HOLY SEE ON PROMOTING, PROTECTING THE RIGHTS OF CHILDREN

VATICAN CITY, OCT 24, 2001 (VIS) - Archbishop Renato Martino, Holy See permanent observer to the United Nations, spoke yesterday before the Third Committee of the 56th session of the U.N. General Assembly on Item 115, "The Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Children."

He began by noting that "Unfortunately, too many of the world's children are affected by war and conflict every day of their lives. They all bear the physical and psychological scars which might be the result of direct involvement as combatants and child soldiers or through abduction, abuse, separation from family, malnutrition, and lost educational opportunities. The same might be said for those children who are victims of exploitation or abuse. For these children unimaginable horrors are an everyday occurrence. These also suffer physical and psychological trauma which leaves scars that may never be healed."

Archbishop Martino affirmed that "the Convention on the Rights of the Child continues to guide governments in their actions regarding the well-being of children through the recognition of their dignity and the acknowledgment that 'the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including legal protection, before as well as after birth'."

He announced that, on the morning of October 24, "on behalf of the Holy See, I will deposit the instruments of ratification of the two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child ... The Holy See does this ... because (it) has always recognized the fundamental importance of protecting the human rights of children and promoting their well being. This is most evident through the thousands of schools, hospitals and care centres under the auspices of the Catholic Church, as well as in the work of the Church among children who are refugees and displaced, those living in poverty or who are separated from parents or their family." Another of the ways this recognition is carried-out is certainly realized in protecting children from the atrocities of armed conflict and exploitation."

The Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography explicitly prohibits the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and calls for legal protection against the sexual exploitation of children, the transfer of their organs, and forced labor.

The Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict expands the protection of children from recruitment for participation in armed conflict to the age of 18, and reinforces the prohibition of the recruitment of children under (that) age by armed forces distinct from the State.

"There are many challenges in the world," Archbishop Martino concluded. "Each and every action that the United Nations system can take helps to chip away at the problems that continue to hamper the realization of the rights and assurance of the well-being of children."

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