Geneva/Information Office/ 07 March 2017/ Qatar has stressed its belief in the concept of comprehensive protection of children that doesn't focus only on detecting violations and punishing assailants but also takes precautionary measures to protect children from all circumstances that put them under risk whether at home, school or even online, second secretary of Qatar's permanent mission to the U.N. Office in Geneva, Noor Ibrahim Al Sada, said as she addressed the 34th session of the Human Rights Council.
Qatar also takes special interest in building a strong society and coherent families that help in raising healthy children away from all forms of violence, Al Sada said during an interactive dialogue with the U.N. secretary general's special representative on violence against children and the U.N. secretary general's special representative on children and armed conflict.
Al Sada said Qatar has adopted the necessary legislations and created specialized entities that protect children such as Qatar Foundation for Social Work, which has under its umbrella a number of specialized centers such as the social protection and rehabilitation center that works to protect and rehabilitate women and children victims of violence and re-integrate them into society. She praised the increasing global interest in eradicating violence against children, which culminated in having it listed as a goal on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The Qatari diplomat said investing in the protection of children and preventing violence will lead to a better future and building a world in which every child is safe from violence and exploitation, expressing Qatar's concern and condemnation of the severe dangers children are subjected to in armed conflicts, which jeopardizes their physical and mental health as well as their natural growth.
Qatar reiterates the need to take effective measures to release all conscripted children and re-integrate them in their societies and families, in addition to putting an end to the practice of stripping children of their freedom during conflicts, stressing in this regard the importance of the Qatar-supported global study on children deprived of freedom.
Al Sada expressed Qatar's denunciation of the attacks against educational facilities during armed conflicts because of the direct impact it has on children's right to education, highlighting Doha's hosting of an international conference in February on human rights approach to conflict situations in the Arab region, in which the protection of children, women and minorities during conflicts was a main theme as well as the effect of armed conflicts on the right to education.
She expressed Qatar's ambition that the second international conference on safe schools, which takes place in Buenos Aires later in March, will help in achieving better consensus on such a principle in a way that guarantees schools and educational facilities remain safe from armed attacks and military use during armed conflicts.