New UN resolution on child soldiers

After a day of debate on the recruitment of child soldiers and the murder and abuse of children in armed conflicts, the UN Security Council on Wednesday evening passed a resolution calling on all nations to do more to protect children in war zones. Olara Otunnu, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, told the council that over the last decade two million children around the world had been killed in wars, one million orphaned, six million seriously injured, and over 10 million left suffering with grave psychological trauma. The council session which heard over 40 speakers, was chaired by Foreign minister Theo-Ben Gurirab, who will hold the rotating presidency this month of the UN Security Council. The meeting was told that 300,000 children were currently serving as soldiers, guerrilla fighters or in support roles in more than 30 nations. These countries included Sierra Leone, Angola, Liberia, Sudan, Kosovo, Colombia, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. Otunnu cited a Kenyan village elder who said, "in our tradition, men fight men, but now they target women, children and elders". Otunnu said that the most damaging loss a society could suffer "is the collapse of its own value system" and he added there was a need to reinforce local value systems which have traditionally been instrumental in protecting children and women in times of war. Otunnu said the age limit for children recruited as soldiers should be raised from 15 to 18 - a move opposed, however, by the United States which said it wanted to retain the ability to recruit for the military from high school. The council passed a resolution which recommended: Governments prosecute those who recruit children to fight; special protection for children against rape and other abuses; the welfare of children be incorporated into peace negotiations; the UN Secretary-General ensures peacekeeping forces receive special training in child protection. Gurirab, the Namibian foreign minister, said that in Africa the impact of armed conflicts on children had been particularly harmful, and that no region of the continent had been spared the scourge of armed conflicts: "As one human family, we are demeaned and diminished when the response to humanitarian needs of victims does not measure up to the gravity of the situation as regards the plight of children."