Mesures prises:
Encourage States to sign and ratify to the First Optional Protocol to the Convention of the Right of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, supporting its universal ratification.
The UK is a signatory of the United Nations (UN) Convention of the Rights of the Child and signed up to its Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict in 2023.
Work to ensure that humanitarian actors are given unimpeded access to children during armed conflicts.
As an active member of the UN Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC), the UK calls out the denial of humanitarian access to children in situations of armed conflict, which constitutes a grave violation as defined by the CAAC mandate.
Conduct awareness campaigns, both at bilateral and multilateral level and where appropriate in cooperation with other relevant stakeholders, about the importance to prevent the recruitment and use of children during armed conflicts, to secure the release of child soldiers, and to ensure their comprehensive and successful reintegration through long-term interventions.
The UK is firmly committed to ending the recruitment and use of child soldiers and has supported efforts to strengthen compliance with international laws and norms for the protection of children’s rights in situations of armed conflict, with a focus on children associated with armed forces or armed groups.
In 2021-22, the UK funded a project in Yemen to provide protection services to children to prevent their recruitment and use by armed groups. This project helped ensure that schools remained a safe space for children in conflict and saw girls return to school, helping to prevent the recruitment and use of children in armed fighting.
UK funding has enabled NGOs to undertake research, advocacy and public outreach, with a focus on children associated with armed forces or armed groups. This included monitoring and reporting on child rights violations, focusing on recruitment and the treatment of children associated with armed forces or armed groups, and raising the visibility of, and strengthening support for, international norms and standards for the protection of children’s rights and the aims of the CAAC agenda.
The UK funded a workshop in 2021 on the detention and ill-treatment of children in conflict-affected countries for their alleged association with armed groups, which brought together members of the CAAC Working Group, non-Council members, the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict (SRSG CAAC), the UN Children’s Fund, the Executive Office of the Secretary-General, the UN Department of Peace Operations and civil society.
The UK continues to advocate for the release of all children associated with armed forces and armed groups, the fulfilment of Handover Protocols, and for long-term, sustainable, comprehensive and timely reintegration programmes to support these children.
Integrate into the military training and into all levels of military planning and decision-making the due consideration of the needs of children in armed conflicts, thereby organizing specific training sessions for the national military forces on the rights of the children in armed conflicts.
In December 2021, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) articulated its commitment to integrating Human Security, including CAAC, across defence through the Joint Service Publication on Human Security in Defence on how the UK military can better liaise with NGOs involved in the protection of civilians and how military personnel should respond to children affected by conflict.
Since 2019, a growing network of Human Security Advisers has supported policy, strategy, planning and tactical teams to apply due consideration to human security, and with it the needs of children in armed conflict, into various levels of planning and decision making. A whole of Defence Training Needs Analysis was conducted in 2023 to identify the scale and level of training required to integrate Human Security across the whole of Defence, from new recruits to senior leaders. Pre-deployment training includes components on human security, inclusive of CAAC issues with practical guidance on how troops can recognise, respond, report and refer on instances of CAAC that they encounter. MoD training on CAAC has been developed in consultation with external experts from CAAC specialist agencies.
Promote and support international initiatives and programs aimed at preventing and combating all forms of violence, in particular sexual violence, against children during armed conflicts, also encouraging States to adopt, develop and implement the legal and administrative measures needed to ensure that all violations against children are criminalized and perpetrators are brought to justice, in compliance with the provisions of the relevant international instruments.
The UK’s Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict (PSVI) Conference in 2022 focused on strengthening the global response to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) and promoting prevention, justice and support for survivors and children affected by CRSV. Since then, the UK has worked with the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and survivors to build a groundbreaking Virtual Reality web application. Children require special protection, assistance and support to prevent further trauma. The app is the first of its kind to support survivors engaging with the ICC, demonstrating what testifying entails. The app provides an additional tool for investigators to engage with potential witnesses, including children, to help individuals make decisions on ‘informed consent’ about participating in a trial as a witness or survivor.
The UK has supported progress at the UN towards a Convention on Crimes Against Humanity, which has the potential to strengthen the international legal architecture on preventing and prosecuting atrocity crimes, including language that reflects the impact of CRSV on children.
The UK remains committed to driving global action to support children affected by CRSV and ensure that they can shape the decisions that affect them. Launched at the PSVI Conference, the UK’s Platform for Action Promoting the Rights and Wellbeing of children born of CRSV aims to address urgent challenges faced by this vulnerable group through a framework of coordinated commitments, including from the UK, Canada and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), targeting specific areas of action, such as the meaningful and safe consultation of children born of CRSV.
We have prioritised meaningful engagement with survivors and children affected by CRSV, including through our collaboration with our PSVI Survivor Advisory Group, whose membership includes those born of CRSV.
We have funded UNICEF to support children in humanitarian situations who have experience of, or are at risk, of sexual violence, including projects like the Blue Dot Shelters, which provide a safe space for families and children on the move in emergencies.
Actively contribute to the outreach activities of the Group of Friends on Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC).
The UK has supported the Group of Friends on Children and Armed Conflict in a number of countries including Ukraine, the DRC, and South Sudan, working collaboratively with other countries to raise concerns about grave violations against children and to encourage the protection of children’s rights.
Promote the awareness of the importance of CAAC, also through the inclusion of references to this issue in resolutions, statements and other pertinent documents to be adopted by the UN and other relevant multilateral fora.
The UK uses our permanent UN Security Council (UNSC) membership to ensure conflict-related child protection issues remain a key part of UNSC discussions, statements and resolutions and that UN operations address child protection issues.
The UK is an active member of the UNSC Working Group on CAAC, which leads the international response to violations committed against children in conflict. The Working Group holds parties accountable, and requests those governments and armed groups listed in the Secretary-General’s Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict to agree action plans to end the recruitment and use of children and other grave violations.
The UK has consistently raised awareness of the importance of the CAAC mandate. A Wilton Park event in the UK in 2022 marked the 25th anniversary of the CAAC mandate. It convened representatives from UN member states, the UN, regional organisations, civil society organisations, young people affected by conflict, legal and child right advisors and academics, and the SRSG CAAC, Virginia Gamba, to discuss how to support, build momentum and make tangible progress on the CAAC agenda in the future, including building effective prevention practices.
Encourage the States that have not yet done so, to sign the Safe School Declaration and to promote its effective implementation, also raising awareness on the Declaration with a view to improve the protection of education in situations of armed conflicts and handle the consequences of armed conflict on students, education personnel and school infrastructure.
The UK endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration in 2018. The UK is a founding member and major funder of Education Cannot Wait, a global fund for responding to education in emergencies, providing £80 million of funding from 2023–2027. Some of this funding supports the Safe Schools Declaration. The UK continues to call on states to endorse the Safe Schools Declaration.
In October 2021, the UK co-sponsored UNSC resolution 2601 for the protection of education in armed conflict. The resolution reaffirmed the fundamental contribution of education to the building of peace and security and recognised that obstacles to the fulfilment of children’s right to education extend beyond physical attacks on schools and include lack of access caused by insecurity in and around schools and the displacement of children.
Continue to work in cooperation with, and to support, the activities of the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict.
The UK supports the important work of the SRSG CAAC. We have provided significant funding to the SRSG’s Office, contributing £1,850,000 from 2013-2021.
In 2021-2022, the UK contributed £250,000 to the UN Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism, which collects accurate, timely, objective and reliable information on grave violations committed against children in armed conflict.
