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1058904

registered interest
date	11/02/2019
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Armed Conflict: Children
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Office, what programmes his Department (a) promotes and (b) funds to rehabilitate and reintegrate former child soldiers into their communities.
tabling member constituency	Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk
tabling member printed	John Lamont
uin	219527
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/02/2019 answer text <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 and to prevent re-recruitment. 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.</p><p>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 for children formerly associated with armed groups. The GCR is working to provide more reliable funding to ensure higher quality, longer-term reintegration programming and prevention of re-recruitment for all children formerly recruited and used by armed groups and forces. The UK has confirmed that 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><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, a political commitment to ensure that child protection and preventing the recruitment and use of children by armed forces and armed groups are operational priorities during the conduct of United Nations peace operations. 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> answering member constituency Cities of London and Westminster answering member printed Mark Field grouped question UIN 219529 question first answered 19/02/2019 16:24:51 answering member 1405 label Biography information for Mark Field
tabling member	4608 label Biography information for John Lamont

1058906

registered interest
date	11/02/2019
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Armed Conflict: Children
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Office , what funding his Department has allocated to programmes to prevent the recruitment of children by armed forces and groups.
tabling member constituency	Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk
tabling member printed	John Lamont
uin	219529
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/02/2019 answer text <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 and to prevent re-recruitment. 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.</p><p>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 for children formerly associated with armed groups. The GCR is working to provide more reliable funding to ensure higher quality, longer-term reintegration programming and prevention of re-recruitment for all children formerly recruited and used by armed groups and forces. The UK has confirmed that 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><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, a political commitment to ensure that child protection and preventing the recruitment and use of children by armed forces and armed groups are operational priorities during the conduct of United Nations peace operations. 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> answering member constituency Cities of London and Westminster answering member printed Mark Field grouped question UIN 219527 question first answered 19/02/2019 16:24:52 answering member 1405 label Biography information for Mark Field
tabling member	4608 label Biography information for John Lamont

1058907

registered interest
date	11/02/2019
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Armed Conflict: Children
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Office, what assessment his Department has made on the effectiveness of steps by the international community to reintegrate and rehabilitate children previously recruited by armed forces and groups.
tabling member constituency	Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk
tabling member printed	John Lamont
uin	219530
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/02/2019 answer text <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>To mark the International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers (Red Hand Day), the UK took part in an UN Security Council (UNSC) Arria meeting on protecting children in shrinking humanitarian spaces. The UK called for better integration of the Children and Armed Conflict portfolio into UNSC country specific discussions and for all states to sign up to the key international commitments traversing this CAAC portfolio: the Paris Principles, the Vancouver Principles and the Safe Schools Declaration. The UK also highlighted the importance of mainstreaming child protection in peacekeeping missions and the need to consider whether denial of humanitarian access should be a violation which triggers a listing in the Secretary-General's annual report on CAAC. Sharing experiences on UK engagement on the CAAC agenda with other states serves to open up the humanitarian space and understand how collaborative engagement can strengthen the protection of children in armed conflict. Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon also met youth participants in the newly launched World Vision campaign '<em>It takes a World…to end violence against children</em>' to discuss their views and recommendations for the UK government regarding children in armed forces and groups, including how the UK can galvanise the international community to better support this agenda.</p><p>The UK can see a strong case in principle for re-galvanising our approach to reintegration and remains committed to supporting the valuable work of the SRSG's office in this respect. The UK has shown its 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 for children formerly associated with armed groups and sharing best practice and lesson learnt with key member states. The GCR is working to provide more reliable funding to ensure higher quality, longer-term reintegration programming and prevention of re-recruitment for all children formerly recruited and used by armed groups and forces. The UK has confirmed that it will be increasing its funding to the office of the SRSG for CAAC to £450,000 for 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> answering member constituency Cities of London and Westminster answering member printed Mark Field question first answered 19/02/2019 16:40:02 answering member 1405 label Biography information for Mark Field
tabling member	4608 label Biography information for John Lamont

1039582

registered interest
date	11/01/2019
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Armed Conflict: Children
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to (a) reduce the number of child soldiers and (b) prevent the recruitment of new child soldiers.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	207556
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/01/2019 answer text <p>The UK is firmly committed to a global policy of 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 and to prevent re-recruitment. 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.</p><p>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 for children formerly associated with armed groups. The GCR is working to provide more reliable funding to ensure higher quality, longer-term reintegration programming and prevention of re-recruitment for all children formerly recruited and used by armed groups and forces.</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, a political commitment to prevent the recruitment and use of children by armed forces and armed groups during the conduct of United Nations peace operations. 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> answering member constituency Cities of London and Westminster answering member printed Mark Field question first answered 16/01/2019 15:01:24 answering member 1405 label Biography information for Mark Field
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1025322

registered interest
date	14/12/2018
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Armed Conflict: Children
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to prevent the recruitment of child soldiers in fragile and failed states.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	202290
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/12/2018 answer text <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> answering member constituency Cities of London and Westminster answering member printed Mark Field question first answered 19/12/2018 13:21:45 answering member 1405 label Biography information for Mark Field
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

858581

registered interest
date	09/03/2018
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Armed Conflict: Children
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign And Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his counterparts in the (a) EU and (b) UN Security Council on stopping the practice of using child soldiers.
tabling member constituency	North East Fife
tabling member printed	Stephen Gethins
uin	131836
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/03/2018 answer text <p>The UK is an active member of the United Nations Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, which consists of Security Council members, and which leads the international response on the issues of child soldiers and child protection. We work particularly closely with allies and like-minded states on the Council, notably France, the Netherlands and Sweden, to advance common efforts and UK objectives in this area.</p><p>In November 2017, my colleague Lord Ahmad, the Minister for the Commonwealth and the United Nations, participated in an open debate of the UN Security Council on Children in Armed Conflict, focused on the findings of the UN Secretary-General's 2017 Annual Report. Lord Ahmad welcomed the work of the UN and of the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict, and reiterated our concern about the continuing grave violations committed against children in conflicts around the world.</p> answering member constituency Cities of London and Westminster answering member printed Mark Field question first answered 19/03/2018 15:07:50 answering member 1405 label Biography information for Mark Field
tabling member	4434 label Biography information for Stephen Gethins

858582

registered interest
date	09/03/2018
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Armed Conflict: Children
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much funding his Department has allocated to organisations which tackle the use of child soldiers in conflict in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	North East Fife
tabling member printed	Stephen Gethins
uin	131837
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/03/2018 answer text <p>The FCO has provided funding to both UN organisations and civil society groups, to tackle the use of child soldiers in armed conflict. This totals £1,864,000 since 2015.</p><p>This figure comprises funding to the UN Department of Peacekeeping to provide key child protection staff, totalling just over £1 million from 2016-19.</p><p>Between 2015 and 2019, we will have also given £620,000 to the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, making the UK the number one donor to this Office. We have lobbied others to increase their contributions.</p><p>We have also provided £75,000 in both financial years 2015/16 and 2016/17, as well as £85,000 in financial year 2017/18, to the NGO Children and Armed Conflict Watch List.</p> answering member constituency Cities of London and Westminster answering member printed Mark Field question first answered 19/03/2018 15:13:40 answering member 1405 label Biography information for Mark Field
tabling member	4434 label Biography information for Stephen Gethins

858583

registered interest
date	09/03/2018
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Armed Conflict: Children
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help partner countries to build institutional capacity to decrease the use of child soldiers in conflict.
tabling member constituency	North East Fife
tabling member printed	Stephen Gethins
uin	131838
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/03/2018 answer text <p>We provide funding to support the work of the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict's to implement UN Action Plans with relevant UN Member States. This includes technical missions to monitor violations committed against children.</p><p>We also appreciate the expertise which civil society organisations can bring to tackling this issue, and we are currently providing funding to strengthen the monitoring, reporting and response by civil society actors in Nigeria, South Sudan, Mali, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Burma.</p> answering member constituency Cities of London and Westminster answering member printed Mark Field question first answered 19/03/2018 16:47:58 answering member 1405 label Biography information for Mark Field
tabling member	4434 label Biography information for Stephen Gethins

92232

registered interest
date	26/09/2014
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Armed Conflict: Children
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking with African Union governments to end the recruitment of children into the national armed forces of countries where this practice takes place; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Kemptown
tabling member printed	Simon Kirby
uin	209687
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2014 answer text <p>The UK Government is committed to helping countries end the recruitment and use of children in conflict. <br> <br>During the United Nations General Assembly in New York, I hosted a Ministerial roundtable, chaired by the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict, Ms Leila Zerrougui. The event brought together Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Yemen and African Union (AU) Commissioner for Peace and Security, Mr Smail Chergui.</p><p>The meeting looked at ways to end the recruitment and use of children in conflict by government forces, particularly through the implementation of UN Action Plans. It allowed countries that have successfully ended this practice to share lessons with those who are working towards this goal.</p><p>The roundtable built on an event during the End Sexual Violence in Conflict Summit in London in June, led by my Honourable friend Mark Simmonds MP, where Ministers from Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia underlined their commitment to ending the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict.</p><p>The UK is also the majority funder of a Child Protection Adviser at the AU. This post is designed to ensure child protection policies are mainstreamed in AU peace enforcement operations on the continent.</p> answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood question first answered 29/10/2014 14:43:10 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
tabling member	3929 label Biography information for Simon Kirby

63657

registered interest
date	24/06/2014
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Armed Conflict: Children
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, on how many occasions he has raised the issues of child soldiering and progress on tackling it with his counterparts in other countries in the last two years.
tabling member constituency	East Londonderry
tabling member printed	Mr Gregory Campbell
uin	202201
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/06/2014 answer text <p>Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) 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 (DRC), Somalia, South Sudan, Chad and Burma. Over the last two years, I have raised this issue with counterparts in Chad, Sierra Leone and DRC, as well as most recently with the Somali President and the Minister of the Interior in South Sudan during visits in April this year. My Right Honourable Friend, Hugo Swire MP, also discussed the issue during a visit to Burma in January.</p><p>During the recent End Sexual Violence in Conflict Summit, I hosted a Ministerial roundtable on CAAC attended by UN Special Representative of the Secretary General for CAAC. Ministers from Sierra Leone, DRC and Somalia underlined their commitment to ending the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict.</p> answering member constituency Boston and Skegness answering member printed Mark Simmonds question first answered 30/06/2014 13:36:15 answering member 1393 label Biography information for Mark Simmonds
tabling member	1409 label Biography information for Mr Gregory Campbell