PHA-Exchange> In preparation of PHA 2 (No. 27)

[Claudio]

ACTION PLAN FOR SYSTEMATIC WORLDWIDE REPORTING OF CHILD ABUSE
sent by <vern.weitzel at undp.org>

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special envoy for children and
armed conflict (CAAC)
today launched an action plan for systematically monitoring and reporting of
child abuse in
situations of armed conflict, or in "situations of concern," with a view to
triggering a strong
international response.

In the past several years, CAAC issues had benefited from increased
visibility and advocacy, while
key regional and multilateral organizations had adopted many CAAC norms as
their own, Special
Representative Olara Otunnu told a news conference at which he discussed Mr.
Annan's report to the
Security Council.

The estimated number of child soldiers had declined to 300,000 from 380,000
in the last 18 months,
Mr. Otunnu said.

"In spite of these advances, the situation for children remains grave and
unacceptable on the
ground," he said. "The key to overcoming this gulf lies in instituting an
international compliance
regime."

The regime would list all offending parties, whether from the government or
rebel side, in all
situations of concern, "whether or not those situations are on the agenda of
the Security Council,"
Mr. Otunnu said.

He noted that his mandate did not define the term "armed conflict," adding
that being listed in the
report "should not be construed as a legal determination that there exists a
situation of armed
conflict within the meaning of the
<"http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/93.htm">Geneva Conventions
and their Additional Protocols."

Violations included recruiting children as soldiers, abducting, maiming, or
killing them, subjecting
them to rape and other sexual violence and attacking schools and hospitals,
he said.

For widespread and unacceptable patterns of violation, the Security Council
should take such
measures as imposing travel restrictions on leaders, excluding them from
future governance
structures or amnesties, arms embargoes and military assistance bans and
restrictions on the flow of
financial resources, Mr. Otunnu said.

Other "destinations for action" would be the General Assembly, the
Commission on Human Rights, the
International Criminal Court, regional organizations and, as the first line
of response, the
national governments within whose borders the children are endangered.

The report updates developments in nine countries on the Security Council's
agenda, including Côte
d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Iraq, the occupied
Palestinian territory and
Sudan.

Eight others were either not on that agenda or were in other situations of
concern. They are
Colombia, Myanmar, Nepal, Northern Ireland, the Philippines, the Russian
Federation, Sri Lanka and
Uganda.