Background

The issue of children in armed conflict has garnered increasing international attention since the publication of Graça Machel’s landmark study on the impact of armed conflict on children in 1996. The study called for concrete action to improve existing efforts on behalf of children in armed conflict. In subsequent years, many UN agen­cies and departments, national governments, re­gional organizations, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), donors and others have taken up this cause designing various mechanisms and tools to protect children and hold perpetrators accountable. Several advances contribute to stronger protection, accountability and prevention of violations against children in situations of armed conflict. These include, among others, development of international and national legal and normative frameworks; enhanced monitoring and reporting of violations against children; and action taken by the International Criminal Court and national level justice systems.  
Notwithstanding such positive developments, children continue to be killed, maimed, abducted, raped, denied humanitarian assistance and recruited and used as soldiers in situations of armed conflict. Schools and hospitals continue to be attacked. Chil­dren are threatened by and subjected to displacement, disappearances, torture, death or injury by landmines or other unexploded ordnances and are subject to other cruel abuses of their security and rights.

CDI's Children and Armed Conflict Accountability Project

Strengthening of Protection of Children Through Accountability: The role of the UN Security Council in holding to account persistent violators of children’s rights and protections in situations of armed conflict.

In 2009 CDI published an important report examining measures taken by the UN Security Council to address grave violations against children in armed conflict and missed opportunities to hold persistent perpetrators to account. This report identified the existence of a gap in measures taken by the UN Security Council, national-level mechanisms and other international mechanisms in holding perpetrators to account.

Bridging the Accountability Gap: New Approaches to Addressing Violations Against Children in Armed Conflict
In June 2011, CDI published an important and timely follow-on report that examined successes and challenges in achieving accountability for violations against children in situations of armed conflict taken by mechanisms at 3 levels identified in the earlier report: (I) national level mechanisms, (II) UN Security Council, and (III) other international mechanisms. The report identifies a dramatic gap that exists between efforts and outcomes in realizing accountability for grave violations against children in situations of armed conflict. It examines 7 contemporary situations of armed conflict and includes in-depth case studies on Colombia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Recognizing the many obstacles to realizing more effective accountability, the report presents a set of practical policy options for addressing these challenges and increasing effective accountability.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT) has generously supported these projects.