Actions taken:
Austria remains strongly committed to the protection of children in armed conflicts.
Austria actively participates in the annual open debate of the UN Security Council on children and armed conflict by presenting national statements and by supporting the statements delivered on behalf of the EU and the Group of Friends on CAAC.
Austria supports the valuable work of the Special Representative for CAAC, regularly advocates for the preservation and sufficient funding of Child Protection Advisors in New York, among other places, and in the past also supported the UNAMID Child Protection Unit through a project of the Austrian Development Agency and the Austrian Center for Peace.
Austria is also a member of the Group of Friends of CAAC in New York under Canadian chairmanship and participates in its regular meetings and briefings. Austria actively contributes to the outreach activities of the Group of Friends and during the relevant reporting period signed a joint letter sent to the UN Secretary General complementing the work of Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflicts in 2023. Austria is also a member of the Group of Friends on CAAC in Brussels under Italian and Belgian Co-Chairmanship. Furthermore, Austria is actively involved in and supported the 2024 revision of the EU Guidelines on Children in Armed Conflict, originally drafted in 2003.
Since December 2023, Austria is a member of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children and has financially contributed to projects with the aim of identification, recovery and reintegration of children abducted during the Russian aggression against Ukraine. In 2024, Austria signed a joint letter of all EU Member States and Ukraine sent to the Special Representative of the Secretary General on CAAC. In this letter, the undersigned States urged the United Nations to step up pressure on the Russian Federation regarding the forcible transfers and deportations of Ukrainian children.
Furthermore, Austria contributes i.a to the UNICEF Ukraine and Moldov Programme which aims at supporting children, women and their families affected by the war in Ukraine through the provision of emergency protection and welfare services.
Austria became a member of the Geneva Core Group on Safe Schools in 2021. Austria has been participating actively in the meetings of the group and contributing regularly to its deliberations.
In July 2023, Austria co-sponsored UN Human Rights Council Resolution 53/7 on the Right to Education, adopted by consensus, which is the first UN resolution calling upon States to consider endorsing the Safe Schools Declaration.
From 2020 to 2023, Austria participated in a Joint Statement on the Safe Schools Declaration every year, which was delivered during the respective Interactive Dialogues with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict at the UN Human Rights Council.