Human Rights Council – 37th session (26 February - 23March 2018)
High-level panel discussion on human rights of children in the Syrian Arab Republic
Statement by Ireland
13 March, 2017
Ireland aligns itself with the statement delivered on behalf of the European Union and would like to add the following.
Mr President,
Conflict and war have a particularly horrific impact on children. In the Syrian context, children are not only the unintentional victims of violence, but have repeatedly been targeted through deliberate and callous attacks on civilian infrastructure, including homes, hospitals and schools, and sieges on urban residential areas.
Children in conflict zones in Syria – if they are not killed in the violence – face malnutrition due to lack of humanitarian access, death or serious illness due to lack of access to medical care, and in a disturbing trend, recruitment into armed groups. There have also been worrying reports of abductions of children.
Syrian children who survive the war years will bear physical and psychological scars, their education will have been severely disrupted, and they will be faced with the challenge of rebuilding their lives and their country, some of them having little or no experience of life before the war.
Ireland is working to ensure that the needs of children in Syria are addressed in a meaningful way.
Ireland has provided to €3 million in support of UNICEF’s efforts to provide psychosocial support, health and education services to the children affected by the conflict. Ireland has also provided over €3.4 million in funding to UNICEF for the No Lost Generation Initiative (NLG), which provides education and protection services within Syria and in refugee hosting countries.
Ultimately however, a Syrian-owned and Syrian-led resolution of the conflict is needed to relieve the suffering of Syria’s children, and to protect their rights. Ireland fully supports the UN-led Geneva talks process, based on the 2012 Geneva communiqué and UN Security Council Resolution 2254.
Thank you.
