In an apparent bid to improve gender equality in the field of climate action, the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Patricia Espinosa, on Monday, May 8, 2017 announced she is founding the Bonn-Berlin chapter of the International Gender Champions Network (IGCN).
Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC
The IGCN is a network of senior leaders working to advance gender equality in the executive management of their institutions and in their programmatic work through concrete and measurable commitments.
“Climate change is a complex problem that requires innovative solutions through the creative efforts of many people from diverse backgrounds. This necessarily means ensuring that women’s voices from diverse backgrounds are enhanced in international and national forums,” said Espinosa, who is hopes to become an “International Gender Champion”.
According to her, women who are climate experts, gender experts – or both – including grassroots leaders, policy makers, financiers, project developers, and farmers, bring critically important and often different perspectives that can lead to more effective climate policy and action, while advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment in the process.
Ms Espinosa will be inviting senior leaders from government, international organisations, civil and private sectors based in Bonn and Berlin to join her in becoming International Gender Champions.
The current Champions (over 120) include the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, and Simona Scarpaleggia, Co-Chair of the UN High Level Panel on Women Economic Empowerment, CEO of IKEA Switzerland, and Ambassador Khan of Fiji.
Espinosa on Monday affirmed her commitment to the “International Gender Champions Panel Parity Pledge” and said she would be undertaking commitments to advance gender equality within the UNFCCC secretariat as an organisation. For example, she pledged all senior managers in the UNFCCC secretariat will champion gender equality.
She also announced that she will request organisers of any event at which she is speaking to ensure gender balance among the panelists. And she said she would encourage others to follow her lead by recruiting a strong and diverse range of people to sign the Parity Pledge and make their own commitments.
Representatives from Climate Action Network, a network of over 1,000 civil society organisations working to fight climate change in 120 countries, have called on governments to use the ongoing climate talks in Bonn to pick up from where they left off last year in Marrakech in advancing work on the implementation of the Paris Agreement.
Sven Harmeling, Climate Change Advocacy Coordinator at CARE International
Sven Harmeling, Climate Change Advocacy Coordinator at CARE International, emphasised that the urgency to get the Paris Agreement off the ground is crucial given that impacts from climate change are becoming more dire with more droughts in Africa and heatwaves in India.
The scale of ambition has to be commensurate with the urgency that we are seeing from impacts, he stated.
Speaking on the specifics of advancing work on implementation, Harmeling added: “We also need to see Parties at Bonn bring more clarity and progress on accounting modalities for climate finance which was a left-over issue from Marrakech.”
Brandon Wu, policy director from ActionAid US, highlighted that, as uncertainty on the US’ position on the Paris Agreement continues, civil society groups urge the Trump administration to stay in the Agreement but it must also respect the spirit of the Agreement to meet the goals of Paris.
“Even at the current scenario we don’t meet the goals of keeping warming to 1.5 degrees C and any move to scale down ambition will definitely not meet this goal – which is what Paris is all about,” he added, stressing that there has been a remarkable push from Governors and Mayors to keep the US in the Agreement.
Lucile Dufour, Climate Action Network France, spoke about the victory of Emmanuel Macron and the implications of this for climate action.
His words: “Although Macron didn’t make energy transition a priority during his campaign, he is unlikely to stop environment progress. Without a push from other leaders and civil society he will not increase ambition so we still have work ahead of us. He did say France will keep the lead in global climate progress. If he is to do this he needs to adopt climate policies to increase international solidarity and domestic policies to raise ambition.”
Long-term institutional investors representing more than $15 trillion in assets have written to G7 heads of state, urging governments to stand by their commitments to the Paris Agreement at their upcoming Summit in Taormina, Italy on May 26-27, 2017.
Mindy Lubber, CEO and President of Ceres
Underscoring the urgency of action by G7 nations to implement the global climate pact and deliver their emissions reduction commitments (nationally-determined contributions), investors call on G7 leaders to:
Reiterate their support for and commitment to implement the Paris Agreement, including the delivery of their own Nationally Determined Contributions in full.
Bring forward focused and targeted long-term climate and energy plans that will ensure their future actions align with commitments under the pact to keep global average temperature rise to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and preferably to 1.5 °C.
Drive investment into the low carbon transition through aligning climate-related policies, phasing out fossil fuel subsidies and introducing carbon pricing where appropriate.
Implement climate-related financial reporting frameworks, including supporting the Financial Stability Board Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures’ recommendations.
“Investors are sending a powerful signal today that climate change action must be an urgent priority in the G20 countries, especially the United States, whose commitment is in question,” said Mindy Lubber, CEO and President of the sustainability non-profit organisation Ceres, which directs the Ceres Investor Network on Climate Risk and Sustainability. “Global investors are eager to open their wallets to a low-carbon future, but it won’t happen without clear, stable policy signals from countries worldwide – in particular, the US government who’s waffling on the Paris Climate Agreement is hugely troubling.”
Stephanie Pfeifer, CEO of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) in Europe, added, “Investors recognise the global transition to a low-carbon, clean energy economy is now firmly underway and they want to make well-informed decisions that help Paris Agreement signatories deliver their national commitments. Regardless of what the US administration does, it’s vital that every signatory across the G7 and G20 adopts policies that drive better disclosure of climate risk, curb fossil fuel subsidies and put in place strong pricing signals sufficient to catalyse the significant private sector investment in low carbon solutions.”
Emma Herd, CEO of the Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC) in Australia, said: “Maintaining policy commitments which drive strong growth in low carbon investment is key to tackling climate change. While the private sector can provide the investment required to build a secure, affordable and low emissions global energy system, we urge the G7 to set strong policy signals which provide the investment certainty needed to drive trillions of dollars into new clean energy investment opportunities.”
Paul Simpson, CEO of CDP, added: “The G7 must move swiftly to put in place the frameworks required to improve the availability, reliability and comparability of climate-related information, and to ensure carbon pricing signals which will drive the incorporation of climate risks and opportunities into financial assessments. That is why investors are calling on G7 leaders to prioritise rulemaking by national financial regulators to require disclosure of ‘material’ climate risks in line with the forthcoming recommendations of the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD).”
“With the US threatening to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement next week, now is the time for investors to make their voices heard by encouraging governments to stand firm on their commitment to the Paris Agreement,” said Fiona Reynolds, managing director of the PRI. “Investors worldwide have come to understand the material financial risks around climate change. Certainly, at the PRI, our members have noted climate risks as their number one ESG concern.”
The year 2017 is shaping up to be the hottest year on record, resulting in record low sea-ice levels in the Arctic, unprecedented flooding displacing 100,000 and affecting over a million people in Peru, and the threat of mass deaths in parts of Africa as the worst drought in memory deepens famine conditions.
Jubilation greeted the adoption of the Paris Agreement in December 2015 in Paris, France. Photo credit: unfccc.int
While this is the world at 1°C of warming, much further warming is inevitable: the window to avoid warming above 1.5°C is rapidly closing, and carbon dioxide levels are already at the record-breaking level of 410ppm.
Amid this worsening crisis, countries gather in Bonn, Germany for two weeks from Monday, May 8, 2017 for three simultaneous meetings under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Since the Paris Summit in December 2015, delegates have met all together only twice-in Bonn last May and Marrakech last November-to figure out how to put the Paris Agreement into practice. Their self-imposed deadline to finish this work is the end of 2018, so the Co-Chairs of the process want countries to move away from conceptual discussion into the nitty gritty of negotiating text at this year’s COP in November. However, some key questions have to be resolved before this can happen.
Who is responsible for taking action?
Although as part of the Paris Agreement all countries will take action to curb their emissions and prepare for climate impacts, they aren’t all expected to undertake exactly the same type or amount of action. Disagreements over this “differentiation” between countries – and their obligations – will spill over into every item on the agenda and which is one of the key underlying divergences within the talks. The answer to how transparency and compliance under the Agreement will be applied differently to countries with varied contexts and capacities has not been agreed and is likely to be a contentious issue throughout the two weeks.
What kinds of actions are countries taking?
Just as fundamental a divergence is the split over what exactly the “contributions” are. Although the Paris Agreement is clear that the contributions are comprehensive, many developed countries would like to effectively renegotiate to see the scope limited to emissions reductions only, so as to not include any mention of financial support or adaptation to climate change. Negotiations over accounting for the contributions, and what information should be provided about them, will therefore see a fierce diplomatic battle between developing and developed countries.
What kind of support is available to help developing countries?
As well as what actions countries will take, a big question remains around what kind of support is on offer. Many developing countries have put forward pledges that are at least partially contingent on financial and technological support, and both the Paris Agreement and Framework Convention oblige rich countries to contribute towards these costs. The estimated need is likely in excess of $4 trillion, yet so far the amount pledged pales in comparison, and the amount of funds actually delivered pales even further. Plugging this gap remains a pressing matter for developing countries.
How will we know if countries are making good on their promises?
The process of tracking and accounting for countries pledged actions will also be the subject to a major debate in Bonn. Developing countries are adamant that the rules around transparency be differentiated to reflect the disparity of capacity between themselves and developed countries. They are similarly adamant that transparency rules should apply not only to emissions reductions pledges, but all the elements of the contributions-including finance, to make sure the donor countries actually deliver new money and don’t succumb to “double counting” existing financial flows.
How do you solve a problem like the U.S.?
In his Presidential campaign, Donald Trump promised that the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris Agreement as a matter of priority. After 100 days in office he has yet to deliver on this promise, though he has launched an attack on the domestic policies which made the U.S. contribution possible, and will seriously cut U.S. contributions to international cooperation. While the risk of a “contagion” spreading from the U.S. causing other countries to withdraw seems to have been averted in Marrakech when leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the Paris Agreement, the possibility of a U.S. State Dep. under former Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson acting disruptively on behalf of fossil fuel industries remains live.
Who gets a seat at the negotiating table?
Whether or not the U.S. is present, the question of who can and can’t take part in these talks also has the potential to create further frictions. Last year civil society groups called for the UNFCCC to “kick out big polluters” due to their conflict of interest, resulting in a heated debate between countries. A workshop on how to “enhance engagement of non-Party stakeholders” has been organised for this session, which is where a seemingly technical discussion might become highly political.
Adaptation Fund
Another issue that will arise over the course of the two weeks in Bonn is the Adaptation Fund, which countries agreed in Marrakech would serve the Paris Agreement (the Adaptation Fund was previously housed under the Kyoto Protocol). Although this seems simple on paper, in practice there are many obstacles as developed countries are keen to conduct another full review of the Fund before agreeing on the exact institutional arrangements. There are divergences over how the Fund will source cash, with some countries wanting a link to carbon markets. With tens of millions at risk of being impoverished as their livelihoods are threatened by climate change, the need for adaptation funding has never been greater, yet funding for adaptation remains inadequate
Representatives of major organisations on Monday, May 8, 2017 launched the Global 100% Renewable Energy Platform, an event that coincided with the start of the UN Climate Change Conference (SB46) in Bonn, Germany. Speaking on behalf of the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Patricia Espinosa, UNFCCC Spokesperson, Nick Nuttall, says that the Platform’s work will be guided by its principles that all new investments into energy systems have to be 100% renewable energy-based, and that decentralised and people-centred approaches are the best and fastest way to transform societies.
UNFCCC Spokesperson, Nick Nuttall
I am sure that the rapid growth of renewables in terms of scale, increasing geographical spread and tumbling prices played a key role in providing confidence to governments to ink the Agreement.
An agreement that came into force in record breaking time and today has well over 140 ratifications with new ones monthly.
That confidence building continues post Paris – almost every report I read about renewables shows inordinate progress and it is happening in cities and regions, among major companies and in communities.
Take the study, brought out by Bloomberg New Energy Finance just a week or so ago – it shows renewables generation, excluding large hydro – in Germany at just under 30 per cent, up from 9 per cent in 2006.
There are similar stories for the UK, Spain and Italy – Australia 3 per cent in 2006, now 12 per cent.
If you look at states in the United States you see similar growth patterns in Oklahoma, South Dakota and Minnesota, to name but a few.
And I don’t need to tell you about China or indeed increasingly now India among a growing list of developing countries growing renewable energy generation.
But you know there are lots more to do: there are some countries in the world where the renewable energy revolution has passed them by.
Yesterday I was glancing at WorldAtlas, the online publisher, and its listed 25 countries with zero or only tiny per cents of alternative energies – countries like Togo and Turkmenistan, for example.
I was amazed at how European countries also have relatively low levels of renewables, so even on this Continent with such a positive story on clean energy, there is much work to do.
There may be many reasons why – investment risks and currency risks to name but two. But this is where together, and with regional development banks and others, we can change the rules of the game in favour of renewables and better lives for the poor and vulnerable.
Meanwhile, there perhaps is a lot to do to bring on some other forms of renewables that are still, price and penetration-wise, way behind the curve.
I am thinking of wave power and ocean thermal energy conversion – I am old enough to remember how much a unit of solar power electricity cost in the 1990s, but look at it today.
So why not these other forms of vast, untapped sources of clean energy when today so many people live on or near the coast and small island like Fiji are crying out for modern forms of energy that offer a better development path than diesel.
The Paris Agreement is unique in that it clearly lays out the path to a low carbon, resilient future and has a clear destination -climate neutrality in the second half of the century – if the world is to keep a global temperature rise well below 2 degrees C, let alone meet the 1.5-degree C target.
Climate neutrality is about restoring the balance of emissions out and emissions in. It is not going to be easy to achieve, but achieve it we must if we are to hand over a healthy world to the next generation.
This will not be possible without investment and efforts to restore and better manage the Earth’s natural or nature-based systems like forests, coastal ecosystems and soils that for millennia have handled carbon on our behalf.
But our natural systems need help – we need to rapidly and decisively reduce our global emissions.
We need transformational policies and enabling legislation – good news here too because tomorrow we will launch a report with the Grantham Institute and others on the growth of climate-related laws since the 1990s which continues post Paris.
We also need to retool the global financial architecture to price in risk, reduce short-termism and support a low carbon transition.
Renewable energy, allied to energy efficiency, has a big role to play.
You have set a target under your campaign of 100 per cent renewables – that is quite an aim, but who would ever imagine that this is impossible if recent history is our guide.
Because when you go back and look at the estimates made for renewables in say the 1990s and even in the early 2000s, many underestimated this reality of where we are today often by very wide margins.
And if you had said in the 1990s that wind and now solar in many places would be cheaper than coal, you would have had many investors laughing into their champagne glasses accusing you of wishful, eco-thinking.
But the world is changing, indeed before our very eyes and the transition to a cleaner, greener economy is well underway and trillions of dollars of investment is now shifting to support it and new instruments, like Green or Climate Bonds, are set to double again this year.
ActionAid Nigeria has commended the effort of the Federal Government on the negotiations that led to the release of 82 Chibok girls kidnapped three years ago by Boko Haram.
ActionAid Nigeria’s Country Director, Ojobo Ode Atuluku
ActionAid Nigeria’s Country Director, Ojobo Ode Atuluku, in a statement made available to EnviroNews on Monday, May 8 2017, said: “it is commendable that the Federal Government prioritised the life and future of the innocent young girls over holding prisoners of war.
“The government more than anything else must prioritise the girls’ integration into society, support relevant institutions to help them reclaim their paused dream of acquiring education and provide proper psychosocial support to ensure their well-being.”
Ms Atuluku added that the girls must be protected against all forms of discrimination and called on authorities and traditional institutions close to their communities to assist them in their pursuit of happiness and reclaiming their dreams.
She said: “The girls’ education is critical for Nigeria. With the increasing levels of inequality and gender disparity in education especially in Northern Nigeria, the government therefore must deepen its effort at securing the release of the remaining Chibok girls and other women and girls who are still held captive by the insurgency.
“We call on the government to intensify its commitment to end the security challenge in the country and ensure that Nigerian children learn in an environment that is free from danger.”
The Football Writers Association (FWA) has voted Frenchman N’Golo Kante as the Footballer of the Year. The Chelsea midfielder pulled most votes among the 340-member organisation.
He beat his teammate Eden Hazard and the third placed Dele Ali of Tottenham to the award.
Kante is the fifth player in six seasons to compete with the award’s double, having last month been named the Player of Year by the Professional Football Association.
He said: “It’s was a huge honour to be chosen by the other players. It’s the biggest honour to get this award.”
Birmingham’s Jesse Carter was named Women’s Young Player of the year.
And English Premier League side, Arsenal, seems to be back in the push to qualify for the Champions League. The London side finally got the better of a side managed by José Mourinho, in a 2-0 win over Manchester United.
Arsene Wenger had failed to win any of his previous 14 competitive clashes against Mourinho, dating back to 2004. His only victory over his long time standing rival was in 2015 Community Shield when the Portuguese coach was in charge of Chelsea.
Sixth-placed Arsenal is now six points behind fourth-placed Manchester City with four games to play, while the Pep Guardiola side has three mathces remaining.
In a related development, Nigeria’s national basketball team, D’Tigers, has been drawn alongside Mali, Uganda and Rwanda in Group B for the 2019 FIBA World Cup qualifiers, scheduled to hold in China, from August 31 to September 15, 2017.
In a draw ceremony held at the Kantun Tower in Quanzou, China, Guinea, South Africa, Cameroon and Tunisia are drawn to battle for the sole ticket in Group A, while Congo, Egypt, Morocco and Angola will compete in Group C.
Group D houses Mozambique, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire and a yet-to-be-named team.
How can resilience indicators inform climate adaptation policy and practice in Nigeria?
How far do the resilience indicators and key markers reflect relevant factors in the Nigerian context?
How should resilience indicators and key markers be weighted to reflect climate resilience in Nigeria?
Participants at the validation workshop
These were the queries that participants at a recent forum in Lagos sought to unravel. They (the questions) appear to be the fulcrum of an ongoing study that is weighing the nexus between urbanisation and changing weather patterns in the country.
At the stakeholder validation workshop on a research themed: “Adaptation of Urban Infrastructure to enhance Climate Resilience in Nigeria” and held on Tuesday, April 25 2017, participants attempted to evaluate the present outcome and progress of the study.
The research is being conducted as a contribution to Theme “D” of the Urbanisation Research Nigeria (URN) programme, a four-year programme supported by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and conducted by the University of the West of England (UWE), Bristol.
The project, which focuses on urban land, planning and governance, seeks to contribute to an enhanced system of urban planning, management and governance in Nigeria. The research is utilising published documents, online data and information and data collected through workshops and surveys in Calabar and Makurdi.
The intention, according to project promoters, is to contribute to the evidence base for better urbanisation strategy, urban policy, and urban programming and management in the West African country.
Apart from Theme “D”, the other three themes of the programme are: Theme “A” – Urban change processes; Theme “B” – Urban economic growth and infrastructure; and Theme “C” – Well-being of urban citizens.
“This research will contribute to the development of guidelines and tools to assist decision making regarding sustainable urban infrastructural development in Nigeria. Specifically, the research will contribute towards reducing and managing the various effects of climate change on urban settlements and the people as well as build capacities of planning authorities to guide the safer growth of cities within the context of Nigerian culture,” says Dr Jessica Lamond of the UWE, who is the Research Team Leader.
Dr. Olalekan Adekola, another researcher involved in the programme, stresses that the purpose of the study is to explore the potential to adopt integrated approach to minimise the impacts of climate change on humans and the ecosystems that support habitation.
His words: “Nigeria faces various climate related threats which are likely to have enormous impacts on the urban areas and make it harder for Nigeria to achieve her developmental goals. These impacts will be especially significant for cities due to combination of factors including vulnerability of infrastructures to flooding; poor drainage facilitates and water stress and scarcity. Integrating climate change adaptation into urban management plans and policies will be critical in the years ahead.”
Besides the UWE, the team also comprises researchers from the University of Ibadan, University of Calabar, and the Kaduna-based Urban Base Consulting.
Preparing the Third National Communication (TNC) report presents enormous opportunity for the collection of relevant climate data that will help Nigeria to better plan its economy and also respond to global challenges of climate change and commitments.
Participants engaged in group work activity at the break-out session during the inception workshop for the preparation of Nigeria’s Third National Communication (TNC)
Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Environment, Dr. Shehu Ahmed, made the submission on Tuesday, May 2, 2017 in Keffi, Nasarawa State in an opening remark at the inception workshop for the preparation of the country’s TNC to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
According to him, the TNC should present an opportunity to transform the process from merely reporting to development of a strategic and policy support tool.
A National Communication is a report that each Party to the UNFCCC submits every four years to its secretariat. It provides information on emissions and removals of greenhouse gases (GHGs), information about the status of climate change in the country, and details of the activities a Party (country) has undertaken to implement the Convention.
Nigeria prepared and submitted its First (FNC) and Second National Communications (SNC) to the UNFCCC Secretariat in November 2003 and June 2014 respectively.
Director, Department of Climate Change in the Federal Ministry of Environment, Dr. Peter Tarfa, said in a welcome address at the two-day event that the purpose of preparing National Communications is to ascertain the level of GHG composition in the atmosphere, as well as the Vulnerability, Adaptation and Abatement analysis of impacts of climate change.
It also serves as a basis for reference on future auditing of GHG inventory in the country, he added, saying:
“As we are gearing up now for the preparation of the Third National Communication, we need data, more especially primary and spatial data to understand the processes at play and build projections we can trust. These are essential for sustainable development planning and strengthening resilience in our communities. Also, we need to fill the knowledge gap observed in the Biennial Update Reports (BUR) and the previous National Communications.”
Country Director, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Mandisa Mashologu, submitted that the TNC takes on a whole new significant meaning.
She said: “It is coming on the heels of the country’s active participation in the negotiations, ongoing development of a Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and ratification of Paris Agreement by the President, with which Nigeria has clearly demonstrated political will and commitment to tackling climate change.
“This is why a national institutional framework approach, which will ensure full participation of relevant MDAS in the identification of potential for options for GHG emissions reduction across all sectors, sourcing of the necessary data is being promoted to improve the quality and consistency of the data and ensure reliability.”
According to her, the UNDP, in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Environment has over the years invested in the preparation, collection and validation of data on GHG emissions which resulted in the successful preparation and submission of Nigeria’s First and Second National Communications to UNFCCC.
“The Third National Communications (TNC) will therefore be building on the strong national capacities developed with the support of UNDP and lessons learnt over the years,” she emphasised.
Dr. Ahmed reiterated the nation’s commitment to implementing the overall mandate of the climate change convention and its protocol.
“We will continue to work towards the provision of adequate budgetary allocation for climate change activities. This present administration acknowledges that inaction is even far more expensive as it will hinder the actualisation of Mr. President’s Change Mantra and the Sustainable Development Goals.”
Nigeria signed the Paris Agreement in September 2016, committing the country to pursue efforts towards its implementation. Also, it submitted a somewhat ambitious Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), now NDC, of a conditional commitment of 45%, and an unconditional commitment to further reduce GHG emissions by 20% by 2030.
Dr Ahmed stated: “Presently, activities towards the development of the sectoral plan for implementation of NDC are ongoing. Besides putting great efforts to access global climate finance through the development of a Nigeria National Readiness Plan for assessing the Green Climate Fund (GCF), we are developing pipeline of projects to be submitted to the GCF for funding.
“Moreover, we are interfacing with the National Assembly to develop a robust Legislative Framework to strengthen policy and actions on climate change and to provide measures that are developmental, evidence based, balanced and fully integrated in line with national aspirations.”
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Sunday, May 7, 2017 welcomed Saturday’s release of more than 80 of the Chibok schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram insurgents over three years ago.
“It is heartening to know that the girls will be returning to their families who have been waiting for this day. They will face a long and difficult process to rebuild their lives after the indescribable horror and trauma they have suffered at the hands of Boko Haram,” said UNICEF Nigeria Acting Representative, Pernille Ironside, in a statement.
She said UNICEF is on standby to support the Nigerian authorities to provide the comprehensive psychosocial support, help reunite the girls with their families and make sure they can continue their education in a safe environment.
“UNICEF calls on Boko Haram to end all grave violations against children, especially the abduction of children and the sexual abuse and forced marriage of girls,” she said.
