Skip to main content

Operational guidance: Negotiating and implementing handover protocols for the transfer of children associated with armed forces and armed groups (March 2022)

Countries
World
Sources
The Alliance
+ 1 more
Publication date
Origin
View original

1. Introduction and User Guide

Thousands of children in situations of armed conflict are doubly victimized; first, at the hands of armed groups or forces that recruit and use them in their ranks, and then by parties to the conflict who detain them for their alleged association with those groups or forces. Many of these children never receive the reintegration support and services they need.

Handover protocols are agreements by governments or armed groups to swiftly transfer children allegedly associated with armed forces and armed groups (CAAFAG) in their custody, or whom they have encountered, to child protection actors for appropriate support services, including, but not limited to, reintegration assistance.

Handover protocols are an explicit recognition by states and, at times, armed groups, that CAAFAG are first and foremost victims of grave human rights and humanitarian law violations. They offer CAAFAG a safe avenue to leave armed forces and armed groups and receive the care, protection, and reintegration support they need. As a practical matter, handover protocols also systematize and standardize the process of transfer of CAAFAG, as well as strengthen coordination and cooperation between security, civilian, and child protection actors, particularly during security operations.

At the time of writing, handover protocols have been signed and operationalized in at least eight countries and have provided a critical pathway to reintegration for many children. This operational guidance aims to support the signing and implementation of these agreements by providing child protection actors with good practices, lessons learned, and other useful information on previous and ongoing negotiations.

a. Background on the Recruitment, Use, and Detention of Children in Armed Conflict

In 2020, the United Nations documented the recruitment and use of 8,521 children by armed groups and forces in 22 countries around the world, although the practice also extends beyond the countries that the UN formally monitors. This number is an increase from the reported recruitment and use of at least 7,194 children in 2018 and some 7,747 children in 2019.

Some children are forcibly recruited into armed groups or forces, while others join because of financial incentives, family pressure, to defend their communities, to seek revenge against opposing forces, or for other reasons. Children sometimes directly take part in combat, or fulfill support roles such as, for example, the wives of combatants, cooks, spies, and messengers, or are used for sexual purposes. Many children experience high levels of trauma during their association and other rights violations.

Children who are released, escape, or are otherwise separated from an armed group or force do not always receive the reintegration support and services they need. In at least 20 countries around the world, government forces, militias, non-state armed groups, or international forces detain children for their alleged association with armed groups or forces. These parties apprehend children during military operations or other encounters following the children’s separation from armed groups or forces. At times, children are harassed or detained long after leaving the armed group or force. Children are sometimes held for months or even years in deplorable conditions, lacking access to food or health care. They may also be subject to torture or other cruel, degrading, and inhuman treatment. Children who are detained are likely to suffer stigmatization, disruptions to their education and social development, and separation from their community, jeopardizing their effective reintegration.

Between 2012 and 2017, the UN Secretary-General reported a fivefold increase in the number of children detained in the context of armed conflict, reaching a high of nearly 4,500 in 2017. More recent data shows a drop in the number of children detained, but documented cases in 2020 remained worryingly high, with at least 3,243 children held, around 700 more than reported by the UN in 2019. The Secretary-General reported 85 girls were identified in detention in 2020.

The rise in the number of children detained is in part explained by an increase in governments fighting groups designated as terrorist or labeled as ‘violent extremist.’ Empowered by new or amended counterterrorism legislation, these governments are more likely to treat children affected by armed conflict, including those who have no known history as combatants, as security threats or criminals and to detain them for long periods and without charges, often in facilities that do not meet the needs of children and that are known for their mistreatment of detainees. Children are sometimes subject to prosecution for mere membership in a designated terrorist group, in violation of international standards.

The current trends in the recruitment, use, and detention of children in situations of armed conflict highlight the critical need for handover protocols and their operationalization, which recognize these children as victims first and foremost and systematize their transfer to child protection actors for appropriate support services.

b. Guidance Objectives and Target Groups

This operational guidance brings together information on good practices and lessons learned in the negotiation and implementation of handover protocols in various countries. It aims to support child protection actors to initiate and strategically navigate handover protocol negotiations, to strengthen the implementation of these agreements, and to safeguard children at every stage of handover.

The guidance targets child protection actors working within the UN system, governments, and civil society. It outlines possible roles and responsibilities for these various stakeholders in the negotiation and implementation of handover protocols and provides recommendations on how they can effectively coordinate to better protect children.

c. Methodology

This guidance note is a collaboration between Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (The Alliance), and its Children Associated with Armed Forces and Armed Groups Task Force (CAAFAG TF).

Between July and September 2020, January and February 2021, and during September 2021, a research consultant conducted virtual interviews with 75 representatives from nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), humanitarian agencies, UN offices and agencies, peacekeeping missions, and governments, including military and child protection experts, to produce this guidance. She spoke with stakeholders working in 13 countries: Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Iraq, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, the Philippines, Somalia, the Sudan, and Yemen.

She and her colleague also conducted a desk-based review of relevant literature and of existing handover protocols and standard operating procedures (SoPs) from CAR, Chad, Mali, Niger, Somalia, the Sudan, and Uganda.

The guidance was shared with a group of subject-matter experts for feedback and inputs. It was then shared with the members of the CAAFAG TF for comments and reviewed by the Watchlist Advisory Board for final approval and the Alliance Steering Committee for endorsement