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UN presses crackdown on abuse of children in war

UNITED NATIONS, Friday (Reuters)

The U.N. Security Council pledged to tighten the pressure on governments and rebel groups around the world that force children into war.

But a resolution adopted unanimously by the 15-nation council disappointed activists who had lobbied hard for a strong threat of U.N. sanctions such as arms embargoes and asset freezes to be imposed on repeat offenders.

The resolution expressed the council's intention to enter into a dialogue with governments and rebel groups that rely on child soldiers or allow their soldiers to sexually abuse children, "in order to develop clear and time-bound action plans to end this practice."

Where appropriate, the dialogue could be pursued by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan rather than the council, the resolution said.

It also called on 23 nations and rebel groups named in an earlier U.N. report on child soldiers to keep the United Nations informed of the steps they were taking to end the practice.

But rather than vowing to punish repeat offenders with sanctions, the resolution expressed only the council's "intention to consider taking appropriate steps to further address this issue" under the U.N. Charter, which envisions sanctions as well as other less dire punitive actions.

The council resolution was intended to follow up on a report issued in December by Olara Otunnu, Annan's special envoy for children in war zones.

The report listed 23 governments and insurgents that abused children in conflicts, focusing primarily on Burundi, Congo, Liberia, Somalia and Afghanistan - areas where the Security Council is actively involved in trying to end wars.

After the report came out, activists from several human rights and aid groups, including Care, Save the Children and Human Right Watch, called on the council to "name and shame" even more governments and armed groups they accused of recruiting child soldiers or otherwise abusing children's human rights in the context of conflicts.

They also pressed the council to come down harder on those armed groups that ignored repeated U.N. pleas to reform.

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