President, 

I thank Special Representative Virginia Gamba, Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban, former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, and the civil society representative for their briefings. 

Twenty-five years ago, the Security Council adopted the historic Resolution 1261, establishing important guidelines for the protection of children in armed conflict. Over the years, the international community has become more aware of the need to protect children and increase humanitarian assistance, enabling more children in conflict zones to receive aid. Regrettably, however, the number of children subjected to grave violations has stayed high and even increased by the year. 

Towards the end of last year, UNICEF warned that the Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. According to the latest Secretary-General’s report, in the past year, the Gaza Strip has seen an unprecedented scale and intensity of grave violations of children. The conflict has lasted over eight months, claiming the lives of more than 15,000 Palestinian children. That is around 60 children die on average every day. 90% of the children are undernourished due to lack of food. Over 600,000 are unable to return to school. We’ve seen images in the media of children dying in front of their families, breaking the hearts of parents everywhere. As the beginning of this month, when the world rejoiced in the celebration of International Children’s Day, children in Gaza received their gifts in the form of bombing and shelling casting a lifelong shadow. We should have long ago said “Stop!” to such a human tragedy. Israel should listen to the strong appeals from the international community and stop its collective punishment of the Palestinian people.

We welcome the listing in the SG’s annual report of the perpetrators of grave violations against children in the Gaza conflict. We believe it is a timely response to the international cause. The pressing priority at this moment is to secure an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, to ensure humanitarian delivery, and to ensure genuine accountability for the perpetrators of violations against children. We call on the international community, especially countries with influence, to make tangible contributions to avoiding any further humanitarian catastrophe. China supports the Council’s Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict in promptly reviewing the situation of children in Gaza and taking necessary actions. 

President, 

From the Middle East to Europe, from the Caribbean to the Sahel, from the Horn of Africa to the Great Lakes region, millions more children are desperately awaiting assistance and yearning for peace in the inferno of war and conflict. An integrated approach at the international level is called for to ensure effective actions are taken to protect the collective future of humanity. 

First, putting an end to armed conflict effectively. The ultimate solution to save children in conflict is to protect them from conflict in the first place. The Council should stay committed to the political settlement of hotspot issues, do more in diplomacy, mediation, and good offices, and work vigorously for the cessation of fighting and the end of violence in Gaza, Sudan, the DRC, Ukraine, and so on, so as to resolve differences and animosity through dialogue and negotiation. It is important to make sure that external interference will not prolong or extend the conflict. It is even more important to watch out for any act of deliberately inciting tensions for one’s own gains. 

Second, scaling up humanitarian assistance. In many conflict-afflicted regions, children suffer from malnutrition, lacking access to health care and medicine. Insufficient humanitarian funding is the number one challenge. There must be increased assistance from the international community, in particular, traditional donors. At the same time, humanitarian and children-related issues should not be politicized or weaponized. Children living in countries such as Afghanistan and Syria deserve the same level of assistance. Parties to the conflict must genuinely assume their obligations under international humanitarian law to ensure safe and unimpeded humanitarian access and the safety of humanitarian agencies and workers. 

Third, severe punishment must be enforced against violations of children. The Council’s Resolutions explicitly prohibit six grave violations against children. Unless the perpetrators are held accountable, international fairness and justice would be severely eroded. The Council must impose more forceful sanctions against the Haitian gangs to cut off their weapons supply and to combat such heinous acts such as child recruitment and killing. Together, we must oppose the forced displacement and arbitrary relocation of Palestinian children and advance progress in the identification and repatriation of children abducted by terrorist organizations in Iraq and Syria. 

Fourth, ensuring children’s education and development. Education is indispensable to a child’s healthy growth, shielding them from terrorist propaganda, and vital to preventing conflict and building peace. Attacking hospitals, schools, and other civilian infrastructure is nothing short of giving away children’s future and must be condemned in the strongest terms. The Summit of the Future and other major UN agenda must be leveraged to assist the countries in conflict in eradicating poverty, achieving universal education, and bridging the digital divide to accelerate the implementation of the children-related SDGs. 

President, 

As an ancient Chinese saying goes, respect the elderly as you do your own, and care for the young as you do your own. The international community must uphold this idea of empathy to safeguard the future of humanity. We must work jointly to silence the guns and achieve lasting peace. Alongside the rest of the international community, China will continue to make relentless efforts to promote peace and development for children across the globe, so that our future generations can join hands to build a better future together. 

I thank you, President.