Events

Toronto: UN Peacekeeping and Children Affected by War, March 6, 2007

On Tuesday, March 6th, 2007, the UNA-Canada Peacekeeping Project and the Children and Armed Conflict Forum held a public dialogue in Toronto on UN Peacekeeping and Children Affected by War at the University of Toronto. This event was funded by DFAIT, DND Security and Defence Forum and CIDA. This was the ninth public dialogue in a series organized to mark the 50th Anniversary of UN Peacekeeping.

The event consisted of two components. The afternoon session was closed to policy-makers, academics, experts, etc who formed a high-level consultation team on the topic to come up with concrete findings and recommendations (19 people).

In the evening, a public event was open to civil society and general public (about 125 people attended) with 3 panel speakers, and extensive time for discussion among the public. This fulfilled the UNA-Canada mandate to facilitate dialogue among the Canadian public, as well as provide an education value through the panelists.

Panelists for Public Dialogue:

  • Chol Kelei from Southern Sudan, advocate for children affected by armed conflict
  • Kimmi Weeks from Liberia, founded Youth Action International, supports war-affected youth
  • Youth Representative from Iran, grew up during the Iran-Iraq war; received weapons training
  • Kathy Vandergrift, Coordinator, Children & Armed Conflict Forum, CPCC, Moderator

Overview of Discussion

The participants of the closed experts’ roundtable and the panelists of the public dialogue event discussed UN Peacekeeping and Children Affected by War. In February 2007, 60 countries recently endorsed The Paris Principles: Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups. Translating these new norms and principles for child protection into practical actions in the context of armed conflict remains a challenge.

The importance of building indigenous expertise was highlighted. Peacekeepers can play an important role as technical advisors to local child protection authorities, such as local community leaders, local police, etc. In general, greater focus on child protection by peacekeeping missions was endorsed. While the Paris Principles outline what is needed, integrated missions need to quickly and clearly assign roles and responsibilities for developing operational plans and consistently implementing them. The panel, composed of young adults who lived through war as children, provided insights from their experience and encouraged the public to become engaged.

Sample of Recommendations

  • Encourage implementation of the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children and Armed Conflict could include regular reports on how they applied the Paris Principles.
  • Develop easy-to-use, condensed versions of the Paris Principles for youth in affected countries, field staff and local communities, to help develop a broad base of awareness.
  • Develop training initiatives for military, donor agency staff, diplomats & field staff.

Media coverage of the events included: