Olara A. Otunnu | Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict

Olara A. Otunnu

Former Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict (1998-2005*)

Mr. Otunnu served as UN Deputy Secretary-General and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict from 1998 to 2005. In this capacity, he led the international campaign to mobilize the action of the international community in favor of children exposed to war, as a moral authority pleading in favor of these children, and he encouraged the taking of measures with a view to their protection in times of war and their rehabilitation and social reintegration after conflicts. He is at the origin of several major innovations, including the following: inclusion of child protection on the agenda of the UN Security Council; a complete corpus of protection standards and principles; and the repression in the Rome Statute of war crimes involving children. And as a Child Protection Advisor: the “list of shame”; the International Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism; and the “Application Campaign”. He was the architect of the regime aimed at ensuring the protection of children and sanctioning violations of their rights adopted by the Security Council in its famous resolution 1612 (2005). This regime formally establishes a comprehensive international monitoring and reporting system for serious violations against children, which aims to identify and list perpetrators of such violations and hold them accountable, as well as ensuring “on-the-ground compliance” with international legal standards. As part of his mandate, Mr. Otunnu made visits to several countries that were still in the grip of conflict or in the recovery phase.

*Ms. Karin Sham Poo served as Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict in the fall of 2005 and presented the report of the Office of the SRSG for Children and Armed Conflict to the General Assembly.