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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 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>
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