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On the Record for Children : volume 3 : issue 14
General Assembly Special Session on Children
On the Record for Children is produced

Watchlist
By Sara Friedman

A new initiative to protect the security and rights of children in armed conflicts was launched at the Special Session on Thursday. Members of the Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict want to see international commitments to protect children become a reality and not just a promise. Gathering and disseminating specific and accurate data is at the heart of the initiative, according to Julia Freedson, Watchlist Coordinator. 'We understand the pull of individual human stories, names and faces,' she said. 'But facts, figures and hard data turn one story into one million stories, making it impossible to deny, ignore, dismiss or shove the problems of children in war under the rug.'

The reports will also serve as an advocacy tool to support the work of NGOs, the media, the private sector, young people and others working to protect the rights, security and development of children in situations of armed conflict. Drawing on data gathered by NGOs working in the field, Watchlist reports urge the UN Security Council to connect its general resolutions on children and armed conflict with its concrete resolutions on specific countries. In its Angola report, Watchlist points out the numerous violations of childrens rights during the war and stresses that proposed actions by the UN should not ignore its own resolutions-1261, 1314, 1379öwhich promise to protect the security and rights of children in conflict and post-conflict settings.

Based at the Womens Commission for Women Refugees and Children, the Watchlist is governed by a steering committee of six NGOs: CARE International, Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, International Save the Children Alliance, Norwegian Refugee Council, Womens Commission for Refugee Women and Children, and World Vision International. A global network of NGOs also supports the initiative. For more information, contact juliaf@womenscommission.org. For copies of the reports, go to www.watchlist.org .