PRESS BRIEFING ON CHILDREN AND ARMED CONFLICT

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING ON CHILDREN AND ARMED CONFLICT

The Security Council had indicated clearly for the first time that the fate and protection of children affected by conflict legitimately belonged on its regular agenda, Olara Otunnu, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, said at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon. Yesterday's open debate and resolution had therefore broken new ground, he said.

Mr. Otunnu said it was also the first time that the Council had adopted a resolution -- not just a statement -- on a thematic issue not immediately related to any particular crisis or incident.

He said he had been impressed by the unanimous adoption of Security Council resolution 1261 (1999). Participation had been very broad within the United Nations membership, including regional groups and the Non-Aligned Movement. That demonstrated the broad-based concern about and preoccupation with the protection of children in situations of conflict.

The Council, he said, had clearly indicated that the protection and welfare of children should be part of the priority for any post-conflict peace-building, rehabilitation and healing process. It had also indicated that the United Nations should organize training programmes for peacekeepers. That would ensure they were well-equipped to protect children and that they did not themselves become the means of abuse.

When the Council imposed sanctions, it would review their impact on children as well as the possibility of providing for humanitarian exemptions, he said. It was also significant that the Council had explicitly asked for a report by the Secretary- General on the issue of children affected by conflict. Until now, reports had been submitted to the General Assembly, the Commission on Human Rights and to the Economic and Social Council, but not to the Security Council.

The Special Representative said there was finally a situation in which whatever was discussed in the name of international peace and security could actually relate to those who were most vulnerable when peace and security broke down on the ground. Children had become and would remain a legitimate, ongoing concern of the Council.

Citing Angola, a correspondent asked what mechanisms would deal with situations that impacted on children and yet were difficult for the Council to resolve.

The Special Representative said that the challenge now was to apply the provisions of resolution 1261 (1999) to specific crisis situations as the Council took them up, and to translate them into action on the ground.

Otunnu Briefing - 2 - 26 August 1999

Which conflicts were most ripe to be brought before the Council? another journalist asked.

Mr. Otunnu replied that his office had been working especially on Kosovo and Sierra Leone and had come up with ideas on what the international community should do when conflict ended and the rebuilding phase began. Elements of those ideas were contained in the resolution.

He said he would visit Sierra Leone at the end of this month to see for himself the situation on the ground now that the Lomé Peace Agreement had been signed. Given the international community's short attention span, he wanted to ensure Sierra Leone did not slip off the radar screen and to find out the most pressing concerns that should be taken up by the international community.

Asked whether he would travel beyond Sierra Leone, Mr. Otunnu said he would visit Guinea in connection with people displaced from Sierra Leone.

Responding to another question, he said a trip to Kosovo was also planned, but no particular time had been set. In Kosovo, as in Sierra Leone, he wanted to ensure that the international community, United Nations agencies, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) would all get it right and that children would not be short-changed.

He pointed out that children made up 70 per cent of Kosovo refugees in Albania and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. If there was no effective response to their needs, the humanitarian effort in Kosovo would have failed. In Kosovo, as in Sierra Leone, children must be central in organization, setting priorities, resource allocation and in programming.

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