Millions of children across the world are denied the right to enjoy their childhood as a result of conflicts that expose them to violence and rob them of their innocence, Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, and UN peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy said in a joint statement to mark Universal Children's Day.
“Growing up in conflict, their innocence is stolen when they are abducted from schools, recruited to fight, wounded or killed, separated from their families and emotionally as well as physically scarred for life,” they said in a joint statement to mark Universal Children's Day.
They drew attention to the needs of the children in Afghanistan, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d''Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Haiti, Iraq, Lebanon, Myanmar, Nepal, the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel, Somalia, Sudan, and all other countries in conflict, and reaffirmed their commitment to be their voices and protectors. Read more here.