Children and armed conflict

Since 1999 the Security Council has adopted resolutions specific to children and armed conflict, each one containing progressively more concrete provisions to protect children. These are relevant of the girl child who is often the victim of sexual violence and exploitation, and, increasingly, being recruited into fighting forces.

Date	Security Council Resolution (SCR)	Children and Armed Conflict
1999	UN SCR 1261	Identified the issue of children in armed conflict as a global priority. It was the first to condemn the targeting of children in armed conflict including the recruitment and use of child soldiers.
2000	UN SCR 1314	Established more targeted measures to protect children during and after conflict.
2001	UN SCR 1379	Considered provisions to protect children during peacekeeping operations and requested the Secretary-General to identify parties to conflict that used or recruited child soldiers.
2003	UN SCR 1460	Called for the immediate end to the use of child soldiers and endorsed an "era of application" of international norms and standards for the protection of war-affected children.
2004	UN SCR 1539	Condemned the use of child soldiers and asked the Secretary-General to devise a monitoring mechanism.The resolution marked the first time the Council had broadened the protection framework by identifying other categories of violations against children.
2005	UN SCR 1612	Establishes a comprehensive mechanism for monitoring, reporting on, and punishing those responsible for grave violations against children in conflict initially in priority countries where this is an issue, focusing in particular on the six most grave violations against children in armed conflict. It also created the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict.
2009	UN SCR 1882	Builds upon SRC 1612 and strengthened the protection of children in situations of armed conflict through the development of additional complete, time-bound action plans to halt killing and maiming of children, and rape and other sexual violence against children.
2011	UN SCR 1998	Declared schools and hospitals off limits for both armed groups and military activities, asking the Secretary-General for such crimes to be placed on a list of those committing "grave violations" against children.
2012	UN SCR 2068	Expressed deep concern about perpetrators who persisted in committing violations against children and reiterated its readiness to adopt targeted and graduated measures against them. Called on the Working Group to consider, within the year, a broad range of options for increasing pressure on persistent perpetrators.
Source: Security Council Report, “UN Documents for Children and Armed Conflict: Security Council Resolutions”, accessed in May 2013.

The Children and Armed Conflict website contains more information on the role of the Security Council, official documents, an interactive map, the Security Council’s working group (see also the working group’s official site), and useful information about the monitoring and reporting mechanism (MRM). For more details on the MRM, the field manual revised in 2010 by UNICEF, the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict, and DPKO, contains useful information for field-based programmers, including guidance on what constitutes “UN-verified” information.

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