Eesti alalalise esindaja ÜRO juures, Margus Kolga sõnavõtt Julgeoleku Nõukogu avatud debatil teemal "lapsed ja relvakonfliktid" (inglise keeles)
08.09.2014
At the outset, allow me to thank United States for
organizing the open debate on this important subject. I also thank for their
interesting and thought provoking statements Ms. Leila Zerrougui, Special
Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Mr.
Hervé Ladsous, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Ms.
Yoka Brandt, the Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF, Mr.
Forest Whitaker, Special Envoy for Peace and Reconciliation of UNESCO and Ms.
Sandra Uwiringiyimana.
Estonia fully
aligns itself with the statement of the European Union.
Madame
President,
Estonia welcomes SG’s report and shares the deep
concern on the grave violations outlined in the report. We must take all
measures to prevent violations against children as well as to make violators
accountable. We call on all States who have not yet done so to sign the
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the
involvement of children in armed conflict and to join the Rome Statute of ICC.
Let me stress some key topics from our perspective.
Firstly, education: Education is one of the key
elements for prevention. It is crucial also in preventing situations where
progress is reversed and re-recruitment of child militants may occur.
We share SG’s concern over the use of schools for
military purposes as seen among many others in Syria, Gaza and in Boko Haram's
attacks in Nigeria. Moreover, military conflicts create cross border situations
where neighbors need to find ways to guarantee education also to children in
refugee camps. We are deeply concerned about the fact that thousands of
children remain without basic education. Thereby let me stress that schools
should be for children and should never and under no conditions be used for
military purposes. In this regard, we welcome the Draft Lucens Guidelines for
Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict. In this connection I would also like
to mention that Estonia highly appreciates UNICEF´s work to provide quality
education to children in humanitarian crises and has recently supported
UNICEF´s work in South Sudan, Central African Republic, Gaza, Syria and
Somalia.
Secondly, another important aspect is educating and training the peacekeepers. We
believe that the pre-deployment training should be a rule rather than an
exception and this respect welcome the child protection training lunched in
April this year. Let me also reiterate the crucial role of child protection
advisers who have to be deployed in peacekeeping operations, peacebuilding
missions and special political missions.
Thirdly, accountability:
With regard to
the SG’s report, Estonia would have liked to see more focus on the
accountability dimension, since we clearly see impunity as one of the main
reasons for the recurrence of these grave violations against children. It is only by consistent prosecution, either
domestically or internationally, that we can deter the commission of these
crimes by sending out a strong signal that people who commit such atrocities
will be held accountable for their actions. To achieve this we reiterate the
important role of the International Criminal Court (ICC) where States are
unable or unwilling to bring perpetrators to justice domestically and emphasize
the necessity by all States, this Council and international and regional
organizations to cooperate with the ICC. Furthermore, we also believe that the international community should assist in
strengthening national judicial capacities to ensure accountability, including
through the development of legislation criminalizing violations against
children.
Madame president,
We welcome the positive progress made with the “Children, Not Soldiers” campaign and the ongoing
cooperation with the states mentioned in the annexes of the report. However a
lot still remains to be done and it is important to find more ways to
co-operate with non-state armed groups.
In conclusion,
Let me stress that Estonia highly values the work of
Security Council, its respective working group and the open debates on this
issue. We appreciate the work of SG Special Representative, UNICEF and all
other UN structures involved as well as the utmost important contribution of civil
society organizations. There is never too much we can do for children. In
short: by protecting children, we protect our future.
Thank you.
 
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