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Madam President,
We thank you for convening this open debate on “Children and Armed Conflict”.
We also appreciate the insightful briefings give today and commend Special Representative Leila Zerrougui's determined efforts to protect rights of the children trapped in conflicts.
Madam President,
The statistics on the recruitment and use of children in armed conflicts are chilling. The United Nations has documented more than 4,000 cases in 2013; but the Secretary General’s report says that thousands more are believed to have been recruited and used.
What is more, impunity for grave and consistent violations of children’s rights is rampant. Children continue to get killed, maimed, abducted and subjected to sexual violence. Wars and conflicts leave deep psych-traumatic scars on their tender minds.
Pakistan condemns recruitment and use of children in conflicts. We call on all parties to the conflict – states and non-state armed groups – to stop forthwith violations of children’s rights and prevent their recurrence.
In the past fifteen years, because of the Council’s resolute effort and the Secretary General’s effective outreach, significant progress has been made in protecting children's rights. The theme of Children and Armed Conflict has been mainstreamed into the Council’s work so effectively that it is now cited as a good example of proficiency. Comprehensive norms and standards have been developed. The commendable work done by Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, and the regular monitoring, reporting, listing of the parties, and action plans have all helped. Thousands of children have been demobilized, rehabilitated, and re-integrated into societies. And yet, the scourge continues.
Madam President,
Pakistan supports the campaign Children, Not Soldiers launched by the Special Representative and UNICEF to end the recruitment and use of children by Government security forces by 2016. Progress through this innovative campaign is assured because of its emphasis on priority activities, roadmaps, benchmarks, deadlines and review; as well as active participation of listed states. Donor community should step forward to fill the funding gaps for this initiative.
Persistent perpetrators of violence against children must be identified and brought to justice through national judicial systems and where applicable through the use of international justice mechanisms. For this purpose, investigative and prosecution capacities at all levels should be strengthened.
Establishment of appropriate legal frameworks, age verification mechanisms and universal birth registration systems are some of the essential prerequisites of the prevention framework at the national level.
We endorse the Secretary General’s key message: the ultimate goal is to ensure that no child is associated with parties to conflict – ever, anywhere. In this context, we welcome the dialogue with non-state armed groups, which has led to public statements and command orders to prohibit the recruitment and use of children.
The United Nations' advocacy strategy should include ways to convince the commanders and ideologues of armed groups not to indoctrinate children to participate in conflicts. In the meantime, attacks on schools and hospitals should cease and schools should never be allowed to be used for military purposes. This should also be made part of the military planning and training. Protection of children should also be made an integral part of peace negotiations and agreements.
Involvement of regional and sub-regional organizations accelerates the process of protecting children’s rights in conflicts. In this regard, we welcome the collaboration between the Special Representative and the African Union Commission.
Peacekeeping missions have an important role to play in the protection of children in situations of armed conflict. It is therefore essential that peacekeeping missions receive the necessary training and the requisite resources to effectively perform this critical task. As one of the largest troop contributing countries, Pakistan welcomes the recommendations on specific operational pre-deployment and in-mission training of peace-keeping troops.
Madam President,
Pakistan supports the mandate of the Special Representative, which is adequate to deal with situations of armed conflict. We want to strengthen the political consensus around it but the mandate does not need accretion. We firmly believe that the legal parameters of the mandate established by the Security Council resolutions 1261, 1612 and 1379 must be respected. Our singular focus should continue to remain on child soldiers and protection of children in armed conflicts.
In this context, we want to state for record that the references to Pakistan in the Secretary General's Report of 15 May 2014 are not within the purview of the established mandate of Children and Armed Conflict. We hope that this principle would be kept in mind while preparing future reports.
Finally, we call on the Council and the Working Group to pronounce themselves on children of Gaza.
I thank you.