June 22, 2020 – In an open letter to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, 25 nongovernmental organizations, including Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, express their disappointment with the latest annual report on children and armed conflict (A/74/845-S/2020/525); in particular, the significant disparities between the evidence presented in the report and the parties listed in its annexes for committing grave violations against children.
The NGOs urge the Secretary-General to reconsider his decisions to de-list the Saudi-led coalition for killing and maiming children in Yemen, and the Tatmadaw for recruiting and using children in Myanmar. They also urge the Secretary-General to take steps to ensure that going forward, the annexes accurately and consistently reflect the evidence collected and verified by the UN’s Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism (MRM), in line with existing criteria. Additional evidence of other concerning disparities between the annual report and its annexes is included in an attached annex.
Read the open letter: https://watchlist.org/wp-content/uploads/20200622-open-letter-to-the-secretary-general-re-annual-caac-report-final-updated.pdf.
© Dinosmichail / Shutterstock, Inc.
