Press Conference by Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict

 

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, said today there was “a rapid increase” in child recruitment and gender-based violence in Somalia.

Speaking on her recent trip to Somalia and Kenya at a Headquarters press conference, she highlighted developments in Somalia from meetings held with high-level State and United Nations officials, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), non-governmental organizations and women and children.  The purpose of her visit, she said, was to assess issues and secure commitments relating to grave violations of children and to strengthen the United Nations capacity to report and monitor in accordance with those issues as Security Council resolution 1612 (2005).

She said that despite tight security considerations, she found some “very independent” people in Mogadishu who pointed to a rapid increase in child recruitment.  Some parties reportedly used all possible means to that end - including the use of radio, recruitment in schools and pressure on parents.

With respect to the armed groups Al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam, she said that there had been no apology in terms of the groups’ recruitment of children; in fact, they were doing so in an increased way.  But in terms of the Transitional Federal Government, there was a belief that the army did not recruit that many children.  Instead, it was believed that the allied militias were doing so.  What was certain, she said, was that there were check points outside the AMISOM camp run by the Transitional Federal Government and there were children there.

Turning to security issues, she said gender-based violence was also increasing, particularly the practice of forced marriage.  Schools were being shelled and school management was being disrupted, with each side wanting its curriculum adopted.

In reply to a question on girls’ education, she stated that girls were being taken out of the earlier schools and put into schools having lesser standards, even to the exclusion of science courses.  The security situation in the Bossaso camp “seemed to be terrible”, since land in Puntland was owned by clans, and internally displaced persons had to pay rent.  Health was an issue in the camp with bullets remaining in wounds for an extended period of time and the psycho-social effects on the children were “very apparent”.  Less than half the children in the camp were in any form of school; many had to pay school fees that they could not afford.

On a positive note, she said the Prime Minister of Somalia and a leader of the Transitional Federal Government had agreed to set up a focal point under the Prime Minister to work with the United Nations to develop an action plan.  That action plan would entail the identification and de-listing of children, the provision of access to United Nations officials and monitors, and a reintegration programme for children released.  That was the first step in the right direction, she asserted.  In addition, AMISOM was developing child protection capacity to address reports of children dying because of indiscriminate shelling and fire.  The African Union would have a special child protection unit to further those efforts.

Pirates also posed a threat to children, she noted, as they sent out young children and youth between the ages of 15 and 17 to undertake dangerous tasks.  “So what I can say about Somalia is that children either associated with armed groups or pirates are exploited.”

Somalia was really facing a resource problem, she concluded.  A lot of health, education and food services were being run by the international community and less than 40 per cent of non-food needs had been funded.  So the lack of resources as well as the denial of humanitarian access had very tragic consequences for the children of Somalia, she emphasized.

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For information media • not an official record