Press Stakeout on Children and Armed Conflict

Comments to the media by Her Excellency Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Permanent Representative of Guyana to the United Nations and President of the Security Council for the month of June, ahead of the Security Council's open debate on Children and Armed Conflict:

We, Algeria, China, Denmark, France, Greece, Pakistan, Panama, Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, United Kingdom and my own country, Guyana, members of the United Nations Security Council, jointly convey our unwavering commitment to children across the world, acknowledging our collective responsibility to children affected by armed conflict.

We are alarmed by the Secretary General’s report of unprecedented levels of violence against children in armed conflict in 2024 and the substantial increase of 25% in the six grave violations. We deplore the continued disregard for the rights of children, particularly their inherent right to life.

We strongly condemn all violations and abuses committed against children and express deep concern that children’s rights continue to be violated with impunity. We underscore that accountability for perpetrators is essential to preventing the recurrence of violations.

We call on all parties to armed conflict to comply with their obligations under international law, including, those contained in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocol on the involvement of Children in armed conflict, as well as the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1977 Additional Protocols, as applicable. Parties must abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law and end and prevent all abuses and violations against children.

We stress that it is the primary role and responsibility of Governments to provide protection and relief to all children affected by armed conflict, recognizing the importance of strengthening national capacities in this regard. There should be respect for the human rights and dignity of all children.

We are deeply concerned by the record numbers of children killed and maimed across conflict situations, including as a result of air strikes, shelling, explosive remnant of war, mines, improvised explosive devices and the indiscriminate use of explosive weapons in populated areas.

Denial of humanitarian access left children without life-saving aid, access to health care, education and protection.

We urge all parties to facilitate the safe and unhindered access of humanitarian assistance to children and to ensure the safety and security of humanitarian personnel.

We are appalled at the drastic increase in rape and other forms of sexual violence against children, and the surge in cases of gang rape, noting that girls were most affected. The use of sexual violence as a tactic of war is abhorrent and must be punished. We are also concerned about the number of children who were abducted, many for the purposes of recruitment and use, and for sexual slavery.

We are extremely concerned by the high number of cases of recruitment and use of children. Parties to conflict must not recruit or use children as combatants or other support roles and must prevent children from participating in hostilities. We stress that children associated with armed forces or armed groups should be treated primarily as victims, and the importance to support the release and reintegration of children affected by armed conflict in their communities.

The devastating impact of attacks on schools and hospitals on children cannot be overstated. The increased attacks on schools and education facilities denied thousands of children their right to education with long-term negative consequences for them, their families and communities, and increased their vulnerability to recruitment and use. These attacks threaten durable peace, security and development in the affected countries. Attacks on hospitals increased children’s susceptibility to preventable deaths, physical and mental health conditions, and disease outbreaks.

We express our support for the important roles of Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, UNICEF and other UN child protection capacities in protecting children affected by armed conflicts, and of the United Nations monitoring and reporting mechanism in providing accurate, objective, reliable and verifiable information to enable advocacy and effective responses to all violations and abuses committed against children.

In the United Nations Charter, we undertook to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war. We remain committed to this objective and will work tirelessly to ensure that children can live free from violence and the devastating effects of armed conflicts.

Peace remains the best protection for children.

I thank you.