Today's Date:

May I first thank you, Minister, for taking the initiative to hold this debate on children in armed conflicts. France has, as you know, been heavily involved in this question at the UN and with her European Union partners, and fully supports you in this initiative.

All over the world, wars continue to bring death and suffering to huge numbers of children. Since 1990, two million children have died, victims of wars; six million have been wounded, 22 million are refugees or have been internally displaced – not counting the many acts of violence against them: kidnappings, mutilations, sexual abuse, attacks against schools, etc. There are still some 300,000 child soldiers in the world. The suffering of a child caught up in the torment of a war of adults is always appalling. But for the child to be exploited and used in war is a scandal that the international community must not tolerate.

Our debate today must be directed to action. It must enlighten us on the urgent necessary measures which have to be taken to end the intolerable violence of which hundreds of thousands of children are victims throughout the world, because of wars.

As the Secretary-General’s latest report rightly notes, we are confronted today with a cruel dichotomy: on one hand, clear, rigorous standards have been adopted at the international level to ensure the protection of children in armed conflicts. On the other, atrocities continue on the ground, and those who commit them enjoy almost total impunity.

UNSCRs

The failure to implement the standards it has decreed must be a matter of concern to the international community.
More particularly, it is a matter of concern to us, members of the Security Council. For since 1999, the Council has adopted five resolutions demanding an immediate end to child recruitment and progressively stepping up pressure on the armed groups responsible. Two of these resolutions illustrate the progression:

- UNSCR 1379 – adopted on 20 November 2001, anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child – asked the Secretary-General to submit to the Council a “black list” of parties to an armed conflict, recruiting or using child soldiers in violation of international rules, and for the first time envisioned targeted sanctions. - UNSCR 1539, adopted last year, demanded that the parties identified in the black lists cease practices in violation of international law, and established a graduated, concrete regime on the ground providing, in the absence of progress and as a last resort, for sanctions against the parties concerned.

As is the case of UNSCR 1379, the main provisions of this resolution have not been implemented.

France, the source of both these texts, which she presented and negotiated in the Council, considers this situation inadmissible.

ACTION/SANCTIONS

Accordingly, we can only subscribe to the recommendation of the Secretary-General who, in his last report, reiterates his request to the Security Council last year: to agree concrete targeted measures in the absence of progress on the ground.

These measures are necessary. They are explicitly envisioned in the last three resolutions adopted by the Council. We must move now from “consideration” to action.

We are well aware that the decision to impose targeted sanctions raises many questions. One of these questions is linked to the fact that the groups identified in “black lists” are engaged in conflicts well outside the scope of situations on the Council’s agenda.

In addition, we will have to take into account the fact that some of these groups are already subject to a sanctions regime.

Lastly, we will have to keep in mind the fact that the recruitments per se are part of a spectrum of very serious violations, particularly those linked to sexual violence.

All these questions will naturally have to be studied and discussed in detail.

DEMOBILIZED CHILDREN

At the same time, we must avoid concentrating exclusively on the issue of sanctions. These measures, while certainly necessary, must be part of a comprehensive mechanism for not only monitoring and reporting, but also following up demobilized children. If you don’t mind, I would like to dwell for a few moments on this mechanism:

- monitoring and reporting first: the purpose of such a mechanism is to obtain systematically and fast objective, accurate and reliable information on violations against children in situations of armed conflict. This information is absolutely necessary if we want to move to action. In his last report, the Secretary-General proposes an action plan for setting up such a mechanism, involving a broad range of actors, including, naturally, his special representative, Olara Otunnu and UNICEF. The Council must approve this plan and request that it be implemented as quickly as possible. The role of non-governmental organizations within the system will have to be clearly identified.

- second key element: the reintegration of child soldiers. Deprived of their right to education and their chances of balanced development – in a word, cheated of their future – these children are, above all, victims; but, given that they are without any family or social guidance, we must also prevent them from becoming a potential factor in the recurrence of crises. No country emerging from war can, without risk, leave its young people on the sidelines without any future, knowing only the culture of violence. Programmes for disarming, demobilizing and reintegrating combatants must take into account the specific needs of children, particularly young girls who are often even more severely affected than boys and whose reintegration is even more difficult. Experience shows – this is notably the case in West Africa and the Great Lakes region – that enlistments are often re-enlistments: for want of adequate care and support after demobilization, children are again enrolled in the ranks of armed groups. The “reintegration” segment is often the poor relation in a DDR programme, for want of the necessary financing and also of satisfactory coordination between all the actors concerned. In this respect, there’s an urgent need to designate someone to be responsible for ensuring the consistency of the measures taken on the ground.

SMALL ARMS TRAFFICKING/CHILD RECRUITMENT

Last point, which is of particular concern to us: the proven link between small arms trafficking and child recruitment. Last week’s debate in the Council cast light on this link. It is intolerable that the parties identified in the “black lists” of child recruiters continue to be supplied with light arms easily handled by children. It seems to us that the Council should send a strong message on that.

In the end, in order effectively to end child recruitment and take action against the multiple violations on the ground we must us all to mobilize: States, United Nations bodies and agencies, international financial institutions, non-governmental and regional organizations, and civil society. All must be made to face up to their responsibilities.

At the beginning of my remarks, I said I wanted our debate today to be directed to action.

The draft resolution presented by the Benin presidency endeavours to respond with ambition and determination to the various points I have just raised. That is why we fully support it. I hope that our debate today will strengthen Benin in her determination and that an agreement is reached quickly on the text before us./.