DATE=3/31/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=U-N / CHILDREN IN WARS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-260822
BYLINE=BRECK ARDERY
DATELINE=UNITED NATIONS
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: International child welfare officials are
urging greater coordination among groups trying to
help young victims of war. V-O-A Correspondent Breck
Ardery reports from the United Nations.
TEXT: The head of the World Vision relief group, Dean
Hirsch, told reporters (Friday) that millions of
children are now directly impacted by armed conflicts.
/// HIRSCH ACT ///
Over 20-million children are involved or
impacted by wars in the world today. It is not
only a tragedy, it is morally wrong. It is also
a threat to international security and a threat
to our future. We are shocked to find that the
number of children who die or are injured or
traumatized by war is actually growing every
day.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Hirsch says it is vitally important that all
nations implement a U-N Security Council resolution --
approved last August -- which bans child soldiers,
directs combatants to allow humanitarian assistance to
children and requires that the special needs of
children to taken into account in all peace
negotiations.
UNICEF Director Carol Bellamy says the U-N Children's
Fund has learned that all sectors of a society
involved in child welfare must work together, to try
to protect children from armed conflict and attempt to
help them when they become victims.
She says the maintenance of stable schooling is often
crucial to providing at least a semi-normal
environment for children during times of war.
/// BELLAMY ACT ///
The reason I say "schooling" rather than
"schools" is that you may be talking about a
displaced-persons or refugee camp, or a
community where the fighting may have destroyed
the school. If you can keep some kind of
"child-friendly" environment, so to speak, where
children have an element of normality in an
otherwise abnormal situation, it gives them at
least some stability.
/// END ACT ///
Ms. Bellamy says that, especially in armed conflicts
that last for many years, an uneducated generation
poses a threat to a nation's entire future.
Child-welfare officials from the United Nations and
several non-governmental organizations recently
concluded a three-day conference on ways to make
assistance to the children of war more effective.
(Signed)
NEB/UN/BA/LSF/WTW
31-Mar-2000 16:56 PM EDT (31-Mar-2000 2156 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
