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UN / RIGHTS OF THE CHILD WRAP
STORY: UN / RIGHTS OF THE CHILD WRAP
SOURCE: UNTV / UNICEF
TRT: 3.19
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS
DATELINE: 25 MAY 2010, NEW YORK CITY/ FILE
FILE – UNTV - RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior UNICEF building
UNICEF - 25 MAY 2010, NEW YORK CITY
2. Med shot, Secretary-General shaking hands
3. Wide shot, conference room
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General:
“The sad truth is that too many children in today’s world suffer appalling abuse. The deserve protection, it is their right. Ten years ago today, the Convention on the Rights of the Child was strengthened to protect children from all forms of violence. Two optional protocols provide a moral and legal shield for children vulnerable to prostitution and child pornography and those caught up in armed conflict. Two thirds of all member states have endorsed these instruments. On this third anniversary of the adoption, I urge all countries to ratify them within the next two years.”
5. Zoom out, Ban leaving the podium
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Anthony Lake, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)”
“These are far more that dry words on a piece of diplomatic paper. They represent a promise that we have made to the most vulnerable children around the world; children who were born into the most extreme forms of poverty and despair; children living in countries torn apart by violent conflict; children forced into unimaginable servitude by adults who regard them not as human lives to be nurtured, but as objects to be used for unspeakable purposes.”
UNTV - 25 MAY 2010, NEW YORK CITY
7. Wide shot, press conference dais
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Marta Santos Pais, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Violence against Children:
“There is an opportunity to address the situation of the family, of the community, and there is also a support for a change in behaviour and perception of the value of the child in that context, so that the sale of children does not become clandestine, just because there is some control, but there is a real decision from within the family and the community, not to perpetrate this practice.”
9. Wide shot, reporters
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict:
“Now, what we have been trying to do is at least to ensure that the government forces are not implicated in any of this, initially as the first step. And as you know as the armed groups get integrated into the regular army, we are hearing reports of former commanders and others continuing to recruit children and have children within now the framework of the national army, and this is of great concern to us.”
FILE – UNICEF - 7 JANUARY 2010, SINDHULI, NEPAL
11. Various shots, former child soldiers walking through dirt field and lining up in front on UNICEF tents
FILE – UNMIS – RECENT, SOUTH SUDAN
12. Med shot, child soldier running, holding weapon
13. Various shots, child soldiers
FILE – UNICEF - JULY 2008, MANILA & CEBU, PHILIPPINES
14. Med shot, people using computers inside internet cafe
15. Close up, man typing on keyboard
16. Various shots, computer screens showing porn sites
The United Nations (UN) today (25 May) launched a major campaign for the universal adoption of treaty protocols that outlaw the sale of children, child prostitution and pornography, and protect youngsters in armed conflict, with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calling for full ratification by 2012.
At a ceremony at the headquarters of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in New York, Ban said that “the sad truth is that too many children in today’s world suffer appalling abuse.”
Ban pointed out that “two thirds of all Member States” have endorsed the two optional protocols strengthening the Convention on the Rights of the Child by providing a moral and legal shield for youngsters vulnerable to prostitution and pornography or caught up in armed conflict.
He urged “all countries to ratify them within the next two years.”
Ban cited recent advances: the release three months ago by the Maoist army in Nepal, under UN supervision, of more than 2,000 soldiers who had been recruited as children; the UN-assisted freeing of children from the ranks of armed groups In Côte d’Ivoire; the prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of former Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga for war crimes against children.
UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said the Optional Protocols “are far more that dry words on a piece of diplomatic paper” and “represent a promise made to the world’s most vulnerable children.”
At a later press conference at UN Headquarters, Ban’s Special Representative on Violence against Children Marta Santos Pais said that ratification of the optional protocols provides an opportunity for a “change in behaviour and perception” so that “there is a real decision from within the family and the community” not to perpetrate the practice of selling their children.
The Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, has been ratified by 137 States; 27 have signed but not ratified and 29 have neither signed nor ratified it.
UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy told reporters that in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) her office has been trying to at least “ensure that the government forces are not implicated” in recruiting child soldiers, and expressed concern that as former rebels get integrated into the regular army, “we are hearing reports of former commanders and others continuing to recruit children and have children within now the framework of the national army.”
The Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict has been ratified by 132 States; 25 States have signed but not ratified it and 36 States have neither signed nor ratified it.
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