HOLY SEE INTERVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF CHILDREN

VATICAN CITY, APR 17, 1999 (VIS) - Archbishop Giuseppe Bertello, Holy See Permanent Observer to the Office of the United Nations and Specialized Institutions in Geneva, spoke the afternoon of April 15 in Geneva on the rights of children at the 55th session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

Addressing the assembly in French, the nuncio recalled that "on November 10, 1989, the (U.N.) General Assembly unanimously approved the Convention on the Rights of Children," the result of years of work by the international community, starting with its first Declaration on the Rights of Children in 1924. He also recalled that "the Holy See ... had actively participated, right from the start, in the discussion and drafting" of this Convention.

Archbishop Bertello pointed out that the Human Rights Commission in recent years "had created two work groups, charged with preparing two ... optional protocols concerning the use of children in armed conflicts, and the sale of, prostitution of and pornography involving children as well as the basic necessary measures to prevent and eliminate these practices." Adopting such protocols, he added, "would be ... a gesture of solidarity and commiseration."
The archbishop stressed how "tens of thousands of children are used as soldiers in armed conflicts. ... If it is true that some have been enlisted through force or coerced by threats against their families or relatives, it is also true that others adhere 'voluntarily' because they believe that they will be protected. ... The consequences are dramatic: these children are deprived of their childhood and a normal education to which they have a right."

"Adopting an optional protocol in this field would assume a fundamental and, in the opinion of the Holy See, urgent importance for the protection of children, especially the poorest and most defenseless."

Archbishop Bertello closed by renewing the Holy See's support for the two protocols, saying "they would be an efficacious and appropriate step and would undoubtedly give an inestimable enrichment to the text of the Convention."

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