UN-supported event focuses on combatting use, recruitment, and killing of children in war

22 Feb 2017

UN-supported event focuses on combatting use, recruitment, and killing of children in war

KABUL - Participants at an international conference held yesterday to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Paris Commitments to end the use of children in conflict hailed the release of some 65,000 children from armed entities during the past decade, and called for further international commitments to prevent children from becoming victims of war.

Speakers at the event in Paris called for greater protections for children, who, all too often, have been recruited as fighters, or have been caught up in violence on the front lines of conflicts across the globe.

In Afghanistan, for example, a total of 84 per cent of civilians killed or injured by unexploded ordnance were Afghan children in 2016, as detailed in a recent UN Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict report.

Participants at the Paris Conference, including an official from Afghanistan’s Ministry of Interior, reviewed progress toward the implementation of the Paris Principles to end the recruitment and use of children in conflict. In Afghanistan, recruitment of children has risen steadily in recent years. In 2016, the UN received reports of more than 1,200 children recruited and used by all parties to the conflict.

Afghanistan has made progress in strengthening the protective environment of children facing armed conflict. Actions taken include the signing of the 2011 Action Plan and the 2014 15-point Road Map to Compliance for the prevention of child recruitment by the Afghan National Defense Security Forces; the endorsement in December 2015 of National Guidelines for Age Assessment as a non-evasive way to assess age verification of Afghan National Police recruits; and the enactment of legislation in February 2015 which criminalizes underage recruitment by the Afghan National Defense Security Forces.

In a statement released Tuesday, UNICEF's Representative in Afghanistan, Adele Khodr, appealed for more action to build a protective environment for children affected by conflict and to help them recover.

“We are pleased to see Afghanistan represented at this important anniversary commemoration to share the achievements they have made so far,” said Khodr. “However, we are concerned that children in Afghanistan are still being recruited by all parties to the conflict and this must end.”

The number of countries that have endorsed the Paris Commitments nearly doubled in 10 years, from 58 countries in 2007 to 105 at present – including Afghanistan – signaling an increasing global commitment to end the use of children in conflict.

The Paris International Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Children in Armed Conflicts looked at ways to build on this momentum.  These include calling for the unconditional release of all children, without exception, and putting an end to child recruitment; increased resources to help reintegrate and educate children who have been released; and urgent action to protect internally displaced children, child refugees and migrants.