YouSaid · the spoken record

Gamba

lines on the record: 71
first: 2017-10-31
most recent: 2019-08-02
sittings or episodes: 5
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“We need the Council's support to engage with parties to conflict to end and prevent violations. We need its support to ensure that there is sufficient pressure to make commitments mean something. Most of all, we need the Council's support to ensure that there exists the requisite child protection capacity to give children affected by conflict all the support they need - their one chance.”
2019-08-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8591 (2019) · source
“By the same token, we must also ensure that we are ready to receive released children appropriately through adequate and comprehensive programmes that are funded and readily available. We cannot afford to lose children once they are released and we cannot afford to make them wait their turn for reintegration assistance because of a lack of resources. That is why reintegration and considering the real reintegration needs of boys and girls globally is so urgent. I would like to thank Poland for the priority it has given to the task through its important role in the Group of Friends of Reintegration of Child Soldiers, which was launched by my Office, together with UNICEF, in late 2018. I would like to end by imploring the Council to support the mandate to the greatest extent possible.”
2019-08-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8591 (2019) · source
“Notwithstanding the restrictions on access, I am pleased that a high number of children have been separated from parties to conflict and provided with reintegration assistance. These releases have occurred due to the engagement of child protection actors as part of the development of action plans or as a result of emerging peace processes, mediation and dialogue between Governments and armed groups. It is therefore important for me to reiterate that these figures justify the extensive effort in engaging with joint action plans with all parties to conflict, as well as promoting child and armed conflict language and concerns at the heart of all peace dialogue and processes. Separating children provides opportunities for boys and girls to be given a second chance at life. We must ensure more dialogue and more engagement.”
2019-08-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8591 (2019) · source
“In 2018, conflict and military operations, insecurity, constraints on humanitarian access, staff reductions, threats, violence and infrastructure prevented child protection actors from doing their most fundamental mission of protecting children. I ask the Council and individual member States to work with us to address this issue by emphasizing the need for humanitarian access in resolutions and bilateral relations. Child protection actors need to have access to provide life-saving support to victims and survivors of violations. We can strain every sinew at the highest level to prevent Violations, but we also need to be able to respond quickly to violations when they occur.”
2019-08-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8591 (2019) · source
“We must allow these children to be considered as what they are - victims of a conflict This is particularly true for the most vulnerable ones, such as children currently or allegedly associated with foreign fighters. I would like to reiterate the message of the Secretary-General that no child should be deprived of a nationality. In this year of the thirtieth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, it is pertinent to recall that actions for all children affected by armed conflict should be taken with the best interests of the child in mind. The facts contained in the report serve to emphasize my reoccurring point. We need to prioritize action on the ground and also protect the staff who undertake it.”
2019-08-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8591 (2019) · source
“The fear of stigma and retaliation, involvement of powerful perpetrators, lack of services and concerns for the protection of survivors and witnesses discourage children and witnesses from coming forward. It is clear that, unfortunately, this violation has proved difficult to address. I believe that greater accountability mechanisms and adapted responsive care services for survivors can contribute to making significant progress in addressing this issue. Moreover, too many children continue to be detained as a result of conflict. I urge that children exposed to alarming levels of violence not be further ostracized once released from armed groups and armed forces.”
2019-08-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8591 (2019) · source
“I believe this is one area where quick wins can be made if there is a focus and a will on the part of the international community to reduce the use and clear up these explosive remnants of war when peace agreements have been reached. I hope that next year we can see a reduction in these types of casualties. Of course, overall the majority of cases are ascribed to armed groups, crossfire and violent ground engagements. While the other topic that the Council addressed 10 years ago in resolution 1882 (200) is not as numerically startling at first glance, we still have a long way to go in tackling this issue. Rape and other forms of sexual violence are significantly underreported, including when perpetrated against boys.”
2019-08-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8591 (2019) · source
“It is vital that the Council redouble its efforts to ensure that all parties abide by the principals of distinction, proportionality and military necessity. We must make sure that all military actions are guided by the fundamental tenets of international humanitarian law. In this regard, I urge parties to conflict issue specific command orders that address reducing child casualties. This will help us uphold the spirit of this Council when it adopted resolution 1882 (2009) and recognized that more need to be done to stop killing and maiming of boys and girls. About 40 per cent of the casualties in the global figure are caused by unexploded ordnance, improvised explosive devices and landmines. This a real preoccupation of my Office, particularly as they cause long-term and serious disability.”
2019-08-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8591 (2019) · source
“The report before the Council (S/2019/509) speaks for itself. Although we have fewer violations across four categories, we have an increase in killing and maiming and similar levels of sexual violence. In last year's report (S/2018/465) two figures stand at very high levels: one for killing and maiming, with over 12,000 children affected by these violations, and one for children who benefitted from reintegration assistance - over 13,500. That, too was a historic high. Let me refer to both. In 2018, verified cases of children killed and maimed reached record levels since the creation of the monitoring and reporting mechanism. I echo the Secretary-General's concern that unprecedented numbers of violations were attributed to national and international forces.”
2019-08-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8591 (2019) · source
“Access and actors in the field must be the priority to protect children and prevent violations. We cannot achieve anything without the tireless work on the ground of so many colleagues and partners - the sterling work of UNICEF in particular. For our part, in late 2018 I launched the ACT to Protect campaign with the African and European Unions. This campaign is aimed at supporting the work on the ground and has already been launched in Mali and utilized in Somalia. I hope that we can count on the support of the Security Council and individual Member States as we push to create a tangible difference for all children affected by the six grave violations. Unfortunately, for all our efforts to date we are not yet at a point where we can be confident that the situation is improving year upon year.”
2019-08-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8591 (2019) · source
“I take this opportunity to call on all concerned Governments and on all those who can provide support, including the Council, to do their utmost to ensure the full implementation of these commitments. When we have worked together effectively, we will see real tangible progress through a reduction of violations and the release of children. Regional and subregional work is a key element of this direct engagement. I take this opportunity to thank the Council for giving us the tools last year, within the context of resolution 2427 (2018), to pursue prevention plans with these entities. I hope that soon we will have new instruments in these forums to aid our other engagement on the protection of children. This high- level political engagement supports the cornerstone of our endeavours - child protection efforts in situations of armed conflict.”
2019-08-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8591 (2019) · source
“In many situations where the monitoring and reporting mechanism has been in place, Governments have put in place clear measures, such as establishing interministerial committees to interact with the country task force, or passed laws on the protection of children. This has galvanized action and allowed progress to develop quickly as a direct result of high- level engagement. The formula will work with our teams on the ground. Action plans are perhaps the most tangible example of the outcome of such engagement with parties to conflict. In recent months, three new action plans have been signed with non-State actors and other engagement tools have been put in place. However, we understand that these tools are only the beginning of a process to better protect children. They are not an end in themselves.”
2019-08-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8591 (2019) · source
“I was struck by their common recognition of the importance of protecting children from violence. It was clear to me that the protection of children can act as a confidence-building measure between opposing parties. It can demonstrably and positively impact peace processes and agreements, as we recently saw with the commitments of the two groups to ceasing hostilities last week. This trip focused on the fundamentals of the mandate I represent. Over the time I have been Special Representative, I have expended much energy in engaging with parties to conflict where there is a willingness to engage. This has inspired positive results.”
2019-08-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8591 (2019) · source
“I extend a very special thank you to Peter and Mariatu for being here today. To give my own insight, last month I travelled to Mali to assess first-hand the situation of children and advocate for increased protection measures for boys and girls. My visit was the first ofa Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict to the country. I travelled to Mopti, in the centre of the country, a region recently affected by dramatic spikes of violence. I met representatives of the authorities, child victims of the conflict and members of the Dogon and Peul communities. Time constraints meant that a joint meeting with representatives of the two communities was necessary, and it was held. This format led to a very constructive engagement.”
2019-08-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8591 (2019) · source
“The date of 4 August is also the 10th anniversary of the adoption resolution 1882 (2009), in which this organ decided it was necessary to increase the focus of the children and armed conflict mandate on killing, maiming and rape and other forms of sexual violence. Today's debate therefore provides a milestone where we can take stock of our collective efforts to date. Given these important anniversaries, I am very pleased that we have Ms. Kamara and Mr. Awan here today to provide us with their insight from their experiences in Sierra Leone and South Sudan. I hope that they will both talk about the impact of conflict of children and also inspire us with guidance. We need to better understand how we can build upon and improve the current work on the ground and better utilize child protection expertise to end and prevent violations.”
2019-08-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8591 (2019) · source
“Ms. Gamba: On behalf of the Secretary-General, I would like to thank the Republic of Poland, and Foreign Minister Czaputowicz personally, for holding this open debate. It is vitally important that we take this opportunity to come together and focus on the current plight of children affected by armed conflict across the four corners of the globe. As many in the Chamber will be aware, 2019 marks 20 years since the Security Council first adopted a resolution on children and armed conflict (resolution 1261 (1999)) and the 30th anniversary of the entry into force of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.”
2019-08-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8591 (2019) · source
“The tragedy of Yemeni children and their role in the Yemen of tomorrow serves to underscore the need to put them at the heart of the peace process. Provisions related to the unconditional release, handover and reintegration of children associated with parties to conflict should be given priority, and children deprived ofliberty for their alleged association with opposing parties should be treated primarily as victims and with dignity. Importantly, perpetrators of grave violations should be held to account for their acts before the relevant jurisdictions. This is why I urge the Security Council to heed my call and ensure that child protection is central to efforts for peace in Yemen going forward.”
2019-04-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8512 (2019) · source
“Today thousands of children and their families are in dire need of assistance and support, from basic aid to reintegration assistance. I reiterate my call to the parties to facilitate the rapid and unimpeded passage of the delivery of life-saving assistance to children and families in need. I also call on the international community to prioritize funding for Yemen, or the disbursement of funds that have already been pledged, in order to give children a chance to survive, learn and build the Yemen of the future. There is no alternative to peace. To end the suffering, the Stockholm Agreement late last year provided hope. Yet, as fighting continues and intensifies in parts of the country, I urge the parties to swiftly implement the commitments made.”
2019-04-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8512 (2019) · source
“It includes provisions on building the capacity of the child protection unit established at the coalition's headquarters in September 2017, as well as on accountability and the revision of the standard operating procedures for the handover of children intercepted during military operations. Most importantly, however, it stipulates that a work plan containing concrete measures to strengthen the protection of children will be developed in the next few weeks and months. In conclusion, the violence that Yemeni children have been subjected to, and are still being subjected to, is simply unacceptable. I urge the parties to the conflict to take immediate measures to ensure that their military operations are conducted in full compliance with international law, including by respecting the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution.”
2019-04-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8512 (2019) · source
“In October 2018 the Government of Yemen also endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration, which is an important first step to improving the protection of schools, education personnel and children. We now look to the Government to swiftly implement the road map and prioritize the development of standard operating procedures for releasing and reintegrating children associated with armed forces and groups. In March, following engagements with the coalition since 2017, I signed a memorandum of understanding on strengthening the protection of children affected by the armed conflict in Yemen.”
2019-04-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8512 (2019) · source
“Landmines and unexploded ordnance have also been a major source of danger for children, causing more than 700 casualties between 2013 and now. During this time I have consistently engaged with the parties to the conflict in urging them to end and prevent grave violations, which is at the very core of my mandate in support of United Nations efforts on the ground. To that effect, in December 2018, the Yemeni Government endorsed a road map aimed at revitalizing and expediting the implementation of the action plan signed in 2014 to end and prevent the recruitment and use of children. The road map lays out measures to ensure the release, reintegration and prevention of child recruitment.”
2019-04-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8512 (2019) · source
“The level of the killing and wounding of children are unsettling. Between April 2013 and January of this year, the United Nations verified the killing and maiming of more than 7,500 children, one third of them girls, making it the most prevalent type of violation in Yemen. Almost half of those casualties were caused by air strikes, for which the coalition bears the main responsibility. As for fighting on the ground, which has caused 40 per cent of the casualties among children, the shelling ofurban areas and the use of mortars and small arms were the predominant causes of child casualties. The Houthis were responsible for the majority of child casualties as a result of ground fighting, followed by the Yemeni Government forces, among others.”
2019-04-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8512 (2019) · source
“Many children have explained how they felt that they had no choice but to join in order to sustain their families. As the war continues, I fear that this push factor will only get stronger. The ideological indoctrination of children to defend their communities against a perceived enemy has also been an important factor in inciting children to join a party to the conflict. Children have reportedly been forcibly recruited from schools, orphanages and communities. While the vast majority are boys between the ages of 15 and 17, for the first time cases of the recruitment of girls were verified in 2018. The girls were used to pressure their peers to send male members of their families to the battlefields, and they were threatened with expulsion from school if they refused to comply.”
2019-04-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8512 (2019) · source
“In the same period, more than 200 children were killed or injured while being used by the parties to the conflict in Yemen. This recruitment and use continues unabated, with more than 500 children verified as recruited and used in the first three months of this year. Two thirds were recruited by the Houthis, followed by the Popular Resistance Committees, the Yemeni armed forces and the Security Belt Forces, as well as Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and the Salafist movement, to name only a few. The raging conflict has fuelled that trend, which is exacerbated by the deteriorating humanitarian situation. Joining a party to the conflict has increasingly become a coping mechanism for families on the brink of survival, and the children recruited are often among the poorest.”
2019-04-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8512 (2019) · source
“In a case in point, on 11 March, a mission delivering food, including to schools, in Saada governorate was cancelled owing to obstructions and checkpoints on the road. A large majority - more than 70 per cent - of the incidents of denial of humanitarian access were attributed to the Houthis, with almost 10 per cent attributed to the coalition and 7 per cent to Yemeni Government forces. The recruitment and use of children remains a key concern. Between April 2013 and December 2018, more than 3,000 children were verified as recruited and used by the parties to the conflict in various roles - fighting on the front line, manning checkpoints, delivering supplies and assisting in intelligence-gathering. In 2018, almost 40 per cent of those children, 50 per cent of whom were under 15 years old, were used in active combat.”
2019-04-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8512 (2019) · source
“The United Nations has verified more than 800 incidents of denial of humanitarian access since the establishment of the monitoring and reporting mechanism in Yemen. Most cases have involved restrictions on humanitarian movement, Violence against humanitarian personnel or the destruction of their assets and facilities. Key civilian infrastructure, such as water reservoirs that are indispensable to the survival of surrounding communities, have also been attacked, and a recent air strike close to a hospital resulted in casualties among civilians, including children. The consequences of each and every one of those cases are tragic, as 80 per cent of the Yemeni population is currently in need of humanitarian assistance and protection and 2 million children are acutely malnourished and fighting to stay alive.”
2019-04-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8512 (2019) · source
“As the fundamental principles of international humanitarian and human rights law have been violated by all parties to the conflict, children have paid a high price. I would like to draw the attention of the Council to three persistent concerns in Yemen, notably the denial of humanitarian access for children, children's recruitment and use and their killing and maiming. My first concern is about humanitarian access for and to children. The cumulative effects of years of war, compounded by the economic crisis, have taken a devastating toll on children, who have been dying of curable diseases such as cholera and starvation. Yet the fact that close to 70 per cent of districts in Yemen are currently at risk of famine cannot be explained by the raging conflict alone.”
2019-04-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8512 (2019) · source
“There have been exponential increases in Violations throughout the years, as was the case at the end of 2014, when recruitment and use increased significantly, and in 2015, which was a devastating year for children, with over 900 children recruited and used, 2,400 killed or maimed and over 150 attacks against schools and hospitals. As military surges occurred, children continued to take the brunt of them. At the end of 2017, during intensified fighting in Sa'ada, Al-Hudaydah and Hajjah, killing and maiming of children increased 25 per cent as compared to 2016. And last year, fighting and offensives in Al-Hudaydah alone resulted in the killing and maiming of more than 500 children.”
2019-04-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8512 (2019) · source
“Unfortunately, due to difficulties in gathering information, sexual violence against children is chronically underreported in Yemen, and only a few cases could be verified in that period. In addition, due to the ongoing conflict, access restrictions, detention and threats against monitors, as well as intimidation of communities reporting on grave violations, the numbers I present to the Council today represent a mere fraction of Violations committed against children in Yemen. The impact of this conflict on children has been horrific. All parties to the conflict have acted and reacted militarily to events, resulting in the use and abuse of children in multiple ways.”
2019-04-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8512 (2019) · source
“As of today, there are six parties listed in the annexes to the annual report of the Secretary- General on children and armed conflict for having perpetrated one or more grave violations against children in Yemen. A country-specific report on Yemen will shortly be presented to the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, covering the period between April 2013 and the end of 2018. The figures for verified grave violations against children in Yemen during that period are staggering: more than 3,000 children were verified as recruited and used; more than 7,500 children were killed or maimed; and over 800 incidents of denial of humanitarian access to children were documented. In addition, over 350 attacks against schools and hospitals were verified.”
2019-04-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8512 (2019) · source
“Ms. Gamba: Iwould like to thankyou, Mr. President, for this opportunity to brief the Security Council on the enduring and tragic impact of the conflict in Yemen on children. As Council members know, the monitoring and reporting mechanism on children and armed conflict established through resolution 1612 (2005) enables the collection of information on the six grave violations against children in armed conflict, including on recruitment and use, killing and maiming, rape and other forms of sexual Violence, attacks on schools and hospitals, abductions, and denial of humanitarian access. The mechanism was formally established in Yemen 2013.”
2019-04-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8512 (2019) · source
“It is time for them to stop being victims and become game changers in the restoration of normality in peace and justice. They have been used and abused by, in and for this armed conflict for far too long.”
2018-07-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8320 (2018) · source
“In that regard, recalling the recently adopted resolution 2427 (2018), children affected by the conflict must be able to access protection programmes designed to meet their needs in an integrated and comprehensive approach to mental health and psychosocial support, including the specific needs ofchildren with disabilities. The international community must prioritize funding and provision for quality education for all children at all levels, from the initial stages of child development through to vocational training for youth. No one must be left behind, especially those who, through no fault of their own, have been robbed of their most important developmental years. It is time for the children of Syria to believe in their own future and to learn what peace means. It is time for them to retake the childhood that was taken away from them.”
2018-07-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8320 (2018) · source
“We must make peace a priority and, in the pursuit of that peace, we must ensure that all peace negotiations include children at the centre of the discussion. Nowhere it is more important to consider children as an indispensable part of peace processes than in the Syrian conflict. There will be hundreds of thousands of children who will need assistance and we must prepare to meet their needs. The prolonged exposure to war has immediate and major detrimental effects on the psychosocial well-being of children. If left untreated, the long-term negative consequences will affect them for the rest of their lives.”
2018-07-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8320 (2018) · source
“It is essential that the Security Council does everything in its power to put pressure on parties to the conflict to comply with their obligations under international law and ensure that children are no longer subject to grave violations of their rights. Parties to conflict must take immediate, concrete and effective action to prevent child casualties during the conduct of hostilities, including by immediately ceasing to use means and methods of warfare that are inherently indiscriminate or disproportionate in nature and ensure that children deprived of their liberty be treated primarily as victims of violations of international law. There is clearly no alternative other than peace to stop the increasing violations against children in Syria.”
2018-07-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8320 (2018) · source
“I further call on all parties to the conflict in Syria to take immediate measures to ensure that their military operations are conducted in full compliance with international law, including through respecting the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution. Humanitarian access must be granted to all children in all locations in Syria, including through the implementation of humanitarian corridors and pauses for the delivery of humanitarian assistance that are indispensable for their survival and development, without any discrimination. This standard should also be applicable to returnees. I would like to conclude by emphasizing that children continue to be disproportionately affected by the armed conflict in Syria.”
2018-07-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8320 (2018) · source
“Given the dynamics and violations occurring against children this year, I am especially concerned about children deprived of their liberty and the conditions of detention of children allegedly associated with parties to the conflict. These children must be treated primarily as victims of violations of international law. I call on all parties involved in the conflict in Syria to comply with applicable obligations under the Convention of the Rights of the Child and its optional protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict and to give civilian child-protection actors access to children deprived of liberty for association or alleged association with armed forces and groups.”
2018-07-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8320 (2018) · source
“I am deeply disturbed by the stories of children born and raised throughout this conflict, children who have never seen peace in Syria, children who have suffered repeatedly from all types of violations in their homes, communities, schools, detention centres and in refugee and internally displaced persons settings. We have to think that these children are in severe psychosocial distress. They do not know the meaning of the word "peace". The violence Syrian children have been subjected to, and are still being subject to - as well as the pain they and their families have faced throughout these years of crisis - is simply unacceptable.”
2018-07-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8320 (2018) · source
“Despite being underreported, cases of sexual violence against children in Syria also reflect the despicable nature of this conflict. Attacks on schools and medical facilities have been one of the persistent features of the conflict in Syria. One in three schools are estimated to be out of use - either damaged, destroyed or used as a shelter or for military purposes. An estimated 2.1 million children alone are out of school inside Syria, due to a range of factors including insecurity, lack of facilities and quality education, poverty and displacement. In the upcoming months, the Security Council- mandated country report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Syria will be published, covering almost five years of the conflict. The findings of the Mechanism over that period of time are utterly unsettling.”
2018-07-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8320 (2018) · source
“In fact, the total number of grave violations for the first quarter marks a 109 per cent increase over the last quarter of 2017. Attribution for these violations indicates that all recruitment and use in 2018 have been committed by non-State actors, while most killing and maiming figures are attributed to Syrian Government and pro- Government forces. Although figures for the beginning of 2018 include few verified cases of sexual violence and abduction, these are violations reported across all the years since the establishment of the Mechanism in Syria. For example, boys and girls have been sexually abused and exploited, sold as sexual slaves and forcibly married to fighters for the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. Rape has been used as a means of torture, especially when children were being deprived of their liberty.”
2018-07-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8320 (2018) · source
“In 2018 alone, over 1,300 children are reportedly held by parties in the north- eastern part of Syria, of which the Mechanism could verify only seven cases since the beginning of the year due to the inaccessibility of the area and the relevant actors. In other parts of Syria, detention of children is also reported, and the Mechanism was able to verify more than 300 cases since 2014. The figures emerging from the first six months of 2018 reflect large increases, as compared to previous similar reporting periods. For example, in the first quarter of 2018, there was an increase of 25 per cent in recruitment and use of children, and a 348 per cent increase in killing and maiming, both as compared to the previous quarter.”
2018-07-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8320 (2018) · source
“Since the beginning of 2018 alone - a period of six months - the Mechanism has verified over 1,200 violations against children. Of these, more than 600 children have been killed or maimed, more than 180 recruited and used, and more than 60 schools attacked, while over 100 attacks on hospitals and medical facilities or personnel have been all verified. Most of these verified grave violations have occurred in the last six months in the context of military surges by various parties in the areas of Afrin, Hama, Idlib, eastern Ghouta and Dar'a. Each of these surges has resulted in hundreds of thousands of displaced people, of which a vast proportion are children. As war rages, detention of children for alleged association with armed forces and armed groups has exponentially increased.”
2018-07-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8320 (2018) · source
“Indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks by all parties, of which now we tally over 88 - including the use of weapons prohibited under international law, aerial attacks, mortars and rockets, indiscriminate shelling and improvised explosive devices - have been used against civilian areas and civilian infrastructures and have had a deadly toll on children. As Council members know, the Mechanism reports on six grave violations: recruitment and use, killing and maiming, rape and other forms of sexual violence, attacks on hospitals and schools, abductions, and denial of humanitarian access. Over the years the Secretary- General has listed in the annexes of his annual report on children and armed conflict seven parties committing grave violations against children in Syria.”
2018-07-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8320 (2018) · source
“Since the beginning of the Syrian crisis in March 2011, the United Nations has verified through the Mechanism that more than 7,000 children have lost their lives or have been maimed as a result of this conflict. I must stress that this is the verified number alone; the unverified reports reflect numbers that go way beyond 20,000 child casualties. The Mechanism makes a distinction between reported and verified cases. Only verified cases lead to the listing of parties. The methodology of verification is carefully elaborated and requires a thorough triangulation of information procedures, which makes it a very strict mechanism that generates data that appears lower than figures in other monitoring initiatives and mechanisms of the United Nations.”
2018-07-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8320 (2018) · source
“Every year since then, there has been a tremendous increase in all grave violations committed by all parties to the conflict. This specific Mechanism is unique in its set up, as it operates as a regional mechanism, gathering information from inside of Syria as well as from neighbouring countries, allowing for a broader scope in monitoring and capturing violations committed across Syria, while large parts of the country is inaccessible to the United Nations. However, I must stress that, although the cases documented by the Mechanism have all been verified by the United Nations, they represent only a mere fraction of violations committed in Syria as of today.”
2018-07-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8320 (2018) · source
“Ms. Gamba: First, I would like to thank the current President of the Security Council, Sweden, for giving me the opportunity to brief the Council today and share the most recent updates on the situation of children affected by the armed conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic. I concur with the statement delivered just now by my colleague from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Mr. Mark Lowcock. The monitoring and reporting mechanism, created through resolution 1612 (2005) in 2005, collects information on the six grave violations against children in armed conflict situations. The Reporting Mechanism in Syria was established in 2013 following the listing of the Syrian Government for the killing and maiming of children and attacks on schools and hospitals.”
2018-07-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8320 (2018) · source
“The resolution adopted today is a further step in strengthening the framework of child protection provided by the Council, which has given us the tools to engage in ways that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. Our capacity to jointly put those tools to work will decide the fate of thousands of children, and ultimately whether we are able to move closer to ending forever the use and abuse of children in, and for, armed conflict.”
2018-07-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8305 (2018) · source
“Finally, the level and severity of violations that fill the pages of the latest annual report (S/2018/465) of the Secretary-General serve as a reminder that we must work in unison to change the tide of history. We cannot further jeopardize our most precious resource through inaction, but must increase our efforts to develop preventive tools, utilize reintegration strategically to break cycles of violence and address the cross-border nature of violations through increased cooperation. I began my statement by painting a grim picture of several conflict situations - and I could have mentioned many more. Yet we must not leave the Chamber today in despair.”
2018-07-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8305 (2018) · source
“The Council will hear today from Yenny Londofio about her experiences with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejercito del Pueblo and about her general views on reintegration needs from their standpoint. Equally, there is a need to continue prioritizing child-protection capacity in order to translate resources and opportunities into results, including by requesting adequate capacity in the mandates of relevant peace operations. In that regard, I am encouraged that regional actors, such as the African Union and NATO, have strengthened their child-protection capacity. I look forward to engaging with other regional and subregional organizations over the course of the coming months to strengthen child-protection frameworks.”
2018-07-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8305 (2018) · source
“Over 10,000 children were formally released from armed forces or groups last year, while over 12,000 children affected by conflict were reached by reintegration support provided by UNICEF and partners. Those 12,000 boys and girls have been given an opportunity to overcome their traumatic past and become forces for peace within their communities. However, many children formerly associated with parties to conflict left those parties through informal pathways. They often live in a state of heightened vulnerability and are in urgent need of support. We must ensure that actors in the field are provided with predictable, sustained and flexible funding to enable them to react to immediate reintegration needs and sustain those efforts. I am currently working with UNICEF and other child-protection actors to further promote this idea.”
2018-07-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8305 (2018) · source