( UN News Center) – “A moral imperative and a legal obligation,” protecting children should never be jeopardized by national interests, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, deploring that 2014 was one of the worst years in recent memory for children in countries affected by conflict. Speaking at the Security Council during an open debate on children and armed conflict, which focused on what the Council sees as an increasing trend of mass abductions, Mr. Ban reported on the enormous challenges the international community faces in “upholding the fundamental rights of tens of millions of children.” “We have seen crises multiply and intensify, making protection more and more difficult. Grave violations against children have been an affront to our common humanity in the Central African Republic, Iraq, Nigeria, South Sudan and the Syrian Arab Republic.”
