Despite tangible progress in the struggle to ensure the protection, rights and well-being of children exposed to armed conflict, their general situation remained grave and unacceptable, Olara Otunnu, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, told the Security Council Tuesday.
Introducing the Secretary-Generals latest report, he said that parties to conflict continued to violate the rights of children with impunity, a trend underscored in the past year by particularly tragic experiences of terror, deprivation and utter vulnerability to which children had been subjected in many situations.
It was a cruel dichotomy that today the international community possessed, as never before, the means and collective influence to ensure compliance in the protection of childrens rights. The challenge was one of will and choice and, the Security Council must lead the way in taking measures capable of making the “era of application” a reality for children exposed to war.
Also briefing the Council, Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF), noted that in the past year efforts to draw global attention to the outrages perpetrated against children had so far fallen far short of what was required. One example of that collective failure had been demonstrated by the denial of humanitarian access in last years siege of Monrovia, Liberia, in Afghanistan and most recently in Darfur, western Sudan.
Kilde: FNs Nyhedstjeneste
