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Madam President,
We thank Ambassador Sylvie Lucas for organizing this debate and for steering a strong yet pragmatic resolution on Children and Armed Conflict.
The testimony by Alhaji Babah Swaneh, a former child soldier, has touched our hearts.
We appreciate the valuable briefings given by the Secretary General, his Special Representative Zerrougui and UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake.
Madam President,
Children are our most valuable asset, which needs to be protected and nurtured through better education, proper nourishment and moral guidance. The UN Charter’s dictum “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war” cannot be realized without continued investment in the future of children.
All cultures foster love and affection for children. Yet we find millions of children trapped in wars and conflicts around the world.
As you have noted in your concept note, tens of thousands of children continue to be recruited, killed or maimed, sexually abused or deprived of their right to education and healthcare when schools and hospitals are attacked.
In armed conflicts, children are often coerced to take part in active hostilities. Pushing children into combat situations is inhuman. As a soldier, a child becomes both the subject and object of crimes. This scourge can be, and must be, stopped.
With the Council’s determined efforts of the last fifteen years, significant progress has been made to reduce the number of child soldiers. Comprehensive norms and standards have been developed. Thousands of children have been demobilized, rehabilitated, and re-integrated into societies. But the task has not been accomplished.
Madam President,
We should all support the Special Representative’s “Children, not soldiers” initiative by creating greater awareness through media campaigns, by conducting dialogue with the mothers and families of the affected children, by enlisting endorsement of all parties to conflict to this initiative, and by mobilizing resources for capacity building.
Establishment of legal frameworks, age verification mechanisms, and universal birth registration systems prevent child recruitment and reinforce accountability. Investigative and prosecutorial capacity building helps in combatting impunity and punishing perpetrators.
Persistent perpetrators must be identified and brought to justice under national judicial systems and, where applicable, through the use of international criminal justice mechanisms.
Education is an enabler, an emancipator and by far the most effective answer to armed conflicts.
Attacks on schools endanger students and teachers, destroy the premises and deprive children of their right to education. Such attacks are perpetrated by terrorists and other armed groups who do not respect national laws and international norms.
The international community should strengthen the hands of national governments to deal with these groups and to protect seats of education and learning.
In any case, military use of schools should be strictly prohibited.
Peace-keeping missions can play a vital role in the protection of children in situations of armed conflict. They are often the first line of defense.
It is therefore essential that peacekeeping missions receive the necessary training and resources to effectively perform this critical task. As the largest contributor of peacekeeping troops, Pakistan welcomes the recommendations of the resolution on specific operational pre-deployment and in-mission training of peace-keepers. Let me assure you that Pakistan takes this responsibility very seriously .
We should continue to encourage closer involvement of regional and subregional organizations in protecting the rights of children in armed conflicts. The African Union's intercession in Somalia, DRC, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, and Mali, for instance, has been quite successful. These experiments are worth replicating.
Progress on the delisting process depends on the political will of the countries concerned.
Madam President,
We support the mandate, reporting and monitoring procedures to protect the rights of children in armed conflicts. We want to strengthen the political consensus around this mandate. For that purpose, the legal parameters of the mandate must be respected. Focus should continue to remain on the situations of armed conflict and those threatening international peace and security.
We reiterate our call for the cessation of all armed drones strikes, as they infringe the rights of children to life, education and development.
I thank you.