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Chemical weapons have been targeted at a number of civilian populations recently, leading some to assert that governments, including Syria and Sudan, have committed crimes under international law. The term chemical weapon is applied to any toxic chemical or its precursor that can cause death, injury, temporary incapacitation or sensory irritation through its chemical action. Children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of these kinds of weapons due to their small size and developing bodies, and they experience long-term negative effects more frequently and severely after such attacks.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that 20 children were among the 80 people killed when civilians were targeted by a chemical attack in a town in Idlib, northern Syria, on 4 April. Hundreds suffered symptoms consistent with reaction to a nerve agent, though the Syrian military denied using any chemical agents, and its ally Russia said an airstrike hit a rebel depot full of chemical munitions. One 14-year-old resident, who had just left her house when the attack took place, described to The New York Times how an aircraft dropped a bomb on a building a short distance away which produced an explosion like a yellow mushroom cloud, killing first responders. Evidence collected by Human Rights Watch suggests that several other chemical attacks have been carried out in the war-torn country, indicating “widespread and systematic” use of chemical weapons, including against civilians, meaning the attacks could meet the legal standard required to characterise them as crimes against humanity.
On 12 April, the UNSC failed to adopt a resolution that would have condemned the reported use of chemical weapons in Syria and called on the Government to cooperate with an investigation into the incident, after a ‘no’ vote from permanent member, Russia.
While the 4 April attack on Idlib generated worldwide outrage, chemical attacks in other parts of the world have gone virtually unnoticed. For example, according to an Amnesty International report released in late September, Sudanese government aircraft conducted at least 30 chemical attacks in the remote Jebel Marra region of Darfur last year. Based on testimony from caregivers and survivors, it said that as many as 250 people may have been killed.
Later, in March 2017, the organisation gathered evidence strongly suggesting the repeated use of chemical weapons against civilians, including very young children, in Jebel Marra. In the same month, the UN reported that 12 people were treated for possible chemical weapons exposure in Iraq, with five children receiving treatment for exposure to chemical agents which caused blisters, redness in the eyes, irritation, vomiting and coughing.
The new Special Representative of Secretary-General (SRSG) for Children and Armed conflict has been appointed by Secretary-General António Guterres. Virginia Gamba of Argentina replaces Leila Zerrougui, who had held the position since September 2012.
The SRSG reports yearly to the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council and raises challenges faced by children in war to political bodies, such as the United Nations Security Council, as well as relevant Governments to maintain a sense of urgency amongst key decision makers as well as to secure political and diplomatic engagement. The Special Representative also advises the SG on the armed groups or armed forces to include on his annual list of parties to a conflict who commit grave violations of children's rights.
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has called for accountability for "abhorrent" acts against children in Syria following a deadly bus bombing. The Committee's statement came in response to an attack on a convoy of crowded buses ferrying people out of rebel-held territory, believed to have killed more than 120 people, 68 of them now confirmed to have been children. Footage of the incident shows children gathering around a person giving out sweets just prior to the explosion. The Committee’s message lamented the fact that, yet again, “children are bearing the brunt of horrific attacks in Syria,” and called for all sides to fully cooperate with those investigating violations of international human rights law in the conflict. Benyam Dawit Mezmur, Chair of the Committee stressed that States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which includes Syria, have an obligation to prevent violations of international human rights and humanitarian laws and to take all possible measures to minimise the impact of the conflict in Syria on children. About 2.4 million children have been displaced since the start of the conflict and some 280,000 are living in besieged areas.
In a new report on conflict-related sexual violence, which has been prepared by the Office of the UN Special Representative on the issue, the Secretary-General stressed that survivors of sexual violence in war zones need to be recognised as victims of conflict and terrorism, and not blamed, stigmatised or shamed. Of particular concern in the report are childrenborn of rape, who “may themselves face a lifetime of marginalisation, owing to stigma and uncertain legal status”. The annual report reviews 13 conflict settings, four post-conflict countries and two additional situations of concern. It also lists government and non-government actors who are credibly suspected of committing or being responsible for patterns of rape or other forms of sexual violence. This year, for the first time since the Security Council created the position of the Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, there has been a delisting, with the removal of the Ivorian armed forces (FACI). The report is due to be presented to the Security Council on 15 May.
Half of health facilities in Yemen are now closed due to the effects war, leaving more than 14 million people with no access to health services. At least 7,719 people have been killed and 42,922 injured since 19 March 2015, the UN World Health Organization reported, but the actual numbers are believed to be higher. A shortage of medicines and specialised staff, such as surgeons, many of whom have fled the country has gutted the country’s health system, while the long-term impact of the conflict is also having detrimental effects on the country’s food system and infrastructure. Close to half-a-million children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition, with one out of every two children under the age of five stunted in their growth. UNICEF estimates that every 10 minutes, at least one child dies in Yemen as a result of preventable causes such as malnutrition, diarrhoea or respiratory tract infections, while many more are killed in airstrikes or recruited by armed groups.
As a result of many egregious children’s rights violations, Saudi Arabia was put on the UN Secretary-General’s ‘list of shame’ in 2016, a blacklist of the worst offenders when it comes to children’s rights, but removed again quickly, amidst allegations of diplomatic pressure. A large group of NGOs, including CRIN, called for the UN not to bow to pressure and to keep Saudi Arabia on the blacklist in June 2016. These calls were renewed in April 2017, when Save the Children and Watchlist on Childrenand Armed Conflict released a new report on the conflict, detailing evidence of many grave violations against children and demanded the return of the Kingdom to the blacklist.
Children were among a group of 61 people wounded when insurgents in southern Thailand detonated two bombs at the Big-C shopping centre in the city of Pattani this week. Police said the first bomb ripped through the entrance, followed soon after by a second bomb left in a vehicle, wounding scores but causing no deaths. A spokesman for UNICEF condemned the attack, noting that children were known to hang out at the centre, meaning that they were among the targets of the bombing. Since the escalation of their armed attacks in January 2004, Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) insurgents have committed numerous violations of the laws of war in Thailand. Of the more than 6,800 people killed in the ongoing armedconflict in the country’s southern provinces, about 90 percent have been civilians from the populations of ethnic Thai Buddhists and ethnic Malay Muslims.
Presenting the latest report of UN Secretary-General on the impact on children of armed conflict in the Philippines, the newly appointed Special Representative of Secretary-General (SRSG) for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba, highlighted significant progress in the protection of boys and girls, despite ongoing violations against children. Since 2009, when the Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) signed an action plan to halt and prevent the recruitment and use of children in the armed conflict, more than 1,850 children have been identified and formally disengaged, the UN reported. Despite noting progress, the report also highlighted that the killing and maiming of children in the Philippines remains a concern, as do attacks on schools and teachers. During the period examined by the report 24 schools were damaged by the conflictand the SRSG noted with great concern the high number of attacks on schools and teachers in indigenous communities since 2015. Access to education for over 17,000 children was affected during the reporting period and 31 schools were used for military purposes.
Dozens of teachers in Burkina Faso who went into hiding after receiving threats from Islamist militants have returned to their classrooms. Teachers in the country’s north, particularly near the border with Mali, began receiving threats in January and were told to change their secular curriculum to Koranic education and replace French with Arabic. Media reports have claimed that as many as 1,600 teachers fled after death threats and at least one killing, though government sources have said this number is an exaggeration. A teachers' union said militants had threatened or attacked teachers in at least four schools this year and some educators have claimed that their pupils received offers of money to join jihadist groups. Officials in Burkina Faso blame the deteriorating security climate in Mali for the threats, and explained that the country’s armed forces had carried out operations in the border areas in recent weeks to improve security.
The deadly results of an airstrike on a Syrian school have prompted further calls for children’s rights to be at the centre of peace talks. At least 33 people were killed in an airstrike which hit a school in a village west of the Islamic State-held Syrian city of Raqqa, according to a local monitoring group. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the building was being used as a shelter for displaced people when it was hit, claiming that the raid was carried out by US-led coalition jets. The attack followed a separate US strike on a mosque complex in the north-west of the country that killed at least 52 people. While earlier peace talks have so far failed to result in an end to hostilities a new round of negotiations is expected to begin on 16 May.
Children are still being killed, injured and subjected to sexual violence amid the conflict in South Sudan, according to a new UN report. Leila Zerrougui, former Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, noted in the final report of her mandate that fewer children have been recruited to fight in parts of Sudan, but added that grave violations continue to be committed by all parties to the conflict. The report details the impact of the armed conflict on children in Darfur, South Kordofan, Blue Nile and Abyei between March 2011 and December 2016. During that time, nearly 1,300 children were either killed or maimed in conflict as a result of hostilities between the Government and the armedgroups, with the majority of casualties coming from Darfur, according to the report. Rape and sexual violence were also a major concern in Darfur, where the UN confirmed at least 372 children were victims. The report also noted that cross-border recruitment and use of children by Sudanese and South Sudanese groups remains a concern, despite the government of Sudan strengthening its national framework to protect children and raising the minimum recruitment age for national forces to 18.
Children in north-eastern Nigeria continue to be subject to grave rights violations as a result of Boko Haram’s insurgency in the region, according to the UN. The latest report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Nigeria found that at least 3,900 children had been killed and 7,200 maimed between January 2013 and December 2016 amid confrontations between armed groups and Nigerian security forces. The report documents widespread abuses of children’s rights, including recruitment and use as soldiers, abductions, sexual violence, attacks on schools and an increasing use of children in so-called “suicide” attacks. In the second half of 2014 and the beginning of 2015, Boko Haram intensified its offensive and changed tactics from hit-and-run attacks on public institutions to attacking towns and villages and holding territory. From mid-2015 to the end of the reporting period, as Boko Haram elements were pushed back by the Nigerian security forces, they reverted to hit-and-run attacks, more frequently using girls in so-called suicide bombings and using improvised explosive devices as landmines.
The report was published as news emerged that Boko Haram had released 82 of the schoolgirls who were kidnapped in Chibok three years ago in exchange for prisoners. The exchange was brokered by the Swiss government and the International Commission of the Red Cross, which had helped secure the release of more than 20 girls last October. While the case of the Chibok girls is the most high profile in the country, Boko Haram has abducted thousands of adults and children, whose cases have so far been neglected. The Boko Haram insurgency is now in its eighth year and has claimed more than 20,000 lives, with thousands more kidnapped, raped and used to carry bombs, become militants or brides.
Refugee and migrant children fleeing to safety in Europe face greater risks of deportation, detention, exploitation and deprivation one year after the Balkan border closures and the European Union-Turkey deal, according to UNICEF. The measures were aimed at stopping mass migration flows and refugee and migrant children from reaching Europe, and while there has been a major decrease in the overall numbers of children travelling to Europe since last March, the situation for the children is likely to have become more precarious. Border closures and the EU-Turkey deal have led to children and families embarking on even more dangerous and irregular routes with smugglers, as UNICEF and partners warned a year ago. “It has become a vicious circle – children flee suffering, and they end up either fleeing again, or facing de facto detention, or just utter neglect,” underscored Afshan Khan, UNICEF Regional Director and Special Coordinator for the Refugee and Migrant Crisis in Europe.
More than one million children have fled South Sudan because of escalating conflict, while a similar number of children are also displaced within the country, the UN has said. Senior UN refugee agency official Valentin Tapsoba described the current South Sudan refugee crisis as the most worrying in the world. The world's newest nation has been wracked with civil war, which has seen ethnic cleansing and numerous atrocities take place since 2013. Children make up 62 percent of the nearly two million people who have fled to neighbouring countries since the civil war started, according to the latest UN figures. The continued strife is taking its toll on the most vulnerable through trauma, fear, stress and physical upheaval. Furthermore, nearly three-quarters of the country's children are currently out of school — the highest proportion of out-of-school children in the world.
More than 11,000 people have fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and sought refuge in neighbouring Angola following a spike of violence in the Kasai Province. Refugees reported that they were fleeing attacks from militia groups, who are targeting police, military officials, and civilians who they believe are supporting or representing the government. UNICEF staff have reported that hundreds of children have been injured in the violence, with some detained, raped, and even executed. UNICEF reported that 2,000 children were being used by militias and that more than 350 schools had been destroyed during the course of the conflict. The health of children is also a serious concern. UNICEF estimates that one in three health centres in the province are no longer functioning, while the UN refugee agency continues to report children arriving in Angola suffering from diarrhoea, fever and malaria. Two children are reported to have already died from severe malnutrition. The brutal conflict in the previously peaceful Kasai region has displaced more than one million civilians from the country since it began in mid-2016.
Around 425,000 people have been uprooted by fighting and 465,000 have fled to neighbouring countries from Central African Republic (CAR), with half of those displaced being children. More than 40 percent of children in the country are suffering from chronic malnutrition, one in seven will die before they turn five, and a third are out of school, according to figures from UNICEF. The country's humanitarian response plan for 2017 has only raised $47 million of a requested $400 million to date. Five international aid agencies have also temporarily suspended their operations in northern CAR due to attacks on aid workers by armed groups, while others have scaled back their work. The country has been plagued by conflict since March 2013, when mainly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power, triggering reprisals by Christian "anti-balaka" militias. The Seleka and other groups have since splintered, prompting further violence. A UNICEF spokesperson said that the situation for children inside the country is “calamitous as violence and widespread displacement have made childrenespecially vulnerable to health risks, exploitation and abuse”.
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Closing
"A scene of devastation, blanketed with grey dust, stretches into the distance in eerie silence. Walls riddled with bullets, buildings collapsing in on themselves, external walls blown away to reveal an intimate view of a bedroom or living room, streets blocked by piles of rubble. These sickening images of destruction – filmed from above by drones and shared on social media – probably best symbolize the current resurgence in urban warfare. Other images come to mind: bombed-out hospitals, children being pulled from wreckage, snipers roaming the maze of tunnels and walkways that have been blasted through the walls of now-uninhabited houses."
- Vincent Bernard, editor in chief of the International Review of the Red Cross for the editorial of the 2017 edition of the International review.
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The Committee on the Rights of the Child will hold its 75th session from 15 May to 2 June and is reviewing Bhutan and the United States under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. You can find all the documents relevant to the session here.
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