WRITTEN QUESTION E-0597/02

by Feleknas Uca (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(5 March 2002)

Subject: Use of child soldiers

The additional protocol on the use of child soldiers, placing a ban on the use of children in armed conflict, recently came into force. According to UN estimates, there are currently more than 300 000 children actively involved in warfare, mainly in areas of conflict in Africa and Asia.

So far 96 states have signed the agreement but only 14 have ratified it. This shows that there is much more to be done in order to stop the use of child soldiers.

1. What action is the Commission taking to stop the use of child soldiers?

2. Did the Commission finance any projects last year to help prevent children from going to war? If so, which?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(2 May 2002)

The Commission shares the concern expressed by the Honourable Member and is committed to combat the widespread use of child soldiers, which is considered an unacceptable plight. Strong support has been given to the Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 25 May 2000.

Assistance and protection of children involved in armed conflicts is channelled through a number of Commission programmes including the European Initiative for Human Rights and Democracy. The promotion of children's rights was one of the priorities for funding in 2001 and will be mainstreamed in funding for the period 2002-2004.

The Commission considers that assistance and protection of vulnerable children should be seen in the wider context of poverty eradication, therefore, in the framework of Community development co-operation. Children are an important focal group of the Community's external aid, in particular in sectoral policies such as education and health.

Furthermore, the Commission has also made children a cross-cutting priority for humanitarian assistance. This commitment is reflected in concrete projects, advocacy work inside the Union and in research aimed at improving the international humanitarian response.

The Commission strongly supports an action-oriented agenda and devotes particular attention to the child soldiers question, notably trying to identify and implement the best actions focusing on social and economic re-integration.

In this field, the Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) pays special attention to protecting and assisting children. Building on standards, obligations and principles spelled out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, specific projects on humanitarian assistance for conflict-affected children were supported throughout 2001. In 2000 and 2001, ECHO spent over 40 million on projects to protect and assist children world-wide, examples include: psychosocial support to child soldiers (Sierra Leone, Sudan, Kosovo, Macedonia, West Bank, Gaza Strip and Lebanon), the funding of schools in emergency camps for displaced persons (West Timor, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro) and health care programmes for war-affected children (Sudan).

At policy level, ECHO funded research activities (as the Save the Children project aiming at drafting a manual for people working with child soldiers drawing on the experience of the aid community and a project by the Belgian Red Cross

seeking to elaborate durable, stable, institutional and operational intervention strategies). In 2002 ECHO, in co-operation with United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (Unicef), intends to improve the availability of data on children affected by armed conflicts (systemised data base). As for advocacy, ECHO produced brochures, funded photographic exhibitions and jointly organised with VOICE and Save the Children, the Conference on the plight of child soldiers in Brussels in October 2001.

Under the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights (Chapter B7-7) for 2000, substantial support was provided for a two-year project undertaken by Unicef in Sierra Leone regarding protection and reintegration of children associated with the fighting forces and other children separated from their families as a result of the conflict. Furthermore in 2001, an additional 719 932 was designated to social reintegration of child ex-combatant also in Sierra Leone.

These efforts form an integral part of the promotion and protection of human rights within humanitarian operations as well as in linking relief, rehabilitation and development.