Warring governments and armed groups should comply immediately with a United Nations Security Council resolution adopted today demanding an end to abuses against children, Human Rights Watch said today.
The Security Council today established a new mechanism to monitor and report on violations against children in conflict situations and set up a working group of the Security Council to make concrete recommendations for action against abusive parties. It also demanded action plans for ending child recruitment by parties responsible for this practice.
"Children are killed, raped and recruited as soldiers in conflict situations every day," said Jo Becker, children's rights advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. "The Council's action today to establish long-term mechanisms to report and act on such horrific abuses is necessary and welcome."
The Secretary-General has identified 54 parties in 11 countries that recruit and use children in violation of international law. This list includes non-state armed groups including the Lord's Resistance Army of Northern Uganda, the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka, paramilitary and guerrilla forces in Colombia, as well as government forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burma. Twenty-one of the parties identified by the Secretary-General have been named as violators in his last three consecutive reports on children and armed conflict.
"Both the UN and individual governments must exert stronger pressure against governments and armed groups to end their crimes against children affected by conflict," said Becker. "The extent and severity of these abuses are intolerable."
