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SECURITY
COUNCIL WORKING GROUP ON CHILDREN AND ARMED CONFLICT |
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New
York, 11 May 2007 (UN News)
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RECOMMENDATIONS
ON NEPAL AND SRI LANKA |
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New
York, 11 May 2007 (UN News)
The
Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict adopted its
recommendations on the situations in Sri Lanka and in Nepal and examined
the Secretary General's reports on Somalia and Uganda yesterday.
Ms.
Coomaraswamy, UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict
welcomes the recommendations adopted by the Working Group. "These recommendations
send a strong message to the LTTE, a repeat offender who has been on the
Secretary General's list of violators for four years and to the Karuna
faction-TMVP. They have to stop grave violations of children's rights,
especially the recruitment and the use of children in the conflict in Sri
Lanka", she said after the meeting. "In regard to Nepal, we hope that the
children who remain in the ranks of the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist
(CPN-M) will be demobilized and reintegrated in their communities without
delay", added Ms. Coomaraswmay.
The
Working Group also examined the reports of the Secretary General on the
situations of children in Somalia (S/2007/259) and in Uganda (S/2007/260).
In
his report on Somalia, the Secretary General estimates that more than one
third of the victims who were killed and injured in fighting there in 2006
were children. Insecurity and violence in Southern and Central Somalia
is characterized by grave child rights violations. Continued fighting
in and around Mogadishu between the Transitional Federal Government (TFG)
and remnants of the Union of Islamic Courts forces has resulted in more
casualties and violations against children in 2007. Humanitarian
access has been severely compromised and has had serious implications for
children. In the absence of a functioning police and judiciary, crimes
against civilians, including women and children, are committed with impunity.
The recruitment and use of child soldiers by the TFG and other armed groups
is a significant concern.
The
Secretary General's report on the situation in Uganda highlights the preliminary
steps taken by the Government of Uganda to address violations against children,
in particular the drafting of an Action Plan to eliminate the use and recruitment
of children in armed conflict. It also contains a series of recommendations
with a view to securing strengthened action for the protection of war-affected
children in Uganda. The Secretary General urges the leaders of Lord's Resistance
Army (LRA) to take immediate steps to end child recruitment and the use
of child soldiers, and immediately release all children to child protection
agencies and their partners.
During
the meeting, Ms. Coomarasamy gave a briefing to the Security Council Working
Group on her recent visit to Lebanon, oPt and Israel.
Ambassador
de la Sablière, Permanent Representative of France to the UN and
Chairman of the Working Group has issued a press release on the proceedings
of the meeting.
The
Working group was established pursuant to Resolution 1612 (2005) in order
to promote the protection of children in armed conflict through a monitoring
and reporting mechanism, as well as to make appropriate recommendations
to the UN system including to the Security Council.
Source:
UN News 2007 |
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Security
Council WG urges action to demobilize child soldiers |
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New
York, 11 May 2007 (UN News)
 The United Nations Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed
Conflict has demanded that the parties in Sri Lanka and Nepal demobilize
all child soldiers without delay, as it also examined new reports on children
caught up in fighting in Uganda and Somalia.
In
messages addressed to the Sri Lankan rebels known as the Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), as well as the so-called Karuna faction -which split
from them and now supports Government troops -the Group, meeting yesterday,
called for the cessation of child recruitment, respect for safe zones for
children and guarantees of humanitarian access to all areas, according
to the Office of the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children
and Armed Conflict.
Addressing the Government of Nepal and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist),
which are now engaged in a peace process under UN monitoring, the Working
Group called for the immediate liberation of child soldiers without waiting
for further stages in that process.
Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika
Coomaraswamy, welcomed the actions of the Working Group.
"These
recommendations send a strong message to the LTTE, a repeat offender who
has been on the Secretary General's list of violators for four years and
to the Karuna faction-TMVP. They have to stop grave violations of children's
rights, especially the recruitment and the use of children in the conflict
in Sri Lanka," she said.
"In regard to Nepal, we hope that the children who remain in the ranks
of the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M) will be demobilized and
reintegrated in their communities without delay," added Ms. Coomaraswamy.
During
the Working Group meeting, Ms. Coomaraswamy gave a briefing on her recent
visit to Lebanon, Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory.
The
Group was established pursuant to by the Security Council in 2005 to promote
the protection of children in armed conflict through a monitoring and reporting
mechanism, and to recommend actions on the issue to the UN system.
Mr.
Ban's report on Somalia, also presented to the Group yesterday, estimates
that more than one third of the victims who were killed and injured in
fighting there in 2006 were children, with violence in Southern and Central
Somalia is characterized by grave child rights violations.
In
addition, he says, continued fighting in and around Mogadishu between the
Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and remnants of the Union of Islamic
Courts forces has resulted in more casualties and violations against children
in 2007.
"The
recruitment and use of child soldiers by the TFG and other armed groups
is a significant concern," he says.
The
report says that humanitarian access in Somalia has been severely compromised,
with serious implications for children. In the absence of a functioning
police and judiciary, crimes against civilians, including women and children,
are committed with impunity.
In
the Uganda report, Mr. Ban said he was "deeply concerned over the absence
of any concrete signs regarding the release of children associated with
various forces."
The
conflict in the northern part of the country, which began in 1986, pits
the Government and local forces against the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA),
the rebel group which has become notorious for abducting children and then
using them as soldiers or porters, while allocating many girls to senior
officers in a form of institutional rape.
He
urged the leaders of the LRA to take immediate steps to end child recruitment
and the use of child soldiers, and to immediately release all children
to child protection agencies.
He
also called upon Ugandan Government forces to allow independent monitoring
visits to military barracks to determine the existence of any child soldiers
either in their ranks or in the ranks of allied local defence forces.
Source:
UN News 2007 |
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