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<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>
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