Ministry Statements and Speeches 2010

Ministerial Follow-Up Forum to the Paris Commitments and Paris Principles on Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups

Statement by Jim Mclay, Permanent Representative. On Monday 27 September 2010.

I thank the Permanent Mission of France, UNICEF, the office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict and the Paris Principles Steering Group including the ICRC for bringing us together today and for their efforts to protect children.

As a country that has long prioritised the rights of children everywhere, and which is already a party to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, I am now pleased to confirm New Zealand's endorsement of the Paris Commitments and Paris Principles.

It is our hope that joining those who support these principles will bolster the ongoing and systematic commitment of the Security Council, Member States and the UN and its organs that is required to ensure that children are protected from the horrors of war.

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