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UNSC Arria Meeting on Addressing the Abduction and Deportation of Children During Armed Conflict

Who Martin Bille Hermann, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Denmark to the United Nations
Who Martin Bille Hermann, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Denmark to the United Nations
When 28.04.2023

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the five Nordic countries, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden – and my own country Denmark.

 

We thank the organisers for convening this important Arria formula meeting.

 

We, the Nordics, have a long history of prioritizing rights of the child. A safe and secure childhood is the very foundation of a decent life. We are working with countries across the world to end violence against children, targeting criminal networks and focussing on children in our humanitarian responses. The focus on children of today’s meeting is therefore of special concern to us.

 

When rights of the child are violated, a society’s social fabric is attacked. Children who have been victims of abduction and deportation can be traumatized and scarred for life from the abuse and violence. This prolongs recovery and transitions towards sustainable peace. And unfortunately, we are not progressing as we should. In 2021, the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict documented a 20 percent increase in child abductions. Boys account for the greatest number of victims, but last year we also saw a 41 percent increase in the abduction of girls. We must act now!

 

Nigeria, Somalia and the Syrian Arab Republic are just some of the countries facing these horrific challenges. Children are recruited into armed groups, maimed or killed. Yet others are coerced into forced marriages or become victims of gender-based violence. Horrific destinies for some of the most vulnerable amongst us.

 

Also in Ukraine, children have been forcibly transferred and deported as part of Russia’s illegal war of aggression, on what appears to be a state-led and systematic level. The findings of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine are shocking – including the forced transfer and deportation of children, within Ukraine and to the Russian Federation. Such acts are in violation of IHL and may amount to a war crime. This is also the assumption underlying the recent arrest warrants of the International Criminal Court issued against the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, and the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova.

 

Accountability for these crimes against the most vulnerable in the population, the children, must be a priority for us all wherever they occur. To promote justice and recovery, we must ensure that there is no impunity for perpetrators of international crimes, and that children have access to justice and remedies.

 

Thank you.