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Mister President, I would like to thank the French Presidency of the Security Council for holding this debate. I also thank the briefers for their presentations and SRSG Leila Zerrougui for her dedication and passionate engagement for the sake of countless children affected by conflict. Lithuania aligns itself with the statement to be delivered on behalf of the European Union. Mr. President, Over a year ago, 59 students were shot and burned to death at a boarding school in Buni Yadi and more than 270 girls abducted in Chibok by Boko Haram in Nigeria. Imagine the anguish and agony of the parents of those girls, confined to waiting and guessing about their fate.   

150 Kurdish boys kidnapped by ISIL on their way from school. 132 children killed in a Taliban attack in Peshawar. Forced conversions, public executions and killings, mutilations, forced marriages, rape, and sex slavery including of children, in areas under murderous Daesh control.

And then, think of the devastating impact on the development and future of the child soldiers, forced to abuse, torture, maim, and kill. Even in the middle of Europe the phenomenon of child soldiers has surfaced under the lawless rule of the illegal militants ravaging the eastern parts of Ukraine, where underage soldiers were reported present among the militants, including training other recruits.

In the last three months, Daesh recruited at least 400 Syrian children- children who have already suffered unspeakable hardships- as “cubs of the caliphate”, for military training and hard line indoctrination.

Some 300 000 child soldiers deprived of everything that childhood is supposed to be around the world, mostly by non-state actors.

These are only a few facts among the countless cases of the staggering depravity of conflict-related violence against children. We simply cannot afford to remain indifferent to their plight.

Mr. President,

In this light, today’s focus on children victims of non-state actors could not be more pertinent. The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions oblige non-state armed groups not to use children under any circumstances.

Last year saw the launch of the Campaign Children Not Soldiers. We welcome the results it has produced so far.

At a national level, the Democratic Republic of Congo released some 4000 children from armed forces and groups and made progress in the implementation of its action plan.  Somalia created a mechanism for handover of former child soldiers to the UN and established a child protection unit.

Progress in Chad enabled its armed forces to be delisted from the Annex of SG report. Yemen signed an action plan pledging to put an end to the widespread recruitment of children by armed forces and non-state groups. Today, however, as the country slides into turmoil, various groups and in particular the Houthis are violating the commitments undertaken with the signing of the plan.

Some steps in the right direction have also been taken by several non-state armed groups. UNICEF secured the release of approximately 3000 children from South Sudan Democratic Army (SSDA/M) Cobra Faction.

In CAR more than a hundred children associated with anti-Balaka were released last summer. In both cases, however, the numbers of children who are forced to carry arms is higher than those of the children released.

Encouraging as these steps are, they are only a drop in the ocean. Only 12 out of the 51 annexed armed groups have signed action plans to date. Only one action plan has been signed since 2009, and none since 2011.

Furthermore, the release of children is only the first step. To avoid the risk of re-recruitment, to ensure that affected children can overcome the horrific physical and psychological traumas they have experienced, they need to be provided with all the necessary care.

Unless we them to reintegrate with their community, ensure counseling, psychological and medical help, provide opportunities and skills necessary for post-traumatic survival, they will remain hostages of the horrors they survived.

A lack of financial recourses and lack of sensitivity to the particular condition of the former child soldiers threaten sustainable reintegration of these children and jeopardize their future. Governments and financial partners have to ensure adequate resources for DDR programmes with a specific focus on child soldiers. Also, there’s a need to build community and family support capacity without which these children will remain vulnerable to re-recruitment or continued trauma that will stump their development.

The uncontrolled flows of SALW  play into the hands of those who abuse and use children as combatants. All efforts aimed at countering child recruitment and violence against children must be undertaken in conjunction with the initiatives aimed at  countering the  illicit flows of SALW  and their misuse.

On our part, we do have a whole range of tools at our disposal, as well as the necessary legal framework in order to help these children. One such tool is sanctions designations. Child recruitment and violence against children must become routine  sanctions designation criteria.  The full range of established violations should be used to trigger designations and listings. Abduction of children should be included as an additional trigger for the monitoring and reporting mechanisms and also for listings.

Other tools include regular interaction between the  SRSG,  relevant sanctions committees and their panels of experts; stronger engagement between the Working Group on children and armed conflict and the ICC, fact finding missions and commissions of inquiry; and continued focus in SG’s country reports on attacks on and military use of schools.

Further pursuit of relevant action plans is also needed, including with non-state actors. Flexibility and openness are required in handling the complex issue of contacts with these groups, or else, the sad state of affairs will not change.We urge relevant governments to facilitate UN and other international, regional and non-governmental organizations’ access to and engagement with non-state actors operating on their territory.

Another key aspect of tackling violence against children and child recruitment is the pursuit of accountability, not only to react to the crimes already committed,  but also to prevent new crimes against children. Much remains to be done on this, including by strengthening national capacities of the judicial sector, a more systematic action within the framework of international justice, including the referral of perpetrators to the International Criminal Court; but also, importantly, creating the political will to pursue justice against child abusers and recruiters.

So far however we have seen only one verdict for the recruitment and use of children- the Thomas Lubanga case by the ICC. The recent appearance of Dominic Ongwen, former child soldier and one of the LRA commanders, before the ICC is another welcome step.  While we welcome these developments, such successes are few and too far between.

As terrorists increasingly use children and adolescents both as targets of recruitment and brainwashing and as perpetrators (including children as young as 8 or 10 as suicide bombers), coherent and pro-active efforts are needed to inform vulnerable communities on how to best protect their children under given circumstances. Developing effective counter-narratives, exposing the terrorist criminals for what they really are, and cutting through the slick media and online recruitment campaigns are required.

To conclude, it is our collective responsibility to stem violence against children, including by non-state actors, by resolute and targeted action. We call on all states to redouble their efforts to this effect.