Children and Armed Conflict: Progression, Regression or Maintenance of the Agenda?
Geneva, Switzerland PANA) - This report examines whether the children and armed conflict agenda—which is considered one of the Security Council’s most developed thematic issues—is regressing, progressing, or being maintained.
Focusing on the period between 2020 and 2024, the report analyzes engagement on the agenda, both at the Council and subsidiary body level.
Ahead of the 20th anniversary of landmark resolution 1612 of 26 July 2005, which established the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism (MRM) and the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, the report pays particular attention to the working group’s performance in recent years.
In this regard, it assesses factors that have caused significant delays in the adoption of conclusions by the working group and at times precluded agreement altogether.
It also considers aspects such as the thematic engagement on children and armed conflict and the mainstreaming of the agenda into the Council’s country-specific work, including in products withdrawing or terminating UN peace operations.
The report concludes that the children and armed conflict agenda has generally been maintained despite difficult Council dynamics, an achievement in and of itself. It stresses, however, that the alarming global rise in grave violations against children despite the robust tools at the disposal of the agenda highlights the urgency of effective action.
Considering difficult political headwinds and diminishing resources, a “business as usual” approach is no longer possible, and concrete steps are required to prevent the agenda from regressing.
The report makes several recommendations to that end for the consideration of working group members, Council members, member states in general, civil society, and the UN system.
-0- PANA RA 12June2025
