Public statement by Chair of Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict

The Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, in connection with the examination of the third report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Nigeria (document S/2022/596), agreed to convey the following messages through a public statement by the Chair of the Working Group:

To all parties to conflict in Nigeria:

• Strongly condemning all violations and abuses that continue to be committed against children by all parties to the conflict in Nigeria, noting that Boko Haram-affiliated and splinter groups were responsible for the vast majority of the incidents verified in the report, and noting with concern the disproportionate negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children; urging all parties to the conflict to immediately end and prevent all abuses and violations against children, including those involving the recruitment and use of children, killing and maiming of children, rape and other forms of sexual violence, attacks on schools and hospitals, abduction and the denial of humanitarian access and urging all parties to comply with their obligations under international law; (2020 conclusions 5a)
• Noting with concern that access restrictions to conflict-affected areas during the reporting period presented challenges to the verification of the six grave violations against children and that the information contained in the report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Nigeria (document S/2022/596) does not reflect the full impact of armed conflict on children in Nigeria; (2020 conclusions 5b and Secretary-General report paragraph 16)
• Calling upon all parties to further implement the previous conclusions of the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict in Nigeria (document S/AC.51/2020/4);
• Stressing the importance of accountability for all violations and abuses against children in armed conflict and stressing that all perpetrators must be brought to justice and held accountable without undue delay, including through timely and systematic investigations, and as appropriate, prosecution and conviction; to ensure that all victims have access to justice and to the medical, protection and support services that they need; (2020 conclusions paragraph 5d)
• Stressing that the best interests of the child should be a primary consideration, and that the specific needs and vulnerabilities of girls and boys, as well as children with disabilities and displaced children, should be duly considered, when planning and carrying out actions concerning children in situations of armed conflict; (Yemen 4d)
• Strongly condemning the continued recruitment and use of children, and strongly urging armed groups to immediately and without preconditions release all children associated with them, to hand them over to relevant civilian child protection actors in coordination with the respective Nigerian authorities and urging all parties to end and prevent the further recruitment and use of children in armed conflict, including the re-recruitment of children who have been released, consistent with their obligations under international law, including, as applicable, the Optional Protocol to the Convention of the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict; (based on 2020 conclusions 5e, streamlined)
• Expressing deep concern about the deprivation of liberty of children for their or their parents’ association or alleged association with Boko Haram-affiliated and splinter groups, emphasizing that children who have been recruited by armed groups and are accused of having committed crimes during armed conflicts should be treated primarily as victims and reaffirming the importance that all actors respect the rights of children in Nigeria, including, as applicable, under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict (2020 conclusions 5f; SG report)
• Expressing grave concern at the killing and maiming of children, including as a result of crossfire and airstrikes, explosive remnants of war and improvised explosive devices, and suicide attacks, while noting an overall decrease in the number of children killed and maimed compared to the previous reporting period, and calling upon all parties to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law, in particular the principles of distinction, proportionality and humanity, as well as the obligation to take all feasible precautions to avoid and in any event minimize harm to civilians and civilian objects; (2020 conclusions 5g and Secretary-General report paragraphs 29-32)
• Expressing grave concern about the high number of incidents of rape and other forms of sexual violence perpetrated against children including displaced children, urging all parties to the armed conflict to take immediate and specific measures to put an end to and prevent the perpetration of rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence against children by their members and stressing the importance of accountability for those who commit sexual violence against children; underscoring that girls continued to be deliberately targeted through rape and other forms of sexual violence, including sexual exploitation, sexual slavery and forced marriage, noting with concern the difficulty of tracking, documenting and verifying such violations and abuses owing to a lack of safe reporting mechanisms, survivors’ fear of stigma and retaliatory attacks and a lack of access to some conflict affected areas by the country task force, resulting in underreporting; stressing the importance of providing non-discriminatory and comprehensive specialized services, including mental health and psychosocial support, health, including sexual and reproductive health services, legal and livelihood support and services to survivors of conflict-related sexual violence; (2020 conclusions 5h and 5s, and Iraq 4h)
• Strongly condemning the ongoing attacks on schools and hospitals in north-east Nigeria, which continued to severely affect children’s access to education and health care, the overwhelming majority of which were attributed to ISWAP and JAS; calling upon all parties to comply with applicable international law and to respect the civilian character of schools and hospitals, including their personnel, and to end and prevent attacks or threats of attacks against those institutions, as such, in violation of applicable international law, as guided by the Safe Schools Declaration, which was endorsed by the Government of Nigeria in May 2015, and in line with resolution 2601 (2021), and noting the negative effect that attacks on schools can have on the enjoyment of the right to education; (2020 conclusions 5i and 5t, and Secretary-General report paragraphs 39-40)
• Expressing particular concern that many children in armed conflict, in particular girls, lack access to education owing to, among other things, attacks against schools; (verbatim 2020 conclusions paragraph 5j); and expressing further concern regarding the extension of Boko Haram-affiliated and splinter groups operations beyond north-eastern Nigeria towards the north-west of the country in particular the spread of violence targeting schools and reportedly involving kidnappings for ransom of students;
• Strongly condemning the high number of incidents of abduction of children by JAS and ISWAP, including for the purpose of recruitment and use, forced marriage and other forms of sexual violence; urging relevant parties, in particular Boko Haram-affiliated and splinter groups, to immediately cease the abduction of children and all violations and abuses committed against abducted children, noting the gendered impacts of abduction, including the forced marriage of girls to its fighters, and to immediately release without preconditions all abducted children to relevant civilian child protection actors; (2020 conclusions 5k and Secretary-General report paragraph 43)
• Expressing grave concern at incidents of denial of humanitarian access, including attacks on, abduction and killing of and threats thereof, to humanitarian personnel, and calling upon all parties to the conflict to allow and facilitate, in accordance with international law, including international humanitarian law, safe, timely, and unhindered humanitarian access, consistent with the United Nations Guiding Principles of humanitarian assistance, as well as the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence, to respect the exclusively humanitarian nature and impartiality of humanitarian aid and to respect the work of all United Nations agencies and their humanitarian partners, without adverse distinction; (based on 2020 conclusions paragraph 5l and compromise solution e.g. South Sudan 2020 paragraph 5n) 

To the Government of Nigeria: 

• Stressing the primary role of the Government of Nigeria in providing protection and relief to all children affected by armed conflict in Nigeria, consistent with its obligations under international law, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its optional protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict; (2020 conclusions paragraph 5m)
• Welcoming the signing between the Government of Nigeria and the United Nations of a handover protocol to facilitate the release and handover of children actually or allegedly associated with armed groups to civilian child protection actors and encouraging it to expedite the implementation of the protocol, and to grant access to the United Nations and child protection actors to detention facilities, while noting that the country task force was unable to determine the overall number of children still in detention for their actual or alleged association with armed groups; (2020 conclusions 5p and 7e, and Secretary-General report paragraph 23) 
• Welcoming the efforts of the Government of Nigeria, with the support of the United Nations and partners, leading to the reintegration of 6,503 children formerly associated with armed groups, and emphasizing the importance of sustainable, effective and gender-sensitive reintegration of all children released through family- and community-based reintegration programmes, as well as the provision of educational, health, mental health and psychosocial support programmes to all children affected by conflict, (based on 2020 conclusions 5q and 7f, and Secretary-General report paragraph 63; latter half retained in 7e) 
• Welcoming the signing into law by the Borno State government of the Child Rights Act, and stressing the importance of pursuing efforts towards accountability by investigating and, as appropriate, prosecuting and sanctioning anyone found to be responsible for violations and abuses against children; (2020 conclusions 7g, updated and Secretary-General report paragraph 59)

To Boko Haram-affiliated and splinter groups including JAS and ISWAP

• Condemning in the strongest possible terms the continuing violations and abuses committed against children by Boko Haram-affiliated and splinter groups, notably JAS and ISWAP, and strongly urging them to immediately end and prevent all violations and abuses against children in Nigeria and the Lake Chad basin and to immediately release without preconditions all children and end and prevent the further recruitment and use of children, including the re-recruitment of children who have been released; (2020 conclusions 5u and updated in accordance with the Secretary-General’s report)
• Strongly condemning the targeting of schools and their personnel by ISWAP and JAS including through the burning of educational facilities and destruction of related infrastructure (2020 conclusions 5w and Secretary-General report paragraphs 39-40)
• Urging Boko Haram-affiliated and splinter groups, in particular JAS and ISWAP, to cease the abduction of children, including abductions specifically targeting girls; (2020 conclusions 5x and updated)
• Recalling that the Security Council, by its resolution 2368 (2017), reaffirmed the asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo affecting all individuals and entities, among them Boko Haram-affiliated and splinter groups, set out in paragraph 1 of resolution 2083 (2012); (verbatim 2020 conclusions 5y)
• Expressing the readiness of the Working Group to communicate to the Security Council and to the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015) concerning Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Da’esh), Al-Qaida and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities pertinent information with a view to assisting them in the imposition of the sanctions on perpetrators; (verbatim 2020 conclusions 5z)

To the CJTF:

• Commending the CJTF for the constructive role that it has played, in cooperation with the Government of Nigeria, in the adoption and implementation of the action plan to end and prevent the recruitment and use of children, noting that the CJTF was delisted from the annexes of the 2021 report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict (document A/75/873–S/2021/437); urging the CJTF, with the continued support of the United Nations, to complete its remaining obligations under the action plan, namely, the training of its units on children’s rights and the establishment of accountability mechanisms and to sustain gains made through implementation of the action plan; (2020 conclusions paragraph 5aa and Secretary-General report paragraph 51)

To community and religious leaders: 

• Emphasizing the important role of community and religious leaders in strengthening the protection of children affected by armed conflict, and recognizing their important role in advocating for an ending to violations and abuses against children;
• Urging them to publicly condemn and continue to advocate ending and preventing violations and abuses against children, in particular those involving the recruitment and use of children, killing and maiming, rape and other forms of sexual violence against children, abductions, attacks and threats of attacks against schools and hospitals, and to engage with the Government of Nigeria, the United Nations and other relevant stakeholders to support the reintegration of children affected by armed conflict in their communities, including by raising awareness to avoid the stigmatization of such children.