Security Council meeting 4176-Resu.1

The President

I should like to inform the Council that I have received a letter from the representative of the Sudan, in which he requests to be invited to participate in the discussion of the item on the Council's agenda. In conformity with the usual practice, I propose, with the consent of the Council, to invite that representative to participate in the discussion without the right to vote, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Charter and rule 37 of the Council's provisional rules of procedure.

There being no objection, it is so decided.

The President

The next speaker inscribed on my list is the representative of Austria. I invite him to take a seat at the Council table and to make his statement.

Mr. Pfanzelter (Austria)

Thank you, Madam, for permitting me to address the Council in Austria's capacity as Chairman-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in order to make a few remarks on the efforts to raise the issue of children and armed conflict in the OSCE.

Permit me at the outset to thank the Jamaican presidency for scheduling this important debate and for your leadership, Madam, on this issue.

I would also like to thank the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict and the Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) for their introduction of the report of the Secretary-General. The report contains rich information on ongoing activities and thinking on the protection of children in armed conflict. Its many recommendations are most useful, not only for the future work of the Security Council and the United Nations, but also for regional organizations such as the OSCE.

On behalf of the Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE, the Austrian Foreign Minister, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, I would like to use this opportunity to pay tribute to the decisive role of Mr. Olara Otunnu in advocating and recommending concrete action by the OSCE. In the course of the past 10 months, he twice addressed important OSCE forums on the protection of children in armed conflict. I would also like to acknowledge the important contribution of UNICEF to the deliberations of the OSCE and express the interest that Ms. Carol Bellamy will participate in an OSCE meeting devoted to this issue in the near future. It is our hope that the OSCE and UNICEF will develop close partnerships and collaboration in the field. This could also contribute to the preparations for next year's special session of the General Assembly on the follow-up to the World Summit for Children.

At the Istanbul OSCE Summit in November 1999, the heads of State or Government of the participating States of the OSCE committed themselves to actively promoting children's rights and interests, especially in conflict and post-conflict situations, to regularly addressing the rights of children in the work of the OSCE and to paying particular attention to the physical and psychological well-being of children involved in or affected by armed conflict. In the Charter for European Security, signed at the Summit by heads of State or Government, participating States express the will to develop and implement measures to promote the rights and interests of children in armed conflict and post-conflict situations, including refugees and internally displaced children, and to look at ways of preventing forced or compulsory recruitment for use in armed conflict of persons under 18 years of age.

As a consequence, this year's Human Dimension Seminar of the OSCE, held in May in Warsaw, was specifically devoted to the topic of children and armed conflict in order to identify ways for the organization to improve its protection framework for children and to develop concrete policies and actions, in particular for OSCE field operations. The Seminar was attended by representatives of 47 participating States of the OSCE, of international organizations and non-governmental organizations, as well as of OSCE institutions and field operations. For the first time in OSCE human dimension events, the Seminar was conducted in an interdimensional way, associating politico-military topics and politico-military experts with its proceedings, allowing for a useful dialogue between the human-rights perspective and the politico-military aspects of the issue of children and armed conflict.

A comprehensive report of the Seminar has been published by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. The main recommendations of the Seminar can be summarized as follows.

The OSCE and its participating States should ensure full respect for and implementation of international standards and instruments for the protection of children, in particular in conflict situations.

The OSCE should integrate the protection of the rights of the child, in particular of children affected by armed conflict, into its activities and continue and enhance cooperation and coordination with other international organizations, national institutions and non-governmental organizations, both at the political level at headquarters and at the practical level in the field. To this end, the Seminar recommended in particular the following measures: the development of OSCE policies and actions for the protection of children affected by armed conflict; the designation of focal points on children affected by armed conflict, including in relevant field operations; the monitoring and reporting on the protection of the rights of the child in armed conflict situations by OSCE field operations; the strengthening of OSCE expertise and capacities in this area, including in its Rapid Expert Assistance and Cooperation Teams; and the inclusion of the rights of the child in training programmes for members of OSCE field operations. OSCE bodies, in particular the Chairman-in-Office, the Permanent Council and the Forum for Security Cooperation, as well as OSCE institutions, should regularly address the rights of the child, in particular of children affected by armed conflict; and the Forum for Security Cooperation should continue its efforts in developing concrete measures to stem the illegal flow of small arms and light weapons in the OSCE area and to include children's issues in the planned OSCE document on these matters.

Two major initiatives are being pursued to follow up on these recommendations. First, the Austrian Chairperson-in-Office has already requested OSCE field operations, as well as Secretariat units, to pay more systematic attention to the protection of children affected by armed conflict and to integrate the issue into their work. This includes the provision of human rights officers of field operations with checklists on children's issues in order to stimulate awareness, action and reporting, the inclusion of the rights of the child in mission members induction courses or, for example, in the curriculum of the OSCE Kosovo Police Service School.

Secondly, a broad consensus emerged from the Human Dimensions Seminar that the OSCE should develop a comprehensive document outlining OSCE policies and actions for the protection of children, with special emphasis on those affected by armed conflict. A first orientation discussion was held recently, and negotiations will continue with a view to formally adopting such an OSCE document at the next meeting of the OSCS Ministerial Council, in November in Vienna.

The Austrian Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE will continue to work for the implementation of the recommendations of the Seminar and undertake further steps to develop and improve concrete policies and measures to benefit children in conflict situations as well as in potential and post-conflict situations. The next Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE, Romania, has expressed its intention to continue these efforts.

It is clear that the OSCE and its field operations do not have the means to effectively address all the assistance and protection needs of children affected by armed conflict in the OSCE region. The OSCE therefore seeks to build and intensify partnerships with others: international organizations, non-governmental organizations and local initiatives. We are looking at the United Nations and its agencies as key partners, with long-standing experience and unique expertise in these matters. Let us together make a concerted effort to effectively address and thus to prevent the serious impact of armed conflict on children.

The President

The next speaker inscribed on my list is the representative of Colombia. I invite him to take a seat at the Council table and to make his statement.

Mr. Franco (Colombia)

I should like to express my thanks to you, Madam President, for the initiative you have taken in convening this meeting. My thanks also go to the Secretary-General for the report he submitted to the Council.

I am taking part in the discussion to offer some very specific ideas relating to the way in which the Security Council has handled the item before us today. This year the Arria formula was used to permit participation by non-governmental organizations at a meeting with the members of the Security Council, during which the item now before us was discussed. I would like to underscore above all the important role played by non-governmental organizations in this field. However, we have some procedural points that we would like to make.

Nowadays, thanks to intensive discussion in the Open-ended Working Group on the Reform of the Security Council, it has become plain that the use and interpretation of the Arria formula continues to give rise to disagreements among Member States. Following yesterday's meeting it is probable that these differences will become even more accentuated.

As we have been able to understand it, the new Arria formula applied by the Security Council consists in a process of confidential and informal consultations without official records, permitting members of the Security Council to hear views and obtain and exchange information with non-governmental organizations working on issues that the Council, by an expansive process of absorption, has decided to adopt as being within its purview. Nevertheless, it is a further example of the way in which Member States that do not belong to the Security Council are deprived of the opportunity to participate in the discussion, negotiation and further development of items peculiar to the General Assembly.

The implementation and use of this new Arria formula pose general questions for the work of the United Nations. For example, will this be the beginning of the end of the mechanisms for the acceptance and consideration of non-governmental organizations, such as the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations? To whom will the non-governmental organizations participating in future meetings under the new Arria formula be accountable? Why was it not disclosed in advance which organizations would be participating in the new Arria formula meeting? According to what criteria were they selected? Are there impediments for these organizations if they wish to address Member States in an open-ended format? Were they dealing with confidential issues that warranted such a closed meeting?

We value the report of the Secretary-General, as we have already noted, in particular section IV, on integrating the protection of children in peacekeeping operations, and section V, on post-conflict issues, which seem to be the most relevant to the natural purview of the Security Council's action. In this regard, the Council might be more appropriate than the General Assembly when it comes to achieving tangible results in these fields. Likewise, we recognize the important work of the office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict. At the same time, we note the outstanding work being done by UNICEF.

I think we could ask ourselves how effective the Security Council has been in handling this issue. It is difficult to identify management indicators whereby this could be established. The fact is that today, while we are discussing this issue in the abstract, many concrete events are taking place in areas that fall within purview of the Council. On the ninth of July, for example, it was reported that during an attack carried out by a hundred armed people on a school in a town in an African country whose situation is a matter before the Council, one child died, four others were seriously wounded and 21 were abducted. Is the Security Council, therefore, called upon to do something more in a case such as this?

I would like to conclude my statement by inviting the members of the Organization to continue the dialogue on children affected by wars. But we should remember that the time has come to think of them as peace-builders. Whenever we have discussions such as we are having today, we tend to think of children as objects, and this is appropriate when one is regarding them as innocent victims of armed conflict. However, as adults, the time has come for us to think of children as vital actors in the building of peace. Colombia will be stressing this approach at the Millennium Assembly, together with other important aspects such as the need to make the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict applicable as soon as possible.

The President

The next speaker inscribed on my list is the representative of Japan. I invite him to take a seat at the Council table and to make his statement.

Mr. Akasaka (Japan)

Let me begin by congratulating you, Madam President, on your leadership in calling this open debate on children and armed conflict.

Japan is happy to report to you that at the Group of Eight economic summit, which successfully concluded on Okinawa earlier this week, conflict prevention was highlighted as one of the most important issues. At their meeting at Miyazaki, the G-8 Foreign Ministers compiled the G-8 Miyazaki Initiative for Conflict Prevention.

The issue of children in armed conflict is a matter of special consideration for G-8 leaders, and they agreed to take initiatives such as putting pressure on those who involve or target children in armed conflict. They also reaffirmed their commitment to human security through the creation of an environment where the dignity, well-being, safety and human rights of all people are ensured. They also agreed that the United Nations should continue to play a pivotal role in the century to come.

Almost a year has passed since the Council adopted resolution 1261 (1999), and heightened international attention to this issue has led to several encouraging developments. In this regard, I would like to commend Mr. Olara Otunnu, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and other relevant international agencies, as well as civil society, for their activities that have contributed to such positive changes.

Despite these developments, however, hundreds of thousands of children still live in fear and suffer from the cruel blows that war inflicts. As was made clear at the Group of 8 summit, the plight of war-affected children is one of the most disturbing human security issues facing the world today. It is therefore gratifying to note that the report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict (S/2000/712) contains concrete recommendations that will guide us in the actions we take from here on out, actions in which Japan intends to play its part.

First and foremost, I wish to emphasize the importance of conflict prevention for the protection of our children. In the open debate held in the Security Council on 20 July, Japan stressed the importance of a comprehensive approach to preventing conflicts that combines political, economic, social and humanitarian measures, and the importance of fostering a culture of prevention. For its part, Japan has engaged in a number of activities to advance a culture of prevention, such as hosting a series of international conferences on development in Africa and on the issue of small arms and light weapons, both of which indeed have an impact on children.

The two optional protocols to the Convention on the Rights of Child, which were long-awaited legal instruments essential to strengthening further the protection of children, were finally adopted this year. Japan participated actively in the negotiations on the consensus texts, and believes that the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict certainly gives additional legitimacy to the idea that children must not become the victims of armed conflict by being made its targets or its instruments. Now that the legal framework has been set, it is time for us to strive to realize on the ground the principles of the Optional Protocol.

Raising public awareness on the specific problems that children encounter in the course armed conflicts is also crucial to creating the international pressure necessary to halt such suffering. I would like to take this opportunity to introduce some of Japan's initiatives to support the recovery of war-affected children. The scourge of war affects the physical and emotional status of children especially deeply in post-conflict situations. As the Secretary-General has rightly pointed out in his report, the rehabilitation and education of children who are recruited as child soldiers, sexually abused, displaced or separated from their parents needs to be seen as a priority in the peace-rebuilding process. To this end, the Government of Japan has been making significant financial contributions to humanitarian programmes of United Nations agencies such as UNICEF and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), as well as to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). For example, in 1998 and 1999, it contributed a total of $1.8 million to projects that included support for children in Sierra Leone through the United Nations trust fund and through UNICEF. More recently, Japan has approved the release of $16 million, for financing a UNICEF project on the reactivation of quality primary education in Kosovo, from the human security fund that Japan established at the United Nations to deal with threats to human life, livelihood and dignity. In addition, on 14 July, the Government of Japan decided to extend to UNICEF a grant of $1.23 million for the purpose of assisting the smooth and successful implementation of its project to reconstruct elementary schools in East Timor.

The impact of armed conflict on children varies with the circumstances, yet the consequences are always the same: tremendous fear and pain for those who are our future. Strong political will, collective international pressure and concrete action are essential to end the most horrendous acts against children in armed conflicts. Japan reaffirms its commitment to continue working with others on this issue on the basis of a comprehensive approach, and to create a world in which children need no longer have any fear of being children.

Finally, I would like to introduce a further initiative of Japan to protect children from another serious kind of damage. Sexual exploitation of children, such as child prostitution and pornography, not only causes serious health hazards, including unwanted pregnancies, HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases, but also traps children in often long-term psychological traumas and deprives them of their innocence. Because of the grave concern it feels about this problem, the Government of Japan has decided to host a second World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, in cooperation with the organization known as End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT) and with UNICEF, in Yokohama from 17 to 20 December 2001. We hope that the meeting will promote the full implementation of the agenda for action adopted at the first World Congress, held in 1996, and that it will thus contribute to eradicating the commercial sexual exploitation of children.

The President

The next speaker is the representative of South Africa. I invite him to take a seat at the Council table and to make his statement.

Mr. Gumbi (South Africa)

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