Photo: UNICEF

Progress

• Adoption of the Protocol on Handling Children in Situations of Armed Conflict (CSAC) by the Government in September 2020.

Challenges

• Child casualties in the context of military operations against BIFF, ASG and IS-inspired groups, and over the impact of IEDs and ERW on children;
• Attacks on schools and protected persons in relation to schools, particularly in indigenous communities.

Recommendations

For the Government:

• To implement the CSAC Law and its Implementing Rules and Regulations;
• To continue collaborating with the United Nations to address violations against children, support the implementation of national child protection procedures and guidelines, and facilitate access to conflict-affected areas for child protection actors;
• To implement the Ottawa Convention and become a party to Protocol V of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons and to endorse the Paris Principles and the Vancouver Principles;
• To implement the 2019 National policy framework on learners and schools as zones of peace and to better protect children through the Safe Schools Declaration.

For the Armed Forces of the Philippines:

• To sign a Strategic Plan to halt, prevent and respond to grave violations against children in armed conflict as agreed in November 2019.

For the Government and other armed groups:

• NPA and other armed groups to immediately end the recruitment and use of children, and to release children;
• Listed armed groups to enter into a dialogue with the United Nations to develop action plans to end and prevent child recruitment and use;
• Government and armed groups to integrate the protection of children in peace negotiations.