PRESS CONFERENCE BY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR CHILDREN AND ARMED CONFLICT

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE BY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR CHILDREN AND ARMED CONFLICT

It had always been hoped that the United States would add to the international community’s momentum on the signing and eventual ratification of the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Olara Otunnu, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, told correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon. "So we have some especially good news", he said, "I'm delighted that today the United States will be signing the Optional Protocols".

Mr. Otunnu said that the Convention's first Optional Protocol, on the involvement of children in armed conflict, was an important element in the movement to end and reverse the use of children as soldiers. The Protocol provided that no person below the age of 18 should be allowed to participate in hostilities; that no compulsory recruitment should take place below the age of 18; and that insurgency groups could neither recruit nor deploy young persons below the age of 18. In terms of voluntary recruitment, the standard age had now been raised to 16.

He went on to say that he had fought hard with his United Nations colleagues and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to reach a successful conclusion to the negotiations on the Protocol so that attention could be turned to taking action that would make a difference on the ground. The Protocol would be important in efforts to build political pressure against those who were abusing children in that way. It would also be crucial to the opening of a dialogue on some of the socio-economic and political factors that facilitated the exploitation of children, as well as identifying adequate capacity-building measures for responding to the well-being and needs of children in armed conflicts. "Today's event is a very important step toward the achievement of these goals and the broader movement to end the practice of child soldiering", he said.

Mr. Otunnu was joined at the briefing by Marjorie Newman-Williams, Director of the Division of Communications for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Guillemette Meunier, Programme Officer, Child Rights, also of UNICEF.

Ms. Newman-Williams said that while UNICEF was very happy to reinforce the existing instruments to protect children, it was also very keen to see the application of those principles translated into the actual protection of children to the enjoy all their rights.

She said that the second Optional Protocol, which deals with the sexual exploitation of children, added an important dimension to Article 35 of the Convention on trafficking in children for any purpose -- it called for the criminalization of that practice as well as cross-border cooperation among

Otunnu Briefing - 2 - 5 July 2000

States. The Protocol also called for information and education campaigns to raise awareness of the issue.

"We at UNICEF are especially pleased to see the international interest in this particular issue", she continued. Where governments had at one time simply refused to talk about trafficking in children, the sentiment was changing, and it had indeed been a government initiative to add that Protocol to the Convention. She cited Cuba’s concern about trafficking in organs; and the Governments of Guatemala and others had been concerned about the abuse of inter- country adoption. It was a significant milestone that the world now appeared ready to face this terrible crime against children.

A correspondent asked what was the current state of the Convention -- at present, how many countries had signed or ratified that instrument? Ms. Newman- Williams said that the Convention had been adopted without a vote in the General Assembly in 1989 and had entered into force in 1990. The Convention had been ratified by 191 States parties; the United States and Somalia were the two countries that had not ratified.

The Convention was interesting, she said, because it was the first binding human rights treaty that reunited civil and political rights with economic, social and cultural rights under one umbrella. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights did not make that distinction. "The Convention recognizes that it is impossible to make that separation”, she said.

Another interesting aspect of the Convention was that it established the principle of "best interest of the child", she continued. In that way, it paved the way for the introduction of the notion that children had a right to participate in making the decisions that affect their lives. These were but a few of the groundbreaking principles that the Convention introduced.

A correspondent asked if Mr. Otunnu and Ms. Newman-Williams could give any figures on the numbers of children that might be affected by trafficking or illegal conscription into armed conflicts.

"We're really dealing with issues that are typically hidden from view”, Ms. Newman-Williams said regarding the difficulty of providing concrete numbers on children being trafficked internationally. Countries did not collect data on the issue of sale and trafficking, and those children were basically "invisible" in the eyes of the international community. "Sadly, everything is an educated guess", she said.

"Unfortunately we see the trend of trafficking in children as well as women increasing", she went on to say. This was generally associated with abject poverty or the breakdown of the family and societal structures that protected children and women. The increased vulnerability certainly made women and children more vulnerable to exploitation for a range of purposes, including pornography, bonded labour or even adoption. "There's a very powerful international network out there", she added, "and there's a lot of money at stake".

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Mr. Otunnu said that it was estimated that 300,000 persons under the age of 18 were currently being exploited as child soldiers. That figure had been provided by Save the Children in Sweden, which specialized in collecting data on children in armed conflict. The non-governmental organization Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers had also provided important research in this regard.

Another correspondent wanted to know if there was any particular reason why the United States Congress had not ratified the Convention. Were there any particular provisions or Articles that the Congress opposed?

"I wouldn't say they are against ratification", Ms. Newsman-Williams said, "What we know is that Congress tends to handle one international convention of this nature at a time". It appeared that the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women had been trying to make its way through for some years, and perhaps the Convention on the Rights of the Child would follow. She went on to say that it was important to note that it was not common practice for the United States Government to ratify certain international treaties, particularly those dealing with human rights. It was her sincere wish, however, that the United States would join the family of nations that had ratified the Convention.

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