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<p>The UK is firmly committed to ending the recruitment and use of child soldiers
and to protecting all children affected by armed conflict.</p><p>The UK is an active
member of the United Nations Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC),
which leads the international response to the issue of child soldiers and child protection.
This includes pressing those parties to conflict listed in the UN Secretary-General's
annual report on CAAC to enter into concrete action plans with the UN to verify and
release any child soldiers associated with armed groups and forces. We apply diplomatic
pressure to listed governments and armed groups, and fund projects to help protect
and rehabilitate vulnerable children. We also press for the inclusion of child protection
in peacekeeping responses through UN mandate renewals and resolutions. The UK is the
largest single financial contributor to the office of the UN Special Representative
of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for CAAC contributing £800,000 in the last five years.
We have shown our support for the SRSG's recently launched Global Coalition for Reintegration
by joining the 'Friends of Reintegration' group, a forum to generate new ideas for
supporting reintegration programmes for children formerly associated with armed groups.</p><p>In
2018, the UK endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration, a political commitment to reduce
the impact of conflict on education, and the Vancouver Principles, which aims to ensure
that child protection is an operational priority for UN peacekeeping missions. As
a member of the Group of Friends of CAAC in Geneva, we also participated in a joint
statement to the 37th session of the Human Rights Council in March 2018, in which
we reiterated our strong support for the mandate of the SRSG for CAAC. We worked very
closely with Sweden and others to agree Resolution 2427 adopted by the UN Security
Council in July 2018, to strengthen protection mechanisms for children in armed conflict.</p>
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