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Mr. President,
We thank you and the Brazilian delegation for organizing this year's annual debate of the Security Council on "Children and Armed Conflict".
We also thank Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Ms. Virginia Gamba, and other briefers for their insightful statements.
In a world still afflicted by COVID-19 by protracted and new conflicts, and by a food, fuel and finance emergency, it is evident that we must do more to protect our children and ensure their safety, welfare and prosperity.
Mr. President,
Millions of children are trapped in wars and conflicts across the world. While some fall victim to the widespread violence against civilians; many children become causalities of calculated and targeted actions against them. Still others suffer the trauma of sexual violence, or the multiple deprivations of armed conflict, including hunger and disease.
The Secretary-General's latest report (A/76/871-S/2022/493) portrays a somber picture. It notes overall, 23,982 verified grave violations against children. Indeed, the killing and maiming of children remained the most verified grave violation against children, followed by the recruitment and use of children in conflicts and the denial of "humanitarian access" to children.
Mr. President,
Children also suffer immensely in situations of foreign occupation. Nowhere is this trend more visible than in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
The Secretary-General's latest report has expressed deep concerns on the continued "grave violations" against children in occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The report has urged the Indian Government to undertake "preventive measures" to protect children, including by "ending the use of pellets against children" and their illegal detention in occupied Kashmir and in various far away prisons across India.
Mr. President,
Despite the persistent concerns raised by multiple UN Special Rapporteurs and Mandate Holders of the Human Rights Council, and the SRSG on Children and Armed Conflict, the human rights and humanitarian situation of children in IIOJK has continued to deteriorate especially since 05 August 2019 when India unilaterally and illegally passed legislation to annex the occupied and disputed territory.
An estimated 13,000 Kashmiri children and youth have been arbitrarily captured by the 900,000 Indian occupation forces in Jammu and Kashmir. Children and youth are routinely detained and subjected to torture and ill-treatment in order to elicit intelligence or extract confessions that they are associated with the Kashmiri groups struggling for the self-determination which was promised by the Security Council.
The IIOJK administration has itself admitted to the Indian Supreme Court that in August and September 2019 alone, 144 children were detained (the youngest of these was 9 years old).
During 2021, more than 210 innocent Kashmiris, including women and children, were killed in "fake encounters" and staged "cordon-and-search" operations. Thousands were arbitrarily detained, and hundreds of houses destroyed as part of collective punishments inflicted on the Kashmiri communities. Many of you must have seen and, if not, must see, the gut-wrenching picture of a three-year-old Kashmiri boy sitting in shock on the dead body of his grandfather (Muhammad Bashir) after he was killed by the Indian forces.
Mr. President,
The list of such horrifying crimes is long. Last year, the Government of Pakistan released a comprehensive and well-researched Dossier covering accounts - corroborated by audio and video evidence - of 3432 cases of war crimes, including against women and children, perpetrated by senior officers of the Indian occupying forces since 1989.
We will share this evidence with the Security Council's Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, and the SRSG, and urge that those responsible be held accountable. We would also urge the Office of the SRSG to continue to closely monitor and report on the situation of children in IIOJK.
Mr. President,
Pakistan fully supports the mandate of the SRSG to deal with situations of children in armed conflict. The legal parameter of the SRSG's mandate must be scrupulously respected. The singular focus of this mandate is to address the conditions of children in situations of "armed conflicts". It does not extend to consideration of violence within Member States, which is within their national jurisdictions.
On the basis of this understanding, my delegation will further enhance our engagement with the SRSG and the Security Council's working group.
I thank you.