaign, entitled “Children, Not Soldiers”, launched jointly
with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in 2014, catalysed further progress to
protect children affected by armed conflict. The campaign, which focused on one of the six
grave violations, namely ending and preventing the recruitment and use of children, led to
tangible results. With greater awareness of the issue, the Special Representative, together
with UNICEF, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Department of Political
Affairs, was able to expedite progress, and child protection advisers on the ground played a
critical role in operationalizing action plans and further strengthening the overall child
protection architecture. Concrete advances included the criminalization of the recruitment
and use of children, the issuance of military command orders, the systematic screening of
troops, the adoption of age-assessment guidelines, the development of handover protocols
and the release and reintegration of children formerly associated with armed forces.
5. A range of other initiatives by the Special Representative and her Office have also
had an impact, such as supporting the development of national legislation to protect
children; accountability initiatives; advocating for the ratification of international
instruments; and leveraging peace processes to engage with parties to conflict on children
affected by violations, notably in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Nevertheless, the
complexity of the current contexts of armed conflict has contributed to an increase in the
number of children at risk in situations where human rights violations are occurring. The
mandate is therefore at a critical juncture and both the international community and civil
society will need to reflect on how to renew their commitment to build on past
achievements and work towards the goal of providing the best possible protection for
children affected by war. This juncture corresponds with the opportunities provided by the
Sustainable Development Goals to endeavour to reach those who are the furthest behind, by
working in partnership to ensure that children affected by armed conflict are protected from
recruitment and use, provided with education and given the ability to live their lives in a
heathy and peaceful manner.
6. To this end, as mandated by the General Assembly, the Special Representative plans
to establish the capacity to enhance synergies among different United Nations agencies,
regional and subregional organizations, international and local non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) and civil society to raise further awareness of the six grave violations
against children. In coordination with Geneva-based entities, the Special Representative
considers it vital to commence exercises on lessons learned to identify best practices
through research, analysis, assessment and working partnerships that can shed further light
on the past 20 years of the collective work of the Organization on children and armed
conflict, and identify difficulties encountered in strengthening the protection of children
and ongoing trends and dynamics to inform future action.
7. It is essential to engage additional actors in pursuit of greater protection of children’s
rights and enhance engagement with actors where partnerships are already in place. In that
regard, the Human Rights Council has reaffirmed that regional arrangements play an
important role in promoting and protecting human rights. 1 The Special Representative
therefore considers that partnerships with regional and subregional organizations can be
developed or further advanced to secure politically or legally binding instruments to
strengthen the prevention of violations in situations of armed conflict and facilitate
programmatic responses when violations do occur. Among the regional organizations with
which the Special Representative envisions enhancing engagement are the African Union,
the League of Arab States and the European Union. Similarly, the Special Representative
hopes to continue and strengthen the existing collaboration with such organizations as the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the pursuit of best practices and with the
aim of supporting the development of additional operational procedures that adequately
take into account child protection concerns.
8. Engagement will also be pursued with subregional organizations, including the
Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS), the Economic Community of Central African States and the Andean
Community. Such engagement has historical roots in the work of the Office of the Special
Representative; focusing on subregional organizations has the potential to be a multiplier
for further progress. For instance, in the early 2000s, ECOWAS progressively integrated
child protection into its policies and institutions, including through the adoption of the
Accra Declaration and Plan of Action on War-Affected Children, at the Conference on
War-Affected Children in West Africa, held in Ghana on 27 and 28 April 2000; established
a child protection unit in its secretariat; and endorsed an agenda for action for war-affected
children in West Africa at the ECOWAS summit in 2003. The Special Representative plans
to contribute to further progress by supporting the re-establishment of such instruments and
mechanisms and creating new partnerships to leverage the tools of a broad range of
subregional organizations.
9. The additional focus on advocacy and lessons learned will feed into the overarching
goal of the mandate, namely strengthening the protection of the rights of children affected
by armed conflict. It is envisioned that lessons learned and raising public awareness will aid
interactions with parties to conflict when violations against children occur. Best practices
can be used to assist parties to conflict who demonstrate a willingness to better protect
children by ensuring that the conduct of hostilities complies with international standards.
When a party to conflict is open to entering into dialogue, the plethora of best practices that
have been developed over the past 20 years can guide technical discussions on protecting
children’s rights. However, to draw on the full potential of those best practices, it will be
important to compile, capture and make them available to Governments, protection actors
and other relevant entities. Awareness-raising, on the other hand, can be used to put
pressure on belligerents who do not demonstrate the same willingness to improve their
1 See Council resolution 34/17.
conduct. By using the different avenues of public awareness, political advocacy and direct
engagement, parties may display greater receptiveness to improving their conduct and
reducing violations against children. Those prevention efforts are at the heart of the Special
Representative’s goals of protecting the rights of children.
III. Progress and challenges in addressing grave violations against children in armed conflict
A. Denial of humanitarian access and its impact on the human rights of
children
10. In recent years, the denial of humanitarian access to children in armed conflict has
become a more prevalent violation and in 2016, 994 incidents were verified by the United
Nations. Almost half of those incidents took place in South Sudan, which suffered a 100 per
cent increase in incidents as compared with 2015. In 2017, humanitarian access continued
to be regularly denied in numerous situations. For example, in the Syrian Arab Republic in
the early part of the year, parties to the conflict used besiegement as a method of warfare,
depriving nearly 650,000 persons of access to food and other essential commodities,
including life-saving and life-sustaining medical items. Deliberate bureaucratic
impediments and restrictions by the Government, in addition to a fragile security situation
and access limitations imposed by armed groups, further prevented the delivery of
humanitarian assistance. In South Sudan in 2017, humanitarian actors continued to be
harassed and assaulted and came under attack as they conducted their activities. In one
incident in Central Equatoria, six humanitarian actors were fired upon and killed as they
attempted to reach populations in need. Humanitarian access in Rakhine State in Myanmar
was also very limited during the reporting period. In March, for instance, travel restrictions
for civilians cost the life of a 2-year-old child, as the child’s parents were unable to obtain a
“village departure certificate” in time to allow for his transfer to hospital. In early 2017,
across the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, 182,000 children had no access to
assistance, owing to a significant reduction in the humanitarian space to operate, caused by
the fragile security situation. In Yemen, restrictions on the import and movement of aid
around the country exacerbated the direct impact of conflict on children. At the time of
writing in December, in addition to the world’s worst cholera outbreak that affected
children throughout 2017, the United Nations estimated that nearly 400,000 children were
suffering from acute malnutrition.
11. Such instances, which were also observed in other country situations, point to a
trend of the politicization of the provision of humanitarian access for the delivery of aid,
even when it is intended for children. As the Secretary-General noted in his report on the
protection of civilians, humanitarian action must remain distinct from political or military
objectives (S/2017/414). That principle is especially salient when assistance is intended to
provide relief for children who are vulnerable to malnutrition and disease. In that regard,
the Special Representative notes that the Human Rights Council has recently called upon
States to respect, protect and fulfil the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest
attainable standard of physical and mental health, with special attention paid to groups in
vulnerable situations.2 It is clear that children affected by conflict experience heightened
levels of vulnerability and protection of their right to food, water and sanitation should be
prioritized.
12. Furthermore, when humanitarians are denied access to one of the most vulnerable
strata of the population, children with disabilities, it is especially egregious, as they and
their families face almost insurmountable obstacles to reaching much-needed assistance by
other means. Unaccompanied children fleeing conflict-affected areas without family
members or trusted adults who can take care of them face similar challenges in accessing
humanitarian services. The challenge of undertaking journeys that are required to reach
2 See Council resolution 35/23.
health-care facilities in conflict-affected areas with poor infrastructure, limited
transportation and restrictions of movement are exponentially multiplied for those at-risk
groups. Parties to conflict, as well as the relevant administrative authorities, need to be
cognizant of the fact that denying essential aid to children can result in many more child
deaths and is an egregious addition to the direct impact of hostilities. Even in instances
when such services may not be considered an immediate life-saving activity, for example
when vaccination campaigns are necessary, children can sustain long-term injuries or die if
access is denied.
13. In that regard, the Special Representative urges parties to conflict to commit to a
renewed focus on depoliticizing the issue and facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid
to children. Those entities are reminded that it is a principle of customary international law
that they must allow and facilitate the rapid and unimpeded passage of aid to the civilian
population in need in areas subject to their control. Furthermore, contained in regional
human rights instruments3 and numerous resolutions of the Human Rights Council, General
Assembly and Security Council is a demand that parties to conflict provide access for relief
personnel to refugee and displaced populations, often with special reference to the plight of
children. Lastly, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most widely ratified
international human rights instrument, has several provisions that necessitate the facilitation
of humanitarian relief to children in need, including ensuring that children seeking refugee
status receive appropriate protection and humanitarian assistance.4
14. In a practical sense, the Special Representative urges parties to conflict to
disseminate clear orders among their rank and file to specify that humanitarian assistance
for children should be facilitated in all circumstances. Penalties should also be laid out for
those who fail to adhere to this principle. She calls upon the Human Rights Council to
support her call and encourages the inclusion of a focus on accountability for the denial of
humanitarian access to children in the next annual full-day meeting of the Human Rights
Council on the rights of the child, which will focus on the theme of “Protecting the rights of
the child in humanitarian situations”.
B. Grave violations, trafficking and the sale of children
15. The crimes of trafficking and the sale of children are closely linked to the six grave
violations affecting children in situations of armed conflict, as identified by the Security
Council. According to the definition outlined in the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and
Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United
Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, trafficking is “the recruitment,
transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of
force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power
or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to
achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of
exploitation”. For children, the means is irrelevant and therefore it is simply the “action”
and “purpose” that result in trafficking (see art. 3 (c) of the Protocol). The sale of children
is defined in the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale
of children, child prostitution and child pornography, which states that the “sale of children
means any act or transaction whereby a child is transferred by any person or group of
persons to another for remuneration or any other consideration”.
16. In that context, the recruitment and use of children nearly always constitutes
trafficking. The action (recruitment) and purpose (exploitation) are intrinsic elements of the
3 See, for example, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, art. 23; the Inter- American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women,
art. 9; and principles 4 and 19 of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. See also Jean-
Marie Henckaerts and Louise Doswald-Beck, Customary International Humanitarian Law, vol. 1:
Rules, rule 131 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press; Geneva, International Committee of the
Red Cross, 2005).
4 See Convention on the Rights of the Child, arts. 6, 22 (1), 24 and 27.
grave violation. Recruitment and use may also lead to the sale of children in certain
circumstances, as parties to conflict trade human resources, depending on the current state
of the conflict. Additionally, children, especially those who are unaccompanied, may be
sold or trafficked into areas of armed conflict to serve as combatants (A/72/164). Rape and
other forms of sexual violence are also very clearly linked to trafficking and to the sale of
children, as armed groups often traffic children for sexual purposes and sometimes use
sales to sustain their activities financially. Abduction and, in certain instances, the
deprivation of liberty of children for their alleged association with armed groups, can also
amount to trafficking when it is for exploitative purposes, and can also result in the sale of
children.
17. While such grave violations have a clear and direct link to the trafficking in and sale
of children, other grave violations are linked in less intuitive ways. For example, attacks on
schools and hospitals can be used to abduct children, but those violations can also make
children more vulnerable to additional abuses and violations. Destroying schools and
hospitals and denying education opportunities leave children more vulnerable to trafficking
and sale, as they will be forced to seek education, or even employment, elsewhere.
Moreover, the denial of humanitarian access may also leave children more vulnerable to
trafficking, as they are forced to find ways to leave areas where insufficient aid is getting
through. The increasing displacement of children from conflict zones is a linked and
equally concerning issue. As the Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of
children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse
material and the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and
children, have noted: “Threats faced by boys and girls do not end when they leave their
home countries” (see A/72/164, para. 32). In that regard, safe spaces are needed in
displacement settings to protect children, particularly those who are separated or
unaccompanied, from grave violations, trafficking and sale.
18. Recognizing links and developing synergies between entities working on the grave
violations, trafficking and sale of children is crucial to enhancing the response for children
who are affected by violations in situations of armed conflict. In that regard, in the
reporting period, the Office of the Special Representative supported the United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in the development of a thematic paper on
countering trafficking in persons in conflict situations.
19. Given the overlapping nature of the constituent elements of some of those crimes, it
is particularly important to link up legal responses so that children have redress when they
are victims. Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols on
the involvement of children in armed conflict and on the sale of children, child prostitution
and child pornography, States parties are required to prevent, prohibit and criminalize the
exploitation and abuse of children. However, national legislation is sometimes incomplete
or legal lacunas exist between the different abuses and violations. Partners working on
those topics should therefore be proactive in undertaking comprehensive analyses of
legislation to advocate for the different paths to accountability for child victims.
20. In that regard, the action plans that have been signed between the United Nations
and the parties listed in the annex to the annual report of the Secretary-General on children
and armed conflict regarding the recruitment and use of children frequently contain
provisions pertaining to the criminalization of that practice (A/72/361-S/2017/821). In other
countries where action plans have not been put in place, the recruitment and use of children
is not always a criminal matter, but is considered a disciplinary issue under the code of
conduct for the military. In those situations, it is important to identify other avenues for
accountability. UNODC indicates that 158 countries have criminalized most or nearly all
forms of trafficking.5 Therefore, when recruitment and use is not specifically criminalized
in a country, the prosecution of perpetrators can be pursued through trafficking legislation.
Such linkages are equally true for support services to victims of abuse and violations. When
support services are weak for children who have suffered grave violations, avenues should
5 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2016 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.16.IV.6).
be sought so that they benefit from services available to victims of trafficking and sale or
even modern slavery, where applicable.
21. The principle of non-criminalization of victims of trafficking is also in line with the
approach taken with respect to victims of grave violations. In resolution 2331 (2016), the
Security Council emphasized that the United Nations should assist Member States, upon
request, with identification of and assistance for victims of trafficking, including ensuring
“that victims are treated as victims of crime and in line with domestic legislation not
penalized or stigmatized for their involvement in any unlawful activities in which they have
been compelled to engage.” That is clarified by the Recommended Principles and
Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking, which indicate that trafficked
persons should not be criminalized for unlawful activities that they were involved in as a
direct consequence of their situation as trafficked persons. That approach to victims of
trafficking is coherent with the Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with
Armed Forces or Armed Groups, which indicate that children who are accused of crimes
under international law allegedly committed while they were associated with armed forces
or armed groups should be considered primarily as victims of offences against international
law. Those are reinforcing assertions that children should be treated as victims of violations
and that criminal proceedings should be avoided for such victims.
22. The Special Representative is encouraged by the advance that regional organizations
have made in the non-criminalization of victims of trafficking. For example, article 26 of
the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings states
that: “Each Party shall … provide for the possibility of not imposing penalties on victims
for their involvement in unlawful activities, to the extent that they have been compelled to
do so.” Article 14 (7) of the ASEAN Convention Against Trafficking in Persons, Especially
Women and Children, stipulates that: “Each party shall … consider not holding victims of
trafficking in persons criminally or administratively liable, for unlawful acts committed by
them, if such acts are directly related to the acts of trafficking.”
23. As the Special Representative plans to work with regional and subregional
organizations, as outlined above, the further enhancement of synergies to augment the
response to the trafficking, sale and grave violations affecting children in armed conflict
will be an important element. Working with regional and subregional organizations on the
non-criminalization of victims of trafficking, sale and grave violations will be a crucial
element. The Special Representative will work with United Nations partners, including the
International Labour Organization, UNODC, the Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual
exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child
sexual abuse material and the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially
women and children, to further those aims and encourages the Human Rights Council to
support these initiatives.
C. Engagement with government forces
24. Following the formal conclusion of the campaign “Children, Not Soldiers”, which
ended in 2016, the Office of the Special Representative continued to engage with
government parties listed for the recruitment and use of children in the annual report of the
Secretary-General on children and armed conflict (A/72/361-S/2017/821). Drawing on the
continuing momentum, political will, local ownership and international support to end and
prevent the recruitment of children by national security forces in conflict situations, a
number of the Governments listed worked to implement action plans to ensure children
would not be part of their armed forces.
25. Since the first Government signed an action plan to end and prevent recruitment of
children into the ranks of its armed forces in 2006, thousands of children have been
released and reintegrated with the assistance of UNICEF, peacekeeping and political
missions, and other United Nations entities and partner NGOs on the ground, and new
recruitment has been prevented in many situations. Notably, in 2017, the Democratic
Republic of the Congo met the benchmarks set out in the action plan to end and prevent the
recruitment of children by its armed forces and was subsequently delisted for that violation
from the annual report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict (ibid.). In
Afghanistan, the adoption of the age verification guidelines, which are used in child
protection units that have been set up in 32 of 34 Afghan National Police recruitment
centres, have to date prevented over 1,416 boys and 16 girls from joining the police.
Moreover, in a related development in November, 50 children formerly held in the adult
detention facility in Parwan on charges related to national security were transferred to a
juvenile rehabilitation centre in Kabul, which should facilitate their access to psychosocial
and vocational services. In December 2016, the Ministry of Defence of Afghanistan also
signed a policy for the protection of children in armed conflict that includes guidance on
responses to the six grave violations and accountability measures.
26. The implementation of the action plan signed with the Government of the Sudan in
2016 has been going well, with the development of a workplan on the implementation of
the commitments made in the action plan. Command orders for the dissemination of the
action plan were issued and focal points at the rank of Inspector-General were appointed to
facilitate discussions on access. In Myanmar since 2012, over 850 children and young
people recruited as children have been released from the ranks of the armed forces. In early
2017, the Government of Myanmar endorsed the Principles and Guidelines on Children
Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups but, along with Somalia, has still to ratify
the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of
children in armed conflict.
27. Ongoing crises have hampered progress in the implementation of action plans in
Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, but advocacy has continued to secure the release of
children associated with armed forces and armed groups. In addition, amidst the ongoing
conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic, government forces and pro-government militia were
listed in the annual report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict for the
recruitment and use of children in 2017 (ibid.). The Office will continue to engage to gain
additional commitments to protect children with all Governments that demonstrate political
will towards that goal.
28. Engagement with Government armed forces also catalysed interaction with non-
State armed groups to respond to and prevent violations. More than 50 per cent of armed
groups included in the annexes to the annual report of the Secretary-General on children
and armed conflict for the recruitment and use of children are active in countries where
government forces are also listed, illustrating that the actions of armed groups are
influenced by the conduct of government forces (ibid.). In that regard, in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, progress on the implementation of the action plan has energized a
broader national campaign to raise awareness of the recruitment and use of children by
armed groups, which, among other things, is using the national football team and local
artists as spokespersons. The initiative aims to engender a greater recognition among
commanders of non-State armed groups of the legal and political repercussions associated
with the recruitment of boys and girls.
29. The success of engagement on the recruitment and use of children has opened
additional avenues to strengthening child protection on a broader scale by increasing the
awareness of parties to conflict of the impact of all six grave violations. In that regard,
where appropriate, new action plans signed with parties to conflict go beyond ending and
preventing the recruitment and use of children and include other grave violations. A new
campaign, currently being elaborated by the Office of the Special Representative, will build
on this momentum and focus on all six grave violations.
30. To fully realize the goals of creating child-free armies, children formerly associated
with armed forces must be appropriately reintegrated into society to prevent them from
being re-recruited, thus breaking the cycle of violence. Following the release of children
from armed forces or groups, a focus must be placed on the adequate programming and
funding of reintegration programmes. Children who have been recruited and used carry the
scars of conflict, thus effective reintegration is vital so that they can live full lives and
contribute to a peaceful society. Girls face even greater difficulties in being accepted back
into their families and communities, as they are often stigmatized or may be returning with
a child. Similarly, boys who have suffered sexual violence will face high levels of
stigmatization. Without adequate reintegration and assistance to help children find ways to
become productive members of their communities who can benefit from exercising the full
range of their human rights, those girls and boys may not be in a position to contribute to
peace and development efforts.
31. Community-based reintegration services that provide psychosocial assistance to
children have been designed to help them reclaim their lives through educational and
vocational opportunities, taking into account the particular needs of girls. Equally,
preparing affected communities to welcome and reintegrate children formerly recruited by
armed forces or groups into their midst, is an integral part of community-based processes.
In that regard, the Special Representative reiterates her call to Member States and regional
and subregional organizations to ensure that the resources for separation and reintegration
are sufficient and that there is a focus on sustainability, including by ensuring that children
are reintegrated into safe and secure environments and provision is made to prioritize their
access to education. She urges the Human Rights Council to continue to focus on this issue
in relevant resolutions and other relevant forums.
D. Addressing grave violations by non-State armed groups
32. Building on advances made with government armed forces to prevent the
recruitment of children, the United Nations has enhanced its engagement with armed
groups with the same aim. In that regard, the United Nations has continued direct
engagement with the Government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia to ensure the timely release and reintegration of children associated with the
armed group. In addition, in September the National Liberation Army agreed to a bilateral
and temporary ceasefire agreement with the Government, which included a commitment to
suspend the recruitment of minors below 15 years of age into the ranks.
33. In the Philippines, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Bangsamoro Islamic
Armed Forces continued to implement their action plan pertaining to the recruitment and
use of children. The group put in place all the elements necessary to prevent the recruitment
of children and all 1,869 children identified by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front as
associated with its armed wing underwent formal disengagement in a series of ceremonies,
the last of which took place in March 2017. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front also
promulgated a directive that requires regular self-monitoring and screening of armed
elements, as well as age assessment guidelines to establish internal safeguards for
preventing the association and reassociation of children. Following the full implementation
of the action plan, the group was delisted from the annual report of the Secretary-General
on children and armed conflict (ibid.). The provision of services, including the development
of life skills and vocational opportunities, will be important to minimize the risk of children
being reassociated.
34. In the Sudan, following the signature of an action plan in November 2016, the Sudan
People’s Liberation Movement-North committed to ensuring the release of children present
in their ranks and to taking the measures necessary to halt child recruitment and use,
including through the issuance and dissemination of military orders and the appointment of
a high-level focal point to coordinate and collaborate with the United Nations to ensure the
full implementation of the action plan. The group also pledged to facilitate the reintegration
of the children into their communities and provide for their access to education.
35. Engagement by the United Nations with non-State armed groups also resulted in the
signing of two new action plans in the reporting period. In March 2017 in Mali, the
Coordination des mouvements de l’Azawad signed an action plan with the United Nations
to prevent the recruitment of children and the use of sexual violence against them. This was
a particularly positive development in the light of the fact that all entities under the
umbrella of the Coordination des mouvements de l’Azawad are bound by the provisions of
the action plan, despite the fact that only the Mouvement national de libération de l’Azawad
is listed in the report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict as having put
in place measures to protect children (ibid.). In September 2017, the United Nations also
signed an action plan to end and prevent the recruitment and use of children by the Civilian
Joint Task Force in Nigeria. In October, the president of that group issued a standing order
to instruct all 35 sector commanders to immediately end and prevent the recruitment of
children.
IV. Raising global awareness and mainstreaming
A. Field visits and awareness-raising
36. Field visits and awareness-raising remained a central aspect of the activities of the
Special Representative and her Office in the reporting period. In that regard, following the
sustained exchanges with the Government of Colombia, the Revolutionary Armed Forces
of Colombia and the process guarantors, the Special Representative travelled to Colombia
in November 2017. In her exchanges with representatives of the Government, she
emphasized that the reintegration of released children should be the priority of all parties.
Staff of her Office also travelled on technical missions in the reporting period to
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, South Sudan and the Sudan, in order to advance key priorities
relating to children and protection from armed conflict. In October, a technical team from
the Office travelled to Saudi Arabia to engage with the newly-formed child protection unit
of the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen to provide assistance for improving the
protection of children in Yemen.
37. In terms of awareness-raising, in February 2017, the Special Representative gave an
address in Brussels at the high-level opening of the international conference on children and
armed conflict, organized by Belgium under the theme “Sharing experiences of developing
and implementing child protection policies in conflict settings”. She also chaired a panel on
the implementation of Security Council resolutions in the field. During the conference, the
importance of identifying and sharing best practices between different organizations on
developing and implementing child protection policies, including training and guidance,
was emphasized.
38. In New York in February 2017, the President of the General Assembly convened an
informal meeting to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the children and armed
conflict mandate. Panellists and Member States expressed their continued strong support
for the mandate, emphasizing that at a time when emerging and protracted conflicts were
disrupting the lives of millions of boys and girls around the world, the mandate was more
relevant than ever. On the occasion of the anniversary, the Special Representative published
a booklet entitled “20 years to better protect children affected by conflict” on the work
accomplished in the 20 years since the establishment of the mandate, which is available in
English and French.6
39. Also in February 2017, the Special Representative participated in a ministerial-level
international conference in Paris, co-hosted by the Government of France and UNICEF in
collaboration with the steering group on the Principles and Guidelines on Children
Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of
the Paris commitments to protect children from unlawful recruitment or use by armed
forces or armed groups and the Principles and Guidelines. The Special Representative
delivered a speech during the plenary session and presented, among other elements, the
outcome of the “Children, Not Soldiers” campaign.
40. The Office of the Special Representative also took part in an annual workshop on
children and armed conflict and women, peace and security, organized by the Federal
Foreign Office of Germany in Berlin in April 2017. Concrete opportunities for Member
States and regional organizations to deepen their engagement with regard to the protection
of children affected by conflict were put forward on that occasion.
41. In June 2017 in London, the Special Representative was invited to be part of a high-
level panel discussion on encouraging respect for the law by non-State armed groups on the
6 Available from https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/commemorating-20-years-of-work-for- children/.
occasion of a conference organized by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the British Red Cross on the theme
“Modern armed conflict and the evolution of international humanitarian law”. During that
visit, the Special Representative also met with representatives of the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office and a number of London-based NGOs. During the same trip, the
Special Representative travelled to Berlin to meet with counterparts in the German Federal
Foreign Office to discuss child protection concerns. In August, the Special Representative
also met with the Assistant Secretary-General for the International, Impartial and
Independent Mechanism to Assist in the Investigation and Prosecution of Persons
Responsible for the Most Serious Crimes under International Law Committed in the Syrian
Arab Republic since March 2011.
42. Many initiatives in the reporting period were directly related to the children and
armed conflict elements of the Sustainable Development Goals. For example, in October,
the Special Representative addressed the Security Council in an Arria formula meeting
organized by the Permanent Mission of Italy and its partners, the Permanent Missions of
France, Sweden and Uruguay, on the issue of attacks on schools. During her intervention,
the Special Representative focused on the need for protecting the right to education for
those affected by armed conflict. In December, members of her Office travelled to Panama
to make a presentation at a meeting entitled “Strengthening the role of defence actors in
protecting education from attack and schools from military use”, which was organized by
the Governments of Argentina, Norway and Panama and the Global Coalition to Protect
Education from Attack. The disengagement, demobilization and reintegration of children in
situations of armed conflict also remained an area of concern for the Special Representative
during the reporting period. In that regard, she spoke at a high-level meeting on the topic
with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Belgium in New York
in October. She also held two meetings with representatives of the World Bank in the
reporting period to discuss collaboration on the protection of children, particularly related
to the reintegration of children formerly associated with parties to conflict. During her visits
to Washington, D.C., the Special Representative took the opportunity to meet with key
counterparts in the State Department and representatives of Congress. The Special
Representative also gave a keynote speech on the impact of conflict on children at the
Stimson Center. On the same topic, in December 2017 she travelled to South Africa to
attend a brainstorming and planning session on the treatment of former child soldiers from
Mozambique.
43. Throughout the reporting period, the Office of the Special Representative supported
the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in the development of a thematic paper on
trafficking in situations of conflict, which aims to enhance the response of the United
Nations to such crimes. To that end, in September, members of the Office travelled to
Vienna to take part in an expert group meeting on the topic of trafficking in conflict zones.
In November in Milan, the Special Representative attended the thirty-ninth annual forum of
Parliamentarians for Global Action on the theme of preventing violent extremism and mass
atrocities, at which she participated in a panel on “Addressing the drivers and root causes of
violent extremism and mass atrocities and identifying successful strategies for
deradicalization”. That same month, she spoke on the topic of “Crisis and conflict:
protecting the most vulnerable” at the fourth Global Conference on the Sustained
Eradication of Child Labour in Buenos Aires. That interaction continues the strong
collaboration with the International Labour Organization, particularly regarding the
prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including the recruitment
and use of child soldiers.
B. Working with regional organizations
African Union
44. The strong partnership between the Special Representative and the African Union
has continued and the Special Representative travelled to N’Djamena in October to take
part in a retreat for special envoys and mediators. The retreat focused on the emerging
world order, multilateralism and Africa, and the Special Representative worked with
participants to highlight the concerns about children and armed conflict relevant to their
work.
European Union
45. In February and June 2017, the Special Representative addressed the Political and
Security Committee of the Council of the European Union and in June 2017, she also
addressed the European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights and met in Brussels
with the European Union Special Representative for Human Rights. During those meetings,
views and information were exchanged on the impact of armed conflict on children and on
ways to further strengthen the cooperation between the European Union and the Office of
the Special Representative with regard to the protection of children affected by armed
conflict.
League of Arab States
46. Pursuant to the cooperation agreement between the League of Arab States and the
Office of the Special Representative signed in 2014, the Special Representative continued
to engage with the League of Arab States, including to advocate for ratification by all
members of the League of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the
Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict and to explore areas for further
cooperation and joint advocacy for the protection of children affected by armed conflicts in
the region. Building on that progress, the Office will seek to further deepen engagement
with the League during the next reporting period.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
47. The Special Representative engaged with NATO, with a view to deepening the
partnership on the issue of children and armed conflict. In January 2017 in New York, she
met with the Commander of the Resolute Support Mission and United States Forces
Afghanistan, and in February 2017 in Brussels, she met with the Deputy Secretary-General
of NATO to discuss ways to further strengthen the protection of children in NATO-led
operations.
48. The Office of the Special Representative contributed to the development of NATO
policies and guidelines on children and armed conflict, including through attending a
training session on children and armed conflict in September held in Izmir, Turkey, and
participated in discussions on operationalizing the policy in the Resolute Support Mission,
which were held in December 2017 in Kabul.
Organization of Islamic Cooperation
49. In 2017, the Office of the Special Representative continued its collaboration with the
Organization of Islamic Cooperation, in particular with the Independent Permanent Human
Rights Commission and held a number of meetings to discuss issues of mutual interest and
areas for future engagement.
C. Building support with civil society
50. Strengthening relationships with academia and civil society and NGOs working on
the issue of children and armed conflict is a key priority for the Special Representative. She
addressed Member States and civil society organizations through a video message at the
second international conference on safe schools, held in Buenos Aires in March 2017. In
addition, in recent months, the new incumbent has held joint briefings to share information
on her priorities for the Office and to discuss ways of maintaining the focus on the children
and armed conflict agenda. The Special Representative met with over 50 organizations, in
London, Brussels, Geneva, New York and a number of other places in the second half of
2017. In Geneva, close collaboration has continued with the Child Rights Connect working
group in order to mainstream the work on children and armed conflict in a number of
Geneva-based processes.
D. Building support for partnerships with human rights entities and
United Nations mechanisms
51. The Special Representative continues to engage with Member States that have not
already ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the
involvement of children in armed conflict, with the aim of achieving universal ratification
thereof and enhancing the legal protection of children’s rights in conflicts. In the reporting
period, she held bilateral meetings with Member States and actively engaged with regional
and subregional organizations, civil society and regional groups on the matter. The Central
African Republic became a State party to the Optional Protocol during the reporting period.
The Special Representative has also used those engagements to push for the endorsement of
other instruments that will improve the protection of the rights of children in situations of
armed conflict, such as the Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with Armed
Forces or Armed Groups and the Safe Schools Declaration. In that regard, during the
reporting period, the Special Representative and her Office worked with the Government of
Yemen to support its endorsement of the Safe Schools Declaration, which it signed in
October.
52. The Special Representative continued to prioritize close cooperation between her
Office and international human rights mechanisms, in particular the universal periodic
review, the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Human Rights Committee. In that
regard, her Office submitted three contributions in the previous reporting period to the
universal periodic review process on the Philippines, South Sudan and the Syrian Arab
Republic. The Special Representative notes that during the review of the Philippines, the
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in his letter to the Foreign Minister,
reiterated the points noted in the submission of the Office of the Special Representative by
urging the Government of the Philippines to prioritize the passage of the draft law on
children in situations of armed conflict to ensure better protection of children against grave
violations in the context of armed conflict and take measures to prevent the abduction and
recruitment of children by armed groups. In the case of the Syrian Arab Republic and South
Sudan, many Member States highlighted the protection of children in the context of armed
conflict during the respective interactive dialogues. The Special Representative encourages
the Human Rights Council to continue to address issues related to children and armed
conflict for relevant countries; welcomes the practice of adopting concrete
recommendations; and encourages references to the relevant findings of treaty bodies and
special procedures mandate holders to ensure sustained mainstreaming and follow-up by
the various actors involved in the protection of children’s rights.
53. Treaty bodies have continued to play an important role in identifying gaps between
the legal and policy framework and the practice regarding children and armed conflict, and
have made recommendations to address any shortcomings. In that regard, the Special
Representative is encouraged that the situation of children affected by armed conflicts in
the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been outlined
in the respective concluding observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child
(CRC/C/CAF/CO/2 and CRC/C/COD/CO/3-5). Those are strong concluding observations,
which mirror the messaging of the submission of the Office of the Special Representative
though their focus on prioritizing peace talks, criminalizing the recruitment and use of
children and pursuing accountability for grave violations against children, as well as
enhancing disarmament, demobilization and reintegration processes for children. During a
meeting with the President of the Central African Republic in September, the Special
Representative also emphasized these messages and offered the support of the United
Nations. Moving forward, the Office will work with United Nations colleagues on the
ground in the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to
provide support for the swift implementation of the important recommendations of the
Committee on the Rights of the Child.
54. The Special Representative travelled to Geneva on three occasions during the
reporting period. In December 2016, the previous Special Representative was invited by the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to the ninth annual dialogue on protection
challenges on the theme “Children on the move”. In her speech, she focused, among other
things, on ways to improve the international protection response for children affected by
conflict. In March 2017, the previous Special Representative also travelled to Geneva to
present her annual report for 2016 to the Human Rights Council.
55. In June, the new Special Representative travelled to Geneva to meet with Geneva-
based counterparts and to reinforce the work of her Office with entities based there, to
which she introduced her vision for the future of the mandate and articulated her view for
enhanced partnerships moving forward. In that context, she met with the Group of Friends
of Children and Armed Conflict, which is co-chaired by Belgium and Uruguay, the
International Committee of the Red Cross, and the United Nations High Commissioners for
Refugees and for Human Rights. She also attended meetings with the Swiss Ministry of
Foreign Affairs in Bern.
56. Within the United Nations system, the Office of the Special Representative has
continued to support the efforts developed as part of the Secretary-General’s Human Rights
Up Front initiative. Concerns relating to children and armed conflict have also been
mainstreamed in Organization-wide initiatives on human rights issues. For example, the
Office has been working with UNICEF, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and
the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to analyse the issue
of the consolidation of specialized protection functions in peace operations. The issue of
maintaining an adequate presence of child protection advisers in United Nations peace
operations has also been an important focus during the period. Much effort has been exerted
by the Special Representative and her Office to ensure that a critical level of child
protection staff is maintained in the face of budget constraints. Upholding this capacity is
vitally important to continue protecting children’s rights through mainstreaming child
protection, conducting dialogue on action plans, releasing and reintegrating children and for
monitoring and reporting.
V. Recommendations
57. The Special Representative expresses her concern in relation to the increased
use of besiegement as a tactic of war, reminds all parties to conflict of their obligations
under international law regarding the provision of assistance to the civilian
population and implores them to depoliticize the delivery of humanitarian aid to
children. Specifically, clear orders should be disseminated among the rank and file to
specify that humanitarian assistance for children should be facilitated in all
circumstances. She urges the Human Rights Council to reinforce those messages in its
work and for commissions of inquiry and other mechanisms to focus on this grave
violation in their work.
58. The Special Representative urges the Human Rights Council to focus on the
issue of grave violations, trafficking and human sale in resolutions and urges it to
promote the non-criminalization of all child victims. She also encourages the Council
to prioritize the provision of support services for children who have been subject to
violations and abuse in situations of armed conflict.
59. The Special Representative urges Member States and regional and subregional
organizations to support her Office and other child protection actors to carry out
lessons-learned initiatives in order to compile comprehensive best practices on the
children and armed conflict mandate. Those best practices will be essential in
discussions with parties to conflict, including on reducing the impact of the conduct of
hostilities on the rights of children.
60. The Special Representative welcomes the leadership and contribution of
regional and subregional organizations in the protection of children. She calls upon all
such organizations to work closely with her Office to enhance legal protection
frameworks and facilitate the better integration of child protection considerations into
their policies, operational planning and training of personnel.
61. Recalling that the issue of the reintegration of children is crucial to ensuring
long-term peace, security and sustainable development, the Special Representative
encourages the Member States concerned to take appropriate measures, including
through supporting the relevant child protection actors, to reintegrate those children
who have been associated with armed groups, paying special attention to the needs of
girls. She also calls upon all Member States to provide the necessary political,
technical and financial support for reintegration programmes.
62. The Special Representative welcomes the continued attention to both progress
and challenges regarding the impact of armed conflict on children in the reports of
States parties to the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Human Rights
Committee, as well as in the concluding observations of both committees. In that
regard, all relevant Member States are urged to include, as appropriate, specific
references to information on grave violations against children, on gaps in their
applicable legal and policy frameworks and on accountability initiatives, in their own
submissions to those bodies.
63. Relevant United Nations entities are also encouraged to use the concluding
observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Human Rights
Committee as advocacy tools to promote States party follow-up to and
implementation of recommendations related to children and armed conflict.
64. The Special Representative urges members of the Human Rights Council to
emphasize the importance of the deployment of dedicated child protection capacity in
situations of armed conflict, in order to mainstream child protection, conduct dialogue
on action plans, support the release and reintegration of children and for monitoring
and reporting. The Special Representative stresses that the need for such child
protection capacity, including the budget required, should be systematically assessed
during the preparation of peacekeeping operations and political missions.
65. The Special Representative notes the need to ensure that sufficient resources
are provided to her Office and its partners to enable an increased focus on mandated
tasks, such as awareness-raising, lessons learned, best practices and proactive
engagement with regional and subregional organizations.