Protection of children

Saturday was another sad day, not only for the people of Jammu and Kashmir but for entire humanity. Yet another tender bud was crushed. Andleeb, meaning nightingale, a twelve year, class seven promising student was silenced for ever outside her house in village Hoowra, in Kulgam district of South Kashmir. She was one amongst the three teenagers who lost lives. The young girl, always topped her school exams, spoke eloquently, and reigned supreme in sports, and earned laurels for the school in every field. She is not the first girl to fall prey to a conflict. Like elsewhere in the world the effect of a violent condition, that particularly engenders from a political contest, raises a fundamental question. How can the lives of children be safeguarded in a violent conflict. It is a matter of grave concern for the whole globe. The governments around the world are responsible for taking some concrete steps in this regard. The non state actors, and the civil society also cannot shirk responsibility in this matter. It is this realisation that the United Nations is holding a high-level open debate on children and armed conflicts with the theme, “Protecting Children Prevents Conflict Tomorrow.” Since 2010, the stories of children around the world have been reported in the national and international media. Whether the United Nations Representative for Armed Conflict has taken cognizance of these reports or not, but these are harsh realities that cannot be ignored. The 1949 Geneva Conventions and their 1977 Additional Protocols offer specific protection to children during armed conflict. In fact, children benefit from two-tiered protection under the international humanitarian law: the general protection they enjoy as civilians and the specific protection they enjoy as children. The rights guaranteed by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, almost universally ratified, are applicable during armed conflict. There is need to sensitize all parties to conflict, globally, about protecting rights of children as guaranteed by various United Nations Organizations. In this regard GoI should also contribute its bit, and address this global concern.