YouSaid · the spoken record

Henrietta H. Fore

lines on the record: 21
first: 2020-06-23
most recent: 2021-06-28
sittings or episodes: 2
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

“And to match their bravery and resilience with our best efforts. Children and young people bear no responsibility for conflict. And yet they bear the deepest scars. They pay the highest price. Through decisive political action and increased investment in the humanitarian heroes who are supporting these young lives in the midst of violence and war, w e can begin to turn this around – through and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. UNICEF stands ready to support these efforts in any way we can, and we will continue working with partners like Estonia to shine a light on this issue.”
2021-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/617 (2021) · source
“We need Member States to bolster this vital, lifesaving work by supporting the frontline workers who risk their lives to do it, each and ev ery day. Council Members – this new report demonstrates how far we’ve come in understanding the devastating impact conflicts have on children. But it also shows how little progress the world has made in protecting children from the scourge of war since Graca Machel’s groundbreaking report 25 years ago. Conflicts are longer. They are increasingly complex. And the impacts on children and young people continue to devastate futures. Each violation against children – reported or unreported – represents a stain on our humanity. And on our ability, as a world, to fulfil a basic function – to protect and care for the youngest and most vulnerable people in our world.”
2021-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/617 (2021) · source
“Many frontline workers put their lives on the line to support these children … to listen to and document their experiences … and to carry these findings back to the world – and to the Council – so we can shape our responses accordingly. This work is absolutely critical to negotiating and implementing the action plans supported by the United Nations – now 17 in total. And it gives United Nations leadership and child protection staff the information and data they need to respond. From providing prosthetics to children who have lost limbs. To reuniting children with their families. To reintegrating children into their communities with mental health support. To counselling girls who have been raped, so they can deal with the trauma they’ve endured.”
2021-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/617 (2021) · source
“While our organizations are doing all we can to prevent and respond to these horrifying violations against girls, we need Member States to take all action possible, including to dramatically increase investment in the capacities of frontline responders – especially women and girl-led organizations. And fourth – we call on Member States to help us increase child protection capacity across the board. We thank Estonia for highlighting this issue, in particular. Because without increased investment and capacity, UNICEF and our United Nations and NGO partners cannot document cases, engage with parties to conflict, or su pport children and families to the extent needed.”
2021-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/617 (2021) · source
“We call on all Member States to follow the lead of Ireland and others and make an unequivocal political commitment to avoid the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. Doing so would have an immediate and positive effect on the safety and futures of millions of children living through conflict and post-conflict. Third – we call on Member States to invest in women and girls and prevent gender-based violence in conflict. The report of the Secretary-General shows a staggering increase in verified cases of rape, sexual violence and abduction. Girls were not only the victims of one-quarter of all violations – they represented 98 per cent of the victims of rape and sexual violence.”
2021-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/617 (2021) · source
“We urge the Council to continue placing this issue at the centre of its peace and security work every day, and to support our call to all Member States to endorse and implement the Paris Principles and the Safe Schools Declaration. Second – we call on States and on all parties to conflict to avoid the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. Last year, explosive weapons and remnants of war were responsible for nearly half of all verified child casualties. They were used to attack schools, hospitals, and water and sanitation facilities. All of the vital systems upon which people depend. All vital to preventing epidemics, hunger and disease and specifically critical for children. And they are a huge driver of displacement – causing children and families to flee their homes because of the constant danger.”
2021-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/617 (2021) · source
“Each case is another sad addition to the more than one-quarter million violations recorded since the monitoring mechanism began. While our agencies are doing all that we can to prevent these violations and protect children, we urgently need the support of Member States, partners and the Council in four key areas. First – we urge the Council to give this issue the priority it deserves in its decisions and deliberations. Surely, if there is one priority around which all States can rally behind, it must be the protection of children. And despite political differences, the Council has managed to shape an overall framework for compliance with international law and accountability to end these violations – including through the resolutions, statements, and the Working Group dedicated to this issue.”
2021-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/617 (2021) · source
“Constraining our work to release children from the ranks of armed groups. And slowing our efforts to t race and reunify children with their families and begin the long process of reintegration. The children trapped within these emergencies paid a high price. The United Nations verified grave violations against over 19,000 children in humanitarian situations last year, many of whom were subjected to more than one violation of their rights. Thousands of children killed or maimed. Recruited and used in the fighting. Abducted, sexually abused and exploited. On average, over the last five years, the United Nations has verified at least 70 children every day who experienced grave rights violations. The actual numbers are much higher.”
2021-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/617 (2021) · source
“All against the backdrop of protracted conflicts and a global socio-economic crisis that threatens to roll back decades of progress and increase the risk of recruitment and use of children. We had hoped that parties to conflict would turn their attention from fighting each other, to fighting the virus. That’s why UNICEF joined the Secretary-General in calling for a global ceasefire. Sadly, as this annual report shows, this call went unheeded. Parties to conflict did not lay down their arms. They did not stop fighting. They did not allow a sufficient level of humanitarian access so our agencies and partners can reach these children in need. And lockdowns and travel constraints made the already challenging work of supporting these children all the more difficult. Affecting our ability to reach children with lifesaving support.”
2021-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/617 (2021) · source
“UNICEF thanks President Kaljulaid for convening this debate – and for Estonia’s continued support to children affected by armed conflict. And we thank the Secretary-General and Special Representative Gamba for their ongoing commitment to protect these young lives. The COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating for children around the world. But especially for the children living through the horrors of conflict. Fo r the children living through the 21 conflicts outlined in the report, the challenges of daily life under COVID-19 are magnified. School closures. Increased risks of violence and abuse under lockdowns. Mental health impacts and being separated from their f riends and peers. Negative coping mechanisms like child marriage and child labour.”
2021-06-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/617 (2021) · source
“UNICEF urges the Council to use its influence to build on the many successes over the past 15 years and give every child the protection and support they deserve, because they are children first and foremost. If we fail them, we fail the future, we fail humanity and we fail in our duty to leave the world a better, more peaceful place than we found it.”
2020-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/594 (2020) · source
“This is unacceptable. We must support these children. Fourthly, we call on Member States to invest in education and vocational training for reintegrated children. This is not only their right, it is the right thing to do. Education provides a pathway to hope, a better life and social cohesion. Beyond investments, we also call for all attacks on education facilities to stop. Last year saw 927 verified attacks on schools — among the 13,000 since the monitoring and reporting mechanism began. Once again, these numbers are likely much higher. We must protect this essential infrastructure. Fifthly, we call for urgent action to respect and protect water and sanitation infrastructure. Water is a basic human right, and sanitation is the first line of defence against diseases like the coronavirus disease, but also cholera, as well as malnutrition.”
2020-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/594 (2020) · source
“These children, including those who may have committed crimes, are victims first and foremost. They are also at acute risk of contracting COVID-19 and must be handed over to child-protection actors, such as UNICEF. Thirdly, UNICEF calls on Member States to bring nationals and their children home and to repatriate them. These children have a right to access protection, basic services, education and reintegration services. This includes the thousands of children stranded in north-east Syria — young lives who are shunned and deprived of liberty because of perceived or actual links to groups designated as terrorists. After all they have experienced, they need protection and support. Instead, they are met with ostracization and rejection. They are locked up. Some have had their right to nationality denied or stripped away altogether.”
2020-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/594 (2020) · source
“To address these growing needs, we need the support and united voice of the Council to call for action in five key areas. First, we need the influence of Member States to urge the 50 parties to conflict that have not yet signed action plans to do so. We need action, not words, and signing these plans is a demonstration of real commitment. I ask Members to help the United Nations create space for dialogue to bring these plans to life. These plans should increasingly address all six grave violations, instead of primarily recruitment and use. The action plan signed in South Sudan is a good model to follow. Secondly, we call for the immediate release of all children in detention for their recruitment, use or alleged association with parties to conflict.”
2020-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/594 (2020) · source
“Water and sanitation systems have been damaged or destroyed altogether, making it impossible for children to wash their hands. Some 1.5 billion children are out of school. In conflicts, these children are at a double disadvantage, missing out on an education and finding themselves at increased risk of violence, abuse, child marriage and recruitment to armed groups. Crowded conditions in camp settings, informal settlements or densely populated urban areas and detention centres make physical distancing impossible. Far too often, parties to conflict are using the pandemic and the need to reach and support children, particularly those on the move, for political advantage. Children are not pawns or bargaining chips. This must stop.”
2020-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/594 (2020) · source
“Over the past 15 years, the monitoring and reporting mechanism on children and armed conflict has documented a shocking 250,000 grave violations against children in armed conflict, including the recruitment and use of over 77,000 children, the killing and maiming of over 100,000 children, rape and sexual violence against over 15,000 children, the abduction of over 25,000 children, nearly 17,000 attacks on schools and hospitals, and nearly 11,000 incidents of denial of humanitarian access. These are just the verified cases. The actual numbers are certainly much higher. The coronavirus disease adds a new urgency to this work. As the pandemic spreads, health-care facilities have been damaged or destroyed by conflict. Services have been suspended. Children are missing out on basic medical care, including vaccinations.”
2020-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/594 (2020) · source
“It criminalizes the six grave violations, provides special protections for children in armed conflict and establishes penalties for violations. In at least five countries, including Denmark, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, military manuals and directives now reflect the Safe Schools Declaration and Guidelines. But these instruments are only as effective as the global will to use them. We therefore call on all States to endorse and reflect them across their legal frameworks, because we have more work to do. We continue to see appallingly high numbers of verified violations against children.”
2020-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/594 (2020) · source
“The Convention on the Rights of the Child is now joined by a number of important instruments: the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, ratified by 170 countries; the Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups — the Paris Principles; the Vancouver Principles; and the Safe Schools Declaration, endorsed by 104 States. Guided by those frameworks, many States have gone one step further and brought those commitments to life in their laws and regulations. Just last week, the Central African Republic adopted the new Child Protection Code, which also criminalizes the recruitment and use of children. Last year, the Philippines adopted the Children in Situations of Armed Conflict Law.”
2020-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/594 (2020) · source
“Child survivors are finally getting the services they need to recover and reintegrate. Our work has also created a new space to engage with parties to conflict to prevent and end grave violations against children. Over the years, parties to conflict have signed 32 action plans to end and prevent grave violations against children. Our efforts have raised public awareness — and, often, public alarm — about the plight of these children and the need to support them. Together we have sent a clear message to those who would violate children’s rights: such actions are illegal, immoral and unacceptable, and the global community is committed to holding them to account. The culture of impunity must end. Countries now have a number of tools and normative frameworks to guide their work in that area.”
2020-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/594 (2020) · source
“Resolution 1612 (2005) and the establishment of the children and armed conflict agenda and the monitoring and reporting mechanism represented a milestone in living up to our commitment to protect all children. The United Nations Children’s Fund has been there from the start, pushing the agenda forward and co-chairing country task forces on monitoring and reporting in 14 countries. Along with the Secretary-General’s annual report, we, together, are protecting children and holding parties to conflict to account. Since then, tens of thousands of children have been released from the ranks of armed forces and armed groups. In the past three years alone, UNICEF has helped release nearly 37,000 of them and supported them with release and reintegration programming in 19 countries.”
2020-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/594 (2020) · source
“I thank France for convening this debate, and I welcome Mariam, our young civil society briefer. We look forward to learning from her experiences. There are few children as vulnerable as those living through armed conflict situations. Whether they are trapped by the fighting, on the move as migrants, refugees or internally displaced persons, part of the fighting itself or being detained because of perceived or actual links to armed groups, these children are, first and foremost, victims of circumstances beyond their control. They are, first and foremost, children. The voice and support of the Security Council can be instrumental in supporting those children. It can help return what has been so cruelly taken from them by conflict — the simple gift of a normal childhood. Fifteen years ago, the global community gathered around those needs.”
2020-06-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/594 (2020) · source