NEW YORK, OCTOBER 11 – Children have become frontline targets for widespread killing, trafficking, sexual violence, abductions and other violations under the eyes of the international community. This is unbearable, said Ambassador Gianluca Greco, the Italian Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, addressing a debate of the Third Commission of the General Assembly on The Children and Armed Conflict agenda.
“This agenda has become today even more relevant, in astonishing and dramatic scale, in a context of rising conflicts and violence around the world, where children continue to be disproportionately affected by armed conflicts, suffering violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law”, said Ambassador Greco, reiterating that all perpetrators of grave violations against children must be held accountable, regardless of whether they are state forces or non-state armed groups, through the mechanisms of international justice, monitoring and accountability, including the work and the independent role of the International Criminal Court.
Greco recalled the front lines of the current crises: schools under attack that jeopardize physical security and access to education and education facilities, especially for girls, in the short to medium term; the increased risk for children on the move, either refugees and forcibly displaced, of further suffering stemming from trafficking, military recruitment, abduction, sexual exploitation, and harmful practices including children early and forced marriage.
“Italy remains strongly committed to preventing and eliminating all forms of violence and harmful practices against children and we are deeply alarmed by the data referring to their increase”, said the Italian 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, as well as 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. Italy will also continue to support key global actors such us UNICEF, UNFPA, WHO, the Global Partnership for Education, the Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunization and other partners with a view to ensuring that no child is left behind.