UN Resolution on Children’s Rights in Conflicts

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has declared schools and hospitals off limits for both armed groups and military activities, calling for all parties that attacked such facilities to be held accountable and placed on the secretary general’s annual list of those committing grave violations against children. In fact, it more than a decade of contributions toward a comprehensive framework for protecting children affected by conflict.
Comprehensive Framework
Unanimously adopting resolution 1998 (2011) at the start of its day-long debate on children and armed conflict, the Council expressed deep concern about attacks — as well as threats of attacks — against schools and/or hospitals and their staffs, called on all conflict parties “to immediately cease such attacks and threats,” and urged them to refrain from any actions that impeded children’s access to education and health services.
The UNSC requested the secretary general to include in the annexes to his annual reports on children and armed conflict — which already lists groups that recruit children into armed forces, kill or maim children, or commit sexual violence against them — “those parties to armed conflict that engage in recurrent attacks on schools and/or hospitals and in recurrent attacks or threats of attacks against protected persons in relation.”
Violations and Abuses Against Children
The UNSC also expressed deep concern that certain parties persisted in committing violations and abuses against children, and expressed its readiness to adopt “targeted and graduated measures against persistent perpetrators”, taking into account the relevant provisions of its related texts on children and armed conflict, including resolutions 1539 (2004), 1612 (2005) and 1882 (2009).
Hailing the adoption of the resolution as a significant advance on the UNSC’s previous efforts, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said: “Places of learning and places of healing should never be places of war.” The UNSC’s actions continued to send a consistent and clear message: protecting children in armed conflict was a peace and security issue, and the international community would not tolerate grave violations of that principle.
Radhika Coomaraswamy, Ban’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, said the Council’s decision to add attacks on schools and hospitals as listing criteria came at a time when such actions were becoming more frequent and more appalling. “Schools are increasingly under physical attack, resulting in either full or partial destruction, oftentimes in violation of international humanitarian law,” she reported, noting that teachers and students were sometimes killed and maimed in targeted attacks.
Military use of schools was also a concern, she noted, stressing that depriving children of education destroyed their future and sowed the seeds of further conflict. Hospitals were also vital to children’s welfare, particularly during war, and attacks on them were “two-fold atrocities” because they not only killed and wounded children, but denied them access to treatment. Such attacks also deprived the community of a much-needed lifeline, she said, pointing out that protecting hospitals and their personnel was, in fact, the founding element of modern humanitarian law. As such, “the promise of this resolution is very real”, she said.
The Council had begun a journey of great promise in 1999, she said, recalling that its demand for clear monitoring of violations, the proper implementation of action plans and real accountability had been among the important landmarks along the way. The government and nonstate actors had begun to respond to the UNSC’s calls for action, and in 2010 alone some 10,000 children had been released from armed forces and groups. “We hope [today’s resolution] will help usher in an era where children can study, play and learn in an atmosphere of safety and dignity,” she said.
Recounting the stories of young people who had had their childhoods ripped away “at the point of a gun”, Anthony Lake, Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said that stories of children being kidnapped and forced to fight in wars they didn’t understand, or being raped by armed soldiers were not unique, but they were being painfully repeated in conflicts around the world. “Today, the UNSC has affirmed that attacks on schools and hospitals are attacks on children and must be treated as such,” he said.
Like many other speakers, he described the tragedy of schools and hospitals being bombed and burned to the ground, classrooms used as barracks and playgrounds used as graveyards. “We must not fail these children,” he declared, calling for universal action to protect the schools where they learned and the hospitals where they healed. Doing so would help them rise above the horrors they had witnessed to gain the skills and care that would protect them from future violence, while disrupting the vicious cycle of poverty, despair and conflict.
Praising the present action, he nevertheless stressed that reporting and listing alone were not enough, and that sanctions were not “silver bullets.” Although denunciation gave expression to the outrage felt by all, it would not, on its own, move Governments to action. “To do that, we also have to find practical new ways to prevent these acts from occurring,” he said. “Action plans are an important part of this and the United Nations should have access to all Governments and other groups which want to pursue them.”
Presiding over the meeting, which featured interventions by more than 50 delegations, was German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle which holds the 15-nation Council’s rotating presidency this month. Describing attacks on schools and hospitals as “barbaric”, he stressed that children should be kept safe when they were weak, sick or wounded, and hospitals should also be protected as safe places. “Societies should be judged by the way they treat their children,” he said, adding: “Our attitude toward them is a testament to our attitudes towards our future.”
All speakers hailed the Council’s commitment to addressing the plight of conflict-affected children and welcomed the progress made thus far, particularly since the secretary general had been authorized to annually “name and shame” armed forces and groups that committed grave crimes against children. However, several delegations urged the Council to take a more robust stand on impunity, particularly by authorizing targeted measures against “repeat offenders” who appeared on the list of abusers again and again. One speaker pointed out that it was unacceptable that 16 parties to armed conflict had been listed by the secretary general for five years or more.
Highlighting a different view, María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar, Colombia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, stressed that prevention and cooperation policies were more effective than finger-pointing and excluding Governments from the debate and the search for solutions. More results would be achieved if the United Nations upheld its commitment to national Governments, she stressed, adding that listings created difficulties and made the search for national solutions more complex.
Moreover, she continued, changing the focus, privileging cooperation and dialogue among United Nations members, respecting the organization’s guiding principles in all national tasks and turning Governments into allies was the way to achieve results and ensure that children had freedom. She proposed in that context a “serious and un-politicized” evaluation of the effects of implementing the Council’s resolutions, saying that such an evaluation was imperative since the issue had been discussed for decades with little result.
Among the speakers whose countries were listed in the secretary general’s report, Sri Lanka’s representative said that a breakaway faction of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) known as the “TMVP” had ceased to be an armed group and had joined the political process as a registered party. It was clear that the child soldiers of the defeated rebel movement had been used as cannon fodder and sent to an early grave. Urging the Council and its Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict to ensure that the information collected was objective, accurate, reliable and verified by experts, he said inaccurate reporting would cast doubt on the credibility of both the sources and the report itself.
Also speaking were the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development of South Africa and the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Portugal.
Other speakers participating were representatives of the United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, Russian Federation, Lebanon, France, Nigeria, Gabon, India, China, Italy, Mexico, Canada (on behalf of the Group of Friends of Children and Armed Conflict), Slovenia, New Zealand, Switzerland (on behalf of the Human Security Network), Iraq, Japan, Luxembourg, Peru, Pakistan, Thailand, Hungary, European Union, Australia, Finland (also on behalf of Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden), Liechtenstein, Belgium, Israel, Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Austria, Ukraine, Chile, Yemen, Azerbaijan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Korea, Armenia and Benin.
Historical Perspective
Before the Council was the report of the secretary general on children and armed conflict (document A/65/820–S/2011/250) covering January to December 2010, as well as some developments extending beyond that period. It provides information on grave violations committed against children, in particular their recruitment and use as soldiers, the killing and maiming of children, rape and other sexual violence against them, the abduction of children, attacks on schools and hospitals, and the denial of humanitarian access to children by parties to armed conflict, in contravention of applicable international law.
Outlining the secretary general’s recommendations, the report notes his concern over the increasing trend of attacking schools and hospitals, saying he encourages the Council to ensure that such facilities remain protected, including by calling on all parties to take all possible protective measures and ensure the functioning of schools and hospitals. Special attention should be paid to protecting girls’ access to schools and hospitals, given the increasing targeting of such facilities in some countries, he states, recommending that the Council consider including parties that attack schools and/or hospitals in the annexes to his report.
The secretary general welcomes the signing of action plans by the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA)/Free Will and SLA/Mother Wing-Abu Gasim, and the Afghan National Security Forces, as well as the progress made by parties in releasing children and addressing impunity on the part of perpetrators. He strongly urges listed parties who have not concluded action plans to do so without delay. He encourages concerned Member States to facilitate contacts between the United Nations and non-State actors to ensure broad and effective protection for children, stressing that such contacts will not prejudge the political or legal status of those nonstate actors.
Concerned about reports of child casualties in the course of military operations, the secretary general reminds all parties and mandated international forces of their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law, urging them to ensure that they continuously review tactical directives to guarantee that children are not harmed. Pointing to the growing trend of detaining children on grounds of association with armed groups, he invites interested authorities to work with his Radhika Coomaraswamy, special representative for Children and Armed Conflict, to devise appropriate measures to better protect such children.
Annexed to the report is a list of parties that recruit or use children, kill or maim them, and/or commit rape and other forms of sexual violence against them in situations of armed conflict on the Council’s agenda. A second annex lists parties that recruit or use children, kill or maim them, and/or commit rape and other forms of sexual violence against them in situations of armed conflict not on the Council’s agenda.
Also before the Council was a letter from the Permanent Mission of Germany addressed to the secretary general (document S/2011/409) which transmits a concept paper for the meeting. It recalls that in its last presidential statement on children and armed conflict (document S/PRST/2010/10), the Council expressed its intention, when establishing or reviewing the mandate of relevant sanctions committees, to consider provisions pertaining to parties in violation of applicable international law relating to the rights and protections of children in armed conflict.
The paper notes that under resolution 1882 (2009), the Council expanded the gateway to the annexes of the secretary general’s annual reports on children and armed conflict to include not only parties to conflict that recruit and use children, but also those responsible for the killing and maiming of children in contravention of international law, and/or rape and other forms of sexual violence committed against children, in situations of armed conflict. The Council has also repeatedly expressed its readiness to adopt targeted measures against listed parties that have consistently refused to enter into dialogue with the United Nations to end violations against children.
In May 2010, the paper states, the special representative for Children and Armed Conflict briefed the Council’s Sanctions Committee established pursuant to resolution 1533 (2004) concerning the Democratic Republic of the Congo. That led to the Committee’s listing in December 2010 of a number of individuals for violations perpetrated against children in that country. In May 2011 the Special Representative briefed the Sanctions Committee established pursuant to resolutions 751 (1992) and 1907 (2009) concerning the situation in Somalia and Eritrea on violations committed against children by parties to conflict in Somalia.
Action on Draft Resolution
Council President Guido Westerwelle, foreign minister of Germany, making introductory remarks in his national capacity, stressed that the world community did not wish to see children being injured, harmed or killed. “We want children to grow up knowing that their schools are safe places,” he said. “Attacks on schools and hospitals are barbaric acts.”
He further underlined that children should be kept safe when they were weak, sick or wounded, stressing that hospitals should also be protected as safe places. With the passage of today’s resolution, the Council would expand the criteria for listing parties who committed violations against children by adding attacks on schools and hospitals. Developing action plans was the only way to get off those lists, he said, noting that while there had been encouraging progress towards that end, more must be done to ensure that those who harmed children faced credible consequences, including through targeted sanctions. “Societies should be judged by the way they treat their children,” he said.
UNSC Resolutions
The Council then unanimously adopted resolution 1998 (2011), the full text of which reads as follows:
Reaffirming its resolutions 1261 (1999) of 25 August 1999, 1314 (2000) of 11 August 2000, 1379 (2001) of 20 November 2001, 1460 (2003) of 30 January 2003, 1539 (2004) of 22 April 2004, 1612 (2005) of 26 July 2005, and 1882 (2009) of 4 August 2009, and all relevant statements of its President, which contribute to a comprehensive framework for addressing the protection of children affected by armed conflict;
Reiterating its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security and, in this connection, its commitment to address the widespread impact of armed conflict on children;
Calling on all parties to armed conflicts to comply strictly with the obligations applicable to them under international law for the protection of children in armed conflict, including those contained in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocol on the involvement of Children in armed conflict, as well as the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977;
Acknowledging that the implementation of its resolutions 1612 (2005) and 1882 (2009) has generated progress, resulting in the release and reintegration of children into their families and communities, and in a more systematic dialogue with the United Nations country-level task force and parties to the armed conflict on the implementation on time-bound action plans, while remaining deeply concerned over the lack of progress on the ground in some situations of concern where parties to conflict continue to violate with impunity the relevant provisions of applicable international law relating to the rights and protection of children in armed conflict;
Stressing the primary role of Governments in providing protection and relief to all children affected by armed conflict, and reiterating that all actions undertaken by United Nations entities within the framework of the monitoring and reporting mechanism must be designed to support and supplement, as appropriate, the protection and rehabilitation roles of national Governments;
Convinced that the protection of children in armed conflict should be an important aspect of any comprehensive strategy to resolve conflict; “Recalling the responsibilities of States to end impunity and to prosecute those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and other egregious crimes perpetrated against children;
Stressing the need for alleged perpetrators of crimes against children in situations of armed conflict to be brought to justice through national justice systems and, where applicable, international justice mechanisms and mixed criminal courts and tribunals in order to end impunity;
Noting also relevant provisions of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court;
Having considered the report of the secretary general of 11 May 2011 (A/65/820-S/2011/250) and stressing that the present resolution does not seek to make any legal determination as to whether situations which are referred to in the secretary general’s report are or are not armed conflicts within the context of the Geneva Conventions and the Additional Protocols thereto, nor does it prejudge the legal status of the non-State parties involved in these situations;
Expressing deep concern about attacks as well as threats of attacks in contravention of applicable international law against schools and/or hospitals, and protected persons in relation to them as well as the closure of schools and hospitals in situations of armed conflict as a result of attacks and threats of attacks, and calling upon all parties to armed conflict to immediately cease such attacks and threats;
Recalling the provisions of the resolution of the General Assembly on “The right to education in emergency situations” (A/RES/64/290) related to children in armed conflict;
Noting that article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes the right of the child to education and sets forth obligations for State parties to the Convention, with a view to progressively achieving this right on the basis of equal opportunity;
1. Condemns all violations of applicable international law involving the recruitment and use of children by parties to armed conflict, as well as their rerecruitment, killing and maiming, rape and other sexual violence, abductions, attacks against schools or hospitals and denial of humanitarian access by parties to armed conflict and all other violations of international law committed against children in situations of armed conflict;
2. Reaffirms that the monitoring and reporting mechanism will continue to be implemented in situations listed in annex I and annex II (“the annexes”) to the reports of the secretary general on children and armed conflict, in line with the principles set out in paragraph 2 of its resolution 1612 (2005), and that its establishment and implementation shall not prejudge or imply a decision by the Security Council as to whether or not to include a situation on its agenda;
3. Recalls paragraph 16 of its resolution 1379 (2001) and requests the secretary general to also include in the annexes to his reports on children and armed conflict those parties to armed conflict that engage, in contravention of applicable international law;
(i) in recurrent attacks on schools and/or hospitals
(ii) in recurrent attacks or threats of attacks against protected persons in relation to schools and/or hospitals in situations of armed conflict, bearing in mind all other violations and abuses committed against children, and notes that the present paragraph will apply to situations in accordance with the conditions set out in paragraph 16 of its resolution 1379 (2001);
4. Urges parties to armed conflict to refrain from actions that impede children’s access to education and to health services and requests the secretary general to continue to monitor and report, inter alia, on the military use of schools and hospitals in contravention of international humanitarian law, as well as on attacks against, and/or kidnapping of teachers and medical personnel;
5. Invites the Secretary General, through the Special Representative of the secretary general for Children and Armed Conflict, to exchange appropriate information and maintain interaction from the earliest opportunity with the governments concerned regarding violations and abuses committed against children by parties which may be included in the annexes to his periodic report;
6. While noting that some parties to armed conflict have responded to its call upon them to prepare and implement concrete time-bound action plans to halt recruitment and use of children in violation of applicable international law;
(i) Reiterates its call on parties to armed conflict listed in the annexes of the secretary general’s report on children and armed conflict that have not already done so to prepare and implement, without further delay, action plans to halt recruitment and use of children and killing and maiming of children, in violation of applicable international law, as well as rape and other sexual violence against children;
(ii) Calls upon those parties that have existing action plans and have since been listed for multiple violations to prepare and implement separate action plans, as appropriate, to halt the killing and maiming of children, recurrent attacks on schools and/or hospitals, recurrent attacks or threats of attacks against protected persons in relation to schools and/or hospitals, in violation of applicable international law, as well as rape and other sexual violence against children;
(iii) Calls upon those parties listed in the annexes of the secretary general’s report on children and armed conflict that commit, in contravention of applicable international law, recurrent attacks on schools and/or hospitals, recurrent attacks or threats of attacks against protected persons in relation to schools and/or hospitals, in situations of armed conflict, to prepare without delay, concrete time-bound action plans to halt those violations and abuses;
(iv) Further calls upon all parties listed in the annexes of the secretary general’s report on children and armed conflict, to address all other violations and abuses committed against children and undertake specific commitments and measures in this regard;
(v) Urges those parties listed in the annexes of the secretary general’s report on children and armed conflict to implement the provisions contained in this paragraph in close cooperation with the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict and the United Nations country-level task forces on monitoring and reporting;
7. In this context, encourages member states to devise ways, in close consultations with the United Nations country-level task force on monitoring and reporting and United Nations country teams, to facilitate the development and implementation of time-bound actions plans, and the review and monitoring by the United Nations country level task force of obligations and commitments relating to the protection of children and armed conflict;
8. Invites the United Nations country-level task force on monitoring and reporting to consider including in its reports the relevant information provided by the government concerned and to ensure that information collected and communicated by the mechanism is accurate, objective, reliable, and verifiable;
9. Reiterates its determination to ensure respect for its resolutions on children and armed conflict, and in this regard:
(a) Welcomes the sustained activity and recommendations of its Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict as called for in paragraph 8 of its resolution 1612 (2005), and invites it to continue reporting regularly to the Security Council;
(b) Expresses deep concern that certain parties persist in committing violations and abuses against children and expresses its readiness to adopt targeted and graduated measures against persistent perpetrators, taking into account the relevant provisions of its resolutions 1539 (2004), 1612 (2005) and 1882 (2009);
(iii) Requests enhanced communication between the Working Group and relevant Security Council Sanctions Committees, including through the exchange of pertinent information on violation and abuses committed against children in armed conflict;
(iv) Encourages its relevant Sanctions Committees to continue to invite the Special Representative of the secretary general for children and armed conflict to brief them on specific information pertaining to her mandate that would be relevant to the work of the committees, and encourages the Sanctions Committees to bear in mind the relevant recommendations of the secretary general’s report on children and armed conflict and encourages the Special Representative of the secretary general to share specific information contained in the secretary general’s reports with relevant Sanctions Committees expert groups;
(v) Expresses its intention, when establishing, modifying or renewing the mandate of relevant Sanctions regimes, to consider including provisions pertaining to parties to armed conflict that engage in activities in violation of applicable international law relating to the rights and protection of children in armed conflict;
10. Encourages Members States that wish to do so to continue to communicate relevant information to the Security Council on the implementation of its resolutions on children and armed conflict;
11. Urges concerned member states to take decisive and immediate action against persistent perpetrators of violations and abuses committed against children in situations of armed conflict, and further calls upon them to bring to justice those responsible for such violations that are prohibited under applicable international law, including with regard to recruitment and use of children, killing and maiming, rape and other sexual violence, attacks on schools and/or hospitals, attacks or threats of attacks against protected persons in relation to schools and/or hospitals through national justice systems, and where applicable, international justice mechanisms and mixed criminal courts and tribunals, with a view to ending impunity for those committing crimes against children;
12. Stresses the responsibility of the United Nations country-level task forces on monitoring and reporting and United Nations country teams, consistent with their respective mandates, to ensure effective follow-up to Security Council resolutions on children and armed conflict, to monitor and report progress to the secretary general in close cooperation with his Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict and ensure a coordinated response to issues related to children and armed conflict;
13. Reiterates its request to the secretary general to ensure that, in all his reports on country-specific situations, the matter of children and armed conflict is included as a specific aspect of the report, and expresses its intention to give its full attention to the information provided therein, including the implementation of relevant Security Council resolutions and of the recommendations of its Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, when dealing with those situations on its agenda;
14. Reaffirms its decision to continue to include specific provisions for the protection of children in the mandates of all relevant United Nations peacekeeping, peace-building and political missions, encourages deployment of Child Protection Advisers to such missions and calls upon the secretary general to ensure that such advisers are recruited and deployed in line with the Council’s relevant country specific resolutions and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) Policy Directive on Mainstreaming the Protection Rights and Well-being of Children by Armed Conflict;
15. Requests Member States, United Nations peacekeeping, peacebuilding and political missions and United Nations country teams, within their respective mandates and in close cooperation with the governments of the countries concerned, to establish appropriate strategies and coordination mechanisms for information exchange and cooperation on child protection concerns, in particular on cross-border issues, bearing in mind relevant conclusions by the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict and paragraph 2 (d) of its resolution 1612 (2005);
16. Welcoming the progress achieved by the Country Task Forces on Monitoring and Reporting and stressing that a strengthened monitoring and reporting mechanism with adequate capacities is necessary to ensure an adequate follow-up on the Secretary General’s recommendations and on the conclusions of the Working Group of Children and Armed Conflict, in accordance with its resolutions 1612 (2005) and 1882 (2009);
17. Requests the secretary general to continue to take the necessary measures including, where applicable, to bring the monitoring and reporting mechanism to its full capacity, to allow for prompt advocacy and effective response to all violations and abuses committed against children and to ensure that information collected and communicated by the mechanism is accurate, objective, reliable and verifiable;
18. Stresses that effective disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programs for children, building on best practices identified by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and other relevant child protection actors, including the International Labor Organization, are crucial for the well-being of all children who, in contravention of applicable international law, have been recruited or used by armed forces and groups, are a critical factor for durable peace and security, and urges national Governments and donors to ensure that these community-based programs receive timely, sustained and adequate resources and funding;
19. Urges member states, the United Nations entities, including the Peace-Building Commission and other parties concerned to ensure that the protection, rights, well-being and empowerment of children affected by armed conflict are integrated into all peace processes and that post-conflict recovery and reconstruction planning, programs and strategies prioritize issues concerning children affected by armed conflict;
20. Invites the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict to brief the Security Council on the modalities of the inclusion of parties into the annexes of the periodic report of the secretary general on children and armed conflict, enabling an exchange of views;
21. Directs its Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, with the support of the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, to consider, within one year, a broad range of options for increasing pressure on persistent perpetrators of violations and abuses committed against children in situations of armed conflict;
22. Requests the secretary general to submit a report by June 2012 on the implementation of its resolutions and presidential statements on children and armed conflict, including the present resolution, which would include, inter alia:
(i). Annexed lists of parties in situations of armed conflict on the agenda of the Security Council or in other situations, in accordance with paragraph 19 (a) of resolution 1882 (2009) and paragraph 3 of the present resolution;
(ii). Information on measures undertaken by parties listed in the annexes to end all violations and abuses committed against children in situations of armed conflict;
(iii). Information on progress made in the implementation of the monitoring and reporting mechanism established in its resolution 1612 (2005); and
(iv). Information on the criteria and procedures used for listing and de-listing parties to armed conflict in the annexes of his periodic reports, in accordance with paragraph 3 of the present resolution, bearing in mind the views expressed by all the members of the Working Group during informal briefings to be held before the end of 2011;