|
|
Mr. President,
Pakistan appreciates Germany’s strong commitment to protection of Children in Armed Conflict and welcomes this opportunity to have an open and frank discussion on the subject.
We have listened carefully to the remarks made by the Secretary General as well as presentations made by his Special Representative and Executive Director of UNICEF. Member States, too, have expressed interesting views.
Mr. President,
Love for children transcends social, cultural or developmental factors. It is a human and not an occidental or oriental instinct. All children, regardless of what geopolitical milieu they find themselves in, are entitled to equal attention and care. No human association from the family to the state and indeed the world at large can progress and prosper without investing in its children. Even at the risk of invoking a cliché, one has to admit that the child is indeed the father of man! It is no coincidence that the UN Charter starts with the noble objective “to save succeeding generations”. Fruition of this aim presupposes investments in progeny to better the lot of mankind battered by conflict.
The international community’s collective cognizance of the crucial importance of children is evidenced by the universal ratification of the ‘Convention on the Rights of Child’ with unprecedented-and since then unmatched-alacrity. Pakistan was proud to be one of the six co-initiators of the 1990 World Summit for Children, which provided a fillip to the accelerated ratification of the Convention.
Pakistan also takes pride in being actively involved in promoting and protecting rights of the Child at all levels. Our National Commission for Child Welfare and Development, in collaboration with the ILO and UNICEF, has successfully carried out a number of child welfare projects such as progressive elimination of child labor, rehabilitation of working children, formal and non-formal education, pre-vocational training and skill development. We value and acknowledge the key role played by UN agencies in this regard and will continue to work with UN to promote and protect the rights of our children. Pakistan has also signed the Optional Protocol to the CRC on Sale of Children and work on the Optional Protocol on Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict is at a very advanced stage.
Mr. President,
There is no gainsaying the fact that rights of Children remain the same and should be protected in all situations. However, ‘Situations of Armed Conflict’ not only threaten peace and security but also imperil the rights of all vulnerable groups including children. The mandate of Children and Armed Conflict was created by the Security Council, precisely to look into such situations to ensure that rights of children are protected even in the worst environments. All other situations are aptly covered by the Committee on Rights of Child, and relevant UN agencies are taking care of their mandated responsibilities.
Pakistan supports the mandate of Children and Armed Conflict including its reporting and monitoring procedure on the four trigger mechanisms in situations of armed conflict. Systematic and consistent violations of the rights of children in armed conflict happen most frequently in situations of foreign occupation where occupation forces act with impunity against the oppressed population wherein children are the most vulnerable. The Special Representative needs to pay particular attention to such situations.
Mr. President,
The mandate of Children and Armed Conflict is an expression of serious concern by the Security Council on the need to promote and protect rights of children in Armed Conflicts. Reports of the Secretary General on the subject are an important medium of reporting and monitoring these situations. Unfortunately, however, recent reports of the Secretary General, written on his behalf by his otherwise able SRSG, have tended to veer away from its mandate by commandeering situations that are beyond this mandate. Such adventurism, with due regard to nobility of intentions, must be curbed to obviate legal, political and practical difficulties both for the Secretary General and the UN System as a whole.
The time has come to undertake a holistic review of this mandate to avoid legal lacunae and reassert respect for intergovernmental processes. We respect the independence of UN Special Procedures and their valuable work but they cannot, at the same time, go beyond the general understanding and common meaning of their mandate in order to politicize specific situations based on their skewed and at times motivated understandings. All Special Procedures must perform their duties in accordance with the Code of Conduct.
Most regrettably, the latest report again contains an unwarranted and completely misleading section on Pakistan that only serves to accord underserved respectability to terrorists and criminals. This disturbing trend is only bringing into disrepute both the intergovernmental body that created the mandate as well as the Secretary General on whose behalf these reports are written.
There is no provision, whatsoever, in the mandate of the SRSG to report on situations other than armed conflicts. Resolution 1882 unmistakably links situations of concern to paragraph 16 of Resolution 1379, which asks the Secretary General to use the trigger mechanisms to list parties, as annex to his report, in situations of armed conflict that are on Security Council’s agenda or others that in his opinion, in accordance with Article 99 of the Charter, threaten the maintenance of international peace and security. While strongly rejecting the SRSG’s self legislation, we stand ready to engage in a constructive discussion on defining the legal parameters of her mandate and supporting her corresponding activities.
Mr. President,
Let there be no doubt that Pakistan condemns in the strongest possible terms any use of children by extremists or any other group to promote their nihilistic agenda and is taking appropriate action to stop such practices. At the same time, we sincerely hope that the future reports of the Secretary General would be high on objectivity and squarely correspond to the given mandate.
I thank you.