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At the outset I would like to thank you, Mr President, for organising this important debate, and thank the delegation of France for their tireless efforts as Chair of the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict. May I also commend the Special Representative and all UN agencies involved in this vital work.
Mr President,
The Secretary-General’s recent report on Children and Armed Conflict makes very sobering reading. It is a wake-up call for all of us. Children continue to be disproportionately killed in conflict situations. The recruitment and use of child soldiers is also rife, even where action plans are in place. The grave violations documented in the report are carried out with seeming impunity.
But the report of the Secretary-General also demonstrates that while grave violations continue, there has been some progress. New Zealand welcomes steps taken to deploy the monitoring mechanism across the seven situations designated as priorities for the first phase of implementation, and the initial work on developing and implementing action plans. Further, the deployment by DPKO of Child Protection Advisers into Peacekeeping Operations is an important step in helping raise awareness among UN civilian police, military observers, and peacekeepers that operate on the front lines.
Rehabilitation and reintegration work has also progressed. Tens of thousands of children and former child soldiers are benefiting through programmes such as the UN-backed Afghanistan New Beginnings Programme, and the Demobilisation, Reintegration and Prevention of Child Soldiers programme in Burundi – in partnership with UNICEF and the World Bank. New Zealand’s Agency for International Development (NZAID) has continued to work in support of children affected by armed conflict, funding programmes through Save the Children in Niger, Zimbabwe, Somalia, Mozambique and the Solomon Islands.
Mr President,
There is no ambiguity – no situation involving children in armed conflict is acceptable. We need to take further measures to ensure the protection of children in such situations.
New Zealand supports the Secretary-General’s recommendation that attention not be limited to child soldiers, but focus on the wider impact of armed conflict on children, including killing and maiming of children, rape and other grave sexual violence, abductions, attacks against schools and hospitals, and denial of humanitarian access for children. It also important to ensure that equal care and attention is given to children affected in all armed conflicts, not just selected situations.
For action to be effective, all parties need to ensure that adequate resources and funding are available for rehabilitation and reintegration programmes and other associated activities.
The work of an expanded monitoring mechanism will provide further deterrence to those that carry out despicable acts against children. In connection with this effort, we strongly support the ongoing work of the International Criminal Court to bring to justice those individuals responsible for the gravest breaches. Parties that commit grave violations against children should expect that the international community will take measures against them.
Finally, Mr President, we call on all members to show real commitment by signing and ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict.
Thank you.
