Security Council Open Debate on Children and Armed Conflict

31 October 2017

Madam/Mister President,

I am pleased to speak on behalf of the Group of Friends of Children and Armed Conflict, an informal network of 40 interested member states, representing all five regional groups of the UN.

The Group of Friends wishes to reiterate its strong support for the CAAC agenda, for the new Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Ms. Virginia Gamba, and for the UN institutions working to promote the rights of children in armed conflict worldwide.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Paris Commitments and the Paris Principles. These foundational documents provide practical guidelines for protecting children from recruitment and use by armed forces or armed groups and assisting their release and reintegration. We invite all Member States who haven’t done so to consider endorsing the Paris Principles.

We are alarmed by the number of Grave Violations committed against children witnessed in the past year, including attacks on schools and hospitals. Devastating in and of themselves, such attacks often have second and third order effects stretching far into the future. We therefore urge the UN and Member States to promote the protection of schools consistent with relevant obligations under international humanitarian law, and to fully implement Security Council resolution 2286 to protect medical facilities and personnel in conflict situations.

The Group remains deeply concerned about the rise of armed groups employing extreme violence and their recruitment and use of children, including the use of children as suicide bombers, abductions, and the systematic use of sexual violence. We recognize violent extremism poses unique child protection challenges. However, in our efforts to counter such groups, we must remember that children associated with these, as with any other, armed group, should be considered as victims first and afforded relevant protections under international humanitarian law. Furthermore, they should be detained only as a last resort and for the shortest period necessary in full respect of international humanitarian law and applicable international human rights law. As the territory controlled by groups such as Daesh is reclaimed, tailored and effective demobilization and reintegration efforts will be essential to addressing long term harm and preventing the victimization or re-recruitment of children.

Madam/Mister President,

The Group appreciates the vital role played by peacekeepers in promoting child protection and welcomes the release of the new DPKO-DFS-DPA Child Protection Policy to support these efforts. We encourage all Troop and Police contributing countries to undertake concrete steps to prioritize and further operationalize child protection within UN peacekeeping in terms of the training and doctrine of their national forces. Adequate resources are also needed to deliver mission success. Therefore, we are deeply concerned that extensive cuts to the staffing and budgets of child protection advisor positions, as well as consolidation efforts, will undermine the UN’s ability to deliver on the critical child protection mandates put forth by the Security Council.

Such capabilities also increase awareness of Grave Violations against children in situations of armed conflict. Indeed, a key element of the success of the CAAC agenda has been the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism established by Security Council Resolution 1612 to collect and provide information on Grave Violations against children, in cooperation with national governments. The information generated through the MRM and the Annual Report of the Secretary-General are important tools to foster accountability and compliance of parties to conflict with international child protection standards and norms. In this regard, we welcome efforts by the UN to ensure the MRM remains impartial and objective.

Of course the reporting on Grave Violations is not simply an end in and of itself, but should be seen as a mechanism to begin a dialogue on how to address such violations, prevent future violations, and enhance child protection. We welcome the recent signature of action plans by Mali, Sudan, and the Civilian Joint Task Force in Nigeria, as well as the positive cooperation of other parties on measures to address all violations and look forward to their swift implementation.

In conclusion, the Group of Friends stands ready to work with the UN and Member States to move forward on this critical agenda.

Madam/Mister President,

Now please allow me to make some additional points as Canada’s representative.

First, I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks to Mr. Shaikh for his presentation today and for his work on de-radicalization in Canada and abroad.

Canada is a strong advocate in this forum and elsewhere for respect for international humanitarian law and international protection frameworks. The children and armed conflict agenda remains a key Canadian foreign policy and development priority. We are proud to be among the 105 signatories to the Paris Principles on their 10^th anniversary. In February, Canada also endorsed the Safe Schools declaration, reaffirming Canada’s commitment to protecting civilians affected by armed conflict, including children, as well as protecting education as a right. The Declaration will inform the planning and conduct of the Canadian Armed Forces during armed conflict and we call upon all Member States to endorse the declaration.

In March, Canada developed a national doctrine on addressing child soldiers, the first of its kind worldwide. This Joint Doctrine Note provides strategic guidance to the Canadian Armed Forces regarding potential encounters and engagement with child soldiers. It also provides Commanders with baseline guidance through which to develop their pre-deployment training, and operational- and mission- specific considerations.

The Security Council has acknowledged that the protection of children in armed conflict is a fundamental peace and security concern and has tasked specific peacekeeping missions to undertake child protection since 1999. Peacekeepers can and do play a critical role in addressing grave violations against children in armed conflict

Canada shares the view that more can be done in a peacekeeping context to protect children affected by armed conflict, including to prevent the recruitment and use of child soldiers, who are prevalent in many areas where UN peacekeeping forces are operating. In this regard, Canada has developed a set of voluntary and non-binding principles on peacekeeping and preventing the recruitment and use of child soldiers, known as the Vancouver Principles. These Principles seek to prioritize and further operationalize child protection within UN peacekeeping with a focus on preventing the recruitment and use of child soldiers. They have been inspired by the Paris and Kigali Principles as well as relevant UNSC resolutions, and developed in cooperation with the Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative, in consultation with the UN and the child protection community. They were shared with all Member States last week, and are to be formally endorsed on the margins of the UN Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial in Vancouver next month.

By endorsing the Vancouver Principles, Member States commit to undertake several common-sense steps to help prevent children from being used as soldiers. These include planning and training; addressing early warning signs and reporting abuses and grave violations; sharing best practices;  working toward effectively preventing child recruitment; appointing child protection focal points; ensuring good conduct of peacekeepers; and including child protection in peacekeeping mandates, peace agreements, and Disarmament Demobilization and Reintegration efforts. The trauma experienced by peacekeeping personnel related to interactions with child soldiers is also addressed.

I wish to emphasize that the Vancouver Principles were designed to complement, but in no way substitute for critical child protection instruments such as the Paris Principles, which remains a foundation of our work.

We invite all Member States to endorse the Vancouver Principles, as a concrete demonstration of commitment to address and help prevent the recruitment and use of child soldiers.

Thank you.