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Children were deliberately targeted in the latest flare of violence in Central African Republic (CAR) that killed three dozen people and wounded more than a hundred in the capital Bangui, according to UNICEF. Preliminary reports indicate that three boys aged between 16 and 17 were brutally killed, including one who was decapitated, while at least two boys and two girls between the ages of 7 and 17 were wounded by gunshots or grenade fragments. A peace deal was signed in May between the mostly Muslim Séléka rebels and the Christian anti-balaka militia, but a recent bout of revenge killings has resulted in a growing crisis in the country. Reports of armed groups attacking schools and using them as bases have recently been documented. In one particular incident in a high school near Bangui, students were "allegedly used as human shields" when an armed group attacked peacekeeping troops close by.
Paramilitaries in the Philippines have repeatedly attacked indigenous villages and schools in the southern region of Mindanao while the country’s military stood by, according to Human Rights Watch. These groups have committed killings, torture, and harassment of students and educators with impunity. Elements of the military were reportedly nearby when the Alamara group carried out attacks in Davao del Norte. In some instances, the troops accompanied paramilitaries as they harassed students and teachers of a tribal school in the town of Talaingod.
The violence between Israelis and Palestinians have escalated since the shooting of two Israeli settlers in the West Bank on 1 October. Israeli security forces and some civilians have injured more than 1,300 Palestinians and killed 21 others, several of them children, including a 13-year-old boy. Three Israeli civilians and one soldier in civilian clothing were killed and at least 28 others were wounded by Palestinians, according to Israeli police and military. Five of the suspected Palestinian assailants were shot to death. According to journalist Mairav Zonszein, “this current round of violence may seem shocking but it is no anomaly: it is a direct result of government policy determined to normalise Israel’s occupation, now nearly 50 years old. [...] There will never be quiet as long as one group of citizens are forced to live without rights, and with no way out.” Read the full article.
France's first airstrike on Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria killed 30 people, including 12 children used as soldiers, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the raid, which destroyed camps in the province of Deir al-Zour, was carried out in self-defence, saying that France had evidence that foreign fighters were being trained in the camps to carry out attacks in Europe and in France specifically. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, since the beginning of 2015, IS has recruited more than 1,100 children. Children are known to have been used in a number of the group’s activities, including manning checkpoints, gathering intelligence from areas outside IS’ control, the execution of prisoners and suicide bombings. So far this year IS has used at least eight children as suicide bombers, and over 50 child soldiers have been killed.
A report on Sri Lanka released last month by the UN human rights office found a “horrific level of violations and abuses” between 2002 and 2011 and presented evidence of violations by government forces, pro-government paramilitaries and the separatist Tamil Tigers (LTTE) “that are among the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole”. These include indiscriminate shelling, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture and sexual violence, recruitment of children and the denial of humanitarian assistance. The report confirms accounts from victims and survivors of systematic war crimes committed during the final, brutal months of the civil war and immediate aftermath. The investigation documented extensive recruitment and use of children by armed groups, including the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Information gathered also suggests that government security forces may have known that the Karuna Group recruited children in areas under its control. The report recommended the establishment of an ad hoc hybrid special court, integrating international judges, prosecutors, lawyers and investigators, to give victims confidence in the independence and impartiality of this process.
In Burundi, 51 children are still detained after being arrested last July during fighting between armed groups and government forces in the town of Bukinanyana. They are being held in a prison for adults and have no contact with their families. According to a local organisation, 14 of these children were tried with no access to legal assistance and sentenced to two years in prison for their "involvement with armed groups".
For the fifth year in a row, the Obama Administration announced that a number of countries included on the Child Soldiers Prevention Act list of 2015 would continue to receive military assistance from the United States. The Act bans arms sales and assistance to countries using children in their militaries. Among the States on the list are the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, and Somalia, which were issued full waivers, while South Sudan received a partial waiver. The governments were included on the list for their use of or support for groups that recruit and use child soldiers. According to research by Human Rights Watch and the Stimson Center, since the Act took effect in 2010, the Obama Administration’s use of “national interest” waivers has resulted in the authorisation of nearly US$1 billion in military assistance and arms for countries that have appeared on the list, compared to only $35 million withheld.
A United States policy in Afghanistan to ignore child sexual abuse by Afghan forces recently came under scrutiny, as US soldiers decided to speak out. The soldiers were instructed to ignore the sexual abuse of boys by Afghan allies, even when it occurred on military bases. The policy of looking the other way was designed to maintain good standing with the US-trained Afghan police and militia. In some cases, the US ended up arming suspected child abusers. Some soldiers who disobeyed those orders now see their military careers at risk.
The Houthi rebels in Yemen have signed a deal with the UN, accepting the seven-point peace plan brokered by the international body during talks in Muscat, Oman. The UN estimates that more than 400 children have been killed, and more than 600 injured since March. The country’s latest round of violence started at the end of 2014 when Houthi rebels seized the capital Sana’a and escalated with the launch of airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition. The Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict, Leila Zerrougui stated that the high level of child casualties “indicates a failure by the parties to conflict to distinguish between civilian and military objects, and to take precautionary measures to avoid and minimise civilian casualties.” Christophe Boulierac, spokesman for UNICEF confirmed that both armed groups and armed forces are using children. According to UN estimates, children form nearly a third of the Houthi militants’ force. Most are aged between 12 and 17 years old.
After more than six decades of internal armed conflict, the coming weeks could be decisive for Myanmar’s peace process as preparations are underway for the general elections on 8 November. It will be the country's first general elections since a nominally civilian government was introduced in 2011, ending nearly 50 years of military rule. The peace process was launched in August 2011 and enjoyed significant initial success, as bilateral ceasefires were agreed with more than a dozen ethnic armed groups. But signing a nationwide ceasefire and proceeding to the political dialogue phase has been much more difficult. 'Read a full analysis of the peace process'. Myanmar has been plagued by civil war since the end of British colonial rule in 1948. Children have been widely used in the conflict by both state armed forces and non-state armed groups. According to Child Soldiers International, hundreds of boys have been recruited - often forcibly - into the national army and deployed to areas where state forces have been fighting armed opposition groups. The 2015 report of the UN Secretary-General on children and armed conflict documented a total of 357 cases of child recruitment in 2014.
The agreement on transitional justice reached by the government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) anticipates the termination of the 51-year armed conflict. In an unprecedented personal meeting, President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC’s maximum leader, Rodrigo Londoño Echeverri ("Timochenko"), agreed that a final peace agreement would be signed within six months. The agreement establishes a Special Peace Jurisdiction, formed around courts that will be set up to try those considered to have been responsible for the most serious and representative crimes committed during the conflict. Those who cooperate with this judicial system and acknowledge past wrongdoings would, if convicted, serve between five and eight years under special conditions. According to Human Rights Watch, while the Special Jurisdiction for Peace would create important incentives for violators to confess their crimes, it would also deny justice to thousands of victims of grave violations of human rights and humanitarian law by allowing those responsible for mass atrocities to avoid spending any time in prison.
The internal armed conflict in Colombia resulted in many serious human rights abuses by all parties involved. All armed actors have threatened and attacked human rights defenders, journalists, and minorities including indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities. Human rights violations committed by guerrillas, paramilitaries and their successors include extra judicial executions, enforced disappearances, rape and sexual violence and the recruitment and use of children into the armed groups. Read CRIN’s background on the conflict in Colombia.
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Closing
“Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest serving prime minister [...] has continued to entrench a reality in which Palestinians and Israelis who live side by side are subject to different laws and courts, use separate roads and have unequal access to basic necessities such as water and housing; where settler violence goes unchecked and discrimination is increasingly institutionalised; and where not only is there no recognition of the Palestinian right to statehood, but next to no recognition of Palestinian rights, period. Palestinians are under constant daily threat of losing their lives, homes, income, lands and dignity. [...]Israelis have lived in perpetual conflict since the state was established, with fleeting periods of calm, some longer than others. The relative quiet experienced by Israelis in the last decade since the second intifada convinced many that the status quo could continue without consequences. But the notion that there will ever be quiet and stability in the context of Israel’s ongoing domination of the Palestinians with no diplomatic horizon is a delusion. The critical question, then, is how much more violence will it take for Israelis to realise the path they are going on promises them a bleak future?”
Mairav Zonszein, “Israel’s domination of Palestinians makes violence inevitable”, published in The Guardian on 11 October 2015.
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