UN envoy backs the rights of the child

A Chinese envoy to the United Nations on Monday emphasized the rights of the child and called for the international community to shield children from harm.

To let every child grow up healthily in an environment of peace and calm, conflict prevention and resolution must be the primary and ultimate means of protection, the rule of law must be the fundamental guidance for prevention, and supporting children's development must be the overarching direction of our endeavors, Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the UN, said at the UN Security Council Briefing on Children and Armed Conflict.

"Prevention is the best protection, and the most definitive approach to prevention is to eliminate armed conflicts," said Zhang.

According to a relevant agency's report released at the end of 2022, about 449 million children worldwide, or 1 in 6, were living in a conflict zone in 2021, said Zhang.

"In conflict areas, millions of children wake up to the sound of guns and artillery on a daily basis," said Zhang. "They need more than crisis response or humanitarian relief. What they really need is peace that is truly durable.

"And to have that peace, it is imperative to continue seeking a political solution, which is the most conclusive way to resolve conflicts," Zhang added.

The international community needs to "invest more efforts in negotiation, good offices, and mediation, instead of resorting to sanctions and other coercive measures, much less fanning the flames or adding fuel to the fire, which would only serve some parties' self-interests by prolonging and spreading conflicts", he said.

To have that peace, it is imperative to act in accordance with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter in good faith and to uphold true multilateralism, said Zhang.

In the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the more than 10 council resolutions on children and armed conflict, the responsibilities and obligations for the protection of children in conflict situations are clearly defined, Zhang pointed out.

"To effectively prevent violations against children, we must enhance the spirit of rule of law, and put into practice the requirements of international law on the protection of children in armed conflicts," he said, calling on the last country in the world that has not ratified the CRC, which is the US, to "act without delay".

"Preventing violations against children is admittedly an onerous job," said Zhang. "But it is only a reactive goal. A proactive goal is about development, about the all-around development of children.

"However, the harsh reality that we are confronted with is that unilateral sanctions are decimating the economic foundations and development capacity of the countries affected, robbing many children of their right to development and right to survival, which are the most fundamental of all rights," said Zhang.

"At the largest children's hospital in Kabul … we hear the distressed and indignant appeal of the hospital's president, Dr Muhammad Haseeb Wardak, for the unfreezing of Afghanistan's overseas assets, which he said 'is our hope,'" said Zhang.

"In Syria, in the aftermath of the powerful earthquake, we have seen that the unlawful unilateral sanctions have led to a severe shortage of heavy equipment and search and rescue tools in Syria, leaving many local people with no choice but to dig with their bare hands," he continued.

"How many more children under the rubble may have perished as a result of untimely rescue or insufficient rescue capacity? Once again, we urge the countries concerned to lift all their unlawful unilateral sanctions immediately without conditions, not to become accomplices to the natural disaster, not to rob Syrian children of their hope of survival, and desist from their hypocritical political grandstanding," said Zhang.