These need to be confronted. Canada has been active in this undertaking through co-operation at the federal and provincial levels and with employers' associations and labour organizations. We hope the Convention will be adopted next year. It will help set the international standard against which countries can be assessed. We are supporting the ILO in other ways.
Armed conflict poses a devastating, brutal threat to children's security.
In the new world disorder, they are the victims, targets and instruments of war. The UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, reinforced this in his report last month. In almost one-third of the world's countries, children are suffering from the effects of conflict and its aftermath. Canada's approach is multidimensional. We are working to develop international standards to apply to war-affected children, including child soldiers.