December 2024 – The report from Watchlist’s August 2024 Geneva Policy Workshop on children and armed conflict (CAAC), hosted jointly with the Geneva Human Rights Platform of the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, highlights the importance of strengthening coordination between Geneva- and New York-based mechanisms to protect children affected by armed conflict.
The workshop brought together representatives from Member States, UN offices and agencies, international investigative mechanisms, UN treaty bodies, civil society organizations, and academia to identify priorities and develop actionable recommendations to address the challenges of protecting children in conflict. This is the eleventh such policy workshop organized by Watchlist, alongside an academic partner, and the first of Watchlist’s workshops to be held in Geneva.
The workshop consisted of three closed working sessions dedicated to (1) identifying current challenges and priorities for the CAAC agenda, with a focus on strengthening coordination between Geneva- and New York-based actors; (2) examining the role of mechanisms such as special mandates, treaty bodies, and investigative mechanisms to enhance child protection; and (3) discussing progress, lessons learned, and ongoing barriers to holding perpetrators accountable for grave violations against children in armed conflict. The workshop also featured a fireside chat on key global initiatives to protect children in war, such as the Paris Principles, the Safe Schools Declaration, the Vancouver Principles, and the EWIPA Declaration.
Read the Summary Report of the 2024 Geneva Policy Workshop.
