S/PV.9669 Security Council

In accordance with rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure, I invite the representatives of Andorra, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, the Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand, Türkiye, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Viet Nam and Yemen to participate in this meeting. I propose that the Council invite the Permanent Observer of the Observer State of Palestine to the United Nations to participate in this meeting, in accordance with the provisional rules of procedure and previous practice in this regard. There being no objection, it is so decided. I also propose that the Council invite the Deputy Permanent Observer of the Observer State of the Holy See to the United Nations to participate in the meeting, in accordance with the provisional rules of procedure and the previous practice in this regard. There being no objection, it is so decided. In accordance with rule 39 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure, I invite the following briefers to participate in this meeting: Mrs. Virginia Gamba de Potgieter, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict; Mr. Ted Chaiban, Deputy Executive Director of Humanitarian Action and Supply Operations of UNICEF; His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon, former United Nations Secretary-General and Deputy Chair of The Elders; and a child briefer. In accordance with rule 39 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure, I also invite His Excellency Mr. Stavros Lambrinidis, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to the United Nations, to participate in this meeting. The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. I wish to draw the attention of Council members to document S/2024/384, which contains the report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict, and document S/2024/468, which contains the text of a letter dated 12 June 2024 from the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council, transmitting a concept note on the item under consideration. I now give the floor to Mrs. Gamba de Potgieter. Mrs. Gamba de Potgieter: I thank the Republic of Korea for convening today’s Security Council open debate. I am grateful to my co-briefers and my colleagues across the world who work every day towards protecting and improving the lives of the most vulnerable. The information I present to members today has been obtained in contexts of great hardship and under incredibly difficult circumstances, during a deadly year for United Nations personnel and aid workers. I remind members that, at the request of the Security Council, the information contained in the Secretary-General’s report (S/2024/384) was verified by applying the strict methodology of the monitoring and reporting mechanism. Owing to extreme challenges in monitoring and in access to children in 2023 and the few and diminishing resources available to monitoring and reporting activities, those figures do not represent the full scale of grave violations suffered by children in all the situations narrated in the report. Furthermore, section V was modified to recognize measures taken by listed parties to improve the protection of children and emphasize the primary responsibility of States to protect their populations — modifications that render redundant the separation of lists contained in the annexes to the report. Therefore, annex 1 is a single list divided between government actors and non-State armed groups. In the 25 countries and one regional situation covered by my mandate, the United Nations verified an appalling 32,990 grave violations against 22,557 children in 2023. That is the highest number of annual violations in almost 10 years. Solely when compared to 2022, which already marked a severe deterioration for children, grave violations have increased by 21 per cent. Across the globe, from Port-au-Prince to Mogadishu, from Kharkiv and the Kivus to Khartoum, from Rafah to Bethlehem and Kibbutz Be’eri, from Borno state to Arauca department and from Mopti to Rakhine state, children bore the brunt of multiplying and escalating crises. In combat zones, displacement camps, urban areas and their homes and schools, they experienced horrific violence. The brutality of violations escalated in many situations, for example in Haiti, where children were gang-raped, decapitated with machetes and burned alive by armed gangs. The grave violations verified with the highest numbers in 2023 were the killing and maiming of children, followed by recruitment and use, denial of humanitarian access and abduction. First, a staggering 5,301 children were killed and another 6,348 maimed and/or injured, marking a shocking rise of 35 per cent over previous years. The use of explosive weapons in densely populated areas, as well as deliberate and indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian objects, had a particularly grim impact on children. In countless instances, children were killed and maimed in direct attacks, by air strikes, drones or when picking up objects with which to play that turned out to be explosives. In Afghanistan, for example, a 10-year-old boy was killed and his 12-year- old brother maimed when they played with unexploded ordnance that promptly detonated. Whether armed forces or non-State armed groups, all parties to conflict contributed to that deadly harvest. Secondly, the recruitment and use of children also surged during 2023, with 8,655 cases verified, of which some 15 per cent were girls, who also bore the brunt of multiple violations while recruited or used. In Somalia, for example, Al-Shabaab recruited 10 children aged 15 to 17 in a single event and then took them to a training camp. In the Sudan, the Rapid Support Forces armed group recruited 74 boys, aged 14 to 17, in a single quarter, and used them as combatants. Fifty-four of them were subsequently killed during clashes with the Sudanese Armed Forces. In multiple situations, children were routinely used in combat and support roles, placing them at significant risk and causing trauma and death. Children were also punished for their alleged or actual association with armed groups or on national security grounds. In total, 2,491 were deprived of liberty, exposing them to ill-treatment and human rights violations, including torture and sexual violence. In addition, 31,000 children continued to be deprived of liberty in Al-Hol and Al-Roj camps in north-east Syrian Arab Republic, where they are deliberately denied access to humanitarian relief and essential medical treatment. I urge Member States to treat children actually or allegedly associated with armed forces or groups, including those designated as terrorists by the United Nations, primarily as victims, to prioritize their best interests and to give child protection actors access to them. Thirdly, child abductions also continued at high levels, with 4,356 child victims verified in 2023. Abduction was often perpetrated in conjunction with other grave violations, specifically recruitment and use, killing and maiming and sexual violence, and many of those affected mostly girls. In the Sudan, a girl was abducted by the Rapid Support Forces armed group, kept for five days and repeatedly raped to the extent that it permanently maimed her. Overall, the number of children affected by multiple violations increased, and rape and other forms of sexual violence added dramatically to that equation. Grave violations against girls also increased globally. In 2023, rape and other forms of sexual violence increased by 25 per cent and affected 1,470 children, especially girls. Gang rape continued unabated, with high numbers in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Haiti. Prevalently, girls are recruited or abducted for sexual exploitation and then violated repeatedly. In 2014, in Iraq, for example, a girl was abducted by Da’esh when she was only five years old. She was then sold between Da’esh members for sexual exploitation and was sexually abused until she was rescued in June 2023 at age 14. Yet most cases of sexual violence are never reported owing to stigma, the risk of reprisals, harmful gender norms and a lack of access to safe reporting channels, survivor assistance and justice. Collective violations also increased during 2023, with attacks on schools and hospitals continuing to deprive children of education and health care. Here, 1,650 attacks were verified and had devastating impacts on children and their communities. In Cameroon, perpetrators opened fire on a primary school where children were registering to receive their certificates. The school had to be closed immediately. The use of schools and hospitals for military purposes remained of severe concern and exposed teachers, students, medical personnel and patients to harm. It also led to the damage, closure or complete destruction of civilian infrastructure. Nowhere was that more prevalent than in the Gaza Strip, Ukraine and the Sudan. A staggering 72 million children worldwide were out of school in 2023 owing to conflict and crises. In some cases, the denial of education was particularly harsh for girls, as registered in Afghanistan. Lastly, the denial of humanitarian access rose to alarming levels, with 5,205 violations verified. That marks an increase of more than 32 per cent. In war, when infrastructure delivering protection, education, health care, food, water and other essential services is weakened or destroyed, the only hope left often comes in the form of humanitarian assistance. But that, too, is increasingly under attack, as seen in Gaza and in the Sudan. More than 190 United Nations and other humanitarian staff were killed in Gaza, and nearly all critical civilian infrastructure was destroyed. In the Sudan, a humanitarian convoy due to evacuate vulnerable civilians came under attack in 2023. The incident killed two people and injured seven, including three humanitarian staff. Children with disabilities, displaced children and otherwise marginalized children were particularly vulnerable to grave violations and broadly lacked assistance tailored to their needs. Girls continued to be disproportionately affected by rape and other forms of sexual violence. Boys were the main victims of recruitment and use and abduction, while the number of boy victims of sexual violence also increased by 25 per cent. The children and armed conflict situations with the highest numbers of grave violations during 2023 were Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, including Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Somalia, Nigeria and the Sudan. Violations against children also increased in situations where child protection was low, such as in Ethiopia, Haiti, Mozambique and the Sahel and Lake Chad regions. In Myanmar, the situation escalated so drastically that a 123 per cent increase in grave violations was verified. The conflict in the Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel has escalated to an unprecedented level, inflicting unimaginable suffering on thousands of children. I am appalled by the killing, maiming and abduction of children by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups and by the number of children killed and maimed by Israeli armed forces and security forces in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank. Violations across the entire area increased by 155 per cent, with 8,009 grave violations against 4,360 children verified. Approximately 23,000 additional violations against Palestinian and Israeli children have been reported and verification processes for them have begun. Behind every incident of violation of the rights of children in situations of armed conflict lies the unique, abhorrent experience of one child. We must never forget that. In assessing the grave violations committed against children in this situation, the Secretary-General has listed, in the annexes to the report, the Israeli armed and security forces for the killing and maiming of children and for attacks on schools and hospitals. Taking into account the 7 October 2023 attack by Palestinian armed groups on Israeli civilians, including children, he has also listed Hamas’s Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades and Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades for the killing, maiming and abduction of children. In the Sudan, the situation has spiralled out of control. The dramatic, 480 per cent increase in violations is simply appalling. Repeated attacks on schools and hospitals by both the Rapid Support Forces armed group and the Sudanese Armed Forces, in the context of a collapsing civilian infrastructure and an abysmal humanitarian situation, has inflicted unbearable torment on children. The report reflects the plight of children in the Sudan and has resulted in the Sudanese Armed Forces being listed in the annexes to the report for the killing and maiming of children and for attacks on schools and hospitals. The Rapid Support Forces have also been listed for recruitment and use, killing and maiming, sexual violence and attacks on schools and hospitals. Lastly, another Sudanese armed group, the Third Front-Tamazuj, has also been listed for recruitment and use. While the eyes of the world were focused on such major conflicts as those in Israel, Gaza and Ukraine, we have further verified children as having suffered violations by armed groups and parties in Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali and the Sudan, where parties have also been listed. With the decisions of the Secretary-General in the annex to this year’s report, 75 parties are now listed as perpetrators of grave violations globally, including 10 State actors and 65 armed groups. Of those, more than 50 parties are persistent perpetrators that have been listed for five years or longer. Cooperation, solidarity and the political will to mitigate, stop and ultimately end and prevent violations against children are the only way forward. That is also demonstrated in this year’s report. Faced with devastating setbacks in 2023, the United Nations has continued its constructive engagement with parties to conflict, yielding progress in some situations, including in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Mozambique, Nigeria, the Philippines, Somalia, the Syrian Arab Republic, Ukraine and Yemen. I recently signed an action plan with the opposition Syrian National Army, including Ahrar Al-Sham and Army of Islam, aimed at ending and preventing the recruitment and use and the killing and maiming of children. We hope that children will quickly be released from recruitment and that because of that commitment, those conducting military actions will strive to do better in avoiding child-related violations. During my visit to Iraq in January, I welcomed the full implementation of the action plan between the Popular Mobilization Forces and the United Nations. The plan was signed last year and is now fully operational, as evidenced by a significant decrease in the numbers of grave violations in that situation. In Ukraine, although the country is still at war, the swift implementation of a joint prevention plan between the Government of Ukraine and the United Nations led to a significant decrease in 2023 in grave violations by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Further, the report notes the unilateral measures put in place by the Russian Federation, the reduction in child violations attributed to the listed party and the ongoing dialogue between the United Nations and the Russian Federation promoting the signing of a joint action plan to end and prevent violations against children. The signing of prevention and protection action plans, including the adoption of handover protocols, age assessment guidelines and child protection policies and legislation, has led to progress and improved the lives of children. Importantly, more than 7,650 children formerly associated with armed forces or groups were released from their ranks, and many of them received reintegration support from the United Nations and its partners last year. This annual report shows once again that children continue to be the direct and indirect victims of armed conflict. With trepidation, I must insist that special protections for children under international human rights law, international humanitarian law and the Convention on the Rights of the Child are being disrespected and eroded across the globe to an alarming degree. And while almost half of the verified grave violations were committed by non-State armed groups, it was Government forces and explosive remnants of war, taken together, that were responsible for the other half. That is unacceptable. Non-State armed groups are committing all six grave violations, whereas State armed forces seem to be particularly likely to kill and maim children, conduct attacks on schools and hospitals and deny humanitarian access. There are many reasons for armed violence. They range from the changing nature, complexity, expansion and intensification of armed conflict, the emergence of new armed groups, cross-border conflict and intercommunal violence to the devastating impact of acute humanitarian crises and climate emergencies on all peoples. That partly explains the justifications that parties to conflicts offer for why they engage in armed violence. The reasons they give range from root causes of conflict to territorial or economic control of lands and peoples, and from sovereignty disputes to national security imperatives. However, one thing is clear. Armed violence is wreaking havoc on children. Let me remind all warring parties, whether State armed forces or non-State armed groups, that when they resort to armed force, in contravention of the Charter of the United Nations, they cannot do so at the cost of the lives and welfare of children. I want to make it clear that there is no excuse for harming children during armed conflict. Finally, if the political will can be found to improve the lives of children in situations of armed conflict, the tools at our disposal already exist. One of those tools is the report under consideration. Although it does not make legal determinations, its main purpose is to focus the attention of Member States on grave violations against children and to call on the parties to conflicts to take immediate action to end and prevent such violations. The objective of the annexes to the report goes beyond naming and shaming, because it is guided by the offer of immediate engagement between the United Nations and the listed parties to end and prevent the use and abuse of children for, in and by armed conflict. Engagement is the second tool available to this mandate — engagement with parties to better protect children and to prevent and remedy the harm done to them in armed conflict. That tool is a mandate of the Security Council and is often expressed in the joint signing of action or prevention plans or commitments with parties to conflict. That agreed engagement includes close collaboration with the parties to a conflict to put in place robust child protection systems, especially accountability mechanisms that prioritize justice and remedies for victims. And the tools available encompass such measures as comprehensive reintegration and assistance programmes, the provision of risk education, clearance and victim assistance for explosive ordnance, the mainstreaming of child protection in peace and security processes, the strengthening of regional partnerships and the development of intersectional approaches to child protection. A very important aspect of that engagement tool is that the Security Council has clearly indicated that when the United Nations engages for the better protection of children with warring parties, including non-State armed groups, nothing that is done towards that lofty objective can confer additional legitimacy to the parties in conflict. It is timely that today’s debate includes a focus on child protection in the context of the drawdown of peacekeeping operations and special political missions. In the face of ever-evolving challenges, our Organization must remain agile and adaptable to ensure the best possible outcomes for children. Expert capacities must be sustained and strengthened, including during and after mission transitions. And I strongly recommend conducting lessons learned exercises in that regard. Let me conclude by reaffirming that respect for international law, especially humanitarian and human rights law, is the minimum prerequisite for the protection of children. But despite the solid international consensus that has been reached on those matters, parties to conflict blatantly trample on child rights with little or no consequences. That must stop. The report of the Secretary-General illustrates starkly that we need to address new and emerging peace and security challenges by putting children at the centre of our action. We must remind ourselves of the importance of complying with the very basic legal and moral principles that the international community once agreed on as framed in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its relevant protocols. Children must be protected from man-made conflict if we aim to break the cycle of violence that has put the world at the brink of extinction so many times before. Let us be co-responsible for our children. Let us push for a peaceful resolution of disputes but let us also protect our children when we fail to bring them peace.

I thank Mrs. Gamba de Potgieter for her briefing. I now give the floor to Mr. Chaiban. Mr. Chaiban: In 2023, the United Nations verified 32,990 grave violations against children — the highest number ever recorded during the children and armed conflict mandate and a 21 per cent increase over 2022, which previously held the title of worst year ever. The numbers neither capture the full extent of grave violations, nor the deep physical and psychosocial harm they have caused to children’s lives, families and communities. The numbers are, however, indicative of larger trends and patterns affecting children — more children are being killed and maimed; more are being raped and subjected to other forms of sexual violence; and there are more instances of denial of humanitarian access to children — all by a significant margin. I would like to highlight three of the situations included in the Secretary-General’s report (S/2024/384). Children in Israel and the State of Palestine continue to endure incomprehensible suffering, particularly in the Gaza Strip where the scale of death and destruction is staggering. In 2023, 4,312 Palestinian and 70 Israeli children were verified as killed or maimed, representing 37 per cent of all verified cases of killing and maiming included in the report. Most casualties were caused by explosive weapons in populated areas. However, more than 23,000 reported cases of children killed and maimed during 2023 have yet to be verified because of insecurity, movement restrictions and significant risks to humanitarian personnel operating in Gaza. In addition, the bodies of thousands of the missing children remain buried under the rubble. Those numbers do not include the thousands of violations reported so far in 2024. After nearly nine months of horrible conflict, UNICEF and other humanitarian actors are still struggling to reach children in need. That is because we continue to face obstacles to the safe movement of aid into and throughout Gaza, and those obstacles are directly related to the increasing number of acutely malnourished children. UNICEF urges parties to the conflict to comply with their obligations to protect children and to immediately enter into a complete ceasefire, as the Council called for in its resolutions 2712 (2023) and 2725 (2024). I now turn to the Sudan where, after more than a year of war, the country is now home to the largest child displacement crisis in the world with an estimated 4.6 million children displaced internally and across borders and an almost 500 per cent increase in grave violations. Countless children have been exposed to the horrific violence. The United Nations has verified the killing and maiming of 1,244 children by parties to the conflict in 2023, and rampant grave violations have been reported so far in 2024. Earlier this month, at least 55 children were reportedly killed or maimed in an attack in Wad Al-Noora in Gezira state. And now, thousands of children in El Fasher in Darfur are facing daily clashes and indiscriminate shelling while parts of the city remain under siege. According to credible reports, more than 400 children have been killed or maimed in El Fasher since the start of May. Meanwhile, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the intensifying conflict in the east has led to the worst humanitarian crisis in the country since 2003, leaving 7 million people displaced. In 2023, the United Nations verified 281 incidents of sexual violence, including rape, gang rape, forced marriage and sexual slavery  — with most violations perpetrated against girls. The use of sexual violence as a modus operandi of armed groups is spiralling. During my recent visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, I met with adolescent girls who had run away with their siblings when their villages were attacked and who now headed their households. I remember 16-year-old Florence who fled with her three brothers and sisters to Goma after having experienced terrible violence. Making matters worse, the conflict in the east is intensifying at the same time as the departure of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has begun. There is a very real risk that the humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo could soon become a catastrophe. Those are just three of the 26 situations covered in the Secretary-General’s report. Thousands of other children in countries such as Burkina Faso, Haiti, Mali, Myanmar, Ukraine and Yemen suffered grave rights violations in 2023. And millions more remain at risk. The children and armed conflict mandate has been in place for nearly three decades. This year’s report shows plainly that, despite the global consensus on the need to protect children during war, parties to conflict are still not fulfilling their obligations under international law. Those grave violations do not happen on their own; they result from the choices and actions of perpetrators, State and non-State parties to conflict. The children and armed conflict agenda is an effective tool to mitigate the impact of conflict on children. The past year has seen notable examples. As highlighted by Special Representative of the Secretary- General Gamba de Potgieter, progress was achieved by the Government of Iraq on their action plan and by Ukraine on their prevention plan, while the opposition Syrian National Army committed to an action plan to end and prevent the recruitment and use and the killing and maiming of children. And importantly, with the support of United Nations missions and civil society partners, UNICEF provided protection and reintegration support to nearly 11,000 children previously recruited and used by armed forces and armed groups. UNICEF appreciates the dedicated financial support for the children and armed conflict agenda from, among others, Norway and Belgium, following the Oslo Conference on Protecting Children in Armed Conflict last year, without which that work would not have been possible. Those examples show that meaningful progress is possible, especially when there is military and political will, constructive engagement and collaboration. But given the continued increase in verified violations, more is needed. The Security Council and the international community are in a unique position to help. We urge them, on behalf of children in conflict, to take four key actions. First, we call on the Council to reaffirm its strong support for the children and armed conflict mandate, the monitoring and reporting mechanism and the larger children and armed conflict architecture. The independently verified and robust United Nations-data before the Council, provided by this mechanism, is a core tool of the mandate. It informs all of our actions towards tangible results for children. This work is often undertaken in constrained conditions at great personal risk. Secondly, we ask the Council to recommit to and promote the consensus that children should be spared from harm and violence. The members of the Council and the international community should engage in reinforced, sustained diplomatic efforts to end conflicts and to prevent the escalation of conflicts. Humanitarian, peace and development actors all stand ready to support the process, but we cannot do it without the Council. In that regard, we urge the Security Council to take further meaningful action to alleviate the suffering of children in the Sudan. In addition, State and non-State actors that provide material, financial and diplomatic support to parties committing grave violations against children also bear responsibility. They should ensure that any support they provide to parties is consistent with their obligations under international humanitarian law and use their influence to ensure that parties respect international law in order to protect the lives and well- being of children. Thirdly, we need the Council’s support to advocate for humanitarian space for the United Nations to continue engaging with all parties to conflict to develop prevention and protection tools like action plans and for humanitarian access to assist and protect children. Lastly, adequate resources are needed to fund not only the monitoring and reporting mechanism, but also specialized child-centred services for survivors of grave violations, and advocacy to prevent and end those violations. That is particularly urgent in the context of withdrawals of peacekeeping or special political missions. I remember that when I led children affected by armed conflict responses 20 years ago in Sri Lanka and the Sudan, we had the resources to not only cover monitoring and reporting mechanisms, but to support the reintegration of children released from armed groups and work on preventing grave violations. Rest assured that UNICEF stands ready as a steadfast partner in these efforts. I hope that the Council will join us in putting children first.

I thank Mr. Chaiban for his briefing. I now give the floor to Mr. Ban Ki-moon. Mr. Ban Ki-moon: It is a great honour for me to have this opportunity to brief the Security Council on such an important topic — children and armed conflict. Before I begin, I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to you, Mr. President, and I hope that your leadership will have great success in ensuring global peace and security. Today I am speaking here in my capacity as Deputy Chair of The Elders, a group founded by Nelson Mandela of independent former leaders who work for peace, justice, human rights and a sustainable planet. The protection of innocent lives lies at the heart of all of The Elders endeavours. Children in armed conflict are the most innocent victims of all, and it is a universal moral obligation to protect them from harm and exploitation. I commend the work of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and the report (S/2024/384) presented today, which describes how acute the issue of children and armed conflict has been over the course of 2023. It should be a matter of shame to every State represented here today that innocent children continue to pay such a terrible price in the multiple conflicts being waged across our world. I am shocked and outraged that grave violations against children rose 21 per cent in 2023, with a 35 per cent rise in the killing and maiming of children in the same period. That reflects a persistent and blatant disregard for international law by those committing those violations, be they Government forces or non-State armed actors, and a sense of impunity that they will not be held accountable for their actions. To give just one example, the United Nations has verified more than 8,000 grave violations against 4,247 Palestinian children and 113 Israeli children in 2023, reflecting the shocking scale and human cost of the current conflict. There should be no impunity for those who commit crimes against children anywhere in the world, be they States or armed groups in autocracies or democracies. Such distinctions mean nothing to the parents of murdered children, nor should they to the institutions charged with upholding international justice. The statistics in the Secretary-General’s report tell their own story. But I know from my own experience that the trauma experienced by children in armed conflict cannot be captured in figures alone. As a young boy during the Korean War in the early 1950s, I experienced the trauma and wrenching displacement of fleeing my home during the conflict, with death and destruction all around me. The human suffering I witnessed as a young boy as I fled my burning village with my parents continued to haunt me in the days and years to come. No child should endure what I did as a boy, and what countless other boys and girls still endure today, from Gaza and Israel to Ukraine, the Sudan, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Yemen and so many other conflicts that are not on the radar of the world’s policymakers or media. One of the landmark reports on children and armed conflict was written 28 years ago (see A/51/306) by Ms. Graça Machel, the former freedom fighter and Education Minister of Mozambique, who today serves as my fellow Deputy Chair of The Elders. Her findings are as relevant today as they were when she first presented them to the General Assembly in 1996. She said: “[M]ore and more of the world is being sucked into a desolate moral vacuum. This is a space devoid of the most basic human values; a space in which children are slaughtered, raped and maimed … and exposed to extreme brutality.” (ibid., para. 3) The situation today is a damning reflection of the collective failure of political will over the past three decades to address the issue. But Graça Machel’s powerful report did lead to changes, not least the creation of the mandate of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict. All Council members, and particularly the five permanent members, have a responsibility to protect and support that mandate in the interests of children worldwide. At the country level, alongside essential monitoring and reporting work, the mandate includes working with conflict parties on the steps they need to take to end violations and ensure the protection of children. Identifying those responsible for grave violations, as the report does through the compilation of its annual list, is the first step towards constructive engagement, action and accountability. In that regard, the inclusion of Israeli armed and security forces and Palestinian armed groups on the list is an important step in terms of seeking accountability. Where peacekeeping and political missions are drawing down, there must be a commitment to provide sufficient resources so that their vital work can continue. Attacks on places that are supposed to provide care and protection for children, such as schools and hospitals, are an increasing pattern in multiple conflict settings, including Gaza, Ukraine, Myanmar and the Sudan. States Members of the United Nations should endorse and implement the commitments outlined in the Safe Schools Declaration, which so far has garnered support from 120 countries. All attacks on children in armed conflict constitute a grave violation of human rights, but the most inhumane are those involving sexual violence. As someone who has championed women’s rights and gender equality throughout my life and particularly while serving as United Nations Secretary-General, I am hugely concerned at the continuously high levels of sexual violence against girls in conflicts worldwide. Those violations have devastating consequences, not only for survivors, their families and communities, but also for those children born of sexual violence who deserve special recognition and support. As my fellow Elder and Nobel laureate Mr. Denis Mukwege so rightly says, “survivors of sexual violence have the right to truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-repetition.” And just as survivors and their children have rights, so Council members have responsibilities — to ensure that those rights are respected and perpetrators are held accountable. Allow me to close by speaking frankly about the architecture of peace and security, at the centre of which the Security Council sits. The system is patently ineffective, and it is failing to perform its most fundamental function — upholding peace and security and protecting innocent lives. The Council is deadlocked on the conflicts of the day, as some permanent members abuse the veto responsibility granted to them in 1945. Major conflicts rage unabated owing to a lack of political will to prioritize resolution. This September, the Secretary-General will host the Summit of the Future. Specific reforms to the Security Council are finally being examined in intergovernmental negotiations. A formula for reform of the Council that balances increased representation with effectiveness must be found. I call on all States Members of the United Nations, including the permanent members of the Council, to seize this opportunity to build a better, safer future for the children of the world. Impunity for those who violate their fundamental rights must end. History will judge your efforts.

I thank Mr. Ban Ki-moon for his briefing. I now give the floor to the child briefer. Child briefer (spoke in Swahili; English text provided by the delegation): I thank you, Mr. President, for the opportunity to speak today. When I was born, 16 years ago, there were already armed conflicts in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is always the same situation, worsening from one day to the next, and harder still for those who are the greatest victims of conflict — children. I am an example of that. I was forced to join an armed group while I was walking to school. It is time for the whole world to rally behind the Democratic Republic of the Congo and take tougher measures to put an end to all the armed conflicts and dangers facing children, so that they can fully enjoy their rights, including schooling. Two months ago, during armed attacks on two of our neighbouring villages, children were targeted for abduction and forced to join armed groups, while others were abducted to enable armed groups to hold their families for ransom. That led to the murder of many children whose families do not have the means to pay the ransoms demanded. Other children are raped, especially girls, and as if that were not enough, schools and hospitals are attacked during armed conflicts and used as military bases by armed actors, with benches and desks used as firewood and other classrooms used as toilets. My message is to see protection and security reinforced in all areas, especially those controlled by armed groups, so that schools and hospitals can be safe, there can be an end to the use of schools and hospitals for military purposes and all children recruited into armed groups can be released so that they can once again enjoy their rights. Here is how my life has been negatively impacted by armed conflict. I used to wake up early every day to go to work and often I would go with the harvesters to collect agricultural produce from the fields, where I was paid 2,000 Congolese francs, the equivalent of one dollar at the time, so that we could have something to eat at home. I was 11 at the time. At that time, I heard about boys being kidnapped and taken into the bush by armed groups. I walked anxiously, fearing that one day it would be the same for me — my parents had no way of helping me to leave the village and move to a safer place. One day I was on my way to school. It was the afternoon, which was when I had classes. Three of us — one girl and two boys — encountered a group of armed men from the bush. They stopped in front of us. We were scared and intimidated, and we immediately feared we would die, but by God’s grace we were not killed. We trembled and cried, begging them to let us go home to our families, but they would not listen. That was when they started beating us and keeping us captive in the bush. We were heavily guarded, and orders had been given to kill anyone who tried to flee. I was forced to leave school and to start serving the armed group. In the bush, besides having to do weapons training exercises, which lasted for three months, we were used to carry the food that the armed groups looted from other people’s fields, and our school bags were burnt. Girls were also abducted. Some became wives of the chiefs, while others were taken by other soldiers. During the fighting, many ended up being killed by the enemy, and others were killed by their own groups for fear that they would reveal their secrets if caught by the military. Life was not rosy, because what we mostly had to eat was dried cassava, which was not good, but I was also afraid of the wild animals in the bush, especially when we were sent out at night to steal cassava and sweet potatoes from other people’s fields. We were also forced to rob vehicles on the road. One day, after three years of that very difficult life in the bush, with no hope of seeing my parents or little brothers again, I escaped when as usual the soldiers sent us to find something for the group to eat. I fell into the hands of the army. I was arrested and sent to a military prison, as I had military gear on me. I was released a few days later and then received support for my social and educational reintegration. Some time later I received a certificate of release from the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s child demobilization programme, given to protect me in the community, because some people were pointing fingers at me for being associated with the armed group, even though I was already back in civilian life. Now that I am back at school, I am working with my colleagues in the children’s parliament to raise awareness in communities to ensure that children’s rights are respected. I want to urge the members of the Security Council to work together to provide assistance to children affected by conflict. That will help protect children, give them access to education and health care and protect them from violence in environments where children’s rights are violated, especially in areas that are controlled by armed groups. I am asking everyone to take up the cause of defending children’s rights internationally and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Many children have no access to education as a result of the never-ending crises, and families on the move are unable to send their children to school or meet their other needs. Education saves children from joining armed groups and doing other heavy labour, unless they are forced to do so. As adults, the children who have studied at school understand the importance of having their children study in turn. In the long term, their studies can give them an opportunity to lead their country. Many children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo still need the world’s help, as I did, for their protection and survival during these times of armed conflict. And I would never want any other children to endure what I went through.

I thank the child briefer for his briefing. I shall now give the floor to those members of the Council who wish to make statements.

I would like to begin by thanking you, Mr. President, for organizing this important open debate. I also thank Special Representative of the Secretary-General Gamba de Potgieter, former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Deputy Executive Director Chaiban for their briefings. I also want to take this opportunity to thank the child briefer for sharing his experiences with us. Malta is deeply concerned about the fact that grave violations against children continue to escalate. As the Secretary-General states in his report (S/2024/384), the numbers of children killed, maimed and subjected to other violations around the world have reached unprecedented levels. The use of explosive weapons in populated areas has led to an alarming rise in grave violations. The continued increase in incidents where humanitarian access is denied is equally troubling. As was outlined in the briefing held during Malta’s presidency in April (see S/PV.9594), such denials often increase children’s vulnerability to other violations of their rights. Malta calls on all parties to allow and facilitate unimpeded, safe and timely humanitarian access to those in need. We look forward to the formulation of a guidance note by the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict on monitoring such violations. We remain fully committed to the critical work of the United Nations and the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict. As Chair of the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, we underline the importance of ensuring continued objectivity, impartiality and transparency in the Secretary- General’s annual report on children and armed conflict. The annexed list of perpetrators is a critical tool for ending violations and protecting children in situations of armed conflict. It is important to apply the same levels of scrutiny to all parties in all situations. Malta therefore welcomes the most recent report and would like to emphasize that States have the primary responsibility to protect their populations and international law must be respected by all the parties to a conflict. Malta is deeply concerned about the fact that violations against children in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory have reached an unprecedented scale, including during the attacks of 7 October 2023 and in the subsequent escalations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. The reports of attacks on schools and hospitals, the use of explosive weapons in populated areas and the abduction, detention and ill-treatment of children are alarming. In the Sudan, the increases in killing and maiming, in reported widespread conflict- related sexual violence and in recruitment, as well as the continued obstruction of humanitarian access, have created an untenable situation. Mitigating measures are urgently needed to address those violations. We are also very concerned about the deteriorating situations in many other conflicts, including in Haiti, Myanmar, Somalia and Ukraine. In Ukraine, we urge the Russian Federation to improve its prevention measures and develop a joint action plan to end and prevent grave violations against children. The Secretary-General’s report points to 26 conflict situations, some of which are of long standing. Malta welcomes the continued engagement with the United Nations by some parties to conflicts and urges all others to immediately engage and put in place measures to better protect children. Children’s exposure to grave violations is also shaped by gender norms, with different risks for girls and boys. We call for better gender analysis to strengthen survivor-centred approaches in order to improve gender-responsive child protection. We would like to take this opportunity to remind Member States of our collective responsibility to protect civilians from harm, especially children. We call on countries to endorse the Paris Principles and Commitments, the Safe Schools Declaration, the Vancouver Principles and the Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences Arising from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas. We are also concerned about the loss of child protection capacity during withdrawals of peacekeeping missions. The withdrawal of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from South Kivu is having a negative effect on the ability of child protection advisers to monitor, report and conduct advocacy. The Council must continue to consider the impact of withdrawals on child protection capacity, ensure that sufficient resources are available and strive to ensure that gains made over the years are not lost during transition periods. In conclusion, Malta urges for continued support for the children and armed conflict mandate and the monitoring and reporting mechanism on grave violations of children’s rights in situations of armed conflict. Malta will continue to prioritize the protection of children and engage with Council members to achieve more progress in the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict.

I thank His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon, former United Nations Secretary-General and Deputy Chair of The Elders, Mrs. Virginia Gamba de Potgieter, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, and Mr. Ted Chaiban, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director, for their sobering briefings. I also thank the child briefer for so bravely sharing his story. A good barometer of the world’s humanity is how we treat our most vulnerable, including our children. The Secretary-General’s report on children and armed conflict for 2023 (S/2024/384) is therefore most alarming. Tens of thousands of children have been robbed of their lives, their childhood and their chances for productive futures because of armed conflict. Violence against children has reached extreme levels. There has been a 21 per cent increase in grave violations, including against girls, with large numbers of instances of rape and other forms of sexual violence, and a 35 per cent increase in children killed and maimed, which tells a chilling tale of a lack of compliance with international legal obligations and a lack of humanity. Whether in Gaza, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, the Sudan, Syria or Ukraine, among other places, children are bearing the brunt of the cruel or neglectful actions of adults engaged in armed conflict. Parties to various conflicts have completely lost sight of the fact that the protection of children must always be their first consideration. There is no glory in killing, maiming or violating children and no objective justifies such violations. I feel obliged to highlight the Israel-Palestine conflict, where there has been an unprecedented 155 per cent increase in the scale and intensity of grave violations perpetrated against more than 100 children in Israel and more than 4,000 in the occupied Palestinian territory. As stated in paragraph 8 of the Secretary- General’s report, these constitute “blatant disregard for international humanitarian law and severe violations of international human rights law”. Guyana is concerned about reports that as many as 21,000 children in Gaza are missing and many are trapped beneath rubble, detained, buried in unmarked graves or separated from their families. What did they do to deserve that? What harm could they have done to the occupying Power? We have lost thousands of them forever, but that does not have to be the fate of those left behind, albeit in a war zone and traumatized. Guyana calls again for an immediate ceasefire, which is the only way to end the carnage and the war and to protect the children of Palestine and Israel. Turning to the three focus areas of today’s debate, according to the report, denials of humanitarian access have continued at alarming levels. More and more children in conflict situations are going without food and medicine and are at risk of dying from hunger and disease. That is compounded by a lack of access to essential services such as water, sanitation, electricity, health care and education. Protracted denials of humanitarian access continue to have long- term impacts on children, affecting their growth and development and increasing their vulnerability to other violations and abuses, including recruitment and use, abduction, rape and other forms of sexual violence. Parties to conflicts must ensure the unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief. It is an international legal obligation, not a political bargaining chip. We are also deeply concerned about the increased attacks on schools and hospitals and the surge in their military use, in direct contravention of international humanitarian law. In the Sudan, for example, the high numbers of attacks on schools and hospitals, as well as their unlawful use, along with attacks on protected personnel, have led to a collapse of the health system and the widespread disruption of education. As we navigate these difficult times, the Security Council must use all the tools at its disposal for the protection of children against such grave violations. The Council must continue to prioritize the inclusion of child protection provisions and capacities in the mandates of United Nations peacekeeping operations and special political missions. With several of those missions set to transition in coming months, it will be essential to focus on ensuring the continuity of child protection programmes where both United Nations country teams and national authorities are concerned. Those efforts must be supported by adequate resources and personnel. There can be no doubt that impunity and a failure to hold perpetrators of grave violations against children accountable are contributing to the increase in grave violations. Perpetrators must be held accountable. National courts and the International Criminal Court must scale up their efforts in that regard. There must be timely and thorough investigations, followed by prosecutions. The Council can also act through appropriate sanctions. That is the only way to deter continued grave violations. United Nations monitoring and verification of grave violations remain critical to informing response and prevention efforts. The conclusions of the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict continue to promote accountability and encourage conflict parties to take specific action to prevent and end violations against children. Guyana commends Special Representative Gamba de Potgieter and her team, UNICEF and the numerous non-governmental organizations concerned for their indefatigable efforts to protect and provide life-saving support to children in armed conflict. In conclusion, as Special Representative Gamba de Potgieter has reminded us, we must protect our children when we fail to bring them peace. We therefore call on all parties to conflicts to adhere to their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law and human rights law. We also urge parties to the conflicts listed in the annexes to the Secretary-General’s annual report to engage constructively with the United Nations and the Special Representative to develop and implement action plans and other commitments to end and prevent grave violations against children. Lastly, Guyana reiterates that the peaceful resolution and prevention of conflict remain the best ways to protect children.

We thank the briefers for their contribution to the discussion. Children are one of the most vulnerable categories of a population during conflict. Twenty-five years have elapsed since the adoption of resolution 1261 (1999), which created the Security Council’s toolkit for preventing and ending violations against children. This year, however, the Secretary-General’s report records a 35 per cent increase in the numbers of children killed or maimed. The reason for that sudden increase is obvious to everyone — the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip, where two thirds of all victims are women and children. In the Palestinian-Israeli conflict zone, we have observed all six grave violations against children being perpetrated on a horrific scale. The situation in Gaza is the main child protection challenge for the entire international community. We mourn for the children of Israel who died or were injured on 7 October 2023. There is no justification for the violence that they endured. However, those victims do not justify Israel’s violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza. Since October 2023, dozens of children have been killed and maimed every day in Gaza. According to preliminary data alone, more than 13,000 children have already died. Several thousand have been trapped under the rubble of destroyed buildings. More than 20,000 have been orphaned. The bodies of minors are being discovered in mass graves throughout the entire territory of the Gaza Strip. Children are not only being killed by Israeli rocket attacks on residential neighborhouds, schools, hospitals, mosques, refugee camps and United Nations facilities where they seek refuge in vain but also dying of hunger, dehydration and disease. Thousands of humanitarian workers continue assume great personal risk in attempting to save the children of Gaza and to alleviate their suffering. More than 50,000 children are in urgent need of assistance, owing to acute malnutrition. However, they are unable to gain access to the help they need, as Israel has effectively blocked humanitarian access, depriving the people of Gaza of their last hope of survival. Education and health care in the Strip have been destroyed. Children who were born and raised in the occupation have been deprived of even hope for a future. The situation is no better in the West Bank, where there has also been a sharp increase in violations, including the killing, maiming and arbitrary detention of minors, who are subjected to torture and other forms of ill-treatment, including sexual violence, in Israeli prisons. The number of violations cited in the report — more than 8,000 — is shocking. Verified cases alone far surpass the indicators in other conflict situations. However, what is even more appalling is the 23,000 violations that have yet to be verified. We trust that the United Nations will direct all its efforts and resources to restore the full picture of what is transpiring and that all perpetrators will be held to account. We believe that that should become a matter of honour for the United Nations and the Secretary-General. The Russian Federation, like the entire international community, will closely scrutinize that work. However, the main priority is the need for an immediate ceasefire. Only an immediate ceasefire will help to avoid new victims and ensure the delivery of humanitarian assistance. The supply of Western weapons is one of the most serious factors in the outbreak and spread of conflicts and, as a consequence, in casualties among the civilian population, including children. Everyone knows that a number of weapons supplied by the West cannot be used without appropriate assistance, including in terms of guidance. We are talking about Ukraine, where weapons supplied by the West, primarily the United States, are used first and foremost against civilians, including children in the Russian regions. Just the other day, on 23 June, the Kyiv regime committed another monstrous terrorist crime against civilians in Sevastopol. The Armed Forces of Ukraine attacked a municipal beach in Sevastopol, where five people were killed, including two children, including a two-year-old toddler. The total number of victims has now reached 151, including 27 children, many of whom are in serious condition. United States army tactical missile systems (ATACMS) equipped with cluster munitions were used to carry out those killings. Moreover, the adviser to the head of Zelenskyy’s office, Mykhailo Podolyak, stated that there are not and cannot be “any beaches and tourist zones” in Crimea. Apparently, he views Crimea as a military camp. Thus, Kyiv is admitting that it is deliberately targeting civilian objects, including those where children are located. However, we have not heard any condemnation of that attack from the United Nations leadership. That is far from the first instance of Western weapons being used to cause the death and suffering of both Ukrainian and Russian children. However, they, like the lion’s share of violations against children by the Ukrainian armed forces and units, are not duly reflected in the Secretary-General’s report (S/2024/384). The report effectively disregards the fact that Ukraine’s gross and systematic violations of international humanitarian law, which date back to 2014, continue. Daily shelling of peaceful neighbourhoods, vital facilities and civilian infrastructure — those are the methods used by the Kyiv regime. Attacks on civilian objects in the Russian regions are carried out through the use of uncrewed aerial vehicles, kamikaze drones and multiple-launch rocket systems. The trademark of the Ukrainian formations are attacks targeting passenger cars carrying civilians, including children. The armed groups under the control of the Kyiv regime are deliberately targeting civilian objects, including schools, kindergartens and medical facilities. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are responsible for the deaths of 192 children and the maiming of 554 children in the territory of the Russian Federation in the period from February 2022 to April 2024 alone. They also bear responsibility for the deaths of 129 children and the maiming of 503 children in the territory of the Donbas in the period from 2014 to 2022. The following are but a few instances. On 30 December 2023, Ukraine shelled a holiday celebration in Belgorod, where a Christmas tree and a skating rink were located. Five children died. On 15 February of this year, a one-year-old girl was killed during Ukrainian shelling of a school stadium. On 20 July, during a Ukrainian drone attack in Crimea, one child received a fatal shrapnel wound. Only in 2023, more than 1,000 medical and educational institutions in the Russian Federation were destroyed or damaged by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Since February 2022, Ukrainian forces have carried out more than 1,625 attacks on civilian infrastructure objects in 28 regions of the Russian Federation, and 10 of them resulted in casualties among minors. The Russian authorities have reported and recorded all the crimes perpetrated by the Kyiv regime. The Parliamentary Commission on Investigation of the Crimes Committed by the Kyiv Regime Against Minors continues to operate. On the website of the Russian Federation, there is a 2023 report of the Commission on the crimes perpetrated by Kyiv against children. However, the Secretary-General’s report does not reflect those figures and topics. Apparently, Russian children are of no interest to the United Nations and do not need its protection. Here, we would like to draw attention to one of the most serious breakdowns in the functioning of United Nations child protection mechanisms, namely, politicization. Politicization is the only explanation for the absence of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the list of parties responsible for violations against children in the report contained in the annex to the report. Does the joint plan with the United Nations to prevent violations really give Kyiv licence to kill and maim Russian children? Politicization is the only explanation for the presence of the Russian armed forces in that list. And here it is important to emphasize that the figures of violations that are attributed to Russia in the report have not been verified independently. The source of those figures is the well-known mission of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Kyiv, which is under the control of the Ukrainian authorities and receives data from them. Russia does not have access to the details of that information for verification purposes. Those details have not been provided to us. However, even according to those unverified data, a positive trend has been observed, although that trend has, unfortunately, not resulted in the deletion of the Russian armed forces from that list. Despite that, Russia is committed to the protection of children in armed conflict, including during the course of the special military operation. We are taking all systematic measures to that end. All this time, we have demonstrated our openness to cooperation with the United Nations on this issue, in particular, with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict. To conclude, we would like to touch on the fact that the main threat to children continues to emanate from terrorist and extremist groups involved in armed conflicts. Their favourite methods are the recruitment of children, abductions, sexual violence, the use of children as human shields and the obstruction of delivery of humanitarian aid. The most difficult situation in terms of the terrorist threat is in the Sahara-Sahel region, specifically in Mali and the Central African Republic, Afghanistan and Syria. In Myanmar, armed groups, such as the so-called People’s Defence Forces, continue their tactics of attacking schools and brutally killing entire families alongside their children. At the same time, information provided by the Government of Myanmar is ignored. In Syria, in territories not under Damascus’ control — in Idlib and in the north-east of the country — Kurdish militias have abducted more than 50 Syrian children for recruitment since the beginning of the year. For years, the catastrophic situation in the Al-Hol and Al-Roj camps for internally displaced persons, where 29,000 children, most of them under the age of 12, are being held, has not been resolved. That is the largest number of arbitrarily detained minors in the world. However, we did not see in the report any calls to the occupying Power, the United States, under whose control those camps are held.

I thank you, Mr. President, for convening today’s open debate on children and armed conflict. I also thank former United Nations Secretary-General and Deputy Chair of The Elders Ban Ki-moon, Special Representative of the Secretary-General Virginia Gamba de Potgieter, Deputy Executive Director of Humanitarian Action and Supply Operations of UNICEF Ted Chaiban and the very brave child briefer for their comprehensive briefings and insightful recommendations. Sierra Leone reiterates its strong support for the children and armed conflict agenda of the United Nations. We express our thanks to the Secretary- General for his comprehensive report (S/2024/384) outlining the many ways children in conflict situations continue to be impacted by the unprecedented horrors of conflict-related violence and the detailed analysis of 26 conflict situations for the reporting period from 1 January to 31 December 2023. We commend the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary- General for Children and Armed Conflict, the United Nations monitoring and reporting mechanism team and the Security Council’s Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict for the role they play in strengthening our collective understanding of the specific ways war impacts children and for their resolve to reinforce international legal and normative standards for the protection of children’s rights in armed conflict and for spurring active commitments and measures to end and prevent grave violations. We also thank UNICEF and respective country task forces on monitoring and reporting for their resilience in humanitarian responses, data collection, high-level and community engagement in advancing the commitments in resolutions 1261 (1999) and 1612 (2005) and many other relevant resolutions for the promotion and protection of the rights of children. Twenty-five years since the adoption of resolution 1261 (1999), children around the world continue to face rampant violations and denials of their rights in conflict situations. The Secretary-General’s report indicates that there was an alarming 21 per cent increase in violations from 2022 levels, reflecting the perilous circumstances disproportionately facing children. We continue to witness children’s lives being destroyed by horrifying escalations in localized and cross-border conflicts. Children are more likely to be abducted, killed or maimed by bombs or bullets, recruited by armed groups or exposed to sexual violence, see their schools and hospitals reduced to rubble or denied access to life-saving aid. Rising global food insecurity resulting from the negative effects of climate change and economic downturns also exacerbate the risks to children’s survival and well-being. Today more people are forcibly displaced globally than at any other time since the beginning of the century. The use of explosive weapons in populated areas has resulted in deaths, physical injuries and psychological trauma — particularly for children — destroying basic services and hindering civilians’ ability to safely return and rebuild once conflict ends. Sierra Leone wishes to strongly reiterate its support for the existing body of international, regional and national tools instrumental to addressing those violations against children. As a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, the Paris Principles and the Vancouver Principles, the Safe Schools Declaration and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, Sierra Leone is committed to the protection and promotion of the right of every child. In expressing grave concern that children, especially girls, are at a greater risk of experiencing forced sex, sexual exploitation, abuse and violence, both in peace and during conflict, Sierra Leone has made the elimination of and prevention from all forms of exploitation, abuse and violence against children a top priority. In addition to legislation protecting the rights of children and mandatory sentencing guidelines for perpetrators of rape and sexual abuse of minors, the Sierra Leone Parliament unanimously passed the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2024 just this past week. The Act seeks to protect children under the age of 18 from sexual exploitation and forced marriage. Sierra Leone is of the view that the promotion and protection of the rights of children, including their mental and physical health, should be a compelling responsibility for all Governments. Children are entitled to special care and assistance, especially in perilous times. They have no role to play in armed conflicts, must be recognized as children according to standardized age-assessment guidelines and be treated primarily as victims. In the face of such a worrisome trend of gross violations, Sierra Leone wishes to share its perspective on urgent actions needed to advance the United Nations children and armed conflict agenda. First, we stress the importance of open dialogue to achieve full implementation of international legal instruments and political commitments to protect children in conflict situations. That is critical both for Government forces and non-State actors. We commend the efforts of United Nations country teams who engage in the negotiation and implementation of national strategies and action plans to prevent the recruitment, use and detention for alleged association with armed groups and facilitate their release, handover, reintegration and repatriation, as we have seen in South Sudan and Iraq, leading to the release of 7,560 children and the reintegration of 10,600 children, respectively. We applaud the innovative approaches taken, as seen in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where unilateral declarations by armed groups led to positive outcomes. We call for open dialogue with all sides to conflict as key to sustaining lasting child protection. We view that as an avenue to address the urgent need for education, sensitization and preventive action on explosive ordnances, which continue to kill and maim children across the world, as seen in Somalia and the Niger. Sierra Leone also believes that sustained and constructive engagements, not just by country teams but by Member States and regional organizations, will augment the preservation and transfer of child protection measures, knowledge and capacity, particularly from United Nations peacekeeping operations and special political missions at community and Government levels, especially in Mali, the Niger and Somalia where there are mission drawdowns. Secondly, we re-echo our calls for respect for international humanitarian law and human rights law. We urge all parties to the conflict to refrain from actions that put children in harm’s way, whether directly through attacks on civilian populations and infrastructure, as reported in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, or in other ways, including hindering access to health care, education and humanitarian support, as reported in Afghanistan and Ukraine. Sierra Leone strongly condemns all forms of attacks on United Nations personnel and humanitarian access and underscores that the use of schools and hospitals as military sites erodes their protected status. The hard- earned global sense of stability and security will be at risk and any possibility of sustainable development will be threatened if those standards continue to be breached. We therefore strongly call on all sides of conflicts to uphold the principle of distinction and ensure rapid, safe, systematic and unimpeded access to humanitarian assistance for all children. To that end, we call for accountability for gross violations at all levels, including through international inquiries and adjudicating bodies. Our final point for action is enhanced support for child protection capacities and resources. We note the completion of action plans, as reported in the Lake Chad region and Iraq, and observe that beyond checkbox exercises, sustained effort is required. We commend all those who contribute to advancing child protection and urgently call for sustained support in addressing underlying conditions that expose children to multiple vulnerabilities due to their gender and ethnicity. In the face of continued violations, escalating and protracted conflicts and underlying conditions, we call for sustained political and financial support for the effective functioning and mainstreaming of country teams and monitoring and reporting mechanisms within national governance structures. We also urgently call for accountability to end impunity. Sierra Leone commits to strengthening child protection provisions in all relevant mandates of United Nations peacekeeping operations, special political missions and peace support operations. Today’s sobering briefing compels us to avert our minds, not only to the present suffering of our children, but also to what the future holds for the victims of these grave violations if we as a global community fail to take effective action. We conclude by juxtaposing two African truisms urging communal responsibility. While “it takes a village to raise a child”, it is also a sad reality that “a child that is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth”. Let us take action to protect children today in order to preserve peace and security tomorrow.

I join others in thanking Mrs. Gamba de Potgieter, Special Representative of the Secretary-General. Her report and briefing today are a demonstration of her commitment and dedication to her work. I also thank UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Chaiban. Slovenia supports his four recommendations today. I also wish to thank Former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his briefing. We share his trust in the need for Council unity in order to ensure a better future for our children across the globe. Our special gratitude goes to today’s child briefer. Slovenia applauds his courage to address the members of the Security Council in sharing his personal story, and we thank him for his advocacy. The Secretary-General’s most recent report on children and armed conflict (S/2024/384) once again portrays persistent negative trends of grave violations against children. The fact that we have reached the highest number of violations ever recorded should sound an alarm on the erosion of respect for international law that we are witnessing today. That is particularly true of situations in the Sudan, the State of Palestine and Israel, Haiti, Myanmar, Ukraine and Afghanistan, which all require immediate attention. Other listed situations should also be addressed without delay. With a view to preventing future violations, we would like to urge all parties to the conflicts listed in the annexes to the Secretary-General’s report to engage with Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict and the United Nations on the ground. We have always supported the Special Representative and the children and armed conflict agenda, and we will continue to do so in future. We want to thank Malta for its successful stewardship of the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, as well as other members for their cooperation, which, among other things, led to the successful adoption of country-specific conclusions on children and armed conflict — most recently, with regard to Afghanistan. In line with the concept note for today’s debate (S/2024/468, annex), I would like to briefly touch upon two grave violations. As we stated in the children and armed conflict debate in April (see S/PV.9594), denying children access to humanitarian assistance is particularly cruel and inhumane. It is heartbreaking to read about the significant increase in humanitarian denial, which leads to acute malnutrition, with lifelong effects  — if the children survive. Rapid, safe and unimpeded humanitarian delivery must therefore be guaranteed at all times and without delay. If not for children, then for whom? Furthermore, attacks on schools are prohibited by international humanitarian law. Attacks on schools are a denial of children’s right to education, which is a denial of their future. Yet, educational facilities are being deliberately targeted or used for military purposes at an alarmingly increasing rate. So are teachers and students. Schools should be nurtured as safe havens for children. Instead, education is under attack in far too many countries. There should be zero tolerance for violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law. We commend the International Criminal Court for its work in holding the perpetrators accountable. We welcome the adoption of key strategic and policy documents of the Office of the Prosecutor, including the revised policy on children. But it is not only doom and gloom. In recent years, progress has been achieved in several situations  — as reported by the Special Representative — through engagement with the United Nations of State and non-State parties to conflicts. We commend the Special Representative and the involved parties that have been removed from the annexes, which happens after concrete and time-bound activities to enhance the protection of children are undertaken. In conclusion, we need to reflect on the situation in which we find ourselves today — one where collective security based on respect for Charter of the United Nations, international law and norms and Security Council decisions is eroding like never before. The Security Council and the States Members of the United Nations need to reverse that trend. We hope that we can recommit to these basic principles as soon as possible, and we will be working tirelessly to promote them.

I thank Special Representative Virginia Gamba de Potgieter, Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban, former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the civil society representative for their briefings. Twenty-five years ago, the Security Council adopted historic resolution 1261 (1999), establishing important guidelines for the protection of children in armed conflict. Over the years, the international community has become increasingly aware of the need to protect children and increase humanitarian assistance, thus enabling more children in conflict zones to receive aid. Regrettably, however, the number of children subjected to grave violations remains high and has even increased every year. Towards the end of last year, UNICEF warned that the Gaza Strip was the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. According to the Secretary- General’s most recent report (S/2024/384), in the past year, the Gaza Strip has seen an unprecedented scale and intensity of grave violations of children. The conflict has lasted over eight months, claiming the lives of more than 15,000 Palestinian children. In other words, around 60 children, on average, are dying every day. Ninety per cent of the children are undernourished due to lack of food. More than 600,000 are unable to return to school. We have seen the images in the media of children dying in front of their families, breaking the hearts of parents everywhere. As the beginning of this month, when the world rejoiced in the celebration of International Children’s Day, children in Gaza received their gifts in the form of bombing and shelling, casting a lifelong shadow. Long ago, we should have said stop to such a human tragedy. Israel should listen to the strong appeals from the international community and stop its collective punishment of the Palestinian people. We welcome the listing in the Secretary-General’s annual report of the perpetrators of grave violations against children in the Gaza conflict. We believe it is a timely response to the international calls. The pressing priorities right now are securing an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, ensuring the delivery of humanitarian aid and establishing genuine accountability for the perpetrators of violations against children. We call on the international community, especially countries with influence, to make tangible contributions with a view to preventing any further humanitarian catastrophes. China supports the Council’s Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict in working quickly to review the situation of children in Gaza and take necessary action. From the Middle East to Europe, from the Caribbean to the Sahel, from the Horn of Africa to the Great Lakes region, more children around the world are desperately awaiting assistance and yearning for peace in the inferno of war and conflict. An integrated approach at the international level is called for, and effective action should be taken to protect the collective future of humankind. First, we have to work to put an effective end to armed conflict, since the ultimate solution for saving children from conflict is protecting them from conflict in the first place. The Council should remain committed to the political settlement of hotspot issues, step up its diplomacy, mediation and good offices and work vigorously to achieve an end to the fighting and violence in Gaza, the Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ukraine and elsewhere, with a view to resolving differences and animosity through dialogue and negotiation. It is important to make sure that external interference does not prolong or extend conflicts, and even more important to beware any act that deliberately incites tensions for selfish gain. Secondly, humanitarian assistance must be scaled up. In many conflict-afflicted regions children suffer from malnutrition and lack access to health care and medicine. Insufficient humanitarian funding is the number-one challenge. There must be greater assistance from the international community, especially traditional donors. At the same time, humanitarian and child- related issues should not be politicized or weaponized. Children in countries such as Afghanistan and Syria deserve the same level of assistance. The parties to a conflict must genuinely assume their obligations under international humanitarian law to ensure safe and unimpeded humanitarian access and the safety of humanitarian agencies and workers. Thirdly, punishments for the perpetrators of violations against children must be strictly enforced. The Council’s resolutions explicitly prohibit six grave violations against children. If their perpetrators are not held accountable, international fairness and justice will be severely eroded. For example, the Council must impose more forceful sanctions on Haitian gangs to cut off their weapons supply and to combat heinous acts such as the recruitment and killing of children. Together, we must object to the forced displacement and arbitrary relocation of Palestinian children and make further progress in identifying and repatriating children abducted by terrorist organizations in Iraq and Syria. Fourthly, children’s education and development must be ensured. Education is indispensable to children’s healthy growth, shielding them from terrorist propaganda, and it is vital to preventing conflict and building peace. Attacks on hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure amount to the destruction of children’s future and must be condemned in the strongest terms. The Summit of the Future and other major United Nations agendas must be leveraged to assist countries in conflict in eradicating poverty, achieving universal education and bridging the digital divide in order to accelerate the implementation of the child-related Sustainable Development Goals. An ancient Chinese saying says that we must respect the elderly and cherish the young as our own. The international community must uphold that idea of empathy and work towards safeguarding the future of humankind. We must work jointly to silence the guns and achieve lasting peace. Alongside the rest of the international community, China will continue to work tirelessly to promote peace and development for children across the globe, so that our future generations can join hands to build a better future together.

I would like to thank former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Special Representative Gamba de Potgieter, the Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF and our child briefer for their briefings. Children are the first victims of war, and the Secretary-General’s annual report (S/2024/384) reminds us of the need to combat the scourge of violence committed against them in times of conflict. The 21 per cent increase in such violence in 2023 is shocking and should be a cause for concern. France urges those who commit such acts to cease them immediately and encourages the United Nations to redouble its efforts to achieve that goal. In the Sudan, grave violations against children have increased by 480 per cent. It is essential that the parties stop fighting and refrain from obstructing the delivery of humanitarian aid. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine continues to have terrible consequences for children. Russia is responsible for killing and maiming, forced transfers of children and attacks on schools and hospitals. We urge it to put an end to that violence and immediately return Ukrainian children to their families. In Gaza, thousands of children have been killed and all the rest are suffering in the ongoing conflict. That must stop. France demands an immediate and lasting ceasefire and the release of all hostages. Faced with the alarming increase in this scourge, we must act and use all the tools at our disposal to ensure the protection of children and combat the impunity of the people who violate their rights. France urges all States to ratify and implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols, as well as the Rome Statute that led to the creation of the International Criminal Court. Together with UNICEF, we are campaigning for the universalization of the Paris Principles and Commitments, now endorsed by 115 States. Universal endorsement of that document, along with the Safe Schools Declaration, is essential if we are to combat violations of children’s rights. We urge all who have not yet done so to endorse them. The Council should continue to support the monitoring and reporting mechanism, which must be provided with the necessary means to enable the Secretary-General to establish a comprehensive and objective list of wrongdoers. France will continue to provide financial support for the Mechanism in 2024. The Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict must be able to rapidly adopt conclusions that can be implemented on the ground. We call on all the parties concerned to cooperate with the United Nations, including the Office of the Special Representative. The children and armed conflict agenda has brought about considerable progress since its establishment, becoming one of the Council’s major successes over the past 20 years. More than 200,000 children recruited into armed forces or groups since 2005 have been withdrawn from conflict, including at least 7,500 in 2023. We must continue and expand our efforts. For its part, the United Nations must continue to support child protection projects, including those focused on prevention and reintegration, and continue to work to protect children so that they are free to live, study and grow up.

I thank you, Mr. President, for calling this very important debate. I also want to thank Special Representative Gamba de Potgieter for her very thorough and thoughtful presentation, and UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Edward Chaiban and former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for their valuable insights. I am very grateful to the young man referred to as the child briefer for sharing his story with us and for his courage. I hope that he continues to advocate for young people and share his experiences with others. Fifteen years ago, then Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addressed a gathering at UNICEF focused on children and armed conflict. He explained that “[t] he recruitment and use of children in warfare violates international law. It also violates our most basic standards of human decency” (SG/SM/12098). Much has changed since 2009. Ban Ki-moon now bears a different title on his Security Council placard. I had the privilege of sharing the stage with him in Seoul for a discussion on the Sustainable Development Goals earlier this year, and I am very grateful to see him here again so soon and that he is here today with the other members of The Elders. But despite the former Secretary-General’s efforts and those of many here in this Chamber, the children and armed conflict agenda item unfortunately remains evergreen. This year’s annual report on children and armed conflict (S/2024/384) provides a sobering snapshot of the devastating impact of conflict on children. In 2023, the United Nations reported a 21 per cent increase in instances of the six grave violations against children. That is thousands upon thousands of children being subjected to sexual violence and abduction, recruitment and use as child soldiers, attacks on schools and hospitals and the denial of humanitarian aid. In the Sudan, we are now seeing the largest displacement crisis in the world. For more than a year, young boys have been recruited by the two warring parties, the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, as child soldiers, and young girls have been sold into sexual slavery. Millions more are going hungry, with a child dying every two hours in one North Darfur camp alone. We are also seeing it in Ukraine, where children have experienced the horrors of Russia’s senseless full-scale invasion. And despite Russia’s efforts to distract us this morning, the report details dozens upon dozens of cases of children being abducted, detained and tortured by the Russian armed forces and other affiliated groups. Members might come away from this discussion, this briefing believing that Ukraine is carrying out an attack on itself, a war against its own people, and that Russia’s unprovoked attack did not happen, that Russia has no responsibility. In Haiti, schools have been shuttered owing to security concerns, and children continue to be used in criminal activities and acts of violence on behalf of gangs. In Myanmar, scores of children have been maimed and killed by the military regime, and tens of thousands more face food insecurity, displacement, sexual violence, forced conscription and the threat of unexploded ordnance. In Gaza, children have borne far too great a burden of a war set in motion by Hamas on 7 October 2023. Thousands have died, and even more have lost limbs, loved ones and any semblance of safety. The report only underscores the urgency of achieving a ceasefire consistent with resolution 2735 (2024). Of course, the fighting could stop today if Hamas agreed to the deal on the table, to which Israel has already agreed. Instead, its leaders cynically hide themselves in a network of tunnels and their weapons and ammunition in schools, mosques and hospitals, putting Palestinian children at risk to protect themselves. Those cowardly, craven tactics have not diminished Israel’s obligation to protect civilians, including children, in Gaza, and to further coordinate with the United Nations in facilitating humanitarian assistance. If famine sets in, children will suffer the most. But let me be clear: there is no moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas, none. And the surest way to improve the situation of children in Gaza is for Hamas to take the deal without delay, without conditions. There have been small glimmers of hope. That includes the outcome of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General’s engagement with parties to conflict, which resulted in the release of more than 10,000 children from armed groups and armed forces, and we thank her for her efforts. As the largest donor to UNICEF, the United States continues to advocate for children and continues to strongly support the children and armed conflict agenda, including through reintegration programmes for children associated with armed forces and armed groups in several countries, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria and Iraq. But far more must be done. We must ensure that robust psychosocial support is given not only to children who have experienced trauma, but also to their caregivers. We must take into account the disproportionate risks faced by girls, including conflict-related sexual violence, and work to meet the long-term mental and physical needs of child survivors. We must safeguard medical, nutritional and hygienic support for children and their families, which serves as a bedrock for their education and their mental health. And we must strengthen the international community’s child protection capacity and ensure that all States respect international law, with those named in the report entering into action plans with the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General. As the then-Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said back in 2009, “[w]e must not rest until all children ... feel safe in their homes, schools and communities, without fear that they will be forced into war” (SG/SM/12098). That is the urgent charge before us. Let us work together and without delay to help this young man sitting across from us today become a leader in his country.

Let me thank all the briefers, from the eldest to the very youngest generation, for their powerful and courageous testimony today. The Secretary-General’s report (S/2024/384) is horrifying. Grave violations regarding children and armed conflict rose by 21 per cent in 2023. Thirty-five per cent more children were killed and maimed, 32 per cent more children were denied humanitarian access and 25 per cent more children suffered sexual violence. Those grave violations have risen on a shocking scale. The devastating impact of conflict on children demonstrates the need for members of the Security Council to come together, as former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, to uphold international peace and security, resolve conflict and protect children. I would say to Special Representative of the Secretary-General Gamba de Potgieter: the children and armed conflict mandate is crucial, and its achievements are many. In the almost 28 years since its inception, up to 40 action plans have been agreed and more than a dozen parties to conflict have been delisted by engaging constructively with the United Nations in the interest of child protection. In 2023 alone, more than 10,600 children formerly associated with armed forces or groups received protection or support. The children and armed conflict mandate must continue that vitally important work. We have heard today about many grave violations against children, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the Sudan to Myanmar. Let me highlight two contexts in particular. The first is Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. On 7 October 2023, Hamas committed appalling acts of terror against Israeli children. Forty- seven Israeli children were abducted on 7 October, 36 of whom were held hostage and suffered ill-treatment by Hamas in Gaza. Babies have been separated from their mothers and fathers. Three children were killed in captivity. It is abhorrent that eight months on, children remain hostages, and we reiterate our call for Hamas to release all hostages immediately. With the ongoing operations in Gaza, Palestinian children are suffering terribly, and children are paying the highest price for the conflict. Israel must abide by obligations to protect children under applicable international humanitarian and human rights law, urgently improve humanitarian access and increase the flow of life-saving aid. We need to see a stop in the fighting to end the suffering of children. The fastest way to do that is for Hamas to accept the terms of the deal on the table. Secondly, Russia’s illegal war continues to devastate the lives of Ukrainian children. This latest report highlights once again Russia’s appalling campaign of forced deportation and subsequent attempts to change children’s nationalities. We call on Russia to end its unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine and to cease the forcible transfer of Ukrainian children to the Russian Federation and its efforts to force them to become Russian citizens. It should return the children to Ukraine, where they belong. We underline our determination to hold those responsible to account. We call on all parties to adopt and implement concrete and time-bound action plans to prevent and end these grave violations against children. As a Council, we must uphold the obligation to protect the specific rights and vulnerabilities of children and amplify their voices. Last month our Minister of State, Lord Benyon, convened our annual round table with children affected by conflict. He heard from girls from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Ukraine and the West Bank about how conflict has impacted their childhood. We must remember that children are not numbers and that every grave violation is a tragedy. Let us work today to deliver on the promises of the mandate on children and armed conflict and protect children wherever they are.

I am grateful for the information provided by Mr. Ban Ki-moon, former Secretary-General of the United Nations and Deputy Chair of The Elders; Mrs. Virginia Gamba de Potgieter, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict; and Mr. Ted Chaiban, Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF. The courageous testimony of the child briefer underscores that no effort should be spared to silence the guns. The Secretary-General’s report (S/2024/384) records an exponential increase in the number of grave violations committed against children in 2023, one of the most harrowing years for children in conflict situations. My delegation takes note of the list annexed to the report, which has verified information about perpetrators of the violations against children that Special Representative Gamba de Potgieter referred to. The unprecedented number of children who have been killed, subjected to sexual violence, displaced, abducted, incarcerated, arbitrarily recruited or orphaned is a wake-up call for States involved in conflict, the international community and the Security Council. It is particularly deplorable given that we are marking 75 years since the adoption of the Geneva Conventions. Ecuador commends the presidency of the Republic of Korea for its interest in focusing our discussion on the effects that attacks on schools, hospitals and other critical infrastructure, as well as denials of access to humanitarian assistance, have on children’s lives. In that regard, I would like to underscore three points. First, the destruction of children’s safe spaces violates international humanitarian law, runs counter to the rights laid down in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and exposes children to risks such as recruitment, sexual violence and forced displacement. Secondly, attacks on critical civilian and infrastructure directly affect the physical, mental and social development of children, render them defenceless and undermine their right to access education and health services. Thirdly, restricting the work of the United Nations humanitarian aid teams, limiting the work of female staff and interfering with the flow and destination of supplies all exacerbate children’s vulnerability. As Vice-Chair of the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, Ecuador supports the Special Representative’s team. We also support the monitoring and reporting mechanism on grave violations of children’s rights in situations of armed conflict and the United Nations staff working on the ground to collect, systematize and draw attention to grave violations committed against children, among other efforts to establish prevention and protection measures for children. Meanwhile peace remains elusive, and States urgently need to be supported in designing national frameworks to protect children. Universal accession to, among other things, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, the Safe Schools Declaration, the Vancouver Principles, and the Paris Principles and Commitments should be encouraged. In addition, by way of protection measures, States, particularly those involved in conflicts, must recognize the following principles in their legal frameworks and protocols for action. First, children remain children until they reach the age of 18. Secondly, minors recruited by armed groups must be treated as victims, not former combatants. Thirdly, reuniting families and ensuring the dignified, safe and voluntary return of forcibly displaced children, and unaccompanied children in particular, is crucial. Fourthly, we must bolster the implementation of demining plans so as to reduce the risk of death and maiming from improvised explosive devices. Lastly, sustainable peace and justice are mutually reinforcing. In that connection, it is imperative that States undertake to bring to justice those responsible for committing grave violations of children’s rights, and if necessary promote cooperation with international mechanisms to ensure accountability.

Thank you, Mr. President, for organizing this briefing. I thank former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Special Representative of the Secretary-General Gamba de Potgieter and UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Chaiban. We also thank the child briefer for his powerful testimony. There is no second chance for childhood. At this very moment, as we meet here, children are fearing for their lives in a number of armed conflicts. Their deaths are unacceptable, and their survival is far too often accompanied by traumatic experiences that will remain etched in their bodies, their memories and their actions for the rest of their lives. Switzerland is profoundly alarmed by the horrific plight of children in a number of contexts. The Secretary-General’s report (S/2024/384), for which we are grateful, paints a bleak picture of the recruitment and use of children on a wide scale in Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the abduction and killing of children in Israel and northern Nigeria, the unimaginable numbers of children killed and maimed in Gaza and the Sudan and the woefully inadequate humanitarian access in both places, the attacks on schools and hospitals in Myanmar and Ukraine, the violence, including sexual violence, perpetrated by gangs in Haiti. With the largest number of grave violations ever verified, an increase of a quarter from last year, there is no other way to say it — we are collectively failing in our duty to children. That has to change. I want to outline three courses of action. First, it is time to redouble and reaffirm our support for the Security Council’s agenda on children and armed conflict. The tools derived from the 13 relevant resolutions can bring about positive changes in conduct and should continue to be applied in an independent, credible and impartial way. In that respect, we take note of the new entries in the annex to the report. We call on all listed parties to engage meaningfully with the United Nations in order to prevent and end all grave violations. The monitoring and reporting mechanism remains the backbone of the agenda. Switzerland is supporting the mechanism financially in Syria and Yemen. Finally, it is important that the conclusions of the Council’s Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict are adopted, as they are essential to enabling progress on the ground. Secondly, the withdrawal of United Nations missions must not happen at the expense of child protection. We note with great concern that the number of verified grave violations has either stagnated or increased in several transitional contexts, such as in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. United Nations country teams must be able to continue relevant protection and monitoring activities during and after transitions. It is therefore our duty to ensure that transition mandates take that into account. Switzerland contributes by funding UNICEF and by seconding child protection specialists to United Nations agencies, as it did in Mali following the withdrawal of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali. Thirdly, there is an urgent need to reverse the upward trend of verified cases of killing, maiming, attacks on schools and hospitals and denial of humanitarian access. Switzerland calls for international humanitarian law to be respected by all parties at all times. We also recall resolution 2730 (2024), which was adopted by the Council last month, on the protection of United Nations and humanitarian personnel, which includes those working to protect children. Moreover, we encourage all States to sign and implement the Safe Schools Declaration. The right to education must be guaranteed. To that end, Switzerland will continue to finance the Education Cannot Wait fund. Peace and respect for international law are the best protection for children. In particular, international humanitarian law, human rights and international refugee law must be respected. In that regard, we also call on Member States to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. At the same time, as members of the Council, we must redouble our efforts to find and support political solutions to conflicts and to prevent them. Humanity owes the child the best it has to give, as humanitarian and founder of Save the Children, Eglantyne Jebb, stated. It is time for those of us who have the means and the responsibility to intensify our actions to protect the girls and boys who will build our societies of tomorrow.

I thank His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon, Special Representative of the Secretary-General Gamba, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Chaiban, and also the child briefer. My delegation thanks the Secretary-General for his annual report on children and armed conflict (S/2024/384), covering the period from January to December 2023. We welcome the focus of this year’s open debate, covering, among others, the denial of humanitarian access and attacks on schools and hospitals. We look forward to the guidance note on denial of humanitarian access, which will be launched in the third quarter of 2024. In many parts of the world, children are victims of armed conflict and are at extreme risk of violence, exploitation and displacement. We are concerned that the report highlights an alarming increase of 21 per cent in 2023 in grave violations against children. We note that that figure does not reflect the full extent of those violations. When we talk about grave violations against children, the current situation in Gaza comes to mind. I believe that everyone in this Chamber would agree. The Israeli occupying Power continues its attacks on the population in Gaza and in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The listing of the Israeli armed and security forces among the parties that commit grave violations affecting children in situations of armed conflict is an important step in the right direction. There are no words to express the extent of the tragedy in today’s world, where, in Gaza, within a few months, more than 15,000 children were killed and more than 19,000 children were orphaned — not to mention the estimated 4,000 children still buried under the rubble, the thousands of child amputees and the children currently detained by the Israeli occupying Power. It is also important to stress that more than 600,000 children now live in the streets, among the rubble, without access to education. More than three quarters of the schools in the Gaza Strip were bombed by the Israel Defense Forces and are now in need of total reconstruction or require major rehabilitation to be functional again. Also, as a result of the restrictions on humanitarian aid imposed by the Israeli occupying Power, people in Gaza are facing catastrophic levels of hunger, and today 50,000 children require urgent treatment for malnutrition. In that regard, and according to the most recent United Nations-partnered Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report on hunger levels, released just yesterday, 96 per cent of the population in Gaza — almost 2 million people — face acute food insecurity at or above crisis level. Of those 2 million, almost half a million people are enduring catastrophic conditions. The IPC update underscored the high risk of famine across the entire Gaza Strip as long as conflict continues and humanitarian access is restricted. Moreover, we note with deep concern that 1 million people in southern Gaza are trapped without clean water or sanitation, in a highly congested area in the burning summer heat. In conclusion, given that the situation in Gaza continues to quickly deteriorate, we reiterate our urgent call for an immediate ceasefire, as well as for unconditional and unimpeded access for humanitarian assistance. And we urge the international community to shoulder its responsibility. It must act so that children in Palestine, especially in Gaza, are protected and can live a dignified and safe life, immune from violence, oppression and terror.

I thank the Republic of Korea for convening this important annual debate on children and armed conflict. I also would like to thank Mr. Ban Ki-moon, Mrs. Gamba de Potgieter, Mr. Chaiban and the child briefer for their sobering briefings. I especially thank His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon for today’s briefing as Deputy Chair of The Elders, while commending his continuous and consistent commitment to international peace and security and the protection of human rights. Also, we express our sincere appreciation to the child briefer for his brave testimony. I express our greatest sympathy for the harrowing experiences the briefer has endured. Japan is deeply distressed by the Secretary- General’s most recent report (S/2024/384), published this month, outlining the extreme level of violence against children, with a shocking increase over past years. We are particularly alarmed about the prolonged fighting in the Gaza Strip, which has led to a significant number of civilian casualties, including children. We also strongly condemn Hamas for victimizing children in their heinous terrorism. Japan is also gravely concerned about the situation in Ukraine where a number of grave violations have been verified, including the abduction of children by the Russian armed forces. We must act decisively and consistently to improve the situation of children in armed conflict. In that regard, let me highlight five areas in which the international community should act immediately. First, Japan urges all parties to conflicts listed in the annexes to the most recent report to engage constructively with the United Nations on the ground and the Special Representative to put in place prevention measures to protect children and develop action plans. Secondly, it is imperative to eliminate impediments to humanitarian assistance reaching children, and we must ensure full, safe, rapid and unhindered humanitarian access. Unprecedented numbers of denials of humanitarian access were recorded in many places, including in Gaza and the Sudan. Japan is gravely concerned about the consequences of such denials, including disrupted education, the recruitment and use of children, malnutrition and damage to physical and mental health. Thirdly, one of the main causes of the killing and maiming of children is the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, in violation of international humanitarian law. Japan has endorsed the Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences Arising from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas and supports the efforts to implement its commitments. At the same time, Japan calls on other Member States that have not endorsed it to do so. Fourthly, upholding children’s right to education and supporting their development under armed conflict must be prioritized. Schools should serve as safe havens for children. We must spare no effort in ensuring access to safe and quality education for children, particularly for girls who are disproportionately affected and become vulnerable to other grave violations, such as sexual violence. Lastly, in countries such as Mali and the Sudan, where United Nations peace operations have withdrawn or are withdrawing amid high numbers of grave violations, the international community must ensure that child protection measures remain in place. According to the Secretary-General’s report, the highest numbers of grave violations were verified in Israel, Gaza, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Somalia, Nigeria and the Sudan. Let me stress that no child should live in fear of attacks, nor should they fight on the front lines of armed conflicts. It is totally unacceptable that children’s futures and dreams are being brutally taken away. All Members and all parties to conflicts must recall that children are entitled to special protection under armed conflict. We are responsible for addressing human security threats to children in armed conflicts and removing all impediments hindering children’s ability to pave their future. Let us once again redouble our efforts to protect children in armed conflict. They deserve to live in dignity and grow up in a safe environment surrounded by friends and family without fear.

We wish to express Mozambique’s gratitude to the presidency for convening this important meeting on the situation of children and armed conflict. We thank and commend Mrs. Virginia Gamba de Potgieter, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, and Mr. Ted Chaiban, Deputy Executive Director of Humanitarian Action and Supply Operations of UNICEF, for their important and valuable briefings. We wish to pay special homage to His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon, former United Nations Secretary-General and Deputy Chair of The Elders, for his important statement and the continued devotion he shows to the ideals of the Charter of the United Nations. We were deeply touched by the courageous testimony of the child briefer. Mozambique agrees with the Secretary-General’s report (S/2024/384), which portrays the overall situation of children in situations of armed conflict as bleak, appalling and of deep concern to all of us. It is our view that the alarming rise in grave violations against children reflects directly the worsening of conflicts around the world. As a consequence, children bear the brunt of both protracted and emerging crises. That situation demands urgent, thorough and comprehensive action to protect the most vulnerable. It does not come as a surprise that most grave violations in 2023 occurred — and continue to occur — in places where conflicts tend to be chronic and endemic, such as in Palestine and, more concretely, in Gaza and in the occupied Palestinian territories, as highlighted in the report. In that connection, we should not forget that the scourge of terrorism and violent extremism, which is rapidly spreading in Africa, is one of the most devastating causes of the plight of children in our continent and, in fact, around the world. That must prompt us to engage in frank and fruitful discussions on the concrete ways and means to effectively support Member States in strengthening child protection measures. We should do so aware of the fact that peace is the fundamental condition sine qua non for the protection of children in conflict situations and for those children to have an open door to a brighter future, and we should be mindful that States bear the primary responsibility to protect children in situations of conflict, particularly against terrorism and their non-State actors. It is imperative that all parties to conflicts adhere strictly to their obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law. They must take all necessary measures to protect children in conflict situations, by avoiding, among others, direct and targeted attacks against civilians. In that regard, we encourage the continued engagement with the United Nations of parties in conflict. They are duty bound to develop and implement action plans and other commitments to end and prevent grave violations. We are of the view that, in conflict situations, children must be treated primarily as victims, including those associated with armed or terrorist groups. That is in line with the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. Also of extreme importance is the need to ensure long-term and predictable funding for the implementation of reintegration programmes for children that have been associated with terrorism and other armed groups. The provision of humanitarian assistance during conflicts is crucial to alleviate the suffering of the most vulnerable. In that vein, we reiterate our call on the parties to cooperate with the United Nations and humanitarian partners in order to ensure safe, rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access, as well as the protection of humanitarian personnel, in line with resolution 2730 (2024). Along the same lines, we believe that we must continue to engage in efforts aimed at strengthening child protection capacities in all United Nations peace operations and political missions. We would like to commend United Nations country teams, particularly UNICEF, and all partners on the ground for their steadfast efforts to protect children, often in very challenging circumstances. Mozambique reaffirms our commitment to intensify efforts to protect children’s rights and prevent grave violations. We remain committed to engaging constructively with the United Nations and other partners in that endeavour.

I shall now make a statement in my capacity as the representative of the Republic of Korea. I extend my gratitude to Mrs. Gamba de Potgieter, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, and to Deputy Executive Director Chaiban of UNICEF for their comprehensive briefings. My special appreciation also goes to former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his insights, based on his vast experience during his tenure. I am also deeply grateful to our child briefer for the sobering statement derived from his striking experiences. As other Council colleagues have already indicated, we are overwhelmed by the scale of the grave violations against children in armed conflicts last year, the highest ever recorded in the children and armed conflict agenda’s history. It is really appalling that even this unprecedented number includes just United Nations-verified cases, which represent only a fraction of the true magnitude of grave violations against children globally. With armed conflicts raging across the world, children continue to pay the highest price. Their suffering is real and requires the Council to do more. In that regard, I would like focus on two points today. First, despite the deepening divergence of geopolitical interests, the international community must be united in protecting children by condemning perpetrators of grave violations against children and pressuring them to change their course of action. Last year’s sharp increase in the number of grave violations is largely attributed to conflicts that newly broke out or rapidly deteriorated. We are appalled that last year around 8,000 cases — 24 per cent of the total — occurred in Israel and Palestine, mostly between 7 October and 31 December. The ongoing conflict in the Sudan has led to a 480 per cent increase in grave violations. UNICEF’s report — that, in the Sudan, an estimated 19 million children, one in every three, are currently out of school — is disturbing. We are also deeply concerned that around 2,800 United Nations-verified cases of grave violations were committed in Myanmar, including more than 1,000 cases of the recruitment and use of children, particularly by the Myanmar armed forces and other related parties. In that regard, we note the Secretary-General’s new listing of some parties, including Government forces, to the annexes of his report (S/2024/384). I urge all listed parties to faithfully engage with the United Nations and to sign and implement concrete action plans to end grave violations against children. Secondly, we should step up our efforts to ensure the effective implementation of the children and armed conflict tools that we have developed over the past three decades, which include the monitoring and reporting mechanism, the listing of perpetrators in the annexes of the Secretary-General’s children and armed conflict reports, Special Representative-led action plans for ending grave violations and the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict. The engagement of the Special Representative’s Office, through these tools, led to tangible achievements, such as the release of more than 7,000 children from armed forces or groups in 2023 alone. Now, we must further develop children and armed conflict tools to be more effective, and it is crucial to strengthen child protection capacities on the ground by channelling more resources. In that vein, the Council should actively consider including child protection mandates in the broader range of United Nations peacekeeping operations and special political missions, following the active contributions by child protection advisers in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic. Meanwhile, we encourage the United Nations to maintain its evidence- and criteria-based monitoring and reporting mechanism on children and armed conflict. In that regard, we welcome the current work by the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General to develop a guidance note on denials of humanitarian access. I would like to take this opportunity to draw attention to the grim situation of children in North Korea, a country that is a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Despite the fact that their situation is not covered in the Secretary-General’s report, we cannot say that children in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea are living anything close to the lives that they deserve. According to the Secretary- General’s recent report on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (A/78/212), children in North Korea endure extensive human rights violations such as forced labour. They are sent to labour camps as collective punishment with their family members and can be sentenced to death merely for watching or distributing South Korean dramas. North Korean children are also facing a dire humanitarian situation caused by acute malnutrition and limited access to health care, while their country’s leaders enjoy luxury goods and recklessly pursue programmes of weapons of mass destruction. In conclusion, we strongly believe that the unique history of the children and armed conflict agenda’s development demonstrates how multilateralism and the Secretary-General’s hands-on approach can have a positive impact on children’s lives. Paying tribute to the people striving to protect children, the Republic of Korea, as a major partner of UNICEF and other child protection agencies, reiterates its firm commitment to supporting efforts to advance this crucial mandate. I now resume my functions as President of the Council. The representative of the Russian Federation has asked for the floor to make a further statement.

We would like to comment on the unfounded accusations about the Russian Federation that we have heard today from some of our partners in the Security Council, including regarding the “abduction” of Ukrainian children. But first and foremost, we want to express our shock at the fact that the United States, which has been helping Ukraine kill children in Russia, is trying to lecture us. Let me point out once again that just this Sunday an American army tactical missile system (ATACMS) missile killed two children and injured 27 more. The delegations making the accusations about so-called abductions and deportations are being deliberately misleading. This is about evacuating children from areas where there are ongoing hostilities, which is in full accord with obligations under international humanitarian law and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The references to so-called abductions and transfers in the Secretary-General’s report (S/2024/384) are dubious and require additional explanation. In particular, children who are referred to as being “abducted” may come under cases of marital disputes. An overwhelming majority of children arrive in Russia together with their parents or other relatives and are fleeing shelling by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Russia does not prevent children and their parents and loved ones from maintaining contact or corresponding with one another, regardless of where the latter may be. As regards the reunification of families, the Ombudsperson on the rights of the child in the Russian Federation has been assisting in the process, including through the participation of humanitarian mediators. A transparent process has been established for that between the Russian and Ukrainian sides for taking consistent, algorithm-based action, with 70 children from 52 families already reunited with their relatives. The data on this is being regularly published in bulletins on the protection of children during the special military operation, the most recent of which came out on 20 June. Besides that, the latest bulletin contains our response to all the insinuations that the representatives of Western countries so love to repeat. It is available in English and can be found on the Ombudsperson’s website. We advise colleagues who are interested in facts rather than propagandist accusations to familiarize themselves with its content. In that context, particular attention should be paid to information that emerged in April when the Ukrainian national police reported that more than 160 Ukrainian children whom Ukraine believed had been taken to Russia had been unexpectedly found in Germany. Clearly, they should be searching for all the other minors allegedly abducted by Russia in Germany and other European countries.

I wish to remind all speakers to limit their statements to no more than three minutes in order to enable the Council to carry out its work expeditiously. Flashing lights on the collars of the microphones will prompt speakers to bring their remarks to a close after three minutes. I now give the floor to the representative of Ukraine.

I thank the presidency of the Republic of Korea for convening today’s important debate, and the briefers for their remarks. I also recognize the continued occupation of the seat of the Soviet Union by the dictator’s envoy. As a proud representative of a State that on this day, 26 June, 79 years ago in San Francisco, signed the Charter of the United Nations, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all Member States, except Russia, on that anniversary. All but Russia, because Russia is a fare-dodger and a vandal here. Russia has never signed or ratified the Charter or adhered to its provisions. As was publicly acknowledged by the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and later the Russian envoy to the United Nations, in 1991 the whole process seemed to be a simple change of a country’s nameplate. But by letting Russia occupy a permanent seat, that apparent simplicity triggered an entire chain of violations and horrors of war, including crimes against children. The thematic report (S/2024/384) that we are discussing today presents an alarmingly bleak picture of the situation of children, with the highest number of grave violations ever recorded. That reality stands in stark contrast to our common determination, embedded in the Charter, to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war. It is also not the present or future that we desire for our children and those to come. We want to express our appreciation to Special Representative Gamba de Potgieter and her Office, and to UNICEF and all child protection organizations, for their invaluable work. Ukraine commends the cooperation established with the Special Representative and her Office, including on the implementation of the joint preventive action plan. We reiterate our standing invitation to the Special Representative to visit Ukraine and our full support for the children and armed conflict mandate. While the Security Council has allocated just one day to address the heinous and horrifying crimes against children that Special Representative Gamba de Potgieter has briefed us about, she and her team deal with those crimes every single day. They deserve our full support, not just morally but through all the necessary resources required to ensure the full and effective implementation of the mandate. Russia’s aggression has had catastrophic consequences for children in Ukraine. According to Ukrainian prosecutors, at least 1,389 children have been injured and 551 killed. The figures are not final, as work is continuing to establish numbers in the areas temporarily occupied by Russia. Some 1,895 children have gone missing during the hostilities and 15 cases of sexual violence against minors have been recorded. According to our Ministry of Education, to date almost 4,000 educational institutions across Ukraine have suffered bombing and shelling and 365 have been destroyed completely. Nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children have been forcefully transferred or deported to the Russian Federation or the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Russia is obstructing the repatriation process by imposing additional conditions and hindering verification procedures. If the Russian representative insists that there is a transparent algorithm, as he said, why, then, do international organizations have no access to Ukrainian children? To date, only 736 have been repatriated. We welcome the decision by the Secretary-General to keep the Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups on the list of grave violators for the killing and maiming of children and attacks on schools and hospitals. The Russian Federation has not only failed to take appropriate preventive measures but has also significantly increased the intensity of shelling of civilian infrastructure and densely populated areas across Ukraine. The only root cause of children’s suffering is the unjustifiable war of aggression launched by Russia. If the dictator’s envoy truly cares about the fate of children, it is his duty to provide his boss with full information about the Secretary-General’s report and to convey the common message of the wider membership to stop the war. As Russia persists in its desire to wipe our country off the face of the Earth, Ukraine has the legitimate right to strike all military targets on the territory of Russia and in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. And to quote Nebenzia himself, “[i]f the ... air defence systems had not operated, then there would not have been any victims among civilians at all” (S/PV.9523, p.10). Ukraine is striving for a comprehensive, just and lasting peace based on the Charter of the United Nations. We seek such a peace for our children, whose normal childhoods have been shattered by relentless Russian bombardments, missiles and drones. We urge all those who have not yet done so to actively engage in and contribute to the process of implementing the peace formula.

We thank you, Mr. President, for organizing this important debate and the briefers for their presentations. Liechtenstein reiterates the continued relevance of the children and armed conflict agenda, as the Secretary-General’s report for 2023 (S/2024/384) sadly illustrates. The mandate of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, including its effective tool of listing parties that have committed one or more of the six grave violations against children, is needed now more than ever and must be protected. The frequency of grave violations committed against children is shockingly high, with a 21 per cent increase in 2022 and the largest numbers of violations in at least a decade. Of particular concern is the dramatic increase in the number of children killed in conflict. The deteriorating situations in Gaza, the Sudan and Myanmar are especially alarming and require the Security Council’s immediate attention. We are deeply troubled by the nearly 8,000 children reportedly killed in the Gaza Strip. Such a large number of casualties and massive suffering among children are unacceptable, as is the targeting of homes, shelters, schools and hospitals — places where children and their families should feel safe. The psychological and physical impacts of living in a conflict zone endure for a lifetime. The children of Ukraine are also paying an extraordinary price for Russia’s aggression, marked by the 335 documented attacks on schools and hospitals in 2023 alone. We remain deeply troubled by the continued abduction of Ukrainian children, including the abduction of 122 children by Russia. In that regard, we highlight that the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against Russia’s President and Children’s Rights Commissioner, whose work was praised by the Russian representative earlier this morning, for the war crimes of the unlawful deportation and transfer of children. We reiterate the obligation of all States parties to the Rome Statute to comply with their obligations in the execution of arrest warrants, including those issued for the former Minister of Defence, Sergei Shoigu, and the Chief of General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, earlier this week. We also recall the essential contacts policy of the United Nations. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that every child can be spared the scars of war. The protection of schools, hospitals and other health facilities is key in that respect. We therefore call on all States to support the Safe Schools Declaration and ensure the protection of hospitals and of humanitarian and medical personnel. We recall resolution 2730 (2024) on protecting the protectors put forward by Switzerland in May, which we co-sponsored, and we emphasize the need for the full respect of international humanitarian law at all times. We are deeply troubled by the findings of the Secretary-General’s report revealing a 25 per cent increase in conflict-related sexual violence, which disproportionately affects girls. Such crimes are often underreported, particularly when perpetrated against boys, owing to stigma, cultural taboo and a lack of criminalization. As a result, male survivors of sexual violence are often unable to access legal remedies or medical and mental health services. We commend the tireless advocacy of organizations, including the Liechtenstein-based All Survivors Project, that raise awareness about this overlooked aspect of conflict- related sexual violence. All reported crimes must be vigorously investigated and prosecuted, including by the International Criminal Court, which has done groundbreaking work in that regard.

There are still a number of speakers remaining on my list for this meeting. Given the lateness of the hour, I intend, with the concurrence of the members of the Council, to suspend the meeting until 3 p.m.