Ref: 18/2023

Date: 07 March 2023

Representatives of Palestine’s Children Council- Gaza Strip, which is supervised by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), participated in a roundtable discussion with Ms. Najat Maalla M’jid, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, as part of consultative meetings she leads to hold the “regional dialogue with children on the margins of Human Rights Council 2023.”  This dialogue was held in coordination with the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States (Social Affairs Sector – Family and Childhood Department) and Save the Children, and with the participation of children from Middle East and North Africa.

This meeting was held on Sunday, 05 March 2023, upon recommendations concluded in the 18th  session of the Follow-up Committee to Stop Violence against Children, which was held on 03 October 2022 in Iraq; calling in one of which to cooperate with the international and official bodies aiming at ending violence against children and mandating the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States (Social Affairs Sector – Family and Childhood Department) to continue coordination with the Office of UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children.

These discussions are part of a series of interactive meetings between the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children and children representing (Europe – Asia – Africa – Middle East and North Africa – Latin America and the Caribbean), as a general consultative meeting was held and followed by a series of dialogues for each region separately. Outcomes of these meetings will inform her presentation to the HRC and the UN General Assembly. The focus of the 2023 report is “violence against children and the digital environment.”

Representatives of Palestine’s Children Council- Gaza Strip talked about the suffering of Palestinian children in general and Gaza Strip children in particular that jeopardizes their rights and best interests, including the recurrent Israeli attacks that caused severe destruction, killings, and poor physical and mental health of the Gaza Strip children who still live in constant fear as regards the attacks. The participating children also emphasized that the ongoing Israeli-imposed closure and aggressions on the Gaza Strip have increased violence against children by oppressing them and depriving them of the most basic rights any child in the world should enjoy.   

The Children Council- Gaza Strip called on the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children to work on the following:

• The need to provide protection for the rights of the child guaranteed by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and to exert pressure on Israel to end its crimes and recurrent attacks on children in Palestine.
• Formation of a national system of protection for children by enacting laws and legislations ensuring their protection from all forms of violence and provision of a safe digital environment that protects them from all forms of digital exploitation and extortion.