YouSaid · the spoken record

Keltosova

lines on the record: 7
first: 1998-06-29
most recent: 1998-06-29
sittings or episodes: 1
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

“In Slovakia, legal, financial and institutional conditions have been created for this purpose, whether on the State level or through State support to non-governmental organizations, civic associations and foundations involved in activities aimed at the protection of children and youth, along with the local authorities and police and military forces. A good basis has been established for the effective protection of children and young people against any kind of abuse, and we intend to develop it further. Slovakia is ready to cooperate on the international level in this area, and to contribute to achieving the common goals of the international community in the name of humanity and progress.”
1998-06-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3896 (1998) · source
“Slovakia recognizes the importance of the mandate of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict. The recommendations of the Special Representative, Ambassador Olara Otunnu, by whose presence we are honoured today, deserve our full attention. As a growing number of armed conflicts with the direct participation of children have occurred in recent years, we have to solve this painful and shameful issue together. Slovakia is a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and fully lives up to commitments stemming from the Convention. We devote special attention to all necessary measures to protect children against any physical and mental violence, offence or misuse.”
1998-06-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3896 (1998) · source
“In programmes for children, particular attention should be paid to those separated from or without families, to other marginalized groups, to economically and socially deprived children and to the demobilization of child soldiers and their reintegration into society. Protection of the family environment, ensuring access to health care, food and education, the need to preserve a child's cultural environment as well as the need to ensure humanitarian access to children in situations of armed conflict also deserve our attention. I cannot but underline the role of the relevant programmes, funds and agencies of the United Nations system - which should be further strengthened - in coordination with the activities of non-governmental and humanitarian organizations involved in this area.”
1998-06-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3896 (1998) · source
“We hope that the draft optional protocol will be completed expeditiously and will create a sufficient legal framework to prevent the abuse of children in armed conflict. A legal instrument, no matter how brilliant, is only a piece of paper without an efficient monitoring and enforcement mechanism. Governments should not only be encouraged to ratify relevant international treaties and incorporate them into national law; they should also ensure full implementations of commitments they have undertaken and bring to justice persons responsible for illegally recruiting children. Moreover, efforts to protect the rights of the child should not ignore the position of children in a conflict-torn society in a broader social and economic context.”
1998-06-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3896 (1998) · source
“They are using more sophisticated and brutal weapons and fighting methods, and affecting growing number of civilians, particularly children, who are the most vulnerable target in a conflict-torn society and who are unable to protect themselves. Clearly, there is a need to update existing legal instruments in order to reflect the altered nature of a threat and to strengthen human rights standards in this respect. Therefore, Slovakia supports and welcomes the results achieved so far by the working group of the Commission on Human Rights on a draft optional protocol to the Convention,on the Rights of the Child, regarding the involvement of children in armed conflict. This effort should bring about more specific guidelines for the implementation of articles 38 and 39 of the Convention.”
1998-06-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3896 (1998) · source
“Their well-being is not the internal matter of any single country. The abuse of children in armed conflicts, and particularly their recruitment and use in hostilities, not only prove the low moral and ethical profile of the persons responsible for these activities but also constitute a serious breach of international law. Despite the efforts made by the international community through the adoption in November 1989 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, negative phenomena persist in a number of countries. Many post-cold-war conflicts have taken the form of internal factional violence, civil strife and ethnic clashes that have significant external repercussions and disastrous humanitarian implications.”
1998-06-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3896 (1998) · source
“Allow me to express, on behalf of the delegation of Slovakia, my appreciation for the convening of this meeting on such a timely and urgent subject. I sincerely welcome the initiative to organize an open debate on children in armed conflict, something that is taking place in the Security Council for the first time. Slovakia fully supports and has aligned itself with the statement made by the representative of the United Kingdom on behalf of the European Union. Let me now briefly touch upon several aspects of the issue before us which are of particular importance to my country. It is our moral duty to make every effort to prevent all forms of abuse of children and to seek effective measures for the protection of children. Children are the fragile wealth of mankind, as well as of every nation and every human being.”
1998-06-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3896 (1998) · source