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<html> <head> <meta name="Generator" content="Corel WordPerfect 8"> <title>NOTES FOR AN ADDRESS BYTHE HONOURABLE LLOYD AXWORTHY,MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS,TO THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON WAR-AFFECTED CHILDREN</title> </head> <body text="#000000" link="#0000ff" vlink="#551a8b" alink="#ff0000" bgcolor="#c0c0c0"> 2000/32 CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY NOTES FOR AN ADDRESS BY THE HONOURABLE LLOYD AXWORTHY, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, TO THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON WAR-AFFECTED CHILDREN WINNIPEG, Manitoba September 15, 2000 (6:35 p.m. EDT) Arriving late last night from New York, where I was in attendance at the UN, I had the chance to go over the reports and stories from the first five days of this Conference. If there was one message that emerged loud and clear, it was the call to action, a strong, across the board sense of impatience that we mobilize now. I have news for you. The same urge for active effort was felt in the corridors and Assembly Hall of the UN -- an organization better known for the length of the speeches than for the quickness of the response. Yet the Millennium Summit held last week has awakened a thirst for reform and renaissance; a demand for results; a clear call for action. If I may quote from my speech yesterday, I asked the question, "When the lights turned off last Friday night, at the end of the Millennium Assembly in New York, did other lights go on around the world --in our Chancery offices, Parliamentary Assemblies, and Cabinet meeting rooms --to illuminate the way forward? Are we all, each in our own way, asking how we can change our ways to better help the UN manage our new global agenda?" At the heart of this re-vitalized atmosphere is the growing appreciation of the new risks that affect the people of the world. There is the recognition that the human security issue is one that carries risk from too many guns, human rights violations, terrorism and unfettered conflict that targets the most vulnerable citizens. So, just as you have been involved in seeking solutions to the plight of war-affected children here in Winnipeg, let me say that you are not alone in your quest. When the Airbus arrives late tonight with ministers and senior officials from over 130 countries, be ready to make common cause, to seek out the ways we can work together to end the plight of war-affected children. The beginning point is first to realize how much has happened since Graça Machel issued her stunning report, how much is in train, how much there is yet to do. First, there is the UN family with the dynamic leadership of Olara Otunnu and Carol Bellamy, placing and keeping the plight of children squarely on the world's agenda. In January, a breakthrough was obtained when consensus was achieved on the text of the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict. Since its adoption in May by the UN General Assembly, 69 states have signed the Protocol, while 3 states have ratified. There has been the crucial initiative of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which makes the violation of children a war crime. And for the first time, the Security Council has addressed and passed a resolution on child advocacy and protection. What this checklist demonstrates is that there is real movement toward a legal framework and international infrastructure concerning the rights and protection of children -- and this is crucial in giving shape and substance to the quest for action on the issue of war-affected children. Canada has played, I believe, an important role in helping to give definition and shape to this international agenda, as a co-sponsor with Ghana of the West-African Conference on War-Affected Children, and as the first country to sign, ratify and pass national legislation implementing the Optional Protocol on Child Soldiers. We have provided direct financial support to the office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, and we have taken leadership in collaborative efforts such as the Ottawa Convention, in the area of small arms, and in the creation of the International Criminal Court. As many of you know, we have also used our term on the UN Security Council to ensure action on the protection of civilians, making sanctions more effective, and bringing to the Council a specific response to the crisis in Rwanda. This week, I announced, on behalf of Canada, a campaign to promote the signature and ratification of the International Criminal Court, and launched the creation of an independent, International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty. The Commission will provide a one-year effort to bring proposals on how to deal with the pressing dilemma of protecting people, including children, in the face of threats to their human security. But, it is not enough to simply work the multilateral corridors. It is also important to be in the field, to get involved directly in support of war-affected children, and to put our presence on the line in the regions where the problems exist. At the conclusion of the West African Conference, we had helped forge a strong call to action by the 16 West African states. We offered assistance to ECOWAS [Economic Community of West African States] to set up a Child Protection Unit and, in the company of Olara Otunnu, went to Sierra Leone to see what could be done to free the thousands of children held as captives, dealing directly with the likes of Foday Sankoh. Canada is helping the Government of Sierra Leone establish a National Agency for Children. This Agency will focus on all areas of concern to war-affected children, ensuring that their needs are taken into consideration and giving them a voice in the future of their country. I go through this shorthand record to remind you that when we work together, we can make things happen, rejecting the notion that the world and Canada are standing still. Your presence here and the arrival of government representatives tonight is testimony to that fact. So, where do we go from here? How do we build upon these foundations? What are the priorities and projects? First, we must mobilize around the treaties that protect children and get them signed, sealed and delivered -- 100 signatures and 50 ratifications of the Optional Protocol on Child Soldiers by the opening of the UN Special Session on Children next fall. We must also mobilize support for the International Criminal Court so that 60 ratifications can be achieved by 2001 -- and so that we will have a brand new and effective tool to protect children. We must also find new ways to work directly on advancing the protection of children. I am announcing today a strategy for Child Advocacy and Protection. Through our Peacebuilding and Human Security Fund, Canada will establish: • A Child Advocacy and Protection Initiative, or Mediation for Children. By tapping into the enormous wealth of Canadian skills and experience, we will recruit, train and deploy experts in child rights, child protection, justice, mediation and program delivery. We will strengthen CANADEM [Canadian Resource Bank for Democracy and Human Rights] -- a roster of Canadian experts -- to include individuals with the above skills. • Canada will provide the necessary resources to ensure that child protection and advocacy experts serve on the staff of the Independent Special Court for Sierra Leone. This court must be child-sensitive and responsive to the special needs of child witnesses. This contribution is in addition to Canada's commitment to contribute legal and other experts, such as prosecutors, to this court. • I congratulate the NGO caucus on its decision this week to establish an international network on behalf of war-affected children. Canada is prepared to commit funds (and challenges other governments to do the same) to support the development of an effective, NGO-led system for monitoring and reporting violations of the rights of children in conflict. • Related to this, Canada is prepared to commit resources to establish an annual report -- similar to the Landmines Monitor -- but for war-affected children. This report card could pull together available information from countries where conflict has impacted or is impacting on children. It could record commitments made by governments and report on progress -- or lack thereof -- on implementation of these promises. We must be prepared to name those governments and individuals who choose to violate the rights of children, and hold them accountable for commitments made. Canada is prepared to provide resources to enable those assembled here to do just that and we count on your suggestions on how this may be most effectively implemented. • Canada will support the preparation of a comprehensive study on the Impact of Small Arms on Children, to be presented at the UN Conference on Small Arms in 2001. I believe that consideration of the children's dimension is essential to any discussion on the impact of small arms. We are also responding directly to the call of young people here to give them an ongoing voice. We will create a Youth Scholarship Fund to be used by the international youth experts attending this Conference to help them pursue further education and training. We will contribute funds toward convening a special Youth Summit on War-Affected Children immediately prior to the 2001 Special Session on Children, as well as a Youth PrepCom early next year. This will guarantee that the youth experts here in Winnipeg will be heard -- and heard loudly -- in New York next fall. I challenge other governments to commit funds to this important initiative. Canada will provide resources to support youth engagement through the Youth Advisory Board, an initiative of the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu. The Board is comprised of young people from different regions who discuss issues related to children and conflict. Recognizing the importance of such initiatives as Olara Otunnu's "Voice-of-children" and UNICEF's "Voices of Youth," Canada is prepared to support a study on how to engage youth in media related to the issues of war-affected children and child rights. This could include youth-oriented and youth-driven radio networks, Internet and print reporting, as well as access to journalists and training. Through our Youth International Internship Program, Canada will continue to place young Canadians in positions where they can work to advocate for and protect children around the world. Next year, we will provide 50 overseas internships focussing on child-related issues. Most importantly, I am personally committed to following every avenue, expending every energy, and using every lever at our disposal, to support efforts to release war-abducted children and child soldiers. I have taken notice of the calls for us to condemn the violation of children in Sudan. Well, we have done just that at the UN Commission on Human Rights, at the Security Council, directly in talks with the Sudanese government, and with all parties to the conflict in Sudan. But such condemnation -- in and of itself -- does not free the estimated 6000 young people abducted and being held by Lord's Resistance Army. This is why we also are expending every effort to speak and act directly in support of efforts to free these children -- including direct face-to-face initiatives, working with the Government of Egypt, and complementing and supporting the efforts of the Carter Center. That, too, is part of the job of government -- to use our resources, our reputation and our reach, to achieve freedom for these children -- regardless of what the critics may say. So, I ask you to continue in your efforts and continue collaborating with community groups and individuals, young and old, from around the world. But remember, as well, that in unity there is strength. In common cause we can double our strength and thereby obtain the full support we need during our discussions of the next two days. We need your help to make this Winnipeg Conference on War-Affected Children another milestone in addressing the rights of the child. Thank you. </body> </html>

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