www.un.org/children/conflict
PLACING CHILDREN ON THE WORLD’S
PEACE AND SECURITY AGENDA
Security Council Resolution 1261
Security Council Resolution 1261, passed on 25 August 1999, was hailed as a landmark because it
formally established that safe-guarding the protection, rights and welfare of war-affected children
everywhere is a crucial peace-and-security concern that legitimately belongs on the highest agendas.
“The Security Council and other key actors can make a big difference by using their
collective weight and influence to lean on parties in conflict. In today’s world, no party
in conflict is an island unto itself. The international community should make any
assistance to parties in conflict – be it political, financial, material or military –
contingent on observing standards for protection of children.”
Olara Otunnu, addressing UN Security Council Open Meeting, 26 July 2000
By devoting such a resolution to a thematic issue, the Security Council broke from its normal practice of
discussing breaches of peace and security in a specific national or regional context.
The resolution urges all member states and all parts of the UN system to intensify their efforts to ensure
an end to the recruitment and use of under-age combatants, as well as facilitating the disarmament,
demobilisation, rehabilitation and reintegration of children already being used as soldiers. In addition, it
urges all warring parties to take “special measures” to protect children, particularly girls, from rape and
other forms of sexual abuse.
Because children suffer disproportionately in war, they have the greatest stake in peace negotiations.
With this in mind, Resolution 1261 urges that appropriate priority be placed during such negotiations on
the protection and rehabilitation of children. It also calls for agencies, organisations and Governments
implementing post-conflict reconstruction programmes to place children’s needs at the centre of
planning and resource allocation.
Resolution 1261 also recognises the damaging impact of the proliferation and cross-border flow of
small arms on the security of vulnerable populations, particularly children.
Security Council Resolution 1314
While Resolution 1261 remains the primary point of reference and the source of legitimacy for this issue
as an international peace-and-security concern, Resolution 1314 specifies an impressive array of
targeted and new measures for the protection of children in conflict. Passed on 11 August 2000,
Resolution 1314 is a powerful tool that amounts to a plan of action for all those working to protect
children in situations of conflict.
The Security Council emphasizes the responsibility of all countries to exclude from amnesty
arrangements anyone responsible for grave crimes against children. It calls for measures against the
illicit trade in natural resources such as diamonds, which fuel war machines and contribute to the
massive victimisation of children.
The resolution calls for greater protection and assistance to refugees and internally displaced persons –
most of whom are children and women – and stresses the importance of addressing the special needs
and vulnerabilities of girls affected by armed conflict. It also calls for intensified efforts to obtain the
release of abducted children.
“The Security Council … strongly condemns the targeting of children in situations of
armed conflict, including killing and maiming, sexual violence, abduction and forced
displacement, recruitment and use of children in armed conflict in violation of
international law, and attacks on … schools and hospitals, and calls on all parties
concerned to put an end to such practices.”
Extract from Security Council Resolution 1261
Resolution 1314 pays particular attention to regional organisations; it encourages increased regional and
cross-border initiatives on child soldiers and the illicit traffic in small arms, as well as the systematic
development of child protection policies and programmes. It also calls for the strengthening of
capacities of national institutions and civil society for the protection of children.
The resolution urges states to sign and ratify the Optional Protocol (see page 3) on the involvement of
children in armed conflict and – recognising a key innovation within the UN system – it undertakes to
include Child Protection Advisers in future peacekeeping operations. It also calls for greater
participation by young persons themselves in peace programmes.
Resolution 1314 followed the publication on 19 July by the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, of a
comprehensive report (S/2000/712), which was mandated by last August’s Resolution 1261. Many of
the new resolution’s provisions follow on from the 55 specific recommendations made in the SecretaryGeneral’s report, which was the subject of an Open Debate in the Security Council on 26 July.
Resolutions 1261 and 1314 are ground-breaking steps by the Council. Resolution 1261 should be used
by all concerned as a tool for advocacy, and the Security Council should be encouraged to incorporate
the framework established therein into its deliberations on specific countries. In the meantime, we
should mobilise to ensure that the targeted measures in resolution 1314 become reality.