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UN / CHILDREN IN ARMED CONFLICT
STORY: UN / CHILDREN IN ARMED CONFLICT
TRT: 03:08
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 31 OCTOBER 2017, NEW YORK CITY
RECENT - NEW YORK CITY
1. Med shot, Flag outside UNHQ
31 OCTOBER 2017, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (French) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Children around the world are suffering enormously and unacceptably by conflict. This is a source of global shame.”
4. Wide shot, delegates
5. SOUNDBITE (French) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Measures to better protect children were put in place by five government security forces and four armed groups during 2016. These ranged from specific steps such as the release of children held in prison in Somalia, to substantive measures affecting complex operations such as those undertaken by the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in the Yemen, led by Saudi Arabia.”
6. Wide shot, Guterres at Security Council
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Virginia Gamba, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, United Nations:
“I firmly believe that every generation has its most acute shame when it comes to armed conflict. For example, World War I witnessed the use of gas on soldiers, one of the many disgraces of that generation. In recent years, what we have inflicted upon children in war zones will be our disgrace. We must take urgent action to address this use of children as expendable commodities by warring parties.”
8. Wide shot, delegates
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Virginia Gamba, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, United Nations:
“We also need resources within conflict settings. I call upon the Security Council to continue to request the deployment of dedicated child protection capacity to United Nations peace operations. This is vitally important, but something that is currently under scrutiny. It is a great paradox that this capacity is being reduced at the very time we need it the most.”
10. Wide shot, Swedish Foreign Minister and Ukrainian deputy Foreign Minister
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Virginia Gamba, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, United Nations:
“Politically, we must look at conflict prevention and resolution efforts in a different manner. We must recognize that children are at the heart of, and not at the periphery of, contemporary armed conflict.”
12. Wide shot, Security Council
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Mubin Shaikh, Civil Society Representative:
“In my training to police and intelligence services, I use a video that haunts me every time I
play it. A three-year-old whose parents make their boy not two feet tall, take a knife the size of his
arm, and he then uses to behead his teddy bear. What will come of this boy when he is ten? 15? Will he even live to 20? This is the real-life story of where we are today and what we will deal with tomorrow. Let's not wait until the child suicide bomber has hit at home for us to take action.”
14. Wide shot, Gamba
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Mubin Shaikh, Civil Society Representative:
“One key takeaway for all of you, is that youth violence is on a continuum; whether extremism of a religious or racial nature, or urban street gangs or banditry, piracy, you are dealing with the same challenge; robbing the innocence of children and leaving them to die.”
16. Wide shot, Security Council
UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council today (31 Oct) that children around the world “suffering enormously and unacceptably” by conflict is a source of “global shame.”
At a Council meeting discussing the Secretary-General’s report on children in armed conflict, Guterres said the period covered by the report revealed an alarming level of violations. He noted that the period witnessed the most child casualties ever recorded by the United Nations in Afghanistan, a doubling of verified cases of recruitment and use of children in Syria and Somalia, and widespread sexual violence against children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan.
Guterres said despite this bleak picture, some progress has been possible with changes to the reporting process this year allowing for deeper engagement with parties to conflict to encourage the implementation of measures to better protect children. He said measures to better protect children were put in place by five government security forces and four armed groups during 2016. He added, “these ranged from specific steps such as the release of children held in prison in Somalia, to substantive measures affecting complex operations such as those undertaken by the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in the Yemen, led by Saudi Arabia.”
UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Virginia Gamba expressed her belief that every generation has its “most acute shame” when it comes to armed conflict adding, “what we have inflicted upon children in war zones will be our disgrace.”
Gamba underlined the importance of prioritising accountability and ending impunity to break the cycles of violence and aid prevention efforts. She said the international community can all work to strengthen its support for justice systems by allocating sufficient resources to the investigation and prosecution of crimes against children.
The Special Representative also called upon the Security Council to continue to request the deployment of dedicated child protection capacity to UN peace operations. Gamba said this is “vitally important, but something that is currently under scrutiny.” She added, “It is a great paradox that this capacity is being reduced at the very time we need it the most.”
Gamba stressed the need to at conflict prevention and resolution efforts in a different manner. She said, “We must recognize that children are at the heart of, and not at the periphery of, contemporary armed conflict.”
Also addressing the Council was Mubin Shaikh, who previously went through a radicalization period of six years as a teenager. Shaikh turned away from extremism after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and, following a period of deradicalization, began working with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's "Integrated National Security Enforcement Team" as an undercover operative.
Shaikh told that the Council of a video he used in his training to police and intelligence services in which a three-year-old boy is instructed by his parents to “behead his teddy bear.” He called on the Council not to wait “until the child suicide bomber has hit at home” to take action.
Mubin Shaikh said extremist groups systematically and intentionally recruit children because they are easier to forcibly or coercively recruit and indoctrinate; they are often viewed by security forces with less suspicion who are also reluctant to face them in battle. He said the response to this challenge must be preventative adding that it would be far better to ensure that children are never recruited and used in the first place than to address their disrupted childhoods, trauma, and indoctrination after the fact.
He called for a comprehensive, coordinated, and holistic response involving governments, the UN, and civil society, based on the strengths and areas of responsibility for each. Shaikh said youth violence “is on a continuum.” He said whether in extremism of a religious or racial nature, urban street gangs or banditry, or piracy, the challenge is the same; “robbing the innocence of children and leaving them to die.”
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