The Kingdom of Bahrain urged concerted international efforts to protect children and spare them the scourge of conflicts worldwide, and support their rehabilitation and integration.
Bahrain’s Permanent Representative to the United Nation Ambassador Fares Al Ruwae voiced the stance during the UN Security Council’s plenary session on children and armed conflict.
Addressing the session, he reaffirmed Bahrain’s commitment to implementing initiatives and enacting legislations aimed to protect children and promote children’s rights.
The Kingdom of Bahrain acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991, and joined the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict and the Optional Protocol on the Sale and Exploitation of Children.
Ambassador Al-Ruwaie commended the UN Secretary-General’s report on children and armed conflict, in which he welcomed the cooperation of the Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict.
He noted the increasing conflicts and the multiplication of the number of armed actors, indicating the danger of hostilities that engulfed new areas, which worsens the horrific violations perpetrated against children, such as killing, maiming, kidnapping, recruitment and other heinous crimes.
Ambassador Al Ruwae deplored increasing attacks which even target schools, hospitals and infrastructure in conflict zones, urging all warring parties to commit to conventions and humanitarian law, which stipulated respect and implementation of international treaties relating to the rights of the child, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
He stressed the importance for all parties involved in conflicts to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches children, their families and those who care for them, and provide them with health care, education and protection.
Source: Bahrain News Agency
