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Plight of child war victims takes centre stage |
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| Friday, 27 August 1999: The adoption of a United
Nations Security Council resolution on children in armed conflict is a
groundbreaking decision which puts the plight of tens of millions of children
victimized by war at the centre of the international peace and security agenda,
UNICEF said today. "This remarkable achievement is a major boost to efforts to protect the rights of millions of children who are killed, maimed, orphaned and driven from their homes by conflicts around the globe," said UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy. Of particular importance, Ms. Bellamy said, the Security Council resolution -- which was unanimously adopted after an all-day debate -- condemns the targeting of children in situations of conflict, including killing, maiming, sexual violence and recruitment as soldiers. "UNICEF has long fought to end the recruitment of some 300,000 child soldiers around the world," Ms. Bellamy said. "This resolution strengthens our campaign to disarm, demobilize, rehabilitate and reintegrate these youngsters." UNICEF has assisted in demobilization programmes for child soldiers in countries like Rwanda, Eritrea, Liberia, Angola, Mozambique and Sierra Leone. Former young combatants have been reintegrated into their communities and have received trauma counselling and training in basic skills. Carol Bellamy pledged UNICEF's full support to the Security Council's recommendations to protect girls from rape and other forms of gender-based violence, and to intensify its ongoing campaigns for children, such as immunization efforts currently underway in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola and East Timor. "UNICEF will support all efforts that identify children as an explicit priority in building peace and resolving conflicts," Ms. Bellamy said. For example, Sierra Leone's peace agreement calls on UNICEF, as the lead agency for children, to ensure that the needs of children are taken into full account throughout the peace process. UNICEF is pursuing this, together with other UN actors, through its support for the Sierra Leone Child Protection Network, the leading national umbrella body for children, and through its demobilization and reintegration programmes for children. "UNICEF is operational before, during and after armed conflicts," Ms. Bellamy added. "So we have seen how the same children that we have helped nurture, immunize and educate are now being systematically targeted and brutalised. This landmark resolution is a testimony to the millions of children that have suffered the horrors of war." The Security Council resolution marks a shift in the way the UN system has traditionally responded to violations of child rights and envisaged children in peacebuilding and peacekeeping mandates. UNICEF's Peace and Security Agenda for Children, launched at the Security Council in February of this year, sets out a comprehensive strategy for ensuring children's protection in conflict situations. Protecting children from the effects of sanctions, challenging the impunity of war crimes committed against children and ensuring that peacebuilding includes children are key elements of this agenda. UNICEF paid tribute to the advocacy efforts of the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, who testified before the Security Council during the debate. As requested by the Security Council, UNICEF committed itself to providing regular reports on the situation of children and to promoting their rights, welfare and protection at the highest political levels. |
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| Please email media@unicef.org with comments or requests for more information, quoting CF/DOC/PR/1999/34 |
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