The Convention on the Rights of the Child has been signed by 191 States: six more than the total membership of the United Nations. No other Convention or treaty has ever received such universal endorsement: an unparalleled testimony to the impact of children and their problems on the international conscience. Children are by far the greatest wealth of men and women from all over the world. I say men and women, but I should really say of women and men, in tribute to the maternal instinct, the deepest, most noble instinct, which has allowed the perpetuation of the human race. Children, we should never forget, represent the future of humanity.

While the brutality of wars and armed conflicts has gone on for millennia, certain ethical boundaries have almost always been respected. Children have been exposed to every form of violence—rape, killings, beatings, prostitution—but until today they were rarely its protagonists. War has taken on new, more horrifying characteristics: to an increasing extent, children are becoming directly involved in wars as combatants. They are recruited by armed groups, warlords and even Governments. Some are impressed into the army. Others are kidnapped from their homes, schools, orphanages or right off the streets. Others are forced to enlist in exchange for sparing the lives of their families. A combination of fear and poverty drives some parents to hand their children over to warring groups: the "paycheck" goes straight to the family. There are also children who just become soldiers to survive; from their uncentered lives, they come to see armed factions as a surrogate family.

The most vulnerable members of any mass exodus of refugees are children. Walking for days without food or water, they are the first to succumb. Once at the refugee camps, they become victims of further abuse. More often than not, the efforts by United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) personnel to trace parents and relatives of unaccompanied children are fruitless.

One of the most insidious and long-lasting dangers to children is landmines. In at least 68 countries, they live with the daily threat of 110 million mines buried in the ground and thousands of unexploded devices, sometime disguised to look like toys, butterflies or pineapples, which children almost naturally think they can play with.

We owe an immense debt of gratitude to Mrs. Graça Machel, who was the first to address this sensitive issue in a famous report that brought it to the attention not only of the Members States of the United Nations, but also of the international public opinion as a whole.

The statistics cited by Ambassador Olara Otunnu, successor to Mrs. Machel as the Secretary-General's Special Representative on Children in Armed Conflict, in a 29 June meeting of the Security Council, could have not been more dramatic. In the last ten years, 2 million children have been killed in wars, 6 million mutilated, 12 million left homeless, 1 million orphaned and 10 million marked by irreparable psychological and spiritual scars: in brief, a sort of modern "massacre of the innocents".

How has the international community reacted to this appalling phenomenon?

By Article 38 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the State Parties have agreed to:

• respect and ensure respect for rules of international humanitarian law applicable to children in armed conflicts (principally, the Geneva Conventions);

• take all feasible measures to ensure that under-15-years-olds do not take a direct part in hostilities;
  refrain from recruiting under-15-year-olds into the armed forces;

• give priority to the oldest in recruiting any 15- to 18-year-olds; and

• take every feasible measure to ensure the protection and care of children affected by an armed conflict.

The Convention specifically addresses the rehabilitation of child victims of war. Article 39 states that States should take every measure necessary to promote the physical and psychological recovery and social integration of child victims of armed conflicts.

The 10-member Committee on the Rights of the Child, which meets three times a year in Geneva to monitor implementation of the Convention, has stressed the absolute need for children to never be involved in acts of war, either directly or indirectly, nor be recruited, through conscription or voluntary enlistment.

While the States' commitments and obligations are extremely clear, what has been lacking until now are sanctions to punish violations. One partial remedy lies in the Statute of the International Criminal Court, approved in Rome last July and now open for signature. It includes a provision bringing within the jurisdiction of the new Court the crime of conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 15 into the national armed forces, or using them to participate actively in hostilities.

However, we cannot wait for this new international body to halt what Ambassador Otunnu has rightly termed this "trend of abomination". Let me suggest some preliminary steps:

• First, we have to raise public awareness. Every case in which warlords press children into conflicts should be vigorously and publicly denounced and exposed. In this context, the Security Council debate, which took place on 29 June, provided a unique opportunity. Credit is due Council President Antonio Monteiro of Portugal for overcoming all the procedural and substantial problems and making this debate possible. The Council sent a strong, unequivocal message to the world that the situation is serious. On the concrete side, it also proposed ways and means to tackle the exploitation of children in war. This debate must continue. One suitable framework for further exposing reckless behaviour could be the Economic and Social Council, where violations of children's rights could be examined and condemned.

• A vivid, dramatic picture in a newspaper or on a television screen often does more than dozens of symposia or conferences to raise public awareness. The media has already done a lot to denounce and expose such cases, and should be encouraged to continue its fine work. The United Nations Children's Fund should continue to provide and possibly increase documentation (with photographs and statistics), and energize the media to step up its coverage of the phenomenon. Perhaps the Secretary-General could institute a special prize to be awarded in a solemn ceremony at the United Nations to the journalist who has done the most to expose the exploitation, suffering and misery of children during wars and armed conflicts.

• Adoption and welfare programmes in every nation should give priority to children who have been involved in or exposed to war. Financial incentives should be provided to families that take on the added burden of reintegrating into society children affected by war.

• We should demand the establishment of "free corridors" for populations in distress, as suggested by Ambassador Otunnu at the debate. Humanitarian agencies should have immediate, unimpeded access to these corridors. Facilities normally reserved for children, such as schools and playgrounds, should be declared "free zones", and attacks against them considered an aggravated crime.

• The problems of children should be granted priority in peace agreements and peace-building. The donor community should channel substantial financial and human resources to humanitarian aid and assistance toward demobilizing and rehabilitating children who have been pressed into armed conflicts.

Children can be made safer through the cooperation of every State, international and national organizations, the relevant United Nations bodies, and all members of civil society. My final message is simple: there is not a single day to lose. The scourge of children in war must be immediately eradicated. This new "massacre of the innocents" must cease.

Everyone has the right to education . ... Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace. —Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 26