On 20 July, the United Nations Office to the African Union participated in the opening and introductory sessions of a two-week Training of Trainers on Preventing the Recruitment and Use of Children in Armed Violence, held from 20 to 31 July at the East Africa Standby Force Headquarters in Addis Ababa.
The training, opened by the African Union Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security with support from the Embassy of Canada and conducted by the Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security, brought together 30 military, police and civilian participants from Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda.
The programme aimed to strengthen regional capacity to prevent the recruitment and use of children by armed forces and groups and support the mainstreaming of child protection across the African Peace and Security Architecture.
Participants received training on legal frameworks, age verification, detention and handover protocols, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration, child trafficking, communication, monitoring and reporting. The Training of Trainers approach is intended to enable participants to further disseminate knowledge and strengthen child protection capacities within their respective institutions.
