NEW YORK, JULY 20 – “Children, regardless of their legal status, must have the right to enjoy their childhood in stable and peaceful societies”, the Italian Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, Maurizio Massari, said during the Security Council annual open debate on children and armed conflicts.
“All around the world, children continue to be disproportionately affected by armed conflicts, suffering violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law. This is even more evident in these last months, since the unlawful and indiscriminate attacks by the Russian armed forces against homes, educational facilities, and hospitals in Ukraine, have made children frontline targets for widespread killing, trafficking, sexual violence, abductions and other violations”, said Massari, stressing that, “in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, children, regardless of their legal status, must have the right to enjoy their childhood in stable and peaceful societies, where they can feel safe to learn and become actors of positive change, peace and sustainable development”.
In these challenging times, schools and leisure facilities play a life-saving role, as they provide children with psychological and physical support as well as social protection, offering them hope for a better future. “Attacks against schools and children’s facilities constitute one of the six grave violations committed against children during armed conflict, seriously jeopardizing their immediate and long-term health”, said Massari, stressing that the overlapping of armed conflicts with other ongoing crises, namely the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change, further exacerbates children’s vulnerability. Furthermore, forced displacement exposes the most vulnerable to a higher risk of suffering from recruitment, abduction, trafficking, sexual exploitation, and harmful practices including early and forced marriage.
“In order to break the cycle of violations affecting children, we must take a systematic and coherent approach, from prevention to accountability to reintegration”, said the Ambassador calling for the widest possible support to the “Safe Schools Declaration”, in order to mitigate the consequences of armed conflicts on education, students and other educational personnel as well as on educational infrastructures. In this perspective, Italy reaffirms its support for this framework and calls on all Member States to endorse and fully implement it.
Italy also endorsed the Paris Principles on Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups, and the Vancouver Principles on Peacekeeping and the Prevention of the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers, being conscious of the crucial importance of integrating these principles into the wider peacekeeping agenda. Furthermore, “when we see that children displaced due to armed conflicts are deprived not only of their homes and family, but also of a chance to learn and play, we cannot just limit ourselves to condemning these attacks. All perpetrators of grave violations against children must be held accountable, regardless of whether they are state forces or non-state armed groups”. In this perspective, Italy reaffirmed its strong support to international justice, monitoring and accountability mechanisms, including the work and the independent role of the International Criminal Court. (@OnuItalia)
