UNSC Chair Addresses Children in Armed Conflict

After the examination of the fourth report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Nigeria (document S/2024/559) and the adoption of conclusions on the report, the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict agreed to address the following messages through a public statement by the Chair of the Working Group.

To all parties to armed conflict in Nigeria:

• Deeply concerned at the significant increase in the number of violations verified in the reporting period, and strongly condemning all violations and abuses that continue to be committed against children by all parties to the conflict in Nigeria, noting armed groups were responsible for the vast majority of the violations verified in the report; urging all parties to the conflict to immediately end and prevent all abuses and violations against children, including those involving the recruitment and use of children, killing and maiming of children, rape and other forms of sexual violence, attacks on schools and hospitals, abduction, and the denial of humanitarian access and urging all parties to comply with their obligations under international law;
• Noting that the country taskforce on monitoring and reporting had greater access to children who had left armed groups, however, noting with concern that monitoring was hampered by access and security constraints in areas where armed groups operate and that the information contained in the report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Nigeria does not reflect the full impact of armed conflict on children in Nigeria;
• Calling upon all parties to further implement the previous conclusions of the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict in Nigeria (S/AC.51/2023/2);
• Stressing the importance of accountability for all violations and abuses against children in armed conflict and stressing that all perpetrators must be brought to justice and held accountable without undue delay, including through timely, systematic, comprehensive and independent investigations, and, as appropriate, prosecution and conviction; to ensure that all victims and survivors have access to justice and comprehensive, age-appropriate and gender-sensitive, disability-inclusive, non-discriminatory protection and support services, including psychosocial and health care;
• Stressing that the best interests of the child should be a primary consideration, and that the specific needs and vulnerabilities of girls and boys, as well as children with disabilities and displaced children, should be duly considered when planning and carrying out actions concerning children in situations of armed conflict;
• Strongly condemning the high number of and the sharp increase in incidents of abduction of children by Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati Wal-Jihad (JAS) and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), noting the disproportionate impact of abduction on girls, often followed by rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence, including the sexual exploitation and forced marriage of girls, and recruitment and use, including in combat roles and in supporting roles such as cleaners, cooks and for intelligence gathering; strongly urging all parties to the conflict, in particular JAS and ISWAP, to immediately and without preconditions release all children associated with them, to hand them over to relevant civilian child protection actors, in accordance with established protocols, and in coordination with the relevant Nigerian authorities to continue notifying relevant stakeholders, including the United Nations, before the release of detained children to ensure adequate programming, ensuring that children be treated primarily as victims and urging all parties to prevent the abduction of children and the re-recruitment and use of children who have been released, consistent with their obligations under international law, including, as applicable, the Optional Protocol to the Convention of the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict;
• Expressing deep concern about the deprivation of liberty of children for their or their parents' or relatives' association or alleged association with armed groups, including concerns related to children being detained with adults, while welcoming the release of all 181 children from detention during the reporting period; emphasizing that children who have been recruited by armed groups and are accused of having committed crimes during armed conflicts should be treated primarily as victims including those children who are accused of having committed crimes, and that detention should be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time, in line with applicable international law, and reaffirming the importance that all actors respect the rights of children in Nigeria, including, as applicable, under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict to which Nigeria is a State party, noting also the Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups (the Paris Principles);
• Expressing grave concern at the killing and maiming of children, including as a result of crossfire, explosive remnants of war (ERW) and improvised explosive devices (IEDs), shelling and cold weapons, while noting an overall decrease in the number of children killed and maimed compared to the previous reporting period, and calling upon the authorities to scale up explosive ordnance clearance, risk education and victim assistance efforts and calling upon all parties to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law, in particular the principles of distinction, proportionality and humanity, as well as the obligation to take all feasible precautions to avoid and in any event minimize harm to civilians and civilian objects;
• Expressing grave concern about the significant increase in verified cases of rape and other forms of sexual violence perpetrated against children during the reporting period, mainly of girls following their abduction, including displaced children, urging all parties to the armed conflict to take immediate and specific measures to put an end to and prevent the perpetration of rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence against children by their members and stressing the importance of accountability for those who commit sexual violence against children; underscoring that girls continued to be extremely vulnerable to rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence, including sexual exploitation and forced marriage, noting with concern that forced marriage has been used as a negative coping mechanism to deter armed groups from abducting unmarried girls and to alleviate economic desperation and that the risk of sexual violence is compounded by inadequate or limited basic services and livelihood opportunities; noting that sexual violence continued to be vastly underreported due to stigmatization, fear of reprisals, harmful social norms, the absence or lack of access to services, impunity, and safety concerns; stressing the importance of providing non-discriminatory, comprehensive and age-appropriate specialized services, including mental health and psychosocial support, sexual and reproductive health services, legal and livelihood support and services to victims and survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, as well as safe alternatives for girls who do not wish to be reunited or remain with their "husbands" who are affiliated with JAS and ISWAP;
• Strongly condemning the ongoing attacks on schools and hospitals in north-east Nigeria attributed to ISWAP and hostilities and violence perpetrated by JAS and ISWAP, which continued to severely affect children's access to education and health care; welcoming Nigeria's setting up of the 'National Safe Schools Response Coordination Centre (NSRCC), while calling upon all parties to comply with applicable international law and to respect the civilian character of schools and hospitals, including their personnel, and to prevent and end attacks or threats of attacks against those institutions, as such, as well as the military use of schools and hospitals in violation of applicable international law, as guided by the Safe Schools Declaration, which was endorsed by the Government of Nigeria in May 2015, and in line with resolution 2601 (2021), and noting the negative effect that attacks on schools can have on the enjoyment of the right to education, while also noting the negative effects of climate change;
• Expressing particular concern that many children in armed conflict, in particular girls, lack access to education owing to, among other things, attacks against schools and fear of attacks; and expressing further concern about the continuing trend from the previous reporting period with regards to the kidnappings of students for ransom beyond north-eastern Nigeria into the north-west of the country;
• Strongly condemning the high number of and sharp increase in incidents of abduction of children by JAS and ISWAP, including for the purpose of recruitment and use, forced marriage and other forms of sexual violence, and for ransom; urging relevant parties, in particular JAS and ISWAP to immediately cease the abduction of children and all violations and abuses committed against abducted children, noting the disproportionate impact of abduction on girls, including the forced marriage of girls to its fighters, and to immediately release without preconditions all abducted children to relevant civilian child protection actors;
• Expressing grave concern at incidents of denial of humanitarian access, including attacks on, abduction and killing of and threats thereof, to humanitarian personnel the disruption and looting of humanitarian supplies, and interference in humanitarian operations, noting that these incidents affected the delivery of humanitarian aid to thousands of children, and that there was increased hostility towards humanitarian personnel and assets by armed groups; calling upon all parties to the conflict to allow and facilitate, in accordance with international law, including international humanitarian law, safe, timely, and unhindered humanitarian access, consistent with the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence, as well as the United Nations Guiding Principles of Humanitarian Assistance, and to respect the exclusively humanitarian nature and impartiality of humanitarian aid and to respect the work of all United Nations agencies and their humanitarian partners, without adverse distinction;

To JAS and ISWAP:

• Condemning in the strongest possible terms the continuing violations and abuses committed against children by JAS and ISWAP, and strongly urging them to immediately end and prevent all violations and abuses against children in Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin region and to immediately release without preconditions all children associated with them and end and prevent further killing and maiming, abduction, recruitment and use of children, including the re-recruitment of children who have been released, and rape and other forms of sexual violence, and abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law;
• Strongly condemning the targeting of schools and hospitals and their personnel by ISWAP and JAS including through attacks that caused damage to schools, health and humanitarian facilities and destruction of related infrastructure;
• Urging JAS and ISWAP to cease the abduction of children and rape and other forms of sexual violence, specifically targeting girls and to immediately release all abducted children to relevant civilian child protection actors;
• Recalling that the Security Council, by its resolution 2368 (2017), reaffirmed the asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo affecting all individuals and entities, among them JAS and ISWAP, set out in paragraph 1 of resolution 2083 (2012);
• Expressing the readiness of the Working Group to communicate to the Security Council and to the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015) concerning Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Da'esh), Al-Qaida and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities pertinent information with a view to assisting them in the imposition of the sanctions on perpetrators;

To the CJTF:

• Commending the CJTF for the constructive role that it has continued to play, in cooperation with the Government of Nigeria, in the implementation of the 2017 action plan to end and prevent the recruitment and use of children, noting that the CJTF was delisted from the annexes of the 2021 report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict (A/75/873-S/2021/437); welcoming the establishment of child protection units in all CJTF formations in Borno State and the roll-out of awareness-raising activities among CJTF and community members; urging the CJTF, with the continued support of the United Nations, to complete its remaining obligations under the action plan, namely, the training of its units on children's rights and the establishment of accountability mechanisms and to sustain gains made through implementation of the action plan, and calling on the CJTF to address violations when they occur;

To community and religious leaders:

• Emphasizing the important role of community and religious leaders in strengthening the protection of children affected by armed conflict, and recognizing their important role in advocating for an ending to violations and abuses against children, including child, early and forced marriages;
• Urging them to publicly condemn and continue to advocate ending and preventing violations and abuses against children, in particular those involving the recruitment and use of children, killing and maiming, rape and other forms of sexual violence against children, abductions, attacks and threats of attacks against schools and hospitals, and to engage with the Government of Nigeria, the United Nations and other relevant stakeholders to support the reintegration of children affected by armed conflict in their communities, including by raising awareness to avoid the stigmatization of such children.