Sanctions on Child Soldier Recruiters Debated at UN, Some Accused Question Report's Fairness

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, February 12 -- The UN report on children and armed conflict was debated for eight hours Tuesday in the Security Council, with sixty separate countries each putting their own tweak upon the problem. The United Kingdom honed in on Myanmar, which it still calls Burma. But Myanmar responded that the report is one-sided, and that there is information the release of which the UN is blocking. The Russian Federation chided the report for not including the impacts of private military contractors, such as those used by the U.S. in Iraq.  U.S. Ambassador Alejandro Wolff praised the report, except its recommendations opposing cluster bombs and favoring referring the recruiters of child soldiers for prosecution by the International Criminal Court. Afterwards Inner City Press asked Amb. Wolff about the U.S. position, which he explained as opposing the automatic referral of recruiters to the ICC. The Special Representative behind the report, Radhika Coomaraswamy, explained that the ICC is an essential part of cracking down on child soldier recruiters.

            Inner City Press asked UNICEF's Ann Veneman, both in writing and at a stakeout in the hall outside the Council, to address the fact that UNICEF formally counted the child soldiers recruited by Congolese warlord Peter Karim -- some 42 in just that last phase of demobilization -- but that Karim remains free and in the Congolese Army. At the stakeout, Ms. Veneman did not answer the question.* Video here, from Minute 4:59.  Rather, French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner answered, but with respect to another part of the Congo and other rebel, Laurent Nkunda, perceived as aligned with the government of Rwanda.

            Rwanda's Ambassador Joseph Nsengimana spoke last, at 8 p.m., and afterwards Inner City Press asked if his government favored sanctions on and referrals to the ICC for recruiters of child soldiers. Yes, he said, but only if the underlying reporting is fair and even-handed. Amb. Nsengimana said that the report focused on Nkunda but not the FDLR rebels, who he said were worse.

Former child soldiers in Eastern Congo per UN, Peter Karim not shown

            Indonesia's Ambassador Marty Natalegawa, too, told Inner City Press that he is not so much against sanctions as concerned that Ms. Coomaraswamy's office have the resources to provide even-handed research. Council members Libya and Vietnam were not so nuanced in their opposition to sanctions. China, too, expressed concerns. Other Permanent Five diplomats opined to Inner City Press that China often follows the lead of the Council's African members on such issues, and that the Council's make-up now is more anti-sanctions than before, particularly with Libya's inclusion. Ms. Coomaraswamy said it is up to member states, and it is up to her office to convince them that sanctions are needed.

            Canada testified that equal focus should be put on countries which are on and not on the Security Council agenda. It is the latter group -- including Colombia, Sri Lanka, Chad, Uganda and the Philippines -- which gives rise to the most controversy, an issue previously covered by Inner City Press. These countries do not want to slip only the Council's agenda indirectly. They complain, they issue counter-charges, they pull to get off the list. Sri Lanka, for example, accused Ms. Coomaraswamy of bias, and made the same accusation of her Canadian special envoy Allan Rock, when a photograph of him purportedly with Tamil Tiger sympathizers surfaced. Monitoring child soldier recruitment is a tough business. Listening through eight hours of UN debate is the least of it -- but not the last of it. We'll will continue to follow this issue.

* - Update: In an email response from UNICEF's Ann Veneman's spokesman five hours after she declined to answer the question, UNICEF states that "it is very important, for the sake of the children UNICEF is charged with helping, that courts do their own investigations." Does this mean that UNICEF does not pass on or make referrals with the information it collects, for example that Peter Karim recruited dozens of child soldiers, even after the children are released and the recruiter is in another position (in Karim's case, in the Congolese army)? This question remains to be answered.

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These reports are also available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.

Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund.  Video Analysis here

  Because a number of Inner City Press' UN sources go out of their way to express commitment to serving the poor, and while it should be unnecessary, Inner City Press is compelled to conclude this installment in a necessarily-ongoing series by saluting the stated goals of the UN agencies and many of their staff. Keep those cards, letters and emails coming, and phone calls too, we apologize for any phone tag, but please continue trying, and keep the information flowing.

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Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.

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