Updates from the field

The Conflict in Syria and the UN’s Children and Armed Conflict Agenda
The Houla massacre of 108 civilians, nearly half children under the age of 10, has catapulted the Syrian conflict to the forefront of the United Nations Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) agenda.  Following confirmation of the number of children killed in Houla by Observers from the UN Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS), the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict (SRSG), Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, released a statement condemning in the harshest terms the Houla killings and called for investigations into the circumstances behind the deadly attacks. Ms. Coomaraswamy’s statement that “the perpetrators of these horrendous crimes in El-Houle must be held accountable” echoed an earlier statement from the UN Security Council which reiterated that the use of force against a civilian population is a violation of international law and that those responsible must be held accountable.
 
Read More

Justice for “Bush Wives”: The ICC and Bosco Ntaganda - A Watchlist Blog on the Huffington Post 
Bosco Ntaganda, a former top commander of Thomas Lubanga's UCP/FPLC in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), was indicted for child recruitment and use by the ICC in 2006. In 2009, Ntaganda became a general in the Congolese armed forces. He had circulating freely in Goma, North Kivu, until a few weeks ago. After the ICC's judgment in the Lubanga case in March 2012, Ntaganda went into hiding in the Virunga National Park, where he is allegedly protected by a group of loyalists who recently defected from the Congolese army. The ensuing troop movements have caused widespread insecurity in the Kivu provinces, displacing whole villages and causing thousands of women, men and children to seek refuge across the border into Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi. There are also new reports of forced recruitment of child soldiers by Ntaganda's men.

Serious delays for the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict 
On July 5, 2011, the Secretary-General released his fourth report on the situation of children and armed conflict in Sudan. On July 9 2011, South Sudan gained independence from Sudan. Given the changing realities on the ground, the Security Council’s Working Group has been negotiating two separate outcome documents for the report: one set of conclusions for children and armed conflict in Sudan and one set of conclusions for children and armed conflict in South-Sudan.
 
On May 31, 2012 – almost eleven months after the publication of the report- the Working Group met in formal session to adopt the conclusions on Sudan and South Sudan. However, in the absence of a consensus on humanitarian access in Sudan, the Working Group was unable to adopt the conclusions.

Read More