Alex Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what support his Department is giving to the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict for the campaign to eradicate the recruitment of children by government armed forces by 2016.

Mark Simmonds

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office provides funding of £150,000 over three years (January 2013-December 2015) to the Office of the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) for Children and Armed Conflict. These funds strengthen the UN SRSG’s capacity to monitor violations committed against children in situations of concern, in line with UNSC Resolutions 1612, 1882, 1998 on children and armed conflict and including countries covered by the UN SRSG’s campaign, such as Burma and South Sudan.

Children and Armed Conflict is an important personal priority. I am leading a campaign to prevent the recruitment of child soldiers and to protect children from becoming victims of sexual violence in five priority countries: Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, South Sudan, Chad and Burma. I have raised the issue with a number of leaders, including most recently with the Somali President during a visit in April.

The UN SRSG will take part in the End Sexual Violence in Conflict Summit, from 10-13 June in London, where she will join a Ministerial roundtable that I am hosting on Children and Armed Conflict.