A UN Security Council meeting on children and armed conflict is held at the UN headquarters in New York, on June 26, 2024. The UN Security Council on Wednesday heard a personal testimony from a former child soldier, shedding light on the brutal reality of war in conflict zones like the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). (Loey Felipe/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)
June 26, 2024 -- The UN Security Council on Wednesday heard a personal testimony from a former child soldier, shedding light on the brutal reality of war in conflict zones like the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Speaking anonymously and through an interpreter, the 16-year-old recounted harrowing experiences of abduction and forced conscription into an armed group.
The child urged the council to enhance protection and security in conflict areas to ensure that children are safeguarded from the horrors of war.
"I was born into a country already plagued by armed conflicts," the child began. "I was forced to join an armed group while walking to school."
Two months ago, the child said, armed attacks on nearby villages targeted children for abduction, forcing them into armed groups or holding them for ransom. Schools and hospitals, the child said, are frequently attacked and repurposed as military bases.
Describing personal ordeals, the child spoke of being kidnapped and forced into an armed group, enduring beatings, looting, and the constant threat of death.
"We cried and begged to return home, but they wouldn't listen. They whipped us and kept us in the bush, heavily guarded, with orders to kill anyone attempting to escape," the child recalled.
Girls, the child added, were taken as "wives" by soldiers, while survival depended on meager rations of dry cassava. After three years, the child managed to escape and found support through the Congolese Government's child demobilization program. Now back in school, the child advocates for children's rights through the children's parliament.
"I urge the UN Security Council to provide assistance to children affected by conflict," the child said. "This will help protect them, ensure access to education and healthcare, and shield them from violence."
The testimony was part of the Security Council's open debate on children and armed conflict, which reviewed the UN secretary-general's annual report. The report revealed extreme levels of violence against children, with unprecedented numbers of killings and maimings in 2023.
Virginia Gamba, special representative of the secretary-general on children and armed conflict, reported 32,990 grave violations against 22,557 children in 26 conflict zones in 2023, marking the highest annual number in nearly a decade. The most affected regions included the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the DRC, Nigeria, Somalia, and Sudan.
Violations detailed in the report encompass abduction, killing, maiming, recruitment, attacks on schools or hospitals, sexual violence, and denial of humanitarian access. Gamba emphasized the necessity of cooperation, solidarity, and political will to end these violations, calling for respect for international law as a fundamental prerequisite for protecting children.
Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, speaking as deputy chair of The Elders, and Ted Chaiban, deputy executive director of the UN Children's Fund, also addressed the council.
Ban stressed the need for accountability for crimes against children, while Chaiban called for sustained diplomacy and peace efforts to protect children and end conflicts.
China's permanent representative to the United Nations, Fu Cong, urged the international community to effectively eliminate armed conflicts to ensure children are kept away from the ravages of war.
"The Security Council must remain committed to politically resolving hotspot issues, invest in diplomatic mediation efforts, and actively promote ceasefire and violence cessation in areas such as Gaza, Sudan, the DRC, and Ukraine," he said.
Fu stated that actions harming children "must be severely punished."
Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (C) briefs a Security Council meeting on children and armed conflict at the UN headquarters in New York, on June 26, 2024. The UN Security Council on Wednesday heard a personal testimony from a former child soldier, shedding light on the brutal reality of war in conflict zones like the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). (Loey Felipe/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)
Virginia Gamba (Front), special representative of the secretary-general on children and armed conflict, briefs a UN Security Council meeting on children and armed conflict at the UN headquarters in New York, on June 26, 2024. The UN Security Council on Wednesday heard a personal testimony from a former child soldier, shedding light on the brutal reality of war in conflict zones like the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). (Loey Felipe/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)
