Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict
Information on the purpose of your organization
Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict (Watchlist) strives to end violations against children in armed conflict and to guarantee their rights. As a global network, Watchlist builds partnerships among local, national and international nongovernmental organizations, enhancing mutual capacities and strengths. Working together, we strategically collect and disseminate information on violations against children in conflicts in order to influence key decision makers to create and implement programs and policies that effectively protect children.
Information on your programmes and activities in areas relevant to the subject of the Summit and in which country or counties they are carried out.
Watchlist wishes to participate in the United Nations Summit to support the inclusion and realization of prevention of Violence Against Children (VAC) within the Post-2015 development agenda, specifically, with a view to supporting children affected by armed conflict.
Prevention of Violence Against Children (VAC) is an important component of the post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda and is directly related to Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and targets: 16.2, 4a, 5.2, 5.3, 8.7, 16.1, 16.9, among others. Several of these goals are central to the activities and goals of Watchlist.
Watchlist is currently the only international NGO network that regularly monitors and reports on the violations committed against conflict affected children. Watchlist?s goal is to ensure that local child rights defenders are well equipped to participate in the UN-led Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism (MRM). Watchlist supports local civil society organizations that monitor and report on grave violations perpetrated against children in situations of armed conflict, and advocate for an appropriate response to their needs. Since 2005, Watchlist has supported projects in Afghanistan, Burma/Myanmar, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Liberia, Nepal and Chad. Watchlist currently supports projects in DRC and Colombia, and is looking to establish new partnerships in Nigeria and Central African Republic (CAR).
Watchlist additionally documents grave violations against children in specific country settings and publishes ?Field Monitors?, the purpose of which is not only to assess the situation of children affected by conflict, but also to evaluate current responses to violations in the framework of the MRM, and makes recommendations to improve its effectiveness on the ground. Watchlist's upcoming Field Monitor documents attacks on and military use of schools in CAR. According to UNESCO, half of all out-of-school children live in conflict-affected countries. Achieving safe and equal access to education for children in conflict-stricken areas will be crucial to success of SDGs 4 and 16.
Information on activities at the national or international levels
Watchlist is on the forefront of advocacy by providing targeted policy advice to international, national and local level decision makers towards improving child protection programs and policies. Watchlist also fills a special niche as the leading NGO network working alongside the UN on the development of the Security Council's Children and Armed Conflict (CAC) agenda and the development of the UN-led MRM. Furthermore, Watchlist?s work fills an important information gap by linking local child protection workers with global policymakers whose decisions impact children?s lives in situations of armed conflict around the world.
To achieve this, Watchlist regularly publishes Children and Armed Conflict Monthly Updates to the UN Security Council highlighting children and armed conflict-related developments expected to come before the Council in the following month and providing recommendations for effective Council action to improve the protection of children. Watchlist also holds country-specific briefings with its partners for the Security Council Working Group ahead of conclusion negotiations as another area for influencing council action, and interacts with wider UN Membership through the Group of Friends on CAC, consisting of 38 Member States. In addition, Watchlist produces periodic policy papers and organizes formal and informal consultations to provide further strategic policy advice and technical expertise to high-level decision-makers on the protection of children in armed conflicts across the globe.
Finally, Watchlist educates public audiences on the host of challenges children face in situations of armed conflict and the ways in which protection programs and policies can be improved to serve them through regular mailings, reports, and social media messaging.
Organization have an annual report? (YES/NO) (should contain financial statements and a list of financial sources and contributions, including governmental contributions)?
YES -
2142-Watchlist-AR-LR.pdf
List of members of the governing body of your organization, and their countries of nationality
Watchlist?s programmatic content is set by an Advisory Board of international NGOs working in the field of children's rights, which includes Human Rights Watch (Chair), Save the Children International (Vice-Chair), Norwegian Refugee Council, Terres des Hommes International Federation, War Child International and World Vision International. Watchlist?s network also includes Associate Member organizations who share our commitment to protect the security and rights of children affected by armed conflict. Watchlist Associate Members include Child Soldiers International, Geneva Call, the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, and the Romeo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative.
Watchlist is a fiscally-sponsored project of the Tides Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the largest fiscal sponsor in the USA. Watchlist does not receive direct financial support from Tides Center (see #7)
Copy of the constitution and/or by-laws of the organization (WORD or PDF only), or a weblink to it
WatchlistonChildrenandArmedConflict-SIGNEDMOU.pdf
