- UN agency presents Child Protection Handover Protocol to training institutions
The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) yesterday urged military authorities to include the global agency’s protocol in their training programmes.
The UNICEF said this while presenting the United Nations Child Protection Handover Protocol to key Nigerian Armed Forces training institutions in the country.
The document, tagged: Implementation Plan for Handover Protocol for Children Encountered in the Course of Armed Conflict in Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin Region, was presented to the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) in Kaduna and the Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC) at Jaji, also in Kaduna, by UNICEF Chief of Child Protection in Nigeria, Ibrahim Sesay.
In a presentation on the grave violations against children in armed conflict, the document highlights issues that concern the protection of children on the basis of international human rights law and international humanitarian law.
Sesay said the partnership with the military in the implementation of the signed handover protocol between the Federal Government of Nigeria, the United Nations system in Nigeria and UNICEF on September 30, 2022, as well as its current face with regard to strengthening the capacity of the military.
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The UNICEF official noted that the partnership would ensure the protection of children and those impacted by military operations, especially in the Northeast.
He explained that the handover protocol was divided into seven segments, including consideration for children under 18 years.
“It is not just for children from Nigeria, but it’s also for the entire Lake Chad Basin. This is because we see the transnational aspects of conflict and then children and other people moving across borders and how they also come in contact with security forces,” Sesay said.
The UNICEF official said the duration of stay when the children are in administrative custody used to take a long time.
He applauded the Nigerian military, saying: “Since its signing, no child stays more than a week from the time of encounter until the point of release. It is even being shortened; usually, it takes about two to three days.
“The children and even women with children are also released by the military to a competent civilian authority. This is basically the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development of the state governments.”
Receiving the document on behalf of the NDA, the Commandant, Maj.-Gen. John Ochai, noted that warfare, like the world itself, has evolved from the traditional warfare to the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI).