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Malta Commended For Placing Children In Armed Conflict As United Nations Security Council Priority

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Malta was commended by countries across the world for placing children in armed conflict zones as a main priority as the island’s presidency on the United Nations Security Council begins.

Maltese Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vanessa Frazier hosted a discussion today in the United Nations HQ in New York, America, focused specifically on gathering more information on what these vulnerable children are facing – and what can be done to address it as rapidly as possible.

“The leadership of Malta to create a better understanding of the continuum of violence before, during and after conflict that millions of children face around the world and the importance of a strengthened focus on prevention, could not be more timely,” Najat Maalla M’jid, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, opened her speech.

“Globally, millions and millions of children are living in a conflict zone,” she continued. “Conflicts remain the biggest driver of protection challenges worldwide and a major threat to the lives, safety and wellbeing of children and is rightly so everyone’s concern.”

Conflicts in countries such as the Congo, Syria and Myanmar were mentioned. 

Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for Children and Armed Conflict Virginia Gamba opened her address by commending the island nation for selecting this important issue as a key priority.

She urged the UN to “systematically apply” a gender lens to conflict zones to get a better understanding of the sexual violence faced by young boys and girls, as well as to take account of their age and location of displacement.

This would lead to “breaking the current root causes of conflict”.

Gamba also noted that anyone under the age of 18 is considered a child, and needs to be protected under international children’s rights.

She ended by noting that the UN child conflict agenda features a number of robust strategies to address these challenges.

The topic of young women being used as “sex slaves” by local warlords was also brought up, alongside the fact that 95% of detainees in this areas are boys.

Davina Maloum, a young award-winning peace practitioner from Cameroon, appeared via live feed to address the United Nations.

Davina Maloum

Davina Maloum

She spoke of her personal experience battling armed conflict in children, having been involved in activism since she was 14 in her homeland.

Having been pushing for stronger polices for years in key conflict areas, she also urged states to take young women and NGOs more seriously, and provide funding when they can.

The UN’s representative from the Russian Federation took a different approach, with their continued invasion into Ukraine soon approaching it’s one year mark.

Russia instead warned of Ukrainian aggressors who are targeting Russian children using US-supplied weapons, as well as children in regions in Syria which are not currently state-controlled.

The UN’s representative from Switzerland said that she hoped the UN would be able to exert more strength when it comes to this horrific topic, with the UN’s representative from the UK said it looked forward to working closely with Malta to this end.

Other countries, ranging from China to Brazil to Mozambique, also expressed their interest in working closely with Malta on this shared mission.

The UN’s representative from the USA said it looked forward to Malta’s tenure in its presidency, and took the opportunity to push back against the Russian narrative, calling their invasion and its impact on children “brutal”.

Around 172 nations have ratified core commitments to protecting children around the world – however more still needs to be done. With Malta placing this issue at the top of the priority list, and Foreign Affairs Minister Ian Borg raising it as a priority, the UN now has a chance to push for even stronger deterrents.

What should be done to combat young, vulnerable children being dragged into armed conflict around the world?

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Johnathan is an award-winning Maltese journalist interested in social justice, politics, minority issues, music and food. Follow him at @supreofficialmt on Instagram, and send him news, food and music stories at [email protected]

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