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Shadow Report "Child soldiers" published

(Berlin, December 2007) Kindernothilfe and terre des hommes have published the shadow report in the context of the States Report Procedure pursuant to Article 8 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflicts.

Kindersoldaten in UgandaChild soldier in Northern Uganda. Picture: dpa 
The Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the United Nations in 1989, will be 18 on 20 November 2007. A history of success: It is the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history. 193 countries have pledged to implement it. The Convention has been complemented by two Optional Protocols that entered into force on 12 February 2002. One of them refers to the involvement of children in armed conflict and aims to effectively enhance their protection. However, there is a wide gap between law and reality. This is particularly obvious when looking at the situation of child soldiers. Their rights continue to be violated in many parts of the world. The problem is most critical in Africa where an estimated 120,000 boys and girls are part of the armed forces and of armed groups; across the world there are approximately 250,000 to 300,000 child soldiers. They are forced to fight in armed conflict; they work as messengers, cooks and porters; many of them are sexually abused, tortured and murdered.

How is it possible to achieve accountability of governments and ensure their compliance?
The United Nations' human rights system contains various instruments and measures to secure the compliance of member States. Yet, in the case of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, up to now there are only the country reports according to Article 44. No communication procedure has been introduced to date. The States Parties report to a special UN Committee (treaty body) submitting information on the measures they have taken to implement the Convention in their country. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva monitors the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols. This procedure also involves non-governmental organisations. They have the opportunity to submit a Shadow Report or supplementary report to the Committee and to participate in a hearing of the 18-strong international expert panel. The procedure ends with the Committee drafting final recommendations (Concluding Observations) after its examination of the government report. The recommendations are published on the Committee's website and constitute an important point of reference for the work of non-governmental organisations. For the following reporting cycle (for the German Federal government the third country report under the Convention is due in 2009), the Committee expects the government to make a comment and render account of the measures adopted to implement the recommendations.

Report of the Federal Government to the UN has shortcomings
The present Shadow Report refers to the initial report of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United Nations concerning the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflicts. This report was adopted by the Federal Cabinet in late 2006 and has been presented to the UN Committee for examination. The Committee will discuss it in early 2008. Since, from the point of view of non-governmental organisations, the report has shortcomings and gaps, terre des hommes and Kindernothilfe have made up their minds to have a Shadow Report compiled. It is published on behalf of both organisations and the German branch of the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, an alliance of non-governmental organisations founded in 1991.

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Contact:
Barbara Dünnweller
phone: +49 203 7789-180
E-mail: barbara.duennweller@knh.de

 

 
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