UN Human Rights Council 49: UK statement for the interactive dialogue with the Special Representative on Violence against Children

Thank you, Mr President.

The United Kingdom would like to thank the Special Representative for this report and for her continued work on this agenda, in particular her important efforts to ensure that the voices of children are meaningfully informing our work to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

The UK is steadfast in our commitment to protecting vulnerable children, including in conflict and crisis, through our policy leadership and programmatic work. We remain deeply concerned that rates of violence against children have increased during the Covid-19 pandemic, whilst response and prevention mechanisms have been disrupted.

We also note UNICEF’s projection that, without further investment, there could be an additional 10 million child marriages by 2030, robbing girls of their futures and threatening our hard-won gains on this agenda. This is why the UK announced an additional £18 million last year to continue vital work through the UN Global Programme to End Child Marriage.

Madam Special Representative,

In your view, what more can we collectively do to accelerate action to prevent and combat child marriages?

Thank you.