Security Council meeting 5936-Resu.1

The President

I should like to inform the Council that I have received a letter from the representative of South Africa, in which he requests that the Council extend an invitation under rule 39 of its provisional rules of procedure to Mrs. Lila Hanitra Ratsifandrihamanana, Permanent Observer of the African Union.

It is so decided.

I would like to remind all speakers, as I indicated in this morning's meeting, to limit their statements to no more than five minutes, in order to enable the Council to carry out its work expeditiously. Delegations with lengthy statements are kindly requested to circulate their texts in writing and to deliver a condensed version when speaking in this Chamber.

I now give the floor to the representative of Bangladesh.

Ms. Jahan (Bangladesh)

I would like to thank you, Mr. President, for organizing this open debate on this important and topical issue.

The issue has been on the Council's agenda for quite some time. We take note of the Secretary-General's latest country report on children and armed conflict and the annual report of the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict. It is heartening to find that the continued engagement of the Security Council and the efforts of its Working Group have produced some tangible results and that many more, positive outcomes are in the offing. In that context, we note that certain countries and parties to conflicts have complied with the recommendations.

While we appreciate the activities of the Working Group, we would also like to see the discussion on its working methods and procedural issues completed quickly so that the Working Group can devote itself fully to its mandated activities. The Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Ms. Coomaraswamy, deserves our particular praise for her dedicated efforts in upholding the cause of children involved in armed conflicts.

In a recent field trip to a country emerging from conflict, I was struck by the shocking revelation of instances of voluntary or coerced recruitment of child soldiers in the conflict. I was struck by a story that a nine-year old, who was completely deaf and dumb, was using his toy of terror -- in this instance, a loaded machine gun -- to satisfy the thrill of killing. What prompts such actions? That is something that we need to ponder. We need to come up with solutions.

While many child soldiers are coerced into fighting, the induction of children into armed conflicts is often prompted by difficult socio-economic conditions. In that context, as also underlined in the concept paper before us, approaching the issue from a development perspective would be an effective way of addressing the problem in a more sustainable manner. While such a development approach should be a comprehensive one, there should be a particular focus on addressing the root causes of armed conflict from a proper perspective.

The vulnerable situation of children in post-conflict societies also needs special attention. For peace to be sustained, those children must be rehabilitated and reintegrated back into their communities more effectively. Reintegration and rehabilitation can be successful only if adequate incentives are given to child combatants to return to normal life. Reintegration would require instilling certain societal values as well as some psychosocial and ideological grooming of the returnees. Rehabilitation entails child protection and welfare.

National efforts in this context should be complemented by international assistance, including resource mobilization. The Peacebuilding Commission should have the issues of the rehabilitation and reintegration of children permanently on its agenda when taking up any country-specific configuration. The sharing of countries' best practices would be useful in formulating effective reintegration strategies.

The contribution of child protection advisers so far in nine peacekeeping and political missions can be regarded as significant progress. We would like to see such approaches incorporated in the other ongoing missions without delay.

The United Nations could explore the possibility of assisting national Governments in mobilizing a social movement in conflict-ridden and conflict-prone countries to develop social and moral resistance to the induction of children in armed conflict.

It is well documented that children suffer the most under unregulated sanction regimes. The Council has a duty to ensure that sanctions do not affect the innocent. The issues of children under foreign occupation must also be appropriately addressed. There should be special provisions for girl children, who are particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation and violence.

Despite the United Nations system-wide response, the overall situation of children in situations of armed conflict remains a matter of grave concern. Ensuring compliance by non-State actors and armed groups remains a big challenge. We must try to address those issues in a more resolute manner.

Children are among the principal and the most hapless victims in all wars and civil conflicts. Armed conflicts hold terrible consequences for children's development and for the peace and stability of generations to come.

Mitigating measures will have limited success unless there is a genuine political will for conflict prevention. We, the international community, should join hands to work towards that end, and the Council in particular has a responsibility in that regard.

The President

I now give the floor to the representative of Uganda.

Mr. Butagira (Uganda)

I thank you, Mr. President, for giving me the floor. Allow me to congratulate you on presiding over this meeting.

Uganda has been a proponent of identifying the causes of underage children finding their way into armed forces, in order to find a sustainable solution to the problem. We were quick to point out that even though the recruitment of children into our army was not institutionalized, we were not oblivious to the fact that some children, owing to the breakdown in institutional, social, economic and cultural values, managed to circumvent the system, present false information as to their age and be recruited. In most cases, the abject poverty in those areas led the parents to get their children employed in the armed forces by overstating their ages.

That was an issue that was, in the end, acknowledged by the Task Force on Monitoring and Reporting and by the Secretary-General in his seventh report to the Security Council on children and armed conflict.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) was established with the determination to put an end to impunity for perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole and contribute to the prevention of such crimes. The parties to the Rome Statute were also mindful of the millions of children, women and men who had been victims of unimaginable atrocities that deeply shock the conscience of humanity. Article 6 (e) of the Statute recognizes that forcibly transferring children of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group to another group with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the first group constitutes genocide. Uganda holds in the highest regard the mandate of the ICC to fight against impunity. It is with that in mind that Uganda was the first to make a referral.

In that same spirit of cooperation, the Ugandan Government has been engaged in various initiatives with the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict to put an end to the practice wherever it has been identified and to ensure the delistment of the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) and Local Defence Units (LDUs) -- which have now been disbanded -- from annex II of resolution 1612 (2005). In this regard, I am happy to report that the Ugandan Government and the Uganda Task Force on Monitoring and Reporting have vowed to start negotiations to iron out the few hitches inhibiting the finalization of the action plan. This will soon be completed.

We believe that, as far as Government cooperation goes, Uganda has exhibited an undeniable spirit of partnership in the implementation of resolution 1612 (2005), regardless of the circumstances under which UPDF and LDU were included in Annex II to the resolution.

With regard to the sanctions or punishment regime, if it is to be believed that the motive for punitive measures against States accused of recruiting children into armed forces is actually to help the children, then a different approach, in my view, may have to be adopted. Demonizing countries and condemning Member States, even with the objective of ending impunity, will only delay and may derail an otherwise noble initiative.

Uganda is of the view that the fastest and most sustainable avenue for solving a problem is not by placing emphasis on punishment, but by engaging the parties involved in dialogue. Sanctions only punish the most vulnerable of society and, as history will show, only serve to harden an accused State's resolve.

In conclusion, there can be no durable solution to a problem whose root causes have not been identified or contextualized or are ignored when they are pointed out. Issues like poverty, lack of vocational skills or even the total absence of registration systems for births in conflict areas are too serious to be pushed aside. I would like to reiterate that Uganda remains committed to the protection of the world's children who are affected by armed conflict, and to ensuring respect for international norms and standards for the protection of children affected by armed conflict.

Mrs. Eilon Shahar (Israel)

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