Report of the Secretary General on the Situation of Children and Armed Conflict Affected by the Lord's Resistance Army [S/2012/365]

The present report was prepared pursuant to the conclusions of the Security Council Working Group on the situation of Uganda [S/AC.51/2010/1], in which the Secretary-General is requested to prepare a comprehensive report on the situation of children and armed conflict affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army [LRA], with special emphasis on cross-border issues. The report, which covers the period from July 2009 to February 2012, details incidents involving the commission of six grave violations against children by LRA in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan. They include recruitment and use, killing and maiming, sexual violence, abductions, attacks on schools and hospitals as well as the denial of humanitarian access.

The Secretary-General indicates in his report that the commission of grave violations, in particular abductions, recruitment and use of children by the armed group, as well as sexual violence continue to be a systematic characteristic of the LRA modus operandi. He also outlines the measures taken by the United Nations and its child protection partners to establish a protective environment for children in the areas affected by LRA, including through the operationalization of a regional LRA focal point system, composed of United Nations child protection actors in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan and Uganda. The Secretary-General concludes with recommendations on the strengthening of measures to protect children against LRA, including through the African Union regional cooperation initiative on LRA. Read  more