7 November 2007 - CRIN Children and Armed Conflict 113
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PAKISTAN: Education the first casualty in Swat [news]
MYANMAR/BURMA: Sold to Be Soldiers: The recruitment and use of child soldiers [publication]
AFGHANISTAN: Child Alert [report]
COLOMBIA: Child rights update [report]
USA: Legislation proposed to combat violence against women and girls [news]
UK: Legal Services Commission failing to support torture surviving children [news]
**NEWS IN BRIEF**
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PAKISTAN: Education the first casualty in Swat [news]
[ISLAMABAD, 26 October 2007] - Teachers and educators working in Pakistan's Swat valley have expressed concern over growing insecurity in the area, after a fresh round of violence hit the once idyllic valley in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).
"If this situation continues, it is going to have an adverse effect on education," commented Mohammad Iqbal, principal of the Degree College for Boys, in Mingora - the largest city in the Swat district, about 2km from Saidu Sharif, the capital. His comments followed a massive bomb attack against a security forces convoy near Mingora on 25 October, in which as many as 30 people were killed, mostly members of the security forces, and one day after 2,500 troops were deployed to the area. Scores of people were also injured in the attack, many of whom were civilians.
The attack was the latest in a wave of strikes targeting the military since government troops stormed Islamabad's Red Mosque, whose religious scholars and students had campaigned to enforce Sharia law in the capital. The battle for the mosque and its adjacent Islamic school ended on 11 July after a bloody week-long siege which killed more than 100.
"These attacks seem to be the direct result of the brewing militancy we have witnessed in the last months," said Badar Zaman of the Swat Youth Front (SYF), a local NGO running 39 community primary schools for girls.
Noted for its beauty, Swat has become a hotbed for Islamist militancy, which many fear will have a lasting effect. Much of the violence is directed at eradicating women's already very restricted public space. Educational institutions were instructed to remain closed on 24 and 25 October due to expected unrest, but this is becoming the norm in Swat these days.
Girls' education is suffering
Ongoing reports of parents pulling their children out of schools, particularly girls, highlight residents' concerns. The SYF is already reeling from the crises because its focus is on girls' education in the area. "We have had to ask the women field workers to go on extended leave. In such a hostile environment, mobilising parents to send their daughters to school becomes a long, drawn-out process and just when we think we've found a toehold, it all comes tumbling down and we're back to square one," said a clearly frustrated Zaman.
After a new directive from pro-Taliban elements in the area ordering institutions to make the burqa mandatory for all school-age girls, attendance has dropped further. Farkhanda Saifullah, principal of the Public-Private Collaboration Girls' College, says: "There is some resistance from older college girls." Colleagues have informed her that the education department has ordered all public institutions to ensure these directives are followed, Saifullah added.
The Sangota Public School for Girls, just 10 minutes' walk from Mingora and the only Christian missionary school in Swat since 1965, has also been targeted. "Like all the other schools, we, too, received that threatening letter in September asking us to make the burqa compulsory, otherwise the school would be attacked," informed Sister Seema, the school principal, who continues wearing her habit, even outside the school's premises. After the warning, the school was closed for a week but re-opened with "quite a few young girls - some as young as 12 and 13 - wearing the burqa, although a dozen have dropped out", Seema added.
With burqas costing between US$10 and $12 each, many girls from poorer families are unable to afford them and so have no option but to abandon their education. However, unlike other schools in the area, Sangota has also been directed to dismiss three Christian teachers. "This hurt the most," said Seema, who feels that "faith has been allowed to come as a deterrent to education".
According to Saifullah, areas under the direct influence of Maulana Fazalullah, a pro-Taliban cleric who has gathered a huge following, are the worst affected. "In [small towns like] Manglor, Kabal, Mata and Dehri, there has been a 30 percent increase in drop-out rates among girls attending schools," she said, adding: "Whenever a school receives a threatening letter, absenteeism in all the schools in the area rises." Although Fazalullah has never openly ordered his followers to stop sending girls to school, many parents have done so of their own accord, preferring to send them to the cleric's madrassa (religious school), which he is building.
[Source: IRIN]
Further information
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MYANMAR/BURMA: Sold to Be Soldiers: The recruitment and use of child soldiers [publication]
[NEW YORK, 31 October 2007] – Facing a military staffing crisis, the Burmese government is forcibly recruiting many children, some as young as age 10, into its armed forces, Human Rights Watch said in a new report.
Burmese military recruiters target children in order to meet unrelenting demands for new recruits due to continued army expansion, high desertion rates and a lack of willing volunteers. Non-state armed groups, including ethnic-based insurgent groups, also recruit and use child soldiers, though in far smaller numbers.
“The brutality of Burma’s military government goes beyond its violent crackdown on peaceful protestors,” said Jo Becker, children’s rights advocate for Human Rights Watch. “Military recruiters are literally buying and selling children to fill the ranks of the Burmese armed forces.”
Based on an investigation in Burma, Thailand and China, the 135-page report, “Sold to Be Soldiers: The Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers in Burma,” found that military recruiters and civilian brokers receive cash payments and other incentives for each new recruit, even if the recruit clearly violates minimum age or health standards.
One boy told Human Rights Watch that he was forcibly recruited at age 11, despite being only 1.3 meters tall (4’3”) and weighing less than 31 kilograms (70 pounds). Officers at recruitment centers routinely falsify enlistment records to list children as 18, the minimum legal age for recruitment.
Recruiters target children at train and bus stations, markets and other public places, and often threaten them with arrest if they refuse to join the army. Some children are beaten until they agree to “volunteer.”
Children trafficked 'at will'
“The government’s senior generals tolerate the blatant recruitment of children and fail to punish perpetrators,” said Becker. “In this environment, army recruiters traffic children at will.”
Child soldiers typically receive 18 weeks of military training. Some are sent into combat situations within days of their deployment to battalions. Child soldiers are sometimes forced to participate in human rights abuses, such as burning villages and using civilians for forced labour. Those who attempt to escape or desert are beaten, forcibly re-recruited or imprisoned.
All of the former soldiers interviewed by Human Rights Watch reported the presence of children in their training units. Thousands of children are present in the army’s ranks, although their prevalence varies considerably by battalion. Particularly in some newly formed battalions, children reportedly constitute a large percentage of privates.
Human Rights Watch expressed concern that the military’s recent crackdown on monks and civilian demonstrators may make children even more vulnerable to recruitment.
“Even before the recent crackdown, many young adults rejected military service because of grueling conditions, low pay and mistreatment by superior officers,” said Becker. “After deploying its soldiers against Buddhist monks and other peaceful demonstrators, the government may find it even harder to find willing volunteers.”
In 2004, the military government, known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), created a high-level committee to prevent the recruitment of children into the military. However, Human Rights Watch found that in practice the committee has failed to effectively address the issue and devoted most of its efforts to denouncing outside reports of child recruitment. As recently as September, the state-run media announced that the government was working to reveal that accusations of child soldier use were “totally untrue.”
Government efforts 'a sham'
“The government’s committee to address child recruitment is a sham,” said Becker. “Instead of denouncing credible reports of child recruitment, the government must address the issue head-on. It needs to demobilise all of the children in its forces, and end all recruitment of children.”
The majority of Burma’s 30 or more non-state armed groups reportedly also recruit and use child soldiers, though in far smaller numbers. Human Rights Watch examined the policies and practices of 12 armed groups and found that some, like the Karenni Army and Karen National Liberation Army, have taken measures to reduce the numbers of children in their forces.
But others, including the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, United Wa State Army and Karenni Nationalities People’s Liberation Front, continue to recruit and use children, sometimes by imposing recruitment quotas on local villages. Child soldiers in the armed forces of these groups may be as young as 11 or 12. While some armed groups restrict child soldiers to duties in their camps, others deploy child soldiers into combat situations.
In the coming weeks, the United Nations Security Council’s working group on children and armed conflict will consider violations against children in Burma, including the use and recruitment of child soldiers. The UN secretary-general has already identified Burma’s national armed forces in four consecutive reports to the Security Council for violating international laws prohibiting the use of child soldiers. The secretary-general has also listed several armed opposition groups as violators.
The Security Council has stated repeatedly that it will consider targeted sanctions, including embargoes of arms and other military assistance, against parties on the secretary-general’s list that refuse to end their use of children as soldiers. So far, it has taken no action in the case of Burma.
Human Rights Watch recommended that the Security Council consider imposing measures including bans on the supply of arms and military assistance, travel restrictions on SPDC leaders, and restrictions on the flow of financial resources to the SPDC.
“The Security Council should fulfill its pledge to hold violators to account for recruiting and using child soldiers,” said Becker. “Given Burma’s abysmal record on child soldiers, sanctions against the Burmese military government are clearly warranted.”
Testimony from the report
“They filled the forms and asked my age, and when I said 16, I was slapped and he said, ‘You are 18. Answer 18.’ He asked me again and I said, ‘But that’s my true age.’ The sergeant asked, ‘Then why did you enlist in the army?’ I said, ‘Against my will. I was captured.’ He said, ‘Okay, keep your mouth shut then,’ and he filled in the form. I just wanted to go back home and I told them, but they refused. I said, ‘Then please just let me make one phone call,’ but they refused that too.”
—Maung Zaw Oo, describing the second time he was forced into the army, in 2005
“The officers are corrupt and the battalions have to get recruits, so there’s a business. The battalions bribe the recruiting officers to get recruits for them. These are mostly underage recruits, but the recruiting officers fill out the forms for them and say they’re 18.”
—Than Myint Oo, forcibly recruited twice as a child
“I can’t remember how old I was the first time in fighting. About 13. That time we walked into a Karenni ambush, and four of our soldiers died. I was afraid because I was very young so I tried to run back, but [the] captain shouted, ‘Don’t run back! If you run back I’ll shoot you myself!’”
—Aung Zaw, describing his first exposure to combat
To read the full Human Rights Watch report (the above links to a summary and recommendations), visit: http://hrw.org/reports/2007/burma1007/
Further information
For more information, contact:
Human Rights Watch
350 Fifth Avenue, 34th floor, New York, NY 10118-3299, USA
Tel: + 1 212 216 1837; Fax: + 1 212 736 1300
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.hrw.org
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=15313
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AFGHANISTAN: Child Alert [report]
From time to time, and for countries and regions where children are most at risk, UNICEF produces emergency reports known as Child Alerts. Child Alert: Afghanistan was written by Martin Bell, UNICEF Ambassador for Humanitarian Emergencies, following an assignment to Afghanistan during July and August 2007. He was formerly a BBC war reporter and an Independent Member of the British Parliament.
[25 October 2007] - A child's first right is the right to life. This is being denied in Afghanistan on an ever-increasing scale.
In a war among the people, children may be more in the line of fire than any group except the fighters themselves, and they are often at even greater risk than the fighters. Children are easy targets. They are inquisitive and curious. They play on streets and gather in crowded places. They are especially vulnerable to two insurgent techniques utilized in Iraq and then in Afghanistan: suicide bombings and improvised explosive devices, also called roadside bombs.
Through centuries of warfare, the suicide bomber was unknown in Afghanistan. But suicide bombings are now used regularly by the Taliban and other insurgents, sometimes in assassination attempts but usually against international military vehicles and convoys. It is a common feature of attacks on convoys that the casualties are higher among civilian bystanders, especially children, than among the intended targets. The soldiers are armed, travelling in armoured vehicles and protected by their body armour. The children have no protection.
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On 15 June 2007, in Tirin Kot, Uruzgan Province, 12 children were killed when a suicide bomber rammed his car into an international military convoy near a school playground.
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On 19 March 2007, in Kabul, a 14-year-old child was killed during an attack on an American convoy.
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On 8 March 2007, in Kandahar, three children were injured when a suicide bomber targeted a Canadian military convoy. One week later, another child was killed in a similar attack.
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On 21 November 2006, in Khost, four children were injured when a suicide bomber attacked NATO soldiers who were handing out sweets to children.
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On 17 October 2006, in Lashkar Gar, Helmand Province, two children were killed during an attack on a British patrol.
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On 28 August 2006, also in Lashkar Gar, a bomb exploded in a crowded bazaar, killing 15 people and wounding 47, including 15 children.
But not only the Taliban and other insurgents are doing the fighting, and concerns extend to the operations of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which supports the Afghan Government. Of the 37 nations in ISAF, it is principally Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States that are engaged in combat in the south and east of Afghanistan. Their intensive use of air power in support of ground troops, whose numbers are limited, is putting children at risk. The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission believes that neither side has respected the laws of armed conflict and that children in particular are more vulnerable than they have been at any time during the war. The Commission's records include, for example, an account of a two-day battle in Helmand Province, in June 2007, during which the Taliban were engaged in action against the combined forces of ISAF and Afghan soldiers and police. Neither side appeared to suffer any casualties, but air strikes claimed the lives of 27 civilians, including 17 children.
ISAF spokespersons have accused the Taliban of deliberately operating among civilians and using schools as bases and children as human shields. The NATO countries are signatories of the Geneva Conventions, which commit them to the protection of civilians in armed conflict. The Taliban, of course, have not signed any international treaty or convention.
ISAF maintains that it does not target civilians or practise wide-area bombing. Its aircraft are called in by field commanders against known Taliban positions, and its munitions are directed as precisely as possible to hit them. It admits, however, that some civilian casualties are inevitable and has expressed regret for these casualties.
For more information, contact:
UNICEF
H-9, 3 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017, USA
Tel: + 1 212 824 6127
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.unicef.org
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=15383&flag=report
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COLOMBIA: Child rights update [report]
[AMSTERDAM, 5 November 2007] - The Colombian Coalition to stop the use of child soldiers has issued an alarming report about the situation of children in five areas of Colombia. Murder, sexual abuse, occupation of schools by armed militias, forced recruitment and the process of demobilising minors from illegal armed groups have been reported in Chocó, Putumayo, Cauca, the Caribbean coast and the city of Medellín.
Children in serious jeopardy
The civil war between guerrillas, paramilitary groups and the government army, already raging for over forty years, presents a serious threat to child development. The study shows that a large number of children and youths were killed in 2006 and 2007. It also reveals that young Afro-Colombians were routinely murdered by paramilitaries and guerrilla fighters. In addition, both girls and boys were routinely subjected to sexual abuse and violent treatment at the hands of armed factions.
Militarised environment
The report also states that Colombian children are growing up in an environment characterised by violence and militarism. It refers to schools that are occupied and used for military purposes. One school in Putumayo, for example, serves as a helipad, while a school in Chocó has been converted into a military base. In addition, many schools are surrounded by mines or military posts. This presents a serious threat to the personal integrity of the children.
Child recruitment
An estimated 14,000 child soldiers have been recruited in Columbia by the various armed factions. Despite the prohibition on involving children as child soldiers, the report states that the FARC/EP guerrilla movement still practises large-scale recruitment of children and youths. They kidnap minors and force them to fight. Recruitment of minors also continues on by the paramilitaries. Demobilised fighters do not always reintegrate into society, instead they regroup in criminal gangs. The risk that the violence in Colombia will continue to spread is therefore increasing.
Demobilisation of minors is lacking
According to figures from Human Rights Watch, approximately 20 per cent of the paramilitary factions consist of minors. However, only a small percentage of children enter the demobilisation process. A total of 40,000 paramilitaries were demobilised between 2002 and June 2007, only 1024 of whom were children. That means that thousands of children are not gaining access to the demobilisation and reintegration process and simply have to manage on their own. The reason for this is that many paramilitary factions send the children away before they themselves disarm, as using child soldiers is punishable by law. These 'released' children are very likely to return to armed factions for lack of alternative prospects.
Good reintegration essential
One in every five children does not complete the reintegration process. Of the 1024 children who were demobilised, 212 children left the process, according to the Coalition's report. One of the causes may be that the standard demobilisation programme used by the Colombian government does not always correspond to how children see the world. In response, they run away, often returning to illegal armed groups. War Child believes that a lower drop-out rate is possible. On the basis of results achieved by programmes run by its local partners Corporación Juan Bosco, Taller de Vida and Enseñame a Pescar, War Child advises the Colombia government to focus more attention on psychosocial support and to allow options for an individual approach. Most young people receiving guidance from War Child Holland's partner organisations are able to find a place in society again.
Read the report in Spanish here
[Source of press release: War Child Holland]
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?id=15367
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USA: Legislation proposed to combat violence against women and girls [news]
Acts of violence against women and girls occur every day around the world. Rape continues to be used as a tool of war to terrorise women and girls and tear apart communities. US Senators Joseph Biden (D-DE) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) recently introduced bipartisan legislation, S. 2279, which would make efforts to address gender-based violence a key priority in US foreign assistance programmes.
This legislation is especially important for women and girls in war-torn areas who are so vulnerable to rape and sexual abuse. Horrific levels of sexual violence have been witnessed in a number of conflicts, including Bosnia-Herzegovina, Darfur, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The International Violence Against Women Act contains a number of important provisions aimed at increasing services for survivors of gender-based violence and improving prevention and protection programmes.
Recent reports detailing unimaginable brutality against women and girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo are a tragic reminder of the urgent need for concrete action.
For more information about the Act, contact:
Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children
122 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10168, USA
Tel: +1 (212) 551 3115
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.womenscommission.org
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?id=15386
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UK: Legal Services Commission failing to support torture surviving children [news]
[LONDON, 5 November 2007] - Children who have survived torture and who are unaccompanied asylum seekers in the UK are at risk of further traumatisation and return to the very countries they fled because of a lack of access to appropriate legal representation.
The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture reiterated its calls for specialist legal representation for unaccompanied asylum seeking children after the head of the Legal Services Commission shrugged off criticisms that they were being failed by the system.
Carolyn Regan told the Law Gazette that the "many legal advisers" working with children were some of the "highest-quality practitioners". Her comments were made in response to a new report from the Children's Society exposing a major shortage in lawyers skilled in both immigration and children's law.
Syd Bolton, Children's Legal and Policy Officer at the MF, said Regan's comments ignored the experiences of children seen by the MF. Her comments also contradicted assurances given to the MF by her organisation that it would seek to improve the quality of legally aided advice for asylum seeking children.
"Currently, there is no specialist training for legal representatives working with children seeking asylum in the UK, let alone for those working with children who have survived torture," said Mr Bolton.
"Very few legal representatives prepare a case for a child in a child specific and appropriate way, whether that's how they take statements from children or how they understand the legal differences between a child and an adult asylum seeker.
"There are many children who we come across whose lawyers close their cases having decided that their case doesn't have sufficient prospects of success to be represented at a tribunal.
"In coming to that conclusion, many representatives are misapplying the Controlled Legal Representation (CLR) merits test. The fact that a merits test exists at all for children undermines the principle that all children should have legal representation throughout proceedings, irrespective of the outcome of their claim, to ensure they have an effective voice throughout their case. Merits tests and success rate targets put undue pressure on lawyers to ditch cases that are assessed as being potentially unsuccessful."
Children's cases can often be passed between several different lawyers before a successful outcome. Those who are refused asylum but granted short periods of discretionary leave to remain in the UK can then find themselves placed in an adult process by the time a decision is made on their case, with no due consideration for the fact that they were tortured as a child and applied for asylum as a child.
Mr Bolton added: "We want all claims where children are involved to continue to be treated procedurally and evidentially as children. They should also have a legal guardian whose duty it is to ensure that the child has effective legal representation from day one until the final outcome of the case."
Last year, the MF received some 160 new referrals of children fleeing almost 20 different countries.
[Source: Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture]
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=15384&flag=news
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**NEWS IN BRIEF**
Committee on the Rights of the Child: Concluding Observations for 46th Session OPAC reports (8 October 2007)
http://www.crin.org/email/crinmail_detail.asp?crinmailID=2462#com
DRC: Children flee forced recruitment and sexual violence by Nkunda’s forces (23 October 2007)
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=15234&flag=news
Africa: Girls in Fighting Forces - Moving beyond victimhood (October 2007)
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=15171&flag=report
Southeast Asia: Children Caught in Conflicts - The impact of armed conflict on children (October 2007)
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=15172&flag=report
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