Iran on Monday called on the United Nations to bring to justice all perpetrators of crimes against children, saying that a narrow and selective approach to human rights undermines the role and credibility of the world body.
"We call for accountability for war crimes against children committed by anyone and anywhere," Iran's UN Ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo said in a debate at the Security Council, according to a text of his speech published by IRNA.
The session was held days after the release of a UN annual report, which said the number of children affected by armed conflict and the severity of grave violations affecting them increased in the past year.
Over 21,000 grave violations of children's rights have been verified by the UN in 2017 alone, an increase from previous years, according to the report.
Over 10,000 children were killed or maimed last year with numbers growing substantially in Iraq and Myanmar, while remaining unacceptably high in Afghanistan and Syria, it said.
Khoshroo said those involved in violence against children in armed conflicts must be held accountable, urging strict, consistent and non-discriminatory application of international law.
Selective Approach
"Adopting a selective approach in such cases is tantamount to betraying the most vulnerable people, children, who this process is created to protect. It also discredits UN reports and seriously damages the universality of the application of international humanitarian law," he added.
The ambassador said the most effective way to protect children from the scourge of armed conflicts is to prevent the emergence of new conflicts.
"Moreover, efforts towards preventing the escalation of current conflicts have to be intensified. In this context, political settlement must prevail over military solution."
Palestine, Yemen
Khoshroo said the scale and severity of violations is indeed alarming in many places, especially in the occupied Palestinian territories and Yemen.
"Throughout 2017, a large number of Palestinian children were killed, injured, arrested and detained by Israeli forces," he noted, adding that failure to address Israel's crimes against humanity will only embolden it to kill more children.
"It is expected that the 2018 report put Israel on top of the list of violators of the rights of children in armed conflicts. This can bring accuracy, credibility and impartiality to that list."
He condemned acts of brutality against children in war-torn Yemen, who are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.
More than 2,200 children have been killed during the three-year conflict in the impoverished Arab country, he said, citing UNICEF.
"Saudi and UAE forces, who only believe in and seek military solution for Yemen, are responsible for the continuation of this conflict," the diplomat asserted, referring to a US-backed Saudi-led coalition of Arab countries that launched a military intervention in Yemen in 2015.
UN Resolution
A resolution was adopted during the debate, which calls for a series of measures to strengthen mechanisms to prevent violations against children in conflict.
It underlined the need for the establishment of strategies and coordination mechanisms to better address the cross-border nature of conflict and its impact on children, the UN news center reported.