UN: EU Statement on Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Children

61st Session of the General Assembly, Third Committee, Item 63: Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Children, New York, 11 October 2006

Statement by Ms. Kirsti Pohjankukka, Second Secretary, Permanent Mission of Finland to the United Nations, on behaf of the European Union

Mr. Chairman,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union.

The Acceding Countries Bulgaria and Romania, the Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, as well as Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova align themselves with this declaration.

*) Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.

Mr. Chairman,

Four years have passed since the special session of the General Assembly at which we committed to creating "A World Fit for Children". At that special session we adopted a set of ten key principles along with a plan of action on how to reach this worthy goal. The resolution complements the Millennium Declaration, and the objectives declared in it are interlinked and mutually reinforcing with the Millennium Development Goals. The European Union subscribes fully to the principles and objectives of "A World Fit for Children" and attaches great importance to the worldwide implementation of these objectives.

The European Union is convinced that the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols must constitute the standard in the promotion and protection of the rights of the child. We wish to emphasise the importance of full implementation of these instruments. We urge those states that have not yet ratified the Convention and its Optional Protocols to do so. The EU also remains concerned about the large number of reservations to the Convention. We urge the withdrawal or the limiting of scope of such reservations, especially of those that are incompatible with the object and purpose of the treaties.

The European Union stresses the importance of close cooperation between the United Nations, non-governmental organizations, civil society and governments in order to promote and protect the human rights of children in an effective and comprehensive manner. The EU continues to actively support and work closely with the Special Representative, UNICEF, OHCHR, UNHCR and other actors, including NGOs, to ensure better protection and well-being of all children.

Mr. Chairman,

The EU would like to use this opportunity to highlight two of the key areas identified in "A World Fit for Children" namely protecting children from harm and exploitation and protecting children from armed conflict.

The Secretary General’s report on Violence against Children by the Independent Expert, Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, addresses an important aspect of protecting children from harm and exploitation, namely violence against children. The report offers a thorough study on the subject matter with detailed recommendations on how to combat violence against children in various settings. We highly appreciate the work of the Professor Pinheiro, and express the hope that the study and its recommendations to States, the UN system and civil society will bring about necessary action at all levels to protect children against all forms of physical and psychological violence.

The report by Pinheiro concludes that abuse, exploitation of children and violence against children are global phenomena, taking place across a variety of different settings at home, in schools, in the community, in the justice system and in the workplace. The report states that violence against children is a multidimensional problem and should therefore be combated in a multifaceted way by for example addressing the underlying causes such as poverty, lack of parent-child attachment, alcohol and drug abuse and access to weapons, by striving to transform attitudes that condone and normalize violence against children, by prohibiting corporal punishment and harmful traditional practices, by ensuring participation of children, by ensuring accountability and by ending impunity.

As the report cited above reminds us, children should not even be in the workplace. ILO estimates that over 200 million children between the ages 5 and 17 were engaged in child labour in 2004. Here we can detect some positive development: In a report titled "The End of Child Labour: within Reach" ILO estimates that the number of child labourers diminished by 11 percent in just four years. Particularly promising was the considerable drop of 26 percent in the number of children involved in worst form of child labour. Despite these positive trends, much remains to be done to improve the situation for those over 200 million children still working and in particular those working in extremely hazardous conditions. The EU therefore encourages States as a matter of priority to sign and ratify or accede to the ILO Conventions concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment and on Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour and to take measures to ensure the compliance with the conventions.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child has emphasised that young children who suffer multiple discrimination, e.g. related to ethnic origin, social and cultural status, gender and/or disabilities, are especially at risk. A particularly worrying aspect of the problem is trafficking of children, many of whom are forced into commercial sex work or other forms of labour. ILO estimates that 1.2 million children become victims of trafficking each year. The EU is combating trafficking through cooperation in international and regional fora, legislative measures and a range of funding programmes.

Some recent global initiatives, such as the mid-term review of the outcomes of the second World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and the UN Study on Violence against Children, have increased attention to child protection. Nevertheless, much still remains to be done. According to the 2006 UNICEF report entitled "The State of the World's Children 2006: Excluded and Invisible", children who are victims of exploitation are arguably among the most invisible, as their abusers will prevent them from breaking the vicious cycle of silence and abuse. The report estimates that every year up to 2 million children all over the world are sexually abused for profit.

We welcome the report of the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, Mr Petit. We urge States, inter alia, to combat existing markets, criminalise and penalise effectively all forms of sexual exploitation and abuse of children, take effective measures to ensure the prosecution of offenders and the entire chain of those involved, to address effectively the needs of the victims, and to address the root causes of the problem. The EU further encourages States to consider signing and ratifying or acceding to the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime.

Mr. Chairman,

The number of children exploited in armed conflicts is staggering. The former UN Special Representative on Children in Armed Conflict Mr. Olara Otunnu, to whom EU would like to pay tribute on this occasion, estimated that over 250,000 children are currently exploited as child soldiers and tens of thousands of girls living in conflict areas are being subjected to rape and other forms of sexual violence. The European Union would like to express its support for the initiatives intended to raise awareness on the plight of these children, including the follow-up to the Security Council’s request to the Secretary General to implement the monitoring and reporting mechanism on use of child soldiers. The EU is in the process of considering ways to implement the resolution in its own European Security and Defence Policy operations.

The EU would also like to emphasise the very positive contribution of the NGO community in raising awareness and mobilising the world’s public opinion for this cause. Considering the importance of this issue, we welcome the recent appointment of Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy as the new UN Special Representative on Children in Armed Conflict. The EU wishes to express its strong support for this mandate and is committed to cooperate actively with the Special Representative.

We urge States to speed up the process of ratification of or accession to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which includes, as a war crime, crimes involving sexual violence and crimes of conscripting or enlisting children under the age of fifteen years to serve in the armed forces. We would like to underline the imperative need to put an end to impunity by bringing to justice all perpetrators of crimes against children in armed conflicts. Special attention needs to be paid to the situation of girls affected by armed conflict.

The European Union commends the steps already taken and the ongoing efforts by the Secretary General to address sexual exploitation and abuse with regard to the United Nations staff and related personnel, including the recent progress to develop a United Nations` policy on support to victims of sexual exploitation and abuse. We recognise fully the particular responsibilities of the Member States and troop contributing countries, including the responsibility to train and to hold accountable members of national contingents. The EU remains committed to intensifying its efforts to combat this problem through action within the European Union, as well as within the wider context of United Nations.

In the context of the EU framework, we would like to draw the attention to the EU Guidelines on Children and Armed conflict. The biennial review of these Guidelines in December 2005 reaffirmed the EU's strong commitment to the promotion and protection of the rights of children affected by armed conflict and the need for further mainstreaming of this issue throughout the EU system, particularly into geographical and thematic working groups and into civilian and military missions. We are also carrying out programmes aimed at disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration, including back-to-school and anti-trafficking initiatives and psychosocial support. We attach particular importance to the continued engagement of the European Community Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) and of the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) on these issues.

Mr. Chairman,

The lack of protection for children in conflict situations and all forms of abuse, exploitation and violence undermine a child's well-being and increase the risk of exclusion, invisibility and inability on the part of those children to participate fully in society. Action on the findings of the Secretary-General's Study on violence against children will certainly contribute to the improvement of the rights of the child. A better understanding of the many aspects of violence against children will enable us to formulate strategies and target our action more effectively to help the children who are victims of violence. The European Union is fully committed to overcoming the challenges and ensuring the effective work of the United Nations in delivering on our promise to the world’s children.

Thank you.