PERMANENT COUNCIL OF THE OEA/Ser.G

ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES CP/CAJP-1661/00

12 May 2000

COMMITTEE ON JURIDICAL AND POLITICAL AFFAIRS Original: Spanish

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON JURIDICAL AND POLITICAL AFFAIRS ON THE TOPIC "CHILDREN AND ARMED CONFLICTS"

Through resolution AG/RES. 1619 (XXIX-O/99), "Promotion and Respect for International Humanitarian Law," operative paragraph 4, the General Assembly called upon the member states and all parties to an armed conflict to prevent the participation of children in hostilities, as well as their recruitment in the armed forces and organized armed groups.

At its meeting of July 23, 1999, the Permanent Council referred the topic to the Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs for its consideration.

At its meeting of November 3, 1999, the Committee received representatives of the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, who discussed the efforts of the Coalition at bilateral and regional levels designed to achieve the prohibition of the use of soldiers under 18 years of age and, to that end, requested the support of the OAS member states.

The Coalition representatives discussed at length the results of the Latin American and Caribbean Conference on the Use of Children as Soldiers, held in Montevideo, in July 1999, sponsored by the Government of Uruguay and the Inter-American Children's Institute^/. They emphasized the content of the Declaration of Montevideo, adopted by the Conference, particularly its call to the OAS and its member states to promote measures to stop the recruitment of children under 18 years of age and their participation in armed conflicts.

The Committee continued its consideration of the topic at its meeting of May 11, 2000, at which it approved the draft resolution attached to this report, which is being presented to the Permanent Council for consideration and to the General Assembly at its thirtieth regular session for adoption.

Ambassador Claude Heller

Permanent Representative of Mexico to the OAS

Chair of the Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs

APPENDIX

DRAFT RESOLUTION

CHILDREN AND ARMED CONFLICTS

(Adopted at the meeting of May 11, 2000)

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

RECALLING its resolution AG/RES. 1667 (XXIX-O/99), in which it instructed the Inter-American Children’s Institute to deal systematically with the problem of the participation of children and adolescents in armed conflicts;

ALARMED by the recruitment of children and their participation and use in armed conflicts, and noting that more than 300,000 children under 18 years of age are currently participating in armed conflicts worldwide;

PROFOUNDLY CONCERNED that too often children are the intended or collateral victims of hostilities in the context of armed conflicts, suffering long-term physical, emotional, and psychological trauma;

RECOGNIZING that in such situations, children are deprived, inter alia, of their right to due protection;

NOTING the recommendations contained in the Declaration^/ adopted by the Latin American and Caribbean Conference on the Use of Children as Soldiers, held in Montevideo, on July 5-8, 1999;

WELCOMING WITH SATISFACTION recent international efforts to address the issue of the forced recruitment of children, including the adoption in 1998 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court; the adoption in 1999 of Convention No. 182 of the International Labour Organization (ILO) on the prohibition of the worst forms of child labor, including the forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflicts; and the adoption in 2000 of the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child regarding the participation of children in armed conflicts;

RECALLING the provisions of international humanitarian law that protect children in situations of armed conflicts; and

Having considered the Annual Report of the Inter-American Children’s Institute^/ and, in particular, the resolutions of its Directing Council in this area,

RESOLVES:

1. To urge the member states to consider signing and ratifying the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child regarding the participation of children in armed conflicts.

2. Also to urge the member states that have not yet done so to sign and ratify without delay ILO Convention No. 182 on the worst forms of child labor.

3. To call upon all parties in armed conflicts, with due urgency, to respect the provisions of international humanitarian law that protect children.

4. To support the efforts of the countries concerned to demobilize child soldiers, and to rehabilitate and reintegrate into society children affected by armed conflicts.