The Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Ms. Virginia Gamba, welcomes the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2720 adopted today in New York.
“The most rapid and effective way to stop violence against children in situations of armed conflict is through meaningful engagement, cessation of hostilities, peace processes, and dialogue for sustainable peace. Peacemaking and effective relief of humanitarian suffering continue to evade decision-makers worldwide. Military operations must strictly be conducted according to International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law. Abductees, including children must be freed unconditionally, all denial of humanitarian access and other acts of violence against civilians, including children must stop and peaceful resolution of conflicts must be prioritized” said Virginia Gamba.
All parties in armed conflict must protect children from all grave violations against them, including recruitment and use, killing and maiming, sexual violence, abduction, attacks on schools and hospitals, and the denial of humanitarian access.
Violations have been reported in great numbers in Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem and are all under verification. The suffering of all children in these areas has exponentially increased, making it the most deadly and violent situation this year, in addition to Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Sudan among others.
The monitoring, reporting, and verification of violations committed against children and the constant pursuit to engage with parties to conflict to change their behavior and spare children from the brunt of violence in armed conflict is the mandate of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict. “This mandate is very hard to implement when parties to conflict and the international community prime military solutions over political peace processes. Conflict is ever present in societies and children are always the first and most tragic victims of it. We must increase our peace work, workers, and leadership in pursuit of peace, without which conflict will be unstoppable and children will continue to pay a brutal price for our inability to manage peace” concluded the Special Representative.
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For media inquiries, please contact:
Ariane Lignier, Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, New York. ariane.lignier@un.org
