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	UN calls for increased action to safeguard young people caught up in violence by United Nations News   July 2008   UN calls for increased action to safeguard young people caught up in violence.   Protecting children in armed conflict is a moral issue, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed today, calling for increased action to safeguard young people caught up in violence.   “The protection of children in armed conflict is a litmus test for the United Nations and the Organization’s Member States,” Mr. Ban said told the Security Council in an open debate. “It is a moral call, and deserves to be placed above politics. It requires innovative, fearless engagement by all stakeholders.”   He noted that in the 12 years since the release of the landmark study on the impact of armed conflict on children by Graça Machel, international legal standards on the issue have been established.   The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) classifies recruiting children into fighting forces as both a war crime and a crime against humanity, while the UN International Labour Organization (ILO) has a convention calling child soldiering one of the worst forms of child labour.   The Secretary-General also cited the work of the Security Council to protect children, with resolutions having been adopted on six grave violations: abduction; sexual violence; child soldiers; killing and maiming; attacks on schools and hospitals; and denial of humanitarian access.   “Yet we have only begun to scratch the surface,” he said, voicing hope that the 15-member body would take further measures to address the problem.   In her address to the debate, which heard from dozens of speakers, Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, said that her recent visits to Iraq and Afghanistan have convinced her of the changing nature of warfare.   “The time has come for us to re-double our efforts in these regions, to renew our commitment to ensure that children will not be recruited or used as suicide bombers, that they will not be detained in military detention without due process which protects their vulnerability as minors, that their schools will not be attacked, that they or their families will not be collateral damage and that girl children will not be the targets of sexual violence or denied access to schools,” she said.   Over the past year, Ms. Coomaraswamy said, Member States have expressed their opinions that her Office should more closely assess the root causes of serious offences against children, in particular the problem of children associated with armed groups.   Although in agreement with the need to understand the basis of conflict, she underlined that the Council should not be steered “away from its task of ensuring accountability for and fighting impunity of persistent and grave violators of children’s rights in situations of armed conflict, a task in which it has an advantage over other organs of the United Nations, including the possibility of imposing targeted measures,” she said.   Also speaking at today’s debate was Assistant Secretary-General Edmond Mulet, who briefed the Council on measures that the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) has taken on child protection.   Currently, the Department hosts more than 60 child protection officers in seven missions around the world, with the provision of training on children’s rights being a top priority.   “We must strive to ensure an environment in which children’s rights are fully respected and their welfare is protected: a peaceful and just environment in which they can flourish and meaningfully contribute to their communities,” Mr. Mulet said.   At the conclusion of the day-long debate, the Council issued a presidential statement in which the body reaffirmed “its strong and equal condemnation of the continuing recruitment and use of children in armed conflict in violation of applicable international law,” as well as killing and maiming of children, rape and other sexual violence, abductions, denial of humanitarian access to children and attacks against schools and hospitals by those taking part in fighting.   Today’s statement also emphasized the role of education in conflict areas as a way to curb and prevent the recruitment and re-recruitment of children.   “The Security Council reiterates the need for stronger focus by all parties concerned, including governments and the donor community, on the long-term effects of armed conflict on children and the impediments to their full rehabilitation and reintegration into their families and communities,” it said.
	Former Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic arrested in Serbia by Associated Press / UN News Serbia   July 22, 2008 (AP)   Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, a top war crimes suspect, has been arrested in Serbia, the office of Serbian President Boris Tadic says.   Tadic"s office said in a statement that Karadzic was arrested last night "in an action by the Serbian security services".   Karadzic was indicted by the UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for genocide during the 1992-95 Bosnian war and had been hiding since 1998.   Serbia has been under heavy pressure from the European Union to turn over suspects to the international tribunal. If Karadzic is extradited, he would be the 44th Serb extradited to the tribunal. The others include former President Slobodan Milosevic, who was ousted in 2000 and died in 2006 while on trial on war crimes charges. Karadzic was wanted on genocide charges for allegedly organising the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica and other atrocities of the Bosnian war.   "I was informed by our colleagues in Belgrade about the successful operation which resulted in the arrest of Radovan Karadzic," the tribunal"s head prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, said.   "On behalf of the Office of the Prosecutor, I would like to congratulate the Serbian authorities, especially the National Security Council, Serbia"s Action Team in charge of tracking fugitives and the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor, on achieving this milestone in co-operation with the ICTY."   Karadzic was a fugitive from justice for almost 13 years. The first indictment against him was confirmed on 24 July 1995.   Karadzic, the former President of the Serb Republic, head of the Serbian Democratic Party and Supreme Commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, is charged with genocide, complicity in genocide, extermination, murder, wilful killing, persecutions, deportation, inhumane acts, and other crimes committed against Bosnian Muslim, Bosnian Croat and other non-Serb civilians in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the 1992-1995 war.   His indictment alleges that he, acting together with others, committed the crimes to secure control of areas of Bosnia which had been proclaimed part of the "Serbian Republic" and significantly reducing its non-Serb population.   On Saturday, Serb authorities turned over an ex-Bosnian Serb police chief, Stojan Zupljanin, who was arrested in the town of Pancevo last week after nine years on the run. A Belgrade court on Friday rejected his appeal against extradition and Zupljanin pleaded innocent yesterday to 12 charges of murder, torture and persecution of Bosnian Muslims and Croats in 1992.   Zupljanin was charged with war crimes for allegedly overseeing Serb-run prison camps where thousands of Muslims and Croats were killed during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia.   22 July 2008   Radovan Karadzic arrest ‘decisive step’ toward ending impunity, says Ban. (UN News)   UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the arrest of former Bosnian Serb leader and fugitive war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic, who had evaded capture for over a decade after being indicted by the United Nations tribunal set up to try those responsible for atrocities committed during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s.   Radovan Karadzic had been one of three remaining fugitives from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), along with Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic and the ethnic Serb politician Goran Hadzic. He was detained in Serbia yesterday.   “The Secretary-General commends the Serbian authorities for this decisive step toward ending impunity for those indicted for serious violations of international humanitarian law during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia,” according to a statement issued yesterday by Mr. Ban’s spokesperson.   “This is a historic moment for the victims, who have waited 13 years for Mr. Karadzic to be brought to justice,” it added.   The former President of the Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina faces charges of genocide, complicity in genocide, extermination, murder, wilful killing, persecutions, deportation, inhumane acts and other crimes committed during the 1990s.   The statement noted that while yesterday’s arrest is “an important milestone, the work of the International Tribunal will not be complete until all fugitives have been arrested and tried.”   The arrest was also hailed by ICTY prosecutor Serge Brammertz who called it a “milestone in cooperation” with the tribunal.   “This is a very important day for the victims who have waited for this arrest for over a decade,” Mr. Brammertz said. “It is also an important day for international justice because it clearly demonstrates that nobody is beyond the reach of the law and that sooner or later all fugitives will be brought to justice.”
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