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<p>The UK government actively engages with civil society organisations, recognising
that collaborative engagement can strengthen the protection of children in armed conflict.
On 12 February 2019, the International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers, Lord
Ahmad of Wimbledon met four youth participants from World Vision UK's newly launched
campaign entitled '<em>It takes a World...To End Violence Against Children'</em>,
to discuss their views and recommendations for government action regarding the use
of children in armed forces and groups. The UK government recognises the importance
of amplifying young people's voices and the powerful impact this can have in raising
the profile of the Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) Agenda. The UK government therefore
continues to engage with World Vision on this agenda. An invitation has been extended
to World Vision to present at the newly established cross-government Working Group
on CAAC.</p><p> </p><p>The UK is an active member of the United Nations Working Group
on 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
and to prevent re-recruitment. 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 (GCR) by joining the
'Friends of Reintegration' group, a forum to generate new ideas for supporting reintegration
programmes and prevention of re-recruitment for children formerly associated with
armed groups. The UK has confirmed it will be increasing its funding to the office
of the SRSG for CAAC to £450,000 for the FY19/20 to continue assisting the SRSG with
her current mandate and will be giving an additional £50,000 to fund extended activities
pertaining to the GCR.</p>
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