Ban urges efforts to protect children

UN Secretary General urges the Security Council and judicial systems to take serious measures to end abuse of children in conflict zones. Ban Ki-moon encourages national and international justice systems to take strong action to fight impunity for crimes against children committed within their jurisdictions. Ban called for immediate halt of violations of children rights in war zones and promotion of their protection. The Secretary-General's annual report to the Security Council lists countries that have committed grave violations against children rights in the period from September 2007 to December 2008, including 19 persistent violators who have been listed for more than 4 years. The report documents grave violations against children in 20 countries, namely Afghanistan, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Georgia, Haiti, Iraq, Lebanon, Myanmar, Nepal, Occupied Palestinian territory and Israel, the Philippines, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Thailand and Uganda. Recruitment of children to serve as soldiers, the killing and maiming of children, grave sexual violence, abductions, attacks on schools and hospitals as well as denial of humanitarian access to children are six among the major violations against children covered in the report. “Persistent violators have to realize that their crimes will not remain unpunished,” noted Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict. Coomaraswamy stressed that the child protection community was awaiting a strong signal from the Security Council on its commitment to tackle the protection of children during armed conflict when it discusses the report on 29 April.