UN Security Council Open Debate on Children and Armed Conflict:

How to Prevent and Respond to Grave Violations against Children in Armed Conflict

5 July 2023

Mr. President,

We thank the delegation of the United Kingdom for organizing this open debate on Children and Armed Conflict. We note with appreciation the briefing of Ms. Virginia Gamba, Special Representative of Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict and Mr. Omar Abdi, Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF. We also thank Ms. Violeta for sharing her insights with us today.

Children may constitute only one third of the humanity, but they are its future. It is our common and primary responsibility to protect them as they remain most susceptible to suffering and vulnerable to volatilities.

The international community shall ensure a peaceful, protective and progressive learning environment for children. As Mahatma Gandhi said and I quote "If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children."

Mr. President,

Over the last two decades the UN Security Council has actively engaged in this pursuit and significant progress has been achieved to protect children in situations of armed conflict. However, as conflicts continue to flare up in various parts of the world, children continue to suffer. It is clear that there remain significant challenges to the effective implementation of this mandate.

National governments have the primary responsibility for protecting the rights of the children as mandated by the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Member States should adopt effective legal frameworks for protection and promotion of child rights. The aim should not be merely protecting children from child-related crimes but also to provide them with holistic development opportunities, including free and compulsory primary education.

We call for ending impunity for all actors responsible for inciting and perpetrating grave violations against children. There must be greater accountability and sincere efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice by governments from whose territory such entities operate.

Member States should adopt an inclusive approach to provide protection to child victims during the rehabilitation and reintegration process in post-conflict situations. Assistance to national governments for capacity building and strengthening legal and operational tools for child protection is vital.

We note the engagement of the UN, particularly the office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict, in line with its mandate, with parties engaged in armed conflict. This has led to protection or reintegration support to more than 12,460 children formerly associated with armed forces or groups. This positive trend must continue.

Mr. President,

We are witnessing a dangerous and worrying trend in global terrorism and that is an increase in the number of children that are being recruited and involved in terrorism-related activities. There is a need for a coordinated approach to child protection agenda and counter terrorism. Member States need to demonstrate greater political will to hold the perpetrators of terrorism and their sponsors to account, to fulfil Council’s child protection obligations.

We recognize the importance of having sufficient resources and requisite number of child protection advisers in peacekeeping missions for the effective implementation of child protection programmes. The Council should consider incorporating adequate child protection provisions and capacity in all relevant mandates of United Nations peacekeeping operations.

Mr. President,

Before I conclude, let me also respond to the politically motivated and frivolous remarks made by one delegation against my country.

I will not dignify their venomous comments on India by responding to those, since those who are soaked in bigotry will find it hard to understand a pluralistic society.

We dismiss and condemn these frivolous remarks with the contempt that they deserve.

It is nothing but an attempt to divert attention of the Council from the grave violations against children that continues to be committed in Pakistan, as highlighted in the Secretary General’s report on Children and Armed Conflict.

The entire union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh were, are and always will be an integral and inalienable part of India, irrespective of what the representative of Pakistan believes or wishes.

Let me conclude by reiterating India’s firm commitment to supporting the UN in its endeavours to protect children in situations of armed conflict.

Thank you.