November 21, 2024 – The listing of any party to an armed conflict in the UNSG’s list of perpetrators triggers the establishment of the formal MRM and the Country Task Force on Monitoring and Reporting in that conflict situation. Additionally, the UNSG reports to the SCWG-CAAC on situations with at least one listed party. The SCWG-CAAC then makes recommendations to relevant actors to strengthen the protection of children and end and prevent grave violations against them. Currently, there are 18 such conflict situations.
This report examines data from these situations where at least one party to armed conflict has been listed in the UNSG’s annexed list of perpetrators and where the formal UN MRM has been established. Watchlist compiled data from the UNSG’s annual reports on CAAC for each of these situations between 2002 and 2024 in its CAAC Global Dashboard, which serves as the basis for this analysis. The analysis shows that the below factors play a role in shaping trends in grave violations:
- Conflict and peace process dynamics. Levels of grave violations often ebb and flow over time as the scale and severity of armed conflicts fluctuate.
- Third-party supporters. Third-party governments—including the 5 Permanent Members of the UNSC—have offered robust security support to some of the worst perpetrators of grave violations.
- Legal accountability. The scale of ‘trigger’ violations is lower in contexts where the International Criminal Court (ICC) has jurisdiction, compared with contexts for which the ICC lacks jurisdiction.
- Local civil society activities. In country contexts with the lowest levels of civil society participation, States exhibit a greater propensity to perpetrate ‘trigger’ violations. Conversely, States on the higher end of the civil society participation spectrum exhibit a lower propensity to perpetrate ‘trigger’ violations.
The report further examines these dynamics through case studies from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Northeast Syria. Finally, the report includes key recommendations related to: 1) elevating visibility for, and fortifying the credibility of, the CAAC agenda; 2) combatting impunity for grave violations; 3) deepening understanding of the drivers of grave violations; and 4) bolstering coordination among the varied actors advocating for and implementing the CAAC agenda.
Photo: Florian Bastian Seriex, © ICRC.
