A/HRC/8/10
page 12
45. Of particular importance is article 38 of the Convention, which calls on States to respect
and ensure respect for international humanitarian law.24 In addition, under article 39, States
should take all appropriate measures to promote physical and psychological recovery and social
reintegration of victims of armed conflicts, inter alia.
46. The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of
children in armed conflict has the potential to reduce the number of children recruited into
regular armies and irregular armed groups and mitigate the implications for their educational
opportunities.25 The Optional Protocol has been followed by several Security Council
resolutions, notably resolution 1612 (2005), which establishes a monitoring and reporting
mechanism on children and armed conflict.
47. The accountability mechanisms of the Committee on the Rights of the Child remain weak,
for they provide for no more than State party reports. But the Committee has shown a special
interest in, and commitment to, the issue of education in emergencies, as reflected in its
guidelines for submission of reports, its written and oral questions and its recommendations. The
Committee is to organize a general discussion on the right to education in September 2008.
48. According to the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, refugee children should be
accorded the same treatment as is accorded to nationals with respect to elementary education
(art. 22, para. 1) and treatment no less favourable than that accorded to foreigners with respect to
education other than elementary education (art. 22, para. 2). In 1993 UNHCR adopted a policy
on refugee children that includes the guiding principle that, in all actions concerning refugee
children, the child’s best interests should be given primary consideration.26 However,
accountability mechanisms for the Member States that fund the work of UNHCR of greatest
relevance to refugees are not very well developed.
49. Much of the work of UNHCR has been geared towards the protection of displaced persons,
despite the fact that its statute gives it no specific mandate for such work.27 In 2005 the
Inter-Agency Standing Committee’s Education Cluster decided to create a group to improve the
24
El párrafo 1 del artículo 38 dispone que los Estados Partes se comprometen a respetar y velar
por que se respeten las normas del derecho internacional humanitario que les sean aplicables en
los conflictos armados y que sean pertinentes para el niño.
25
Los protocolos I y II de los Convenios de Ginebra, la Carta Africana sobre los Derechos y el
Bienestar del Niño, el Convenio Nº 182 de la Organización Internacional del Trabajo (OIT)
sobre la prohibición de las peores formas de trabajo infantil y la acción inmediata para su
eliminación, de 1999, y el Estatuto de Roma de la Corte Penal Internacional también prohíben el
reclutamiento de niños.
26
27
ACNUR, Directrices sobre protección y cuidado, Ginebra, 1994, pág. 73.
La Asamblea General atribuyó progresivamente la competencia sobre los asuntos
relacionados con los desplazados internos, basándose en el artículo 9 del Estatuto del ACNUR.
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