UN Security Council: Portugal hails Mozambique’s ‘proactive steps’ to protect children in war

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UN Security Council: Portugal hails Mozambique’s ‘proactive steps’ to protect children in war

8:24 CAT | 07 Jul 2023

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Lusa]

Portugal’s representative in the United Nations Security Council has highlighted the “proactive steps” that Mozambique’s government has adopted for the protection of children in conflicts, which it said “can serve as an example to all member states.”

At the annual Security Council debate on children and armed conflict, which took place on Wednesday, Portugal’s permanent representative to the UN, Ana Paula Zacarias, said that despite the “grim picture” presented in the annual UN report on the subject – which registered 27,180 serious violations against children in 2022 – “there are achievements that can serve as an example to all member states” that wish to move forward in this context.

“Mozambique is, in our view, one such example,” she said. “Despite the difficulties in [the northern province of] Cabo Delgado, where serious violations against children have been documented, the government is taking proactive steps.

“An Interministerial Commission on Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law has been established, a Focal Point for Child Protection in the Armed Forces has been appointed and there is increased training of the armed forces in the prevention of serious violence,” she added. “Examples like this should be welcomed.”

In her speech, Zacarias also stressed the importance of education to prevent violations against children, as well as conflict prevention and sustainable development.

“Portugal believes that the international community must pay greater attention to the scope of justice, which includes support for livelihoods and full access to mental health and psychological services,” she said. “We cannot give back childhood to those who have been deprived of it, but we must take it as a shared responsibility to give them back hope and all the support we can.”

The UN verified 27,180 grave violations against 18,890 children last year, with murder, mutilation, recruitment and abduction being the situations recorded in the highest number.

Of this total of serious violations, 24,300 were committed in 2022, while 2,880 were committed previously but only verified in 2022, according to UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ annual report on children and armed conflict.

The findings of the report were presented on Thursday at a meeting of the UN Security Council, where the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba, stated that minors continue to be disproportionately affected in wars and armed conflicts.

Serious violations were seen in greater numbers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Israel and Palestine, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Yemen.

Source: Lusa