Situation of children in armed conflict a "mixed picture"
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Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
The annual report of the United Nations Secretary-General on children and armed conflict has been submitted to the Security Council.
The report gives an overview of the situation of girls and boys in conflict zones and what is being done to protect them.
It includes what is called a "list of shame" of armed groups that recruit and use children as soldiers, kill and maim them, commit sexual violence against or attack schools and hospitals.
A total of 52 of armed groups that continue to harm children in armed conflict are listed in the report, including four new parties in Sudan, Yemen and Syria.
Radhika Coomaraswamy is the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict.
"This report, the Secretary-General's annual report on Children and Armed Conflict for this year 2012 provides a mixed picture of the situation around the world because on the one hand we have new and really horrendous realities for children taking place in Syria and earlier perhaps in Libya and Yemen, but some of the old conflicts have come to an end and children have been released and parties have been de-listed in Sri Lanka and Nepal for example. So I would say it's a mixed picture." (Duration: 28")
