Children – Third Cttee debate – Summary record (excerpts)

Third Committee 

Summary record of the 18th meeting

Held at Headquarters, New York, on Monday, 14 October 2002, at 10 a.m. 

 Chairman:   Mr. Wenaweser  ……………………………………. (Liechtenstein)

  later:  Mr. Morikawa (Vice-Chairman)  ………………………….. (Japan)

Contents

Agenda item 43: Follow-up to the outcome of the special session on children ( continued)

Agenda item 105: Promotion and protection of the rights of children ( continued)

The meeting was called to order at 10.05 a.m.

Agenda item 43: Follow-up to the outcome of the special session on children (continued)

Agenda item 105: Promotion and protection of the rights of children ( continued)

1.  Mr. Abulgasim (Sudan) …

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5.   The world was a witness to the plight of the Palestinian children and the human tragedy resulting from the Israeli invasion, which had already caused thousands of deaths and injuries and serious physical and psychological trauma. There was a need to provide assistance to Palestinian children and implement the Security Council resolutions to ensure the protection of the civilian population in Palestine, especially the women and children.

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31.   Mr. Morikawa (Japan), Vice-Chairman, took the Chair.

32.   Mr. Zeidan (Lebanon), …

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35.   He recalled the incident in Qana, Lebanon, of 18 August 1996, when the Israeli army had shelled a UNIFIL camp, killing 102 people, mostly women and children. Children on both sides of every conflict were the first victims of adults’ mindless wars. The Palestinian children, who had no other means of resisting the occupiers but to throw stones, were a case in point.

36.   He had studied various United Nations reports on the situation of Palestinian children and wondered whether adults could remain indifferent to their plight and not question the world and the message being passed on to children, the future leaders of humanity; as was well known, there was a risk that children growing up in a cruel world would use politics merely as a tool for revenge, as their elders had.

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42.  Mr. Al-Redi (Saudi Arabia) …

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45.   The international community must cooperate, while respecting the sovereignty of States, as well as national, historical, cultural and religious differences. He also wished to urge the international community, in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to protect the rights of children in the occupied Palestinian territory who faced massacre, destruction and deprivation.

/…

56.  Mr. Ahmad (Iraq) …

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58.   … He denounced the violence against Iraqi and Palestinian children and condemned all sanctions imposed on the children of Iraq and other nations.

/…

The meeting rose at 11.55 a.m.

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Corrections will be issued after the end of the session, in a separate corrigendum for each Committee.