UNICEF

Comission: UNICEF
Topic: Children Involment in Armed Conflict
President: María Alejandra Gómez
Vicepresident: Juan Pablo Zalgado

The president and vicepresident of the UNICEF kindly welcomes you to the committe and,
furthermore, to CLCMUN. We hope that your preparation and skills exceed our expectations
as well as our effort at chairing the commission satifies you. We encourage you to do your
best representig your nations, to share new ideas towards this important issue and to look for
solutions to finally end this problem. We also hope, that with a good preparation from your
part, delegates, this committe will be a complete success.

UNICEF'S Work

UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, was created in December 1946 after World War
II, with the aim of providing food, clothing and health care to the European children affected
after the war. In 1953 UNICEF became permanent part of the UN, begging its work with a
global campaign against yaws and disfugurating diseases that were affecting millons of
children. Ever since, UNICEF has worked in different countries worldwide to provide health
care and education, besides helping children in armed conflicts, emergencies and in
extremenly difficult circumstances. UNICEF, also investigates the social issues that affect
children.
The main objectives of UNICEF in improving children's lifes around the world are:

1. The implementation of measures that give children an appropiate enviroment to grow

up.
2. The promotion of girl's education worldwide.
3. The enforcement of procedures to immunize all children against common childhood
diseases as well as to improve their nutrition.
4. The prevention of the spred of HIV/AIDS among young people.
5. The protection of children in emergencies, risky situations; whenever their life and
integrity is in danger as in any form of exploitation, violence or abuse.

In 1959, the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, which
defines children's rights to protection, education, health crea, shelter and good nutrition. And it
is UNICEF's labor to make sure those rights are being protected.
Children Involment in Armed Conflict

Children are the primary victims of armed conflict. They are both its targets and increasingly
its instruments. Their suffering bears many faces, in the midst of armed conflict and its
aftermath. Children are killed or maimed, made orphans, abducted, deprived of education and
health care, and left with deep emotional scars and trauma. They are recruited and used as
child soldiers, forced to give expression to the hatred of adults. Uprooted from their homes,
displaced children become very vulnerable. Girls face additional risks, particularly sexual
violence and exploitation. All of these categories of children are victims of armed conflict. All
of them deserve the attention and protection of the international community.

In 1989, the Convention on the Rights of the Child is adopted by the UN General Assemably.
It enters into force in September 1990. It suddenly becomes the most widely -and rapidly-
accepted human rights treaty in history.
Unfortunately, there are at least (with possible children involvement in armed conflict) 30
countries that are not respecting this convention. 30 countries, because it is the number of
nations affected by wars. And as Graça Machel would say in her report The Impact of Armed
Conflict on Children (1996), "War violates every right of a child — the right to life, the right to
be with family and community, the right to health, the right to the development of the
personality, and the right to be nurtured and protected."

It has been reported that in the last ten years, approximately 2 million children have been
killed in armed conflict, 6 million have been seriously injured or permanently disabled, and
more than 300.000 are used as soldiers around the world. Furthermore, since 2003, more
than 11 million children have been internally displaced and 2.4 million have been forced into
exile as refugees.

But what are the root causes of this problem? Children are often abducted and forced into
association with armed groups, but sometimes they appear to join willingly. Poverty, illiteracy
and discrimination, as well as a lack of formal education and livelihood opportunities, are
some of the drivers of "voluntary" recruitment. Protection, survival, desire for revenge or a
sense of belonging due to loss of home and family members also sometimes compel children
to join armed groups. For some, the lack of legitimate avenues for political dissent and
participation or ideologies of nationalism or ethnic identity become powerful motivating
factors.

Children are considered an economically efficient alternative to adult combatants. They are
easily indoctrinated, manipulated and influenced by heroic notions of masculinity and power.
The length of a conflict, the proximity of refugee camps or internally displaced persons'
settlements to conflict zones, the failed reintegration of children and the impunity of those who
recruit and use children are additional contributing factors.

Evidence indicates that the recruitment and use of children have become the means of choice
of many armed groups for waging war. At root there are numerous and often interrelated
factors that drive the recruitment and use of child soldiers. Fighting groups have developed
brutal and sophisticated techniques to separate and isolate children from their communities.
Children are often terrorized into obedience, consistently made to fear for their lives and well-
being. They quickly recognize that absolute obedience is the only means to ensure survival.
Sometimes they are compelled to participate in the killing of other children or family members,
because it is understood by these groups that there is "no way back home" for children after
they have committed such crimes.

But not all involment of children in war means the use of children as soldiers. Because
children are not part of the conflict, they are victims of it: they are used as targets, girls are
used as sexual objects (including prostution and sexual abuse), children displacement,
injured children by war (including psychological tortures, traumas, etc.), abduction, arbitrary
detentions, enforced dissapearances, poverty and lack of education as conscequences of
war.

What measures have been taken? 5 UN resolutions, one convention with the OIT, the
creation of a Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict and a Monitoring and Reporting
Mechanism (MRM) to systematically monitor, document and report on these heinous abuses
of the rights of children. Moreover, international norms and standards have been applied in
different countries. Another significant political-level initiative is the strong commitment
expressed by Member States to the Paris Commitments and the Principles and Guidelines
,on Childern Associated With Armed Forces or Armed Groups, which provide guidelines on
the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of all categories of children associated with
armed groups.