April 20, 2020 – The UN Secretary-General should apply the same standards to all warring parties that violate children’s rights, said Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict in a new policy note. Watchlist called on the Secretary-General to include six additional government or coalition forces and two armed groups in the annexes of his 2020 annual report on children and armed conflict.
The 29-page policy note, “A Credible List”: Recommendations for the Secretary-General’s 2020 Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict, provides information on grave violations committed against children in 14 countries in 2019. Drawing on UN-verified information and other credible accounts, the policy note recommends that 10 parties in nine countries be added to the Secretary-General’s ‘list of shame,’ listed for additional violations, or investigated further with a view towards possible listing. It also recommends that the Secretary-General include three new ‘situations of concern’ in the report’s narrative.
Read Watchlist’s “A Credible List”: Recommendations for the Secretary-General’s 2020 Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict.
Photo: An empty classroom at a school in northwest Cameroon. © bmszealand / Shutterstock.
