In order to promote the impact and effectiveness of the United Nations Children and Armed Conflict (CAC) agenda, Watchlist pursued the following policy and advocacy activities on the occasion of the August 2016 CAC Open Debate:
- Special CAC Monthly Update
In this special edition of the CAC Monthly Update, Watchlist makes specific calls to the Security Council and Member States for: more accurate and credible listing of perpetrators of the six grave violations; strengthened monitoring, reporting and response; more and successful UN action plan implementation with armed forces and groups; and stronger protections of children’s rights within peacekeeping missions. Most importantly, Watchlist stresses the need for the Secretary-General (SG) to hold all parties to armed conflict, without exception, to the same standard for listing in the annexes of his annual reports on CAC if credible evidence exists that the grave violations were committed, as collected, vetted, and verified through the UN-led 1612 Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism. This is due to the SG’s decision to “temporarily remove” the Saudi Arabia-led coalition listed in the report’s annexes for killing and maiming and attacks on schools and hospitals in Yemen, in face of undue political pressure.
The special update was published ahead of the August Security Council Open Debate to give specific recommendations to intervening delegations as they were drafting their statements.
Click here to read the August 2016 Special CAC Monthly Update
- Social Media Campaign #ChildrensRightsUpFront
In response to the 2016 report controversy, Watchlist created a Twitter hashtag #ChildrensRightsUpFront to draw attention to the fact that the SG’s decision could have potentially dramatic consequences for the CAC agenda. Watchlist encourages use of the #ChildrensRightsUpFront hashtag to draw attention to both the decision to temporarily remove the above-mentioned listing, calling attention to damage it will do to the integrity, credibility, and accuracy of the list, as well as to highlight those UN and NGO collected documentation supportive of the listing. Watchlist will continue this social media campaign in lead up to the August Open Debate.
Click here for the link to the campaign’s multimedia page
Click here to read Watchlist’s Press Release on the August 2016 Open Debate on Children and Armed Conflict
