Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the UN on the continued use of child soldiers in conflict zones.

The UK is firmly committed to ending the recruitment and use of child soldiers and to protecting all children affected by armed conflict. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council (UNSC), we are using our membership to ensure that conflict-related child protection issues remain a key part of the Council discussions and to ensure that UN operations retain the necessary capacity to address all child protection issues, including the continued use of child soldiers in conflict zones.

For example, to mark the International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers (Red Hand Day) the UK took part in a UNSC Arria meeting on protecting children in shrinking humanitarian spaces. The UK called for better integration of the Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) portfolio into UNSC country specific discussions and for all states to sign up to the key international commitments pertaining to ending the recruitment and use of children in conflict; the Paris Principles and Commitments; the Vancouver Principles; and the Optional Protocol on children in armed conflict. The UK also highlighted the importance of mainstreaming child protection in peacekeeping missions.

We will be participating in the annual CAAC debate in August and will continue to use our position on the UNSC to engage with the international community and advocate greater protection for children in armed conflict against all grave violations, including recruitment and use. As the Foreign and Commonwealth Minister of State responsible fpr Children and Armed Conflict, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon champions this agenda and is committed to raising it's profile and driving progress across Government and internationally.

Background

The UK is an active member of the United Nations Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC), which leads the international response to the issue of child soldiers and child protection. This includes pressing those parties to conflict, listed in the UN Secretary-General's annual report on CAAC, to enter into concrete action plans with the UN to verify and release any child soldiers associated with armed groups and forces and to prevent re-recruitment. The UK is the largest single financial contributor to the office of the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) for CAAC, contributing £800,000 in the last five years, and a member of the 'Global Coalition for Reintegration', a forum to generate new ideas for supporting reintegration programmes for children formerly associated with armed groups.