Deputy Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations (UN) Tanmaya Lal has reiterated India's strong support for the United Nations' endeavours towards protecting children in situations of armed conflict.
Addressing at a UN Security Council meeting on "Protecting Children Today Prevents Conflict Tomorrow", Ambassador Lal said, "Despite persistent efforts spanning over the last two decades, the rights of millions of children continue to be violated in situations of armed conflict in different parts of the world."
He further said, "Some progress has been made in the implementation of the provisions of the UNSC resolutions on children and armed conflict through greater engagement between the UN agencies and the governments concerned as well as through the integration of children rights issues in the mediation processes. However, a lot more remains to be done especially in keeping with the changing nature of armed conflicts that involves a range of non-state actors."
Ambassador Lal underlined that terrorist entities, including those designated by the UN, continue to exploit children as part of their terror activities with impunity.
"Despite considerable international efforts, children are increasingly victimized both as targets as well as perpetrators of violence. Killing, maiming, abductions as well as rape and other forms of sexual violence against children and attacks on schools and hospitals continue to be used as a tactic of terror, making resolution of conflicts more challenging," he noted.
Ambassador Lal said that the reintegration of children into the society, after their release from armed groups following mediation processes, remained an area that needed more focus.
Throwing light on strengthening India's commitment to socio-economic reintegration of children, he added, "We need to strengthen our commitment to socio-economic reintegration of children who have been released from armed groups, greater integration of child protection provisions in peace processes as well as greater accountability for all violations against children by state and non-state actors. We believe that constructive engagement with the national government concerned, especially in the formulation and effective implementation of action plans are essential and integral to durable peace and security."
Ambassador Lal continued, "The UNSC Resolution 1379 requests UN Secretary-General to report on situations that are on the agenda of the Security Council or that may be brought to the attention of the Security Council by the Secretary-General, in accordance with Article 99 of the Charter, which in his opinion threatened the maintenance of international peace and security."
He expressed his disappointment that despite the clear mandate of the resolution the Secretary General's report included situations which did not meet the definition of an armed conflict or of a threat to the maintenance of international peace and security.
Ambassador Lal underlined that India remained concerned about lack of resources to implement the provisions of the mandate, including the deployment of more child protection advisors and to comprehensively address the connection between conflict prevention and the protection of children.
He further said, "The monitoring and reporting mechanism of the UN should be carried out in close cooperation with the country concerned. The developing capacity of the country concerned to fight against impunity and ensuring accountability will be important. It is also important that access of UN agencies to the armed groups is carried out under the cooperation framework between the UN and the government concerned.
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