Statement by H.E. Anna Johannsdottir,
Permanent Representative of Iceland to the United Nations
General Assembly 79th session
13th Plenary Meeting of Third Committee
Rights of Children (Item 67)
14 October 2024

Thank you, Madam Chair,

Iceland firmly believes that the rights of children should be placed at the centre of all policymaking. Every child has the right to grow and prosper to adulthood in good health and education, dignity and peace. 

During our upcoming membership of the Human Rights Council, we will actively promote children’s rights and do all we can to contribute to securing the realization of these rights worldwide. 

Madame Chair,

We must work together to empower girls all over the world, and support and enable them to prosper. This includes ensuring sexual and reproductive health rights and services for youth, comprehensive sexuality education and protecting the right to bodily autonomy, privacy and self-determination.

Ensuring girls’ access to education is also imperative to empower girls and young women, in all their diversity, to be agents of change in their communities and beyond. We must take concrete steps to rectify gender disparities and ensure the fundamental right to education for all children, without discrimination. 

Madame Chair, 

The misuse of existing and emerging technologies that exacerbate and amplify children’s exposure to risks, harms and exploitation and abuse is of serious concern.  

The protection of children from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse is a fundamental duty of all States. We will continue to fight child sexual exploitation and abuse as well as of harmful practices, including female genital mutilation and child, early, and forced marriage. We will continue to support initiatives and resolutions at the UN in this regard and maintain our funding of UNICEF, UN Women and UNFPA programmes to accelerate global action in this area.  

To effectively counter all forms of sexual violence against children, we must join forces to keep these issues high on agendas at all levels. Iceland has, and will continue, to raise the model of the Children’s House, now active or being implemented in 27 countries. The model is based on a child-friendly, interdisciplinary and multiagency centre where diverse professionals work under one roof to effectively investigate suspected child sexual exploitation and sexual abuse cases while simultaneously providing appropriate support for child victims. 

Madame Chair,

Iceland is firmly committed to ending all violence against children, both domestically and globally. Escalating factors such as climate change and socioeconomic disparities render children increasingly vulnerable to violence and demand a firm response, both on the national and international levels.

Furthermore, we are deeply concerned by the scale and severity of violations committed against children in multiple armed conflicts around the World today. The protection of children in armed conflict is an uncontested obligation under international law. It is therefore unacceptable to see this obligation blatantly disregarded, not only by armed groups and terrorists, but Member States – even a Permanent Member of the Security Council. 

Children everywhere, whether in Ukraine, Sudan or the Middle East not only deserve, but are entitled to protection from war, violence, famine and should never have to flee their homes. And we are obliged to protect them. Collectively, we are failing them every day.

The need to prevent and respond effectively and collectively is more urgent now than ever. This Committee has its own, important role to play.

All states must commit further to make sure that we leave no child behind, with particular attention paid to those children in the most vulnerable positions.

I thank you.