HEADQUARTERS PRESS CONFERENCE BY SAVE THE CHILDREN (UNITED KINGDOM)

Press Briefing

HEADQUARTERS PRESS CONFERENCE BY SAVE THE CHILDREN (UNITED KINGDOM)

Raising public awareness of the plight of the world's 20 million displaced children was the goal of the Save the Children's Portrait Pledge, Mike Aaronson, Director-General of Save the Children-United Kingdom told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

Introduced by the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, Mr. Aaronson said that the idea for the Portrait Pledge -- a giant, multi-coloured portrait containing some 6,000 photographs of citizens and children -- was part of its "Forgotten Children Campaign". As a result of that campaign, some 25,000 members of the United Kingdom public had decided to "put their face behind" the campaign by sending in photographs of themselves, their families and friends.

As a way of showing solidarity for displaced children, the public was asked to put photographs of themselves on posters displayed throughout the United Kingdom, Mr. Aaronson said. Children assembled the posters into one large composite portrait in London. Save the Children had originally hoped to collect some 20,000 photographs, corresponding to the 20 million displaced children. Within just a couple months, however, they had received about 25,000 photographs.

Mr. Aaronson, who had met earlier in the day with Secretary-General Kofi Annan to present him with a smaller version of the portrait, said that the majority of the world's internally displaced were children. "The realities of those children's lives and the particular needs that they face are very often overlooked", he said. The situation of a young person displaced and denied access to essential services was of a different order of magnitude from that faced by any other age group.

As a part of its campaign, Save the Children - United Kingdom had also produced a report entitled "War brought us here", Mr. Aaronson said. That report, which Mr. Otunnu and Mr. Deng had both contributed to, provided a global view of the issues affecting 13 million children who had been displaced by conflict but who remained in their own countries. It contained case studies of five regions with large numbers of internally displaced people: Angola, Colombia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka.

Mr. Aaronson said that the presentation of the portrait pledge was timed to coincide with two key events at the United Nations. One was the Economic and Social Council Humanitarian Segment, which was discussing the situation of internally displaced persons, including children. The other was a Security Council debate, scheduled for 26 July, on children and armed conflict. At that time, the Security Council would receive a report by the Secretary-General on the implementation of a resolution devoted to children affected by armed conflict.

"What was happening in New York this week and next week is crucial as far as the fate of these children is concerned", Mr. Aaronson said.

Otunnu Press Conference - 2 - 19 July 2000

In addition to the behind-the-scenes advocacy work with institutions, Save the Children had been trying to make the public in the United Kingdom more aware of the situation facing children, he said. The concept of the campaign was similar to the work Save the Children did with children separated from their families. One of Save the Children's standard techniques for making information about displaced children available was to include pictures of displaced children on posters. Those posters were widely disseminated in the hope that people looking for separated children would be able to identify them.

The "Forgotten Children Campaign" contained three critical messages for policy-makers, Mr. Aaronson said. The first was that the protection of displaced children was a key sent for the international community. Secondly, it provided the message that the United Nations would do its utmost to mobilize protection and assistance for displaced children. Finally, the campaign established the principle that where states could not or would not meet their obligations to internally displaced children, international humanitarian access would be granted. It was important to establish as a principle that the international community would do everything to provide displaced children with protection and assistance.

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Internally Displaced Persons, Francis Deng, said that children provided a common ground where, despite all the differences people might have, they could agree on the value of children and the value of protecting and assisting them internationally. By the same token, children were also a microcosm of society. One could not think of children without thinking of their families. In that sense, they provided a nucleus of society -- one that was critically important -- because they represented the future.

"If you take children out of the context of their security, you not only endanger them, you also endanger the community", Mr. Deng said.

By definition, the phenomenon of internal displacement came under the sovereignty of States, he said. Sovereignty should not be understood as a negative concept, with States barricaded against international scrutiny or outside involvement. It should be understood in a positive light, because it assumed that the sovereign authority was responsible for protecting and assisting all those under its sovereignty. When States failed to live up to that challenge, they would call for international assistance. If they did not call for such assistance, the international community would then have the right to get involved. The concept of sovereignty as responsibility should be endorsed by all. When a State failed to discharge its responsibility, it should expect international concern.

The press conference was adjourned by Mr. Otunnu when Secretary-General Kofi Annan entered the briefing room. Mr. Otunnu then walked with the Secretary- General, Mr. Deng and Mr. Aaronson to the Security Council stakeout position for a photo opportunity in front of the giant portrait.

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