We must protect and build on 30 years of work supporting the protection of children in conflicts: UK statement at the UN Security Council
Statement by Ambassador Sarah MacIntosh, UK Permanent Representative to the UN, at the UN Security Council meeting on Children and Armed Conflict.
Thirty years after its adoption, the United Nations’ Children and Armed Conflict mandate has continued to support the protection of children in conflicts.
As we have heard, there have been welcome results.
Over 40 UN Action Plans have been agreed with parties to conflict to end and prevent grave violations, which have secured the separation of more than 220,000 children from armed forces and armed groups.
For these children, this has meant a reduction in their exposure to violence, reunification with families, mental health and psychosocial support, and access to education.
But there is far, far more to do.
As we have also heard, the situation facing children in conflict remains dire.
And grave violations against children remain at record levels, and the threats they face are evolving with new technologies and new methods of warfare.
In Sudan, almost 80 per cent of reported child casualties in the first four months of this year were attributed to drone attacks.
In Ukraine, Russian missile and drone attacks kill and injure children, and damage the civilian infrastructure they depend on, including schools and hospitals.
In Gaza, 700,000 students are deprived of a proper education as schools have been damaged or destroyed.
It is therefore critical that we continue to monitor and to report on how such evolving threats affect children, to strengthen engagement with parties, and to hold perpetrators to account.
We welcome the Council’s adoption last week of resolution 2832 recognising the impact of digital technologies on children in armed conflict.
That resolution strengthens our focus on emerging risks, including how digital technologies can be used for the recruitment and use of children in conflict.
And we thank Greece for their leadership on this resolution.
We call on all parties listed in the Secretary-General’s annual report to engage constructively with the United Nations to agree and implement action plans to end and prevent grave violations against children.
Mr President, at a time when respect for international law is under strain, we must protect and build on thirty years of work.
That means protecting the integrity of the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism, ensuring that the United Nations has the access and child protection capacity needed to carry out its work, and upholding the consistent and evidence-based application of the Children in Armed Conflict framework.
The United Kingdom will continue to be an active supporter of all that work.