As millions of children return to schools after a long break due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, many other kids are living under dangerous circumstances in several regions because of endless conflicts.
In 1989, world leaders made a historic commitment to the world’s children by adopting the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child – an international agreement on childhood.
Tomorrow is the 32nd anniversary of this agreement, which is a great chance to remind the world to mobilize efforts to protect the lives of children wherever they were.
Kuwait’s Ambassador to the UN, Mansour Al-Otaibi, expressed to KUNA his deep concern about the suffering of children in areas of armed conflict.
During its non-permanent membership in the Security Council 2018 and 2019, the State of Kuwait called on the council’s sessions to end the grave violations that children are exposed to in areas of conflicts, said Al-Otaibi.
“A better future for every child”, is the slogan of this year’ World Children’s Day, he added.
Ambassador Al-Otaibi reiterated Kuwait’s keenness to work to promote children’s rights, adding that the Kuwaiti the constitution states in its ninth article that “the family is the foundation of society.” He affirmed Kuwait’s support for the efforts made by the UN to preserve the dignity of children and protect their rights, pointing to Kuwait’s strong partnership with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
For her part, the Director of the UNHCR in Kuwait, Nasreen Rabiean, affirmed that the recruitment of children causes psychological and physical harm to victims and that most of child soldiers are internally displaced because of armed conflicts.
She said that this phenomenon has very serious consequences on children because it causes disturbances to the child, who needs psychological treatment, noting its impact on their educational attainment, and creates generations that do not know the language of dialogue and tolerance but rather fighting and violence.
The UNHCR, in partnership with UNICEF, is working on a program to reduce the phenomenon of child recruitment, especially refugees or displaced children, and to conduct awareness campaigns in communities to show its impact on children and societies, she added.
According to a report of the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, on (the impact of conflicts on child recruitment), there are 8,521 children who have been recruited out of 23,946 others who have been subjected to various forms of exploitation in the midst of conflicts.
The US State Department said in a report on Human Trafficking, that there are 14 countries in which children face the risk of recruitment in conflicts around the world, including six Arab countries: Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Somalia.
In continuation of the Kuwaiti role in supporting international organizations concerned with child protection, Kuwait was ranked seventh among the ten donor countries in 2018 by UNICEF, with an amount of USD 61.6 million, while the total donations provided by Kuwait to the organization since 2013 exceeded USD 200 million.
Source: Kuwait News Agency