31 March 2008 - CRIN Children and Armed Conflict 117
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**NEWS IN BRIEF**
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UN: Rights Council fails victims in Congo [news]
[GENEVA, 27 March 2008] – The UN Human Rights Council’s failure to renew the mandate of the expert for the Democratic Republic of Congo is a betrayal of its responsibilities toward the Congolese people, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.
“The Human Rights Council put politics before people by deciding not to renew the expert mandate on the Congo,” said Juliette de Rivero, Geneva advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “Downgrading the Council’s work in Congo despite the recent rapes and killings is inexplicable and could have tragic consequences.”
The move to discontinue the mandate for an expert on the Democratic Republic of Congo was led by Egypt as coordinator of the African group. The African group has taken the position that human rights experts should only be appointed by the Human Rights Council when the government of the country at issue agrees the situation warrants such attention. This approach rewards non-cooperation with the Council, Human Rights Watch said, and gives States responsible for serious human rights violations a veto over the Council’s ability to fulfill its mandate.
Council members must 'show some backbone'
In the past months, Congo’s President Joseph Kabila had privately indicated his support to diplomats for the renewal of the expert mandate. That pledge was not translated into action, however, and Congolese officials in Geneva lobbied for the mandate to end. Despite initial support for the mandate, European Union Member States agreed to abandon it for a weak compromise that provides for a discussion on the human rights situation in Congo at the Council only in March 2009.
“It’s shocking that States which supported continued work on Congo wouldn’t stand up and be counted,” de Rivero said. “Congo’s people can’t wait another year for the Council and its members to show some backbone.”
The Council’s decision flies in the face of the serious human rights violations that continue in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Despite historic elections in 2006, Congo’s human rights situation remains deeply troubling. In the past year alone, hundreds of civilians have been killed and thousands of women and girls raped by militia groups and soldiers of the Congolese army. An estimated 30,000 children continue to serve as child soldiers in various armed groups.
Abuses continue
In eastern Congo, the signing of a ceasefire agreement in Goma on 23 January 2008 raised hopes that the armed conflict would be contained, but tensions have again mounted as details emerged of renewed killing of civilians in the region. These add to the estimated five million civilian deaths throughout the country since 1998, a toll that makes Congo’s conflict more deadly to civilians than any other since World War II.
In western Congo, security forces used excessive force to put down at times violent protests by the political-religious group Bundu Dia Kongo, resulting in the deaths of at least 68 people, according to United Nations estimates. Thousands of people have been displaced.
Given the gravity of the human rights abuses in Congo, the continuation of the expert mandate should have been a foregone conclusion. In response to the egregious abuses in the eastern parts of Congo, Human Rights Watch has called for an additional special adviser to be appointed to monitor the human rights obligations of the Goma ceasefire agreement and assist the parties in bringing an end to such abuses.
“The Human Rights Council should be expanding its work on Congo, not abandoning it,” de Rivero said. “Congo urgently needs independent human rights expertise, which could help to save lives.”
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
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=16790&flag=news
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BOLIVIA: Ombudsperson to challenge military service law with international authorities [news]
[27 March 2008] – Bolivia’s ombudsperson, Waldo Albarracín, said this Thursday that if the Senate does not change a draft law on compulsory military service approved by the Chamber of Deputies he will turn to international authorities to denounce the government for human rights violations.
Albarracín, who has observed a number of bureaucratic irregularities which attempt to ‘force through’ the approval of the draft law, declared that the rules constitute a flagrant violation of human rights and children’s rights, making children of 16, 17 and 18 years old fight for the flag, in contravention of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
He said that this law brings back the obligation of presenting a military service ID card in processing personal documents and to access work and education, which are fundamental rights.
"Conscientious objection" not an option
Albarracín questioned the omission of a section on ‘conscientious objection’ which goes against an agreement made by the State of Bolivia before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), to incorporate this aspect into national legislation relating to military service.
He said the opposition parliamentarians were only made aware of the document one hour before the debate in the Chamber, so they had no knowledge of its content.
Claiming he had been denied access to this draft law which was developed in military courts, he submitted comments in a letter to the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Edmundo Novillo, on Wednesday, for consideration to avoid rushing the bill through.
The inclusion of a section on conscientious objectors in article 32, which was proposed and defended by parliamentarian Elizabeth Salguero, was rejected. She argued that citizens have the right to decide with complete freedom, on religious, moral or ethical grounds, not to accept military education.
The law, which consists of 138 articles and three provisions, was submitted to the national Senate for approval in compliance with the constitution. After the Deputies’ approval, the lower Chamber’s president, Edmundo Novillo, said that there had been a free debate of different positions which had enriched understanding of the proposal…
[Source: Los Tiempos; translated by CRIN]
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=16789&flag=news
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UK: Teachers attack army over "school recruitment" [news]
[LONDON, 25 March 2008] - Teachers accused the Ministry of Defence on Tuesday of "exploiting" schools to find new recruits after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan made it harder to sign up volunteers.
Members of the National Union of Teachers said military visitors to schools pushed a partisan view of becoming a soldier which promotes the career prospects, training and travel, while downplaying the "fatal realities".
In a motion put forward at the union's annual conference in Manchester, they said: "Schools should not be conduits for either the dissemination of MoD propaganda or the recruitment of military personnel."
South London teacher Catherine Brennan said information about the military given to pupils was one-sided.
"They shouldn't come into schools and present a glamorised, untruthful account of what's it's like in the military," she told BBC radio.
"There's a clear intention to get more people joining the army at a time when it has got trouble with its recruitment because they're fighting a deeply unpopular war in Iraq.
"At 16, people are too young to drink, they're too young to drive, they're too young to vote and we think they are also too young to be joining the armed forces."
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said it would issue a response to the teachers' motion later on Tuesday. It has previously said it is invited into around 1,000 schools a year and goes to inform rather than recruit.
A leaked report published in the Sunday Telegraph last November said the MoD faced a "continuing difficult environment" for recruitment.
It highlighted concerns over poor housing, bad food and cancelled leave.
[Source: Reuters]
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=16744
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SOMALIA: Crisis deteriorates, aid agencies warn [news]
[26 March 2008] - On 30 October 2007, 39 NGOs warned of the rapidly deteriorating situation in Somalia and an impending humanitarian catastrophe. Since then, the crisis engulfing Somalia has deteriorated dramatically while access to people in need continues to decrease; 360,000 people have been newly displaced and an additional half a million people are reliant on humanitarian assistance.
There are now more than one million internally displaced people in Somalia. Intense conflict in Mogadishu continues to force an average of 20,000 people from their homes each month. This, combined with record high food prices, hyperinflation and drought in large parts of the country is leaving communities struggling to survive. Extreme water and food shortages are expected to worsen across the country if the seasonal rains (April - June) fail as they are predicted to.
As the crisis worsens, Somali and international aid agencies are unable to respond adequately to the needs. Attacks on, and killings of, aid workers, the looting of relief supplies, and a lack of respect for international humanitarian law by all parties to the conflict have left two million Somalis in need of basic humanitarian assistance.
For too long, the needs of ordinary Somalis have been forgotten. The undersigned agencies are asking the international community and all parties to the conflict to urgently focus their attention on the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Somalia. They must ensure access for humanitarian supplies, live up to their responsibility to protect civilians and address the environment of impunity. The humanitarian crisis will become more and more complex and will continue to deepen in the absence of a political solution to the current crisis.
According to UNICEF Somalia is the worst place in the world for children. Approximately one in seven children under the age of five in Somalia are acutely malnourished.
For more information, contact:
Andrea Pattison – Oxfam Novib Media and Information Officer
Mob: +254 (0) 736 476 514
Email: [email protected]
Beatrice Spadacini - Communications and Media Manager – Care International
Mob: +254 (0) 725 221 036
Email: [email protected]
Susannah Friedman - Emergency Coordinator - Save the Children (UK)
Mob: +254 (0) 733 628 192
Email: [email protected]
Further information
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INTERNSHIP: Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
The Coalition is seeking an intern interested in gaining exposure to the work of an international NGO which supports human rights efforts in the Middle East. The Coalition seeks a Middle East Intern fluent in Arabic to assist the Middle East Programme Officer.
The successful candidate will mostly work on the preparation of a background document for a regional forum on education and the involvement of children in armed conflict in the Middle East. The Intern will also gain knowledge of the involvement of children in armed conflict in the region and will be exposed to the planning and implementation of advocacy, research and capacity building projects with local partners in the Middle East.
If you have any questions about this position please e-mail Enrique Restoy, Program Manager, at [email protected].
For more information, visit: http://www.child-soldiers.org/get_involved/work
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**NEWS IN BRIEF**
OPT: DCI monthly bulletin (Defence for Children International - Palestine Section, March 2008)
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=16719&flag=report
Myanmar/ Burma: Back to Child Recruitments (18 March 2008, IPS)
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=16700&flag=news
Caribbean/ Central America: Mitigating the impact of armed violence on children and communities (27 March 2008)
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=16783&flag=news
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