United Nations Security Council Open Debate on Children and Armed Conflict - Statement delivered by H.E. Mr. Richard Arbeiter, Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations

New York, August 2, 2019

Madam/Mister President,

I am pleased to speak on behalf of the Group of Friends of Children and Armed Conflict, an informal network of 42 interested Member States, representing all five regional groups of the UN.

We wish to thank today’s briefers, in particular Ms. Kamara and Mr. Awan for their compelling personal testimony.

The Group is appalled by the scope and scale of grave violations committed against children, as documented in the Secretary General’s report. On the 10th anniversary of resolution 1882, we are particularly concerned by the large increase in cases of killing and maiming of children.

We urge all parties to armed conflict to fully comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law, human rights law, and refugee law, and to put in place concrete effective protection measures for children in armed conflict.

In this regard, we welcome the recent signing of action plans and SRSG Gamba’s direct engagement with parties to armed conflict to end grave violations. However, action plans are only means to an end, not ends in themselves. Without effective and timely implementation, such plans will not address the suffering of children in armed conflict. Accordingly, the mere signing of an action plan should not form the basis for delisting in the Secretary General’s annual report on CAAC. We therefore commend efforts by the UN and the Security Council Working Group on CAAC to follow up on action plans and to encourage their implementation.

The Group welcomes the recent release of over 13,600 children from armed forces and armed groups and the work of the Global Coalition for Reintegration of Child Soldiers. We stress the importance of long-term, comprehensive, and community-based rehabilitation and reintegration efforts to provide assistance to children and prevent re-recruitment, including in areas formerly controlled by Daesh. Children formerly associated with such groups should be treated as victims first, consistent with resolution 2427. Detention of children in armed conflict should only be used as a last resort and for the shortest period necessary and should be in full respect of international humanitarian law and applicable international human rights law. Failure to do so will only sow the seeds of future conflict.

The Group is firmly convinced that protection of children affected by armed conflicts must be at the heart of the prevention, development and sustaining peace agendas.

We further welcome the launch of the “ACT to Protect” campaign to catalyze global attention and efforts to prevent and end the six grave violations against children. Indeed, there are several practical protection tools available to Member States, notably the Safe Schools Declaration, the Paris Principles and Paris Commitments, and the Vancouver Principles. We call upon Member States to further strengthen the protection of children in armed conflict, including through ratification of the First Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as consideration of the endorsement of those commitments.

The Group highlights the contribution of regional and subregional organizations, as recognized in resolution 2427, in preventing grave violations by reinforcing the normative framework, exchanging best practices, mobilizing resources, coordinating humanitarian assistance, applying pressure on parties to armed conflict, and addressing the transnational dimensions of child recruitment. Regional Groups of Friends of CAAC can also play a helpful role in this regard, and we welcome the recent establishment of such a group in Mali.

We welcome other measures adopted by the Security Council this year that contribute to the protection of children in situations of armed conflict. These include resolution 2467, which seeks to take a victim-centered approach to sexual violence in conflict and children born of wartime rape, resolution 2474 which speaks to children missing as a result of armed conflict, and resolution 2475 which stresses the specific needs of children with disabilities in armed conflict.

The Security Council should continue to uphold child protection through the deployment of child protection advisors to peacekeeping operations. However, adequate resources are also needed to deliver mission success. Therefore, cuts to the staffing and budgets of child protection advisor positions, as well as consolidation efforts that would undermine the UN’s ability to deliver on the critical child protection mandates put forth by the Security Council should be avoided.

Lastly, the Group underlines that combatting impunity and ensuring accountability is key to preventing grave violations. We therefore welcome the efforts of the ICC against war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the recruitment of children, and note the recent conviction of Bosco Ntaganda in this regard. But we need to recall that true justice involves reparations and psycho-social support for victims of these war crimes, whose trauma may endure for years.

Madam/Mister President,

Now please allow me to make some additional points in my national capacity.

I would like to begin by offering my heartfelt thanks to Ms. Kamara and Mr. Awan for their powerful briefings. We are honored that Ms. Kamara has made Canada her home, further enriching our diverse nation. Her courage and resilience inspire us all.

As the Secretary General’s report makes clear, the situation of children in Syria, Yemen, and other conflict-affected regions is dire. To say that we are disappointed in this Council’s failure to maintain international peace security in these and other cases would be a gross understatement, especially given the toll on children, many of whom have lost their lives and limbs simply because of where and when they happened to have been born. Addressing vulnerability in the face of grave violations is however not the Council’s responsibility alone. We all have a role to play.

A major focus of Canada’s efforts has been the development of the Vancouver Principles on Peacekeeping and the Prevention of the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers. The Vancouver Principles are a set of 17 political commitments aimed at preventing and addressing the recruitment and use of children by armed forces and armed groups in UN peacekeeping operations. As a testament to the importance of this issue to Member States, 91 countries from all regional groups have endorsed the Vancouver Principles since they were launched in 2017. Canada encourages those States that have yet to endorse the Vancouver Principles, or the Paris Principles, to do so without delay. 

While important, we recognize that political endorsement alone is insufficient to effect change. For this reason, in the past year Canada has worked with the UN, civil society and Member States to develop Implementation Guidance for the Vancouver Principles. This new tool, launched at the UN yesterday, serves as a practical resource for military, police, and civilian organizations engaged in UN peacekeeping operations. Importantly, it takes a gender lens to our efforts, recognizing the differential impact of child recruitment on boys and girls.

Canada is losing no time putting this guidance into action. In June, Canada’s Minister of National Defence announced the establishment of the Roméo Dallaire Centre of Excellence for Peace and Security, within the Canadian Defence Academy led by Rear Admiral Cassivi, seated behind me. The Centre of Excellence’s initial focus will be to support our forces’ implementation of the Vancouver Principles. Canada will also be providing the Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative with a contribution of over $1 million over five years to conduct research and identify lessons learned and best practices regarding the prevention of the recruitment and use of child soldiers.

Madam/Mister President,

Canada has been a longstanding advocate for children in situations of armed conflict. During our last tenure on the Security Council in 1999-2000, we introduced the first thematic debate on children in armed conflict. We have collectively come a long way since then, but much work remains to be done. Should we be elected to serve on the Security Council for 2021-2022, we will continue to work together with all Member States to put child protection at the center of peace and security efforts. Thank you.