Speaking anonymously and thru an interpreter, the 16-year-old known as on ambassadors to bolster safety and safety in battle zones to make sure kids like him by no means must play an lively half within the horrors of war.
“When I was born, 16 years ago, there were already armed conflicts in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo,” the child started, recounting the worsening scenario and the way kids have been the best victims.
“I was forced to join an armed group while I was walking to school.”
The child’s testimony highlighted the brutal realities confronted by many kids in battle zones.
Harsh realities
“Two months ago, during armed attacks on two of our neighbouring villages, children were targeted for abduction and forced to join armed groups, while others were abducted to hold their families to ransom. This led to the murder of many children whose families do not have the means to pay the ransoms demanded,” the child mentioned, describing how faculties and hospitals are attacked and used as navy bases.
The child shared private experiences of being kidnapped and compelled into an armed group.
“We cried and trembled, begging them to let us go home to our families, but they wouldn’t listen. That’s when they started whipping us and keeping us in the bush. We were heavily guarded, and they had ordered to kill anyone who tried to flee.”
The testimony included vivid descriptions of the hardships endured, corresponding to being made to loot meals and rob autos, with ladies being taken as “wives” by troopers.
“Life wasn’t rosy, because dry cassava was the main food, and I was also afraid of wild animals in the bush.”
A large view of the UN Security Council assembly on kids and armed battle.
Personal plea to ambassadors
After three years tenting out, the child managed to flee and was ultimately supported by the Congolese Government’s child demobilisation programme. Now again in class, the child is working with the youngsters’s parliament to boost consciousness about kids’s rights.
“I want to urge the United Nations Security Council to work together to provide assistance to children affected by conflict,” the child pressured.
“This assistance will help protect children, help them gain access to education and healthcare and protect children from violence in environments where their rights are violated.”
Unprecedented violations
The testimony was half of the Security Council’s open debate on kids and armed battle, the place the 15-member physique opinions the Secretary-General’s annual report alongside in-depth briefings by senior UN officers, civil society and specialists.
Covering the interval from January to December 2023, the report revealed “extreme levels” of violence against children in armed battle, with unprecedented numbers of killings and maimings.
Last 12 months, the UN verified an appalling 32,990 grave violations towards 22,557 kids in 26 battle zones, the very best annual quantity in virtually a decade, Virginia Gamba, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on kids and armed battle, advised Security Council members.
The highest numbers of grave violations throughout 2023 have been in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories – together with Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem – in addition to within the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Nigeria, Somalia and Sudan.
Violations towards kids lined underneath the report embody abduction, killing, maiming, recruitment or use in armed forces and teams, assaults on faculties or hospitals, rape or different grave sexual violence and the denial of humanitarian entry.
Young schoolmates hang around at their severely broken college in a village in northern Ukraine.
Trampling on kids’s rights ‘must stop’
Ms. Gamba emphasised that the one means ahead is thru cooperation, solidarity and the political will to mitigate, cease and finally finish and forestall violations towards kids.
Protecting kids from battle is crucial to interrupt the cycle of violence, she mentioned, calling for a tradition of shared duty to safeguard kids. Peaceful dispute resolutions are wanted which offer safety when peace efforts fall brief.
Respect for worldwide legislation “is the minimum prerequisite for the protection of children”, she pressured.
“Despite the solid international consensus that has been reached on these matters, parties to conflict blatantly trample on child rights, with little or no consequences,” she mentioned. “This must stop.”
UN officers echo calls for defense
The Security Council additionally heard from former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in his capability as Deputy Chair of The Elders, and from Ted Chaiban, Deputy Executive Director of UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Mr. Ban pressured that there needs to be no impunity for many who commit crimes towards kids wherever on the planet.
Mr. Chaiban known as on the Security Council to guard kids from hurt, promote peace and interact in sustained diplomacy to finish and forestall conflicts, including that humanitarian, peace and growth actors stand able to help.