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UN / CHILDREN AND ARMED CONFLICT
STORY: UN / CHILDREN AND ARMED CONFLICT
TRT: 3.05
SOURCE: UNTV / UNESCO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 30 JUNE 2011, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
RECENT, UNITED NATIONS NORTH LAWN BUILDING, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations North Lawn Building
30 JUNE 2011, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova and Shikha Mozah bint Nasser al Missnad of Qatar taking their seats at the podium
3. Cutaway, audience
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“A growing number of schools and hospitals are coming under attack or threat of attack in conflicts around the world. Fifteen out of 22 countries covered reported attacks on education facilities and/or hospitals. Furthermore, threats and attacks by non-state actors have led to schools being closed. The result is that students are being denied access to education.”
6. Cutaway, audience
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“My Special Representative, Ms. Coomaraswamy, has briefed me on her dialogues with non-state actors in various situations she has visited. Many have asked her specifically how they can get off the “list of shame” and avoid targeted measures. They know that being a persistent violator of the rights of children has a very real cost for them and their supporters.”
8. Cutaway, audience
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Special Envoy for Basic and Higher Education, United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization:
“Depriving children of the right to education and of the right to be safe as they learn is to deprive them to a right to a real future. I am confident that you do comprehend this problem, and that you will act. Members of the Security Council we have an enormous opportunity to rescue children from attacks and reconnect them to a greater future. We have the power; and I urge you, and I urge you today to use it.”
10. Wide shot, audience applauds
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Irina Bokova, Director General, United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization:
“The facts are alarming. Between 1998 and 2008 an estimated two million children were killed in conflicts with six million left disabled. Around 300 thousand children are being as soldiers. Sexual violence is becoming systematic across the world. Class rooms and the kids sitting in them are increasingly seen as legitimate targets. This is an immediate human rights crisis. It is also a long term development disaster.”
12. Wide shot, podium
FILE - UNESCO - 2007, IRAQ
13. Wide shot, women and girl in front of a school
FILE - UNESCO - 2007, KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
14. Wide shot, exterior of school
FILE - UNESCO - 2007, RURAL AREA, AFGHANISTAN
15. Various shots, children attending school
FILE - UNESCO - 1997, RWANDA
16. Various shots, destruction scenes of a bombed school
FILE - UNESCO - 1996, COLOMBIA
17. Wide shot, exterior of school
18. Med shot, mothers talking to military
The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today in New York reiterated his concern over the growing number of attacks on schools and hospitals as well as threats to children in armed conflicts around the world, stating that the UN is considering targeted measures against those who commit such crimes.
At a panel discussion, Ban said “fifteen out of 22 countries covered reported attacks on education facilities and/or hospitals. Furthermore, threats and attacks by non-state actors have led to schools being closed.”
The discussion, organized by the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy, comes ahead of next month’s general debate on the issue in the Security Council.
Noting that initiatives by the UN, governments, civil society and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on previous listed violations, such as the recruitment and use of children in conflict, have yielded positive results, and commending Chad for undertaking to separate all children associated with its security forces, Ban said that Coomaraswamy had briefed him on her dialogues with non-state actors in various situations she had visited.
“Many have asked her specifically how they can get off the “list of shame” and avoid targeted measures. They know that being a persistent violator of the rights of children has a very real cost for them and their supporters,” Ban said.
The panellists at today’s discussion included Irina Bokova, the Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and Sheikha Moza bint Nasser of Qatar, chairperson of the Qatari Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development.
Stressing the fact that depriving children from the right to education and to be safe as they learn was depriving them to the right to a real future, Sheikha Moza bint Nasser urged the Security Council to use its power to “rescue children from attacks and reconnect them to a greater future.”
Noting that between 1998 and 2008 an estimated two million children had died as a result of conflicts, six million had been left disabled and that around 300 thousand children were being as soldiers, Irina Bokova described the situation as “an immediate human rights crisis. It is also a long term development disaster.”
According media reports, Germany, who is to assume the UN Security Council presidency the month of July on Friday (1 July), is expected to push for the first UN measure to protect schools and hospitals in conflict zones.
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