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The overall contribution of this project will be an
advancement of both theoretical and empirical knowledge about
the plight of war-affected children and the ways in which this
issue is being addressed. Therefore, research outcomes will be
of benefit to those in academia, government, NGOs, and the
media. Out of this project should emerge "best practices" and
"lessons learned" that could inform future policy decisions at
national, regional and international
levels.
Importance of the Research to the
UN and UNU
The importance of this subject to
the United Nations and the United Nations University is
evident. The UNU's mandate is "to contribute, through research
and capacity building, to efforts to resolve the pressing
global problems that are the concern of the United Nations,
its Peoples and Member States". "Children exposed to armed
conflict" is without doubt one of the pressing human security
problems of our post-Cold War era.
The UNU has
recognized this, having already held a symposium in January
2003 on the subject "Children in Turmoil: Rights of the Child
in the Midst of Human Insecurity" in collaboration with the
European Union. To quote from the UNU's Strategic Plan 2000:
"To address complex causes, we need complex, interdisciplinary
solutions." [p.26] This project, and particularly the April
2004 conference will build on the work already done by the UNU
in this area.
The UN of course signaled to the world,
in the Millennium Declaration, the urgency of protecting
children and the most vulnerable in society against the
onslaught of civil conflicts and complex emergencies. Our
project complements the work being done by the UN and the UN
Secretary General's Special Representative on Children in
Armed Conflict to find a way of moving beyond mere
declarations, principles and legal standards to actually
developing concrete means to ensure that childhood of children
everywhere is preserved, and that those who violate standards
of protection of children will no longer be able to do so with
impunity.
Thus the relevance of this research project to the UN's objectives
is quite clear. In addition, because the problem of war-affected
children is so prevalent in the developing world, especially
in Africa, this project will have much relevance to capacity
building and legal efforts being undertaking in those member
governments of the UN that are either in the midst of armed
struggle or just emerging out of it.
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