"Protection of children must be put at the core of all peace building and mediation efforts," said UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Virginia Gamba at the "Launch of the practical guidance for mediators to protect children in situations of armed conflict" held at the UN headquarters in New York.

 

"Most of peace dialogues are not necessarily focused on children. And this really needs to change," she said.

 

"Protection of children and the prevention of violations against them should and must be prioritized in mediation and peace building efforts to ensure long-lasting and sustainable peace in countries affected by armed conflict," said Gamba.

 

Echoing Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' remarks at the Security Council earlier, she said that "children continue to be among the primary and most vulnerable victims of immensely sad, unnecessary, and horrific wars, which they are unable to prevent or control, and from which they have no means to protect themselves."

 

Gamba encouraged member states, regional and sub-regional organizations, mediators, parties to conflict, and other actors involved in peace processes to make full use of this practical guidance.

 

The guidance was produced by the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict at the request of the Security Council in Presidential Statement (S/PRST/2017/21), and developed in partnership with the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, the Department of Peace Operations, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), and other stakeholders.

 

Based on concrete examples of situations in which child protection issues were successfully integrated into peace processes or peace agreements, the guidance emphasizes the strategic value of including child's rights and needs in peace negotiations and gives tools to mediators to take these issues into consideration at the earliest stages of the negotiations.