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Friday 19 Jun 2015 - 14:09 Makkah mean time-2-9-1436
Photo: UN News Centre
New York (IINA) – Protecting children in war zones is “a moral imperative and a legal obligation,” and that should never be jeopardized by national interests, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday, deploring that 2014 was one of the worst years in recent memory for children in conflict-hit countries.
Speaking at the Security Council during an open debate on children and armed conflict, the UN chief reported on the enormous challenges the international community faces in “upholding the fundamental rights of tens of millions of children.”
“We have seen crises multiply and intensify, making protection more and more difficult. Grave violations against children have been an affront to our common humanity in the Central African Republic, Iraq, Nigeria, South Sudan and the Syrian Arab Republic,” Ban said.
Alarmed at the suffering of “so many children” as a result of “Israeli military operations in Gaza last year,” the UN chief urged Israel to take concrete and immediate steps to protect and prevent the killing and maiming of children, and to respect the “special protections” afforded to schools and hospitals.
He warned that abduction is now being used as a tactic to terrorize or target particular ethnic groups or religious communities, and children have been a particular focus.”
In the resolution it adopted Thursday, the Security Council expressed “grave concern” over the abduction of children in conflict situations and requested the Secretary General to include in the annexes to his annual report on the issue those parties that engage in patterns of abduction of children in situations of armed conflict.
AB/IINA
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