Minister of International Development and Human Rights Hilde Frafjord Johnson

"Children affected by armed conflict"

Opening remarks

Conference on protection of children and adolescents in complex emergencies, Oslo 9 - 11 November 1998

The Norwegian Save the Children
The Norwegian Refugee Council
in cooperation with the UNHCR

Ladies and gentlemen,

Introduction. The violence of war

Children are the most precious asset we have. They represent our future. The future. The essence of politics - the ethics of politics - is all about the protection and welfare of future generations, about pursuing a policy favourable to children, to the most vulnerable human beings.

We are determined “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”, as the United Nation Charter underlines in its preamble. It says that we are determined to do so.

To protect, to care, to save, to give shelter and to give a voice. To the next generation.

My point of departure for today’s meeting is that we should let children be children - and treat them like children. Children should not have to be adults. We are the adults. We are the ones with responsibility. And we must shoulder our responsibility. Millions of children today have had their childhood stolen from them. We see pictures of children waving real machine-guns as if they were playthings. What is the reality here?

Gone are the days when soldiers were the ones who bore the brunt of the violence of war. Today, targeting civilians is an integral part of ruthless war tactics. As fathers, uncles, sons and brothers leave home to fight, women and children are left behind as easy prey. Villages are wiped out in a matter of hours. Even rape is used as a weapon of war, to demoralize the enemy.

The conflicts of the post-Cold War era have seen a radical change in the ways wars are fought. Today’s conflicts are primarily internal, often fought between rival fractions within state boundaries. In these wars the international norms of conduct between armies have been largely abandoned. Civilians, and children first among them, have become the victims. Five per cent of the victims of the First World War and 45 per cent of the victims of the Second World War were civilian casualties. In today’s wars the figure is 90 per cent. And of these more than 40 per cent are children. Most of you here are aware of these horrifying statistics.

From 1980 to 1995 an average of 365 children were killed in wars per day. And for the children who survive, their lives will never be the same again. It is estimated that from 1980 to 1995 four to six million children were injured, more than one million children became orphans and 20 million lost their homes. Landmines kill and maim 800 children every month and disease ravages thousands more in refugee camps. Many more suffer from war traumas. Most disturbing is the increasing global incidence of child soldiers. In recent years children under 16 years - some as young as seven - have fought in wars in 25 countries. Almost a quarter of a million children are estimated to be under arms:

Children are killing. Killing other children. Playing games with real lives.

“ War is a vandalisation of childhood itself”, as UNICEF put it when launching its report this spring on children affected by armed conflict. UNICEF called the report’s statistics a “ grim catalogue of man’s inhumanity to man”. Man’s inhumanity to man, you heard me correctly. Can you think of any worse description of today’s ‘state of the world’? How can we let this happen?

Commitment

This meeting today is therefore important. The challenges are urgent. We need to build better alliances to combat the atrocities. We need to put these issues high on the international agenda, again and again. Some of you have been dedicated to the issue of children in war since the Committee on the Rights of the Child held a theme day on this issue in 1992. Many of you will agree with me when I say that not enough has happened since then. I believe this meeting will provide the impetus for taking action in a number of areas - for doing more, and doing it better.

That is why the Norwegian Government is sponsoring this meeting. I am pleased that the Norwegian Save the Children and the Norwegian Refugee Council, in cooperation with the UNHCR, have taken the initiative for this meeting, given all their expertise, commitment and ability to mobilize support. I would like to emphasize how much I appreciate your active involvement, and that of the many other NGOs and IGOs, in this cause. I would particularly like to welcome Mr. Olara A. Otunnu, the UN Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict, and I am also glad to see those of you who have travelled the farthest - from Uganda, Sri Lanka, Colombia, Mozambique and many, many other countries, representing your governments or organizations.

We have a moral responsibility to protect and care for children. Our actions should be based on respect for the dignity and inherent worth of every human being, on the recognition that as human beings we all have the same value. Across borders, ethnic lines, across generations.

This must be our anchor. This must be our point of departure. For the sake of the most vulnerable among us. The children. For our own sake. For the sake of decency.

Children's rights

Sometimes I wonder why we have to keep reminding ourselves that children need our attention and priority. It should not be necessary. Children are the most important human beings. Looking back on our own childhood we know the impact it had on our lives. The importance of childhood is one of the reasons why children have their own human rights convention. Not because the two UN covenants do not give children rights, but because children have particular needs.

According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, children have a right to be protected and cared for in peacetime and, more especially, in time of war. Several of the articles of the Convention address the rights of children with respect to conflict situations. The Convention as a whole aims to provide children with an environment conducive to their healthy development. It is evident that in doing so we are promoting the healthy and sustainable development of the whole community as well, of the entire country. Human development starts with the children. That is obvious.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child creates a framework for our efforts. I believe that UNICEF's success in obtaining agreement from several warring parties and governments on "peace corridors" and "days of tranquillity" is a case in point. In the OLS operations in Sudan, the Convention on the Rights of the Child was one of two instruments used by UNICEF in the negotiations to incorporate a humanitarian aspect into the Ground Rules for the operation. The revised rules now include provisions for child protection and the non-use of children as soldiers and military workers.

Norway's support for UNICEF's project on war-traumatized children in Algeria is another example where the Convention has opened doors. There Norwegian experts have cooperated with their Algerian counterparts on rehabilitation projects for children. Although Algeria does not want humanitarian assistance, it welcomes the support of the Centre for Crisis Psychology.

Conflict, development and human rights

This past February, I visited Angola. In a small border town called Maquela do Zombo, on the winding dirt road to Kinshasa in Congo, we were introduced to a project run by the Norwegian Refugee Council and their local partners. The project was called ‘Teachers' Emergency Project’. It consisted of an intensive training programme for teachers as well as the construction of new school buildings. This area has been badly damaged by the fighting between government forces and the rebel movement UNITA, so there had been no schools there for a long time. It was amazing and touching to see the joy of both the teachers and the pupils in the fact that they could once again teach and learn. Through song and dance they told us the story of the project, a story of hope and promise in a war-torn society.

Now there is, once again, war in Maquela do Zombo. The children are left without teachers. The schools are empty. Was it all in vain, then? No, definitely not. Because education, lessons learned, knowledge is the only kind of infrastructure that never can be destroyed by war. It is maintained - in each and every child’s mind. The experience of Angola reminds us of the truth that we must do more than protect and heal the children affected by war. Our efforts should also include providing children with resources, with human capital such as education, capital which in turn will contribute to the overall socio-economic development of the countries affected.

Social ills resulting from conflict add to the challenges of regular development efforts. This is particularly relevant since the conflicts of today tend to be in impoverished countries. The use of public funds for military purposes takes money that should have been directed towards national socio-economic development. Nor should we forget that the unequal distribution of resources and poverty within countries can itself engender violent conflicts. In this respect our long-term development efforts are also contributing to peace.

Combating poverty, educating children, giving priority to primary health services are some of the most important human rights issues we are faced with. Economic, social and cultural rights must be given their rightful place alongside civil and political rights. Human rights constitute an integrated and mutually reinforcing whole.

As always, the weakest among us are the ones who suffer the most. Children lacking education and access to basic health services. Mothers in despair. Young boys and girls exploited in factories, brothels or forced into armies - trained to be killers. My point here is that the human development agenda and the human rights agenda are the same. According to Article 22 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary in a few weeks, everyone is entitled to " the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality".

Article 27 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child says that governments recognize the right of every child to “ a standard of living adequate for the child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development”. A standard of living is the same whether you consider it to be a goal for development cooperation or a human right. We have to integrate both approaches, one based on human rights and the other on human development, into our common efforts to help children affected by armed conflict and other complex emergencies. This is my task - and this is your task.

Challenges before us - normative, political, operational

We need glimpses of hope when facing the ravages of war. What does war do to children? It robs them of their lives and their minds. It deprives them of their childhood, their history and their identity. It robs them of parents and friends. It takes away homes and education. It turns children into killers.

Violence has many faces - but few voices. This is why we must give a voice to the victims of violence. I recall a poem by the Irish poet Seamus Heaney, winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize for Literature, called ‘Bye-Child’ about an ill-treated boy confined in an outhouse, where he was later discovered, unable to speak. Seamus Heaney says in his poem;

“...Vigils, solitudes, fasts, / Unchristened tears, / A puzzled love of the light /
But now you speak at last...” /.

" But now you speak at last." These lines remind me of a boy from a Rwandan village where one of the worst massacres had taken place. I met him at a school for orphans - a 16-year-old boy who was brave enough to answer my questions. Gradually the whole story came out. He had seen his parents murdered. The militia had invaded the village where he lived and the population had taken refuge in the church, where they thought they would be safe. Several thousand panic-stricken people had crammed themselves into the building. But the militia had slaughtered them as they stood there. The boy had ended up under a pile of bodies and pretended to be dead. He and a friend were the only ones left alive. They fled into the jungle and across the border. When it was all over and he returned to the village, there was no one left. His whole family was dead; only a distant relative was still alive. Now it was up to him to carry on the family line. He stood there in his school uniform with hopeful eyes, on the threshold of a new life.

Norway has always been committed to helping children affected by armed conflict, be they refugees, returnees, internally displaced persons or child soldiers. But we must do more. We are determined to do more, to respond to the hope in the Rwandan boy’s eyes. To quote Article 39 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child; we “shall take all appropriate measures to promote physical and psychological recovery and social re-integration of a child victim of: any form of neglect, exploitation, or abuse; torture or any other form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; or armed conflicts. Such recovery and re-integration shall take place in an environment which fosters the health, self-respect and dignity of the child”.

When an individual's rights - a child’s rights - are violated, it is our duty to come to his or her aid. The only meaningful response is to act. This is the only response that counts. This kind of concerted effort will be the best way of commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration. The challenges are normative, political and operational. How can we meet these challenges?

Normative aspects

Firstly, the normative aspects. In UN human rights fora, both when negotiating resolutions and in statements, we must repeatedly underlined the plight of children affected by war and conflict. We must continue to do so. We are well aware, however, that words in themselves do not easily translate into concrete measures, especially on this issue. The need for action was what prompted the Committee on the Rights of the Child to hold a theme day on children in armed conflict. That, in turn, led to the Graca Machel study on children in war. This initiative also led to several years of negotiations on an optional protocol to the CRC that would raise the minimum age for participation in armed conflict to 18 years. Norway has been actively involved in this process and is determined to achieve a successful outcome. As you all know, these negotiations have been very difficult. Considering that 300,000 children are currently taking part in hostilities around the world, we should diligently renew our efforts to reach an agreement.

Political aspects. The Special Representative and the NGO Coalition

This summer saw some positive developments. The Security Council welcomed the Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict, Mr. Olara Otunnu, who serves as the voice of children in war, to give a briefing. In the subsequent discussion the members of the Council had no objection to the Council's dealing with this type of question. And the statement made by the President of the Council gave full support to Mr. Otunnu's work. In fact, it identified areas in which the Security Council should be able to take children's needs into account, for instance in UN peacekeeping operations. This shows how a representative speaking on behalf of children, like Mr. Otunnu, can influence on the work of the United Nations. The broad mandate given by the Council to the recent peacekeeping operation in Sierra Leone illustrates the members' commitment. It makes explicit reference to the need for the demobilization and reintegration of child soldiers in Sierra Leone.

The Special Representative’s role as a “world ombudsman” for children is central. So is the work of the UN agencies on the ground, especially UNICEF and the UNHCR. In order to carry out his mandate the Special Representative needs to work closely with these agencies.

The Special Representative has already proved to be an important catalyst in implementing children's rights. Further awareness-raising and mobilization efforts will help to pave the way for other initiatives. Not only within the UN system, but also in the field. The Special Representative's field visits will give his work much needed visibility. Here the media can play a key role. Representatives of governments and regional organizations like the OAU should accompany him on his field visits if necessary. He should also seek to build capacity in the regions and sub-regions concerned. Networking with NGOs and others is important, both on the ground where the problems are, and together with others involved in advocacy and mobilization elsewhere. The role of NGOs in the preparations for the adoption of the Convention on Anti-personnel Mines, negotiated in Oslo and adopted in Ottawa, clearly demonstrated the vital function these organizations can have in mobilizing the public. We need their efforts.

This is also why we are very enthusiastic about the initiative taken by the NGOs to establish an NGO coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers and its aim to reach an agreement on a protocol by the year 2000. Our financial contribution illustrates this.

The increase in the number of children used as soldiers is partly due to technological developments. Now that the availability of small arms is making it easier to exploit children as soldiers, we must admit that our technological advances are literally "firing back" at us. As eloquently put by the Swedish Save the Children, these " technological developments and the proliferation of weapons, especially small arms, have made semi-automatic rifles light enough to be used and simple enough to be stripped and reassembled by a child of ten. Moreover, these weapons are not expensive. In some countries at war, it may even be cheaper and easier to buy a gun than a book."

Some children "volunteer" to join the army. This should prompt us to take a close look at the environment these children live in. A study conducted for the UN on armed opposition forces showed that the majority of children volunteer as a result of personal experience of ill-treatment of themselves or their families by government troops. The use of child soldiers, "volunteers" or not, should be viewed as an exploitative form of child labour. This should be covered by the ILO Convention on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, to be adopted this summer.

Operational aspects: Complex emergencies. During conflicts and after.

UNHCR. UNICEF.

In operations on the ground, too, we need to adjust ourselves to the increasing number of complex emergencies. This is in particular a challenge to the humanitarian organizations both during conflicts and in post-conflict situations. Girls and women are especially vulnerable in these situations. We must strive to ensure that every rehabilitation programme we support addresses this issue.

In identifying targeted activities and in other respects as well, I believe there is merit in building on local values and norms in operations. In times of turmoil this tends to be overshadowed. As the Special Representative noted in his report, traditional norms can, in general, be as much a resource as the application of international norms and standards. Furthermore, there is a need for concrete activities and programmes particularly targeted at adolescents as well. The introduction of such programmes, as we have seen most recently in Liberia under the auspices of the UNHCR, is a development to be welcomed. It is critical, since measures aimed at young children seldom benefit adolescents.

We need to keep our focus on how we can make a difference on the ground. Children and adolescents constitute more than half of the refugees and displaced persons worldwide. Our focus, however, must be on the most vulnerable of these, the children. Refugee children and internally displaced children are first and foremost children. As children they need special attention. As refugees and displaced persons they face far greater dangers to their safety and well-being than other children. The physical and psychological well-being of refugee children and adolescents is deeply affected by the sudden and violent onset of emergencies, the disruption of families and community structures and the acute shortage of resources. In the aftermath of emergencies, children and adolescents are the most vulnerable to the separation of families and the absence of familiar structures.

Our extensive provision of humanitarian assistance around the world has alerted us to the vulnerability of refugee children and internally displaced children. Monitoring these humanitarian operations and post-conflict programmes will be critical if we are to ensure that children are given priority in theatres of war. In our humanitarian efforts we tend to focus on food and medicine as basic to survival. These are key elements of course, but so is psychological survival. Refugee children have a range of human needs that must be met and human rights that must be realized.

Several challenges lie ahead for those who work hands-on with refugee children. One of these is to mainstream activities tailored to the special needs of children into both new and traditional programmes. We need to identify the necessary lines of accountability to make sure this will happen. Another priority is to provide the children in camps for refugees and internally displaced persons with educational opportunities. I look forward to hearing your recommendations from the next two days of discussion on the issue of how education in conflict and post-conflict situations can be dealt with. Education is critical for the socialization process for all children, and lack of schooling may have long-lasting implications. This - again - is crucial to human development. There is evidence that education can help in the rehabilitation and recovery both of children and adolescents. Yet 70 per cent of currently displaced children receive no schooling. It is our challenge to provide children with education, the “infrastructure” that never can be destroyed by war.

Concluding remarks

Because, as Mr. Otunnu says, “ Children represent the future of every society.” And he continues thought-provokingly in his article in The Observer in June: “Violence begets violence, as the abused grow up to become abusers. Children do not learn the skills needed to sustain a civil society, but how to kill”. Children are the generation of the future. What happens to them today will be reflected in tomorrow's societies. We need to give them hope. That is why we are gathered here at this meeting.

That is also why the Norwegian Government and that of Canada recently signed a declaration, the Lysøen Declaration, that sets out a common agenda with specific proposals for taking action on, among other things, child victims of conflict and child soldiers. Our goal is to work with like-minded countries and partners from civil society to promote respect for human rights and humanitarian law. I see today's meeting and your work in the next two days as part of this effort.

In view of your discussions and recommendations, Norway will consider taking the initiative to host, together with other like-minded countries, an international conference on children affected by armed conflict. The Norwegian Government is committed to making fresh efforts. Efforts to build broad alliances, to strengthen relations between governments, organizations and individuals, from a variety of sectors. Efforts to create a more humane world.

Children affected by armed conflict and other forms of complex emergencies stir our deepest and most painful emotions. These issues should therefore bring out the best of our creativity in finding new solutions to these urgent challenges. This is about respect for human dignity, for the children themselves.

“ We must address [the] human pain [...]. We must focus on the social issues”, said World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn a month ago at the annual meeting in Washington, D.C. The human pain. Children affected by armed conflict is an abomination. It is human pain. Our world’s human pain. Millions of children are in pain. Suffering. Every day.

I experienced the truth of this human pain myself during a visit to Gulu in northern Uganda last winter. There, at a rehabilitation centre run by Save the Children, I met children who had managed to escape the "Lord's Resistance Army". They were among the 10 000 children who are kidnapped every year and forced to join the war as child soldiers. It was a painfully moving meeting. Boys down to nine years of age and girls in their early teens told me stories of kidnapping, rape and abuse. Of how they were forced to attack and kill other children and people in their own villages, and serve as "wives" for officers and soldiers. Through drawings they told horrific stories of the atrocities they were forced to commit, and forced to live through. I especially remember the face of one of them, - a girl who had been kidnapped at the age of twelve. She was forced not only to use a gun, but also to work as a servant and then as a sex-slave for the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army. She was only sixteen, but already an old woman. I hope that she will one day laugh again, and that the smile will again reach her eyes.

Violence has many faces - but few voices.

Give a voice to the victims of violence.

Give them a choice - the freedom to build their future.

Thank you.