West and Central Africa, Home To Highest Number of Child Soldiers, Sexual Violence -UNICEF

A new United Nations Children’s Fund -UNICEF publication has indicated that its mechanism for monitoring and reporting on the six grave violations against children have established West and Central Africa as the region in the world with the highest number of children verified as recruited and used by armed forces and non-state armed groups and the highest number of children verified as victims of sexual violence.

The new report indicates that more than 21,000 children have been verified by the United Nations -UN to have been recruited and used by armed forces and non-state armed groups and that more than 2,200 children are now victims of sexual violence and another 3,500 children abducted with about 1,500 incidents of attacks on schools and hospitals also recorded

The UN monitoring and reporting mechanism which started work in 2005 also indicated that the region holds the record of the second-highest number of abductions in the world.

According to the new UNICEF publication, calls have been made to partners to support and scale up documenting grave violations against children as well as preventing and responding to them.

The United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1612 establishing a United Nations mechanism for monitoring and reporting stated the following six: 1) killing and maiming of children, 2) recruitment and use of children, 3) abduction of children, 4) rape and other forms of sexual violence committed against children, 5) attacks on schools and hospitals, and 6) denial of humanitarian access as grave violations against children during armed conflict.

Marie-Pierre Poirier, the UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa however said grave violations against children have had an adverse impact on their capacity to learn, work, build meaningful relationships and contribute to the development of their communities and countries” and called on all parties to the conflicts in the region to prevent and end grave violations against children, and ensure that all perpetrators are held accountable, she noted.

According to the new report, the spike in children’s unmet essential needs, including protection has necessitated UNICEF to commence working with governments, local authorities, and partners to strengthen the monitoring and reporting mechanism, support the release and reintegration of children from armed forces, and groups, reunite separated children with their families, provide medical and psychosocial care for conflict-affected children, and provide care for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.

Partners, including donors, have also been asked to intensify their efforts to secure adequate financial and technical resources to ensure those grave violations are reported and verified.