Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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112. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the extent to which the international community has succeeded in preventing the use of child soldiers in various conflict worldwide; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45527/14]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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The recruitment and use of child soldiers continues to be a serious problem and a matter of grave concern to Ireland and the international community. Each year, the United Nations Secretary-General issues a report on children and armed conflict which lists all armed groups – both state and non-state – that recruit and use children. The most recent list, published in July of this year, includes 59 state and non-state armed groups operating across three continents.

In 1996, the UN General Assembly voted to establish the post of Special-Representative of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict. In March of this year, the Special Representative and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) launched the “Children, Not Soldiers” campaign to end the recruitment and use of children by Government security forces in conflict by the end of 2016. The campaign is being implemented in close cooperation with the eight Governments listed in the Secretary General’s report for recruitment and use of children.

In 1999, the UN Security Council passed its first Resolution highlighting the impact of armed conflict on children and condemning violations carried out in that context. With the adoption of nine Resolutions and several Presidential statements since then, the Security Council has developed important tools to strengthen child protection and to promote compliance with international standards.

Ireland has engaged on this issue in various ways including through the core work of our aid programme in addressing poverty and under-development, which are major root causes of this problem. Ireland has also actively supported more targeted and specific interventions area from supporting agencies including UNICEF as well as the International Criminal Court. We have intervened on the issue at the UN and the Human Rights Council in 2014.

Ireland remains deeply committed to addressing the issue of child soldiers. Our approach is reflected in Ireland’s Policy for International Development, ‘One World, One Future’, where we pledge to increase our engagement on the issue of child soldiers and children in armed conflict.