I. Introduction

1. The present report, which covers the period from January to December 2011, is submitted pursuant to Security Council resolution 1998 (2011), by which the Council requested me to submit a report on the implementation of its resolutions 1261 (1999), 1314 (2000), 1379 (2001), 1460 (2003), 1539 (2004), 1612 (2005), 1882 (2009) and 1998 (2011), as well as its presidential statements on children and armed conflict.

2. The present report provides information on grave violations committed against children, in particular the recruitment and use of children, sexual violence against children, the killing and maiming of children, the abduction of children, attacks on schools and hospitals, and the denial of humanitarian access to children by parties to conflict in contravention of applicable international law (see sect. II). The report also describes progress made by parties to conflict on dialogue and action plans to halt the recruitment and use of children, sexual violence against children and the killing and maiming of children, as well as on the release of children associated with armed forces and armed groups (see sect. III). The report furthermore includes updates on the implementation of specific requests by the Security Council in follow-up of resolution 1998 (2011) (see sect. IV). The report concludes by outlining a series of recommendations (see sect. V). The present report covers 23 country situations, of which 16 are on the agenda of the Security Council and 7 are not on the agenda or related to other country situations. Two new country situations are added to the report (Libya and the Syrian Arab Republic), while two others have been removed (Haiti and Burundi).