Government confirms Belgium’s commitment to children, armed conflict agenda

&NewLine;<table class&equals;"wp-block-table"><tbody><tr><td>   Belgium Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defense Didier Reynders&comma; on October 18&comma;  invited a group of high-level experts at the Egmont Palace in Brussels to discuss the importance of including child protection issues in peace negotiations&period; This was contained in a release by Apo Group made available to OpenLife in Lagos&period; According to the statement&comma; Belgium has played a leading role in this field for years and remains committed as the chair of the UNSC Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict &lpar;CAAC&rpar; during its mandate in the Security Council in 2019-2020&period;<br> These Brussels Consultations are led by Belgium and the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Children And Armed Conflict Virginia Gamba&period; The event welcomes accomplished mediators and child protection experts with experience in all four corners of the world&colon; from South Sudan&comma; Colombia and Nepal to DRC and Yemen&comma; and others&period; The cruelty of armed conflict affects millions of children and the number of violations against children in conflict situations is permanently increasing&period; By uniting senior practitioners&comma; listening and exchanging experiences and recommendations&comma; our country is committed to put an end to the plight of children in armed conflict&period;<br> Tapping into a wealth of expertise and experience from the field&comma; the group discussions&comma; facilitated by the European Institute of Peace &lpar;EIP&rpar;&comma; will help design specific strategies and concrete actions that can be taken to promote child protection in peace processes and mediation efforts&period; Child protection measures are often the first measures warring parties can find common ground on and a first tangible step towards peace&period;<br> Operational guidance on child protection issues for mediators remains scattered&comma; despite the extensive knowledge available&period; Today’s initiative will provide important input for the development of operational guidelines for mediators&comma; as asked for by the UN Security Council &lpar;UNSC&rpar;&period;<br> Belgium is active on many fronts&period; Within the UNSC&comma; Belgium will lead the negotiations on how to deal with violations of children&&num;8217&semi;s rights in Yemen&comma; Afghanistan&comma; Iraq and the Central African Republic&period; Earlier this year&comma; a consensus was reached on this with regard to Syria and Myanmar&period; The fight against impunity is one of the priorities of Belgian foreign policy&period;<br> Belgium also plays a leading role in the fight against violations of children&&num;8217&semi;s rights in armed conflicts outside the UN Security Council&period; Our country makes an important contribution to UNICEF&&num;8217&semi;s Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism&comma; which collects reliable information on serious violations of children&&num;8217&semi;s rights in conflict situations&period; <&sol;td><&sol;tr><&sol;tbody><&sol;table>&NewLine;