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UN urges DRC to protect children

17 July 2007

Dear All,

Please find below today's digest on the International Criminal Court's investigation in the the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) including criticism from the UN about the lack of protection for war-affected children in DRC and international opposition to a DRC-devised military solution.

Please take note of the Coalition's policy on situations before the ICC below),
which explicitly states that the CICC will NOT take a position on potential or
pending situations before the Court. The Coalition, however, will continue to
provide the most up-to-date information about
the ICC.

Additionally, all translations from the French are unofficial and have been
prepared by CICC secretariat staff.

Warm Regards,

Sasha Tenenbaum
CICC Information Services Coordinator
[email protected]

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I. UN SECURITY COUNCIL IN KIVU; UN PRESSES DRC TO PROTECT CHILDREN

i."Secretary-General urges greater protection for children in Chad, DR Congo,"
UN News Centre, 13 July 2007,
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=23240&Cr=children&Cr1=conflict

"...in the DRC, the Secretary-General noted that while progress has been made by
the Government, the UN mission (MONUC
<http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/monuc/index.html> ) and other partners to
improve the situation of children affected by armed conflict, major obstacles
remain, especially in the Ituri district and the North and South Kivu provinces
in the north-east of the vast nation. The report
<http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=s/2007/391> noted that 30 per cent
of abducted children in these areas were recruited as soldiers, 13 per cent were
raped and 2 per cent used as forced labour.

The report called for the arrest of Laurent Nkunda, who it said had used
Congolese and Rwandan children as soldiers in North Kivu, as well as the
re-arrest of Jean-Pierre Biyoyo, who was sentenced by a tribunal in the city of
Bukavu in March last year to five years' imprisonment for the de facto
recruitment and use of child soldiers.

'I encourage the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and donors
to devote greater resources to developing the national judicial and penitentiary
systems in an effort to promote accountability for violations of children's
rights,' Mr. Ban wrote.

He also urged the Rwandan Government, in concert with the UN High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR <http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/news> ) and other
child protection partners, to work to immediately end the recruitment of
Congolese children from refugee camps in Rwanda, as well as of Rwandan children
in the DRC."

ii. "Security in Kivu: the international community opposes a military solution
designed by Parliamentarians," Rwandan News Agency, 9 July, 2007,
http://fr.allafrica.com/stories/200707091236.html

"...To fight insecurity, elected officials of the Kivu province proposed a
military solution during an exchange with UN Security Council members visiting
Kinshasa on 20 June. Whereas, the delegation led by French Ambassador to the UN,
Jean Marc de la Sabrière and Jozef Smets, Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
recommend a political solution.

For Jozef Smets, a military solution to the problem of Congolese and foreign
armed groups would not be helpful. 'We do not believe in a military solution or
army. When I say 'we' I speak for my country, but I also believe I speak for the
international community...we wish...for innovative political solutions and we
refrain from the language of violence.'

... Taking stock of his meeting with the governor of the South-Kivu, Célestin
Cibalonza, a Belgian diplomat indicated that his interlocutor asked his country,
Belgium, to give priority to the question of the FDLR [Democratic Liberation
Forces of Rwanda]; Interhamwe and Rastas, in particular 'I believe that the
international community was a little slow in addressing this problem', Smets
said.

'For us, the idea is to encourage an international response which integrates all
the existing problems. Let's try to use diplomacy and convince by a campaign of
conviction and propaganda. If that does not work, we will have to draw the
conclusions from this,' explained Jozef Smits.

After the meeting between the Security Council delegation and the deputies of
Kivu, the two parties each proposed a set of solutions for the return of a
lasting peace in this part of the country. For the Congolese members of
Parliament and the members of the civil society, 'the military solution is the
best one because it can help us return to safety in the East of the DRC.'..."

[Translation from the French is unofficial by the CICC Secretariat]

[Available in French only]

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