United Nations Security Council Resolution 1882 on Children and Armed Conflict (4 August 2009)

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The United Nations Security Council has adopted resolution 1882 “[s]trongly condemn[ing] all violations of applicable international law involving the recruitment and use of children by parties to armed conflict as well as their re-recruitment, killing and maiming, rape and other sexual violence, abductions, attacks against schools or hospitals and denial of humanitarian access by parties to armed conflict and all other violations of international law committed against children in situations of armed conflict.”

The Security Council stressed that national governments played the “primary role” in ensuring the safety and protection of children.

Furthermore, the Security Council recalled that the obligation to “end impunity and to prosecute those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and other egregious crimes perpetrated against children” lies with the individual states. In this respect, the Security Council welcomed the fact that both national and international courts and tribunals have assisted in bringing to justice “several individuals who are alleged to have committed crimes against children in situations of armed conflict.” (One example would be Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, currently being tried before the International Criminal Court.)

The Security Council also called “on all parties to armed conflict to comply strictly with the obligations applicable to them under international law for the protection of children in armed conflict, including those contained in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocol on the involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, as well as the Geneva Conventions of 12th August 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977.”

Finally, the Security Council requested that all parties concerned, including Member States, the Secretary General, and other United Nations entities, monitor and report on issues related to children and armed conflict.