M. Bernard Kouchner » Public Debate on Children and Armed Conflicts

United Nations General Assembly – Public debate on children and armed conflicts – Speech by M. Bernard Kouchner, French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, at the United Nations Security Council
New York, 12 February 2008

The tragedy of child soldiers forces us to be determined and uncompromising. In spite of the countless, inevitable difficulties, which we know about, we must have only one objective: the eradication of this barbarousness.

This is why I am glad to have been able to come from Paris to be here today with you for this debate on a subject which is a challenge to all our values, and an insult to what we are. The UN must play a central role in combating this heinous form of slavery which creates both victims and executioners.

CAAC

The establishment of the Security Council Working Group on Children in Armed Conflict in 2005 has already enabled us to act. This innovative and profoundly original mechanism, which France largely contributed to setting up and we have had the honour to chair from the beginning, has provided the opportunity for tangible progress. Thousands of children have been freed and returned to civilian life, notably in Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Recommendations have been made in ten of the 12 “situations” on the agenda, and the working group is due to take up the last two outstanding cases, those of Colombia and The Philippines. Finally, for the first time we are going to strike off all the belligerent parties previously reported in one country on the sad list: Côte d’Ivoire.

These substantial gains would not have been achieved without the determination of the members of the Security Council, which I applaud. But we know that they also owe a great deal to the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict, Ms Coomaraswamy, to whom I want to pay tribute, and to UNICEF. I also wish to note the cooperation, in some cases on a voluntary basis, of all the countries affected by this horrible scourge. May they be warmly thanked.

In spite of these significant successes, I would not wish to give the impression that all the problems are being resolved. We still have much to do. There is the reappearance of children on the battlefields of Sri Lanka, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burma. I was in these countries recently and could tell you about the horror which I can still see.

This very day parties to conflicts in the Central African Republic and Afghanistan have been placed on the [UN] list of troubling situations [where combatants use child soldiers]: many things remind us daily of the forever unfinished nature of this struggle. As always, the international community must remain mobilized and redouble its efforts.

France would in particular like to see the deterrent aspect of the working group increased. Its members must not shrink from the adoption of strong, targeted measures. Or what purpose do we serve? Its credibility is at stake: there is no credible deterrence without real sanctions.

INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE

International criminal justice – the International Criminal Court and special tribunals – made fundamental progress this year through spectacular actions, notably against Germain Katanga, Charles Taylor and Colonel Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, among others, on charges of using and recruiting children under 15. It is imperative for the working group to strengthen its action by demanding the establishment of sanctions against non-cooperative parties. The working group’s mandate is not limited solely to the issue of child soldiers. Although it’s indeed a major part of it, the group also examines and formulates recommendations on five other serious violations of children’s rights, including sexual violence. During a visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo last month, I saw for myself on the spot the seriousness and extent of widespread, systematic and planned sexual crimes, used as a weapon of war. This barbarousness also concerns us all. Here too, our failure to react would be reprehensible. Let me also add that I am pleased that the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Constitution categorizes this crime as a supreme crime.