PRESS CONFERENCE BY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF SECRETARY-GENERAL

FOR CHILDREN AND ARMED CONFLICT

At a United Nations Headquarters Press Conference today, Olara Otunnu, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, launched a new report, in which the Secretary-General provides for the Security Council's review a list of parties in conflict situations who continue to recruit and use child soldiers.

Olara Otunnu told correspondents this afternoon that the report (document S/2002/1299), which lists 23 parties in five conflict situations on the Council's agenda, served as a signal to parties in conflict that the international community was watching and would hold them responsible for what happened to children in situations under their control.  The report indicated that the international community was becoming serious about moving to translate norms, standards, declarations and resolutions into concrete application on the ground, he said.

"This is a major development", Mr. Otunnu said "and it marks the beginning of the United Nations efforts to put into place a more systematic arrangement for monitoring and reporting on the conduct of parties in conflict relative to what they do to children."  The list was not focused on countries or on situations -- the emphasis was on identifying particular parties -- States and governments, as well as insurgency groups -- whose activities included the use and recruitment of children as soldiers.  He added that the list contained in the report was not comprehensive and had been confined to only five conflict situations on the Security Council's agenda.

Therefore, countries such as Colombia, Sri Lanka, Chechnya, northern Uganda, and Myanmar where the problem of child soldiers was rampant were not included on the list, but were nevertheless discussed in the main body of the report.  He added that situations where conflict had recently ended and where there was no longer any evidence of continued use or recruitment of child soldiers were also not on the list.  With that in mind, he added that Angola, the Balkans and Sierra Leone, where the situation was much improved, were not on the list.

A correspondent asked about government resistance to the specific efforts under way within Mr. Otunnu's Office to put an inspection team on the ground in northern Uganda.  Characterizing the situation in that part of Uganda as "very grave", Mr. Otunnu said that the conflict which had been ongoing for some 17 years involved the recruitment and use of child soldiers, as well as the relocation of civilians to "protected villages", in which conditions were abominable. 

The situation, particularly that of children, had only gotten worse as fighting had intensified in recent months.  He said that non-governmental organizations and United Nations agencies were working on the ground, and he hoped that pressure by the international community would spark some movement towards the relief of children in northern Uganda. 

He went on to say that the Council was set to take up the report at any time, and he hoped that that would be followed by very important conclusions and

measures devoted to the further protection of children.  In response to a question, he said he was not discouraged that the listing was confined only to those conflict situations on the Council's agenda.  "The most important thing is the signal that will be sent by the Security Council", he said, "the hope is that the work for war-affected children can be expanded from this point."

So, any number of developments could grow out of the Council's review of the report, he continued, noting that the list was confined to child soldiering, but the victimization of children during conflicts took other forms.  He hoped the list could be expanded to cover the abduction of children, sexual violence against women and girls, and attacks against schools and hospitals, which was now considered a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court 

While he could not judge what the Council would ultimately do, he believed that all parties concerned -- key governments, regional organizations such as the African Union, and non-governmental organizations -- could take up the list as an advocacy tool on behalf of children.  He added that the Council could expand on this practice and request that other lists be made covering other practices that affected children.

While remaining in the category of child soldering, the Council could also consider expanding the list to conflict situations not on its agenda, but which were nevertheless threats to international peace and security.  That body could then effect a more cohesive and comprehensive response strategy, perhaps including more targeted sanctions, which could, among other things, address the flow of arms or financial resources to parties in conflict.  He reiterated his hope that other international organs and regional bodies, as well as governments, would use their influence to modify the conduct of parties in conflict in favour of the protection of children.

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