Malta’s representative cited the number of atrocity crimes which could be directed specifically against children and youths, including the war crime of enlisting children under the age of 15 to actively participate in hostilities and the crime of genocide for transferring children from one group to another, among others. In the ensuing debate, speakers, denouncing the atrocities experienced by children and youths around the world, also emphasized the need for prevention and early warning systems, but underscored the principle must be anchored at the national level. She urged Governments to make protecting children and youth from atrocity crimes a priority and accelerate its implementation with real and measurable outcomes. It also highlighted the ways, reasons and extent to which children and youths are targeted and impacted by those crimes, in both armed conflict and non-armed-conflict situation. This year’s report was dedicated to the special situation of children and youth in the context of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, she noted. ![]() Since then, Member States, the Secretariat and the Assembly have made progress in elaborating and operationalizing the responsibility to protect, and have elaborated frameworks for identifying risks, early warning models and institutional mechanisms for implementation. ![]() Member States’ commitment to uphold the responsibility to protect its populations, in particular children and youth, from crimes of atrocity, must be centred in prevention in order to make the principle a living reality, speakers stressed, as the General Assembly today held its first annual debate on the topic.Īlice Wairimu Nderitu, Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, introducing the Secretary-General’s annual report on the issue (document A/76/844), recalled that since the first report in 2009, these documents have given the General Assembly a basis to consider the concept of the responsibility to protect, which was affirmed at the 2005 World Summit.
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