Human Rights and Democracy - Official Documents

For the first time the strategy draws together all our work to help protect civilians
caught up in conflict, and includes commitments to strengthen the protection
mandates of peacekeeping operations; to provide support to transitional and
international justice mechanisms; and to improve humanitarian access to
populations. The strategy covers the period 2010–2013. We will review our
progress annually, with the first review in 2011.
The UK takes the lead in coordinating Security Council activity on the protection of
civilians in armed conflict. In November, as president of the UN Security Council, we
raised our concerns about the plight of civilians in Sudan, Burma and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo. We also continued to chair an expert group, comprised of
other Security Council members and the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs, which looks at how best to deliver the protection of civilians in
specific UN peacekeeping operations. We also supported the continued inclusion of
the protection of civilians and relevant human rights issues in the mandates of the
UN peacekeeping missions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan,
Liberia, Kosovo, Cote d’Ivoire and East Timor.
Children and armed conflict
Children are often among the most vulnerable to conflict. Children living in war-torn
countries are frequently denied even their most basic human rights, are more likely
to die as a result of disease and malnutrition, and stand much less chance of
becoming productive adult members of their communities. We are committed to
ending violations of children’s rights in conflict-affected countries and, in particular, to
stopping the recruitment and use of child soldiers. In 2010 we worked towards this
goal by applying diplomatic pressure on offending governments and armed groups,
and by funding projects to help protect and rehabilitate vulnerable children. We
targeted our financial support to those areas where we feel most progress is most
likely.
In Nepal we provided £2 million to help discharge and rehabilitate members of the
Maoist Army; approximately 3,000 of those released had been recruited as children.
Following the end of the conflict in Sri Lanka, we provided £1.5 million to UNICEF
which enabled the release and reintegration of former child soldiers.
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