21 May 2008 - CRIN Children and Armed Conflict 119
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**NEWS IN BRIEF**
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Your submissions are welcome if you are working in the area of child rights. To contribute, email us at [email protected]. Adobe Acrobat is required for viewing some of the documents, and if required can be downloaded from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html If you do not receive this email in html format, you will not be able to see some hyperlinks in the text. At the end of each item we have therefore provided a full URL linking to a web page where further information is available.
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ARMED CONFLICT: Child Soldiers Global Report 2008 [publication]
[NEW YORK, 20 May 2008] - Despite progress, efforts to end the recruitment and use of child soldiers are too little and too late for many children, according to the 2008 Child Soldiers Global Report, launched this week by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.
The report details how a near global consensus that children should not be used as soldiers and strenuous international efforts – with the UN at the forefront – to halt the phenomenon have failed to protect tens of thousands of children from war. When armed conflict exists, children will almost inevitably become involved as soldiers.
The report documents military recruitment legislation, policy and practice in more than 190 countries worldwide – in conflict and in peacetime armies – as well as child soldier use by non-State armed groups.
“The international community’s commitment to ending the global scourge of child soldiering cannot be doubted, but existing efforts are falling short,” said Dr Victoria Forbes Adam, Director of the Coalition. “Laws, policies and practices must now be translated into real change to keep children out of armed conflict once and for all.”
There have been positive developments over the past four years. The Coalition’s research shows that the number of armed conflicts in which children are involved is down from 27 in 2004 to 17 by the end of 2007. Tens of thousands of children have been released in that time from armies and armed groups as long-running conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere have ended.
But the report shows that tens of thousands of children remain in the ranks of non-State armed groups in at least 24 different countries or territories. The record of governments is also little improved – children were deployed in armed conflicts by government forces in nine situations of armed conflict, down only one from the 10 such situations recorded when the last Global Report was published in 2004.
“Existing strategies have not had the desired impact. If further progress is to be made, it must be recognised that child soldiers are not only an issue for the child rights specialists, but should be on the agendas of all those involved in conflict prevention and resolution, peace-building and development,” said Dr Forbes Adam.
Myanmar remained the most persistent government offender. Its armed forces, engaged in long-running counter-insurgency operations against a range of ethnic armed groups, still contained thousands of children, some as young as 11 years old. Children were also used by government forces in Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda and Yemen. Palestinian children were used on several occasions as human shields by the Israeli defence forces, and a few British under-18s were deployed to Iraq up to mid-2005.
The failure of governments to adhere to their international obligations does not end there. In at least 14 countries children have been recruited into auxiliary forces linked to national armies, local civilian defence groups created to support counter-insurgency operations, or by illegal militias and armed groups used as proxies by national armies.
Children have also been used as spies. In some countries child soldiers who have escaped, surrendered or been captured by government forces were locked up instead of receiving support to return to their families and communities. Burundi, Israel, and the US were among the countries where there were allegations of ill-treatment or torture of child detainees alleged to have been associated with armed groups.
“Given government obligations to protect children from involvement in armed conflict, there can be no excuse for the armed forces of any country unlawfully using children for military purposes or for committing other human rights violations against them,” said Dr Forbes Adam.
Children have also been used in combat by armed groups in at least 19 countries or territories. These children, some 12 years old or even younger, were exposed to death, injury and psychological trauma. In Afghanistan, Iraq, the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Pakistan teenagers were used in suicide attacks.
“Armed groups pose the greatest challenge,” said Dr Forbes Adam. “International laws have had limited impact in deterring child soldier use by armed groups. Many groups attach little value to international standards and the need to build fighting strength overrides other considerations. This reality must be confronted and new strategies developed.”
The Coalition’s report also highlights that years of accumulated best practice on releasing children from fighting forces and assisting their rehabilitation and reintegration is being overlooked by those involved in designing and implementing disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) programmes. Sustained funding for the long-term support of former child soldiers is also rarely available. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for example, delayed, unpredictable and short-term funding, combined with poor planning and mismanagement of the DDR programme, meant that some 14,000 former child soldiers were excluded from reintegration support.
Those who lose out most are girls. The existence of girls in fighting forces, in combat and non-combat roles and as victims of sexual slavery, rape and other forms of sexual violence, is well known. Yet the overwhelming majority of girls soldiers are not identified by and do not register in official DDR programmes. In Liberia, where the DDR programme ended in late 2004, only just over a quarter of the 11,000 girls known to have been associated with fighting forces registered in the official DDR programme. Here, as elsewhere, thousands of girls returned to their communities informally with their complex medical, psychosocial and economic meets unmet.
“Tens of thousands of children – particularly girls – are effectively rendered invisible during the demobilisation and reintegration process,” said Dr Forbes Adam. “It is not that their needs and vulnerabilities are unrecognised – it is simply a failure to apply lessons learned that is failing these children and their futures.”
Progress towards a global standard prohibiting the military recruitment or use in hostilities of children is hampered by continued recruitment of under-18s into peacetime armies. At least 63 governments – including the UK and the USA - allow voluntary recruitment of under-18s, despite the age of adulthood being set at 18 in many countries. Young recruits considered too young to vote or buy alcohol are subjected to military discipline, hazardous activity and are vulnerable to abuse. Active targeting of children, often from deprived backgrounds, raises questions on the depth of these governments’ commitment to child protection and whether such recruitment can be genuinely voluntary.
“2012 will mark the tenth anniversary of the enactment of the international treaty on child soldiers,” concluded Dr Forbes Adam. “Over the next four years the international community must make good on its pledge to end the use of children in armed conflict.”
For more information, contact:
Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
2th Floor, 9 Marshalsea Road, London SE1 1EP, UK
Tel: + 44 20 7367 4110; Fax: + 44 20 7367 4129
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.child-soldiers.org
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=17358
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USA: 500 youths detained in Iraq; 10 in Afghanistan [news]
[NEW YORK, 20 May 2008] - The US military is holding about 500 juveniles suspected of being "unlawful enemy combatants" in detention centres in Iraq and has about 10 detained in Afghanistan, the United States has told the United Nations.
A total of 2,500 youths under the age of 18 have been detained, almost all in Iraq, for periods up to a year or more in President Bush's anti-terrorism campaign since 2002, the United States reported to the UN's Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Civil liberties groups such as the International Justice Network and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) denounced the detentions as abhorrent, and a violation of US treaty obligations.
In the periodic report to the United Nations on US compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the United States confirmed that "as of April 2008, the United States held about 500 juveniles in Iraq."
"The juveniles that the United States has detained have been captured engaging in anti-coalition activity, such as planting Improvised Explosive Devices, operating as lookouts for insurgents, or actively engaged in fighting against US and Coalition forces," the US report said.
The majority are believed to be 16 or 17 years old. In the United States a 17-year-old can enlist in the US army, with parental consent.
The report said that of the total of 2,500 juveniles jailed since 2002, all but 100 had been picked up in Iraq. Of the remainder, most were swept up in Afghanistan.
A total of eight juveniles have been held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, but all were released from 2004 to 2006.
"It remains uncertain the exact age of these individuals, as most of them did not know their date of birth or even the year they were born," the report says. But US military doctors who evaluated them believed that three were under age 16.
In Afghanistan, "as of April 2008, there are approximately 10 juveniles being held at the Bagram Theater Internment Facility as unlawful enemy combatants," the report said.
In Bagram, a US military spokesman, Marine 1st Lt. Richard K. Ulsh, told the AP on Sunday: "At any time there are up to 625 detainees being held at the Bagram Theater Internment Facility. There are no detainees being held under the age of 16 and, without getting into specifics due to the frequent fluctuation in the number of detainees being held, we can tell you that there are currently less than 10 detainees being held under the age of 18."
Civil liberties groups were outraged
"It's shocking to me that the US government has not figured out a way to keep children out of adult prisons. It's outrageous, and it is not making us any safer, I can say that about Afghanistan from personal experience," Tina M. Foster, the executive director of the International Justice Network, said Sunday.
Her group brought lawsuits on behalf of the Guantanamo detainees in 2006, and has taken on the cases of adult detainees in Bagram. She said the US military does not release the names of juveniles it is holding in Bagram, so her group is trying to learn who they are by finding Afghan relatives.
"It is shocking to know that the US is holding hundreds of juveniles in Iraq and Afghanistan, and even more disturbing that there is no comprehensive policy in place that will protect their rights as children," Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Human Rights Programme, said in a statement. "Juveniles and former child soldiers should be treated first and foremost as candidates for rehabilitation and reintegration into society, not subjected to further victimisation."
According to the ACLU, the lack of protections and consideration for the juvenile status of detainees violates the obligations of the US under the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict that the US ratified in 2002, as well as universally accepted international norms.
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is scheduled to question the US delegation on its compliance with its obligations on May 22 in Geneva.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted by the General Assembly in 1989, with backing at the time from the US government of President Bill Clinton, and with strong lobbying from then-first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Alternative reports submitted on the USA to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child:
Further information
[Source: Associated Press]
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=17352
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UGANDA: Rights group says Uganda rebels continue to rape, pillage [news]
[NEW YORK, 19 May 2008] – International action is needed to end the Lord’s Resistance Army’s reported new spree of abductions and sexual violence and to help execute arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for the group’s leaders, Human Rights Watch said.
The organisation has learned that since February 2008 the insurgent Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) group has carried out at least 100 abductions, and perhaps many more, in the Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Southern Sudan. Boys are made to act as porters or subjected to military training and girls are being used as sex slaves, according to credible information, including written documentation, from foreign observers and domestic authorities in the region obtained by Human Rights Watch. The LRA is also engaged in widespread pillaging of villages.
The recent abuses have occurred amid a faltering peace process between the Ugandan government and the LRA to end the devastating northern Uganda conflict. LRA leader Joseph Kony failed to appear at an April 10 meeting to sign a final peace agreement. Kony and other LRA leaders are charged by the ICC for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“Kony and the LRA took advantage of the breathing room given to them and appear to be terrorising civilians yet again,” said Richard Dicker, international justice director at Human Rights Watch. “Concerned governments and UN officials cannot sit by while the LRA goes on a criminal rampage, committing heinous abuses against children and other people.”
Efforts have been under way by those close to the peace talks to communicate directly with Kony to revive the negotiations. However, alleged LRA crimes and Kony’s month-long silence intensify questions as to whether the LRA is committed to the negotiations. The failure of LRA members to assemble in specified areas as required under cessation of hostilities agreements – exemplified by LRA members moving to the CAR – also has been an ongoing concern.
The LRA has tried to portray the International Criminal Court (ICC) as the obstacle to peace, but recent events support a different interpretation, Human Rights Watch said. Hoping to satisfy LRA demands while abiding by international standards, those involved with the Juba peace talks considered the possibility of holding national criminal trials of ICC cases. Reports that Kony is now seeking clarification on the domestic accountability processes heighten questions about his willingness to face any criminal trial.
“The ICC has been the LRA’s scapegoat long enough,” said Dicker. “The ICC has never been the stumbling block to peace. Fair, credible prosecutions of the most serious crimes committed by both sides during the northern Uganda conflict are crucial to accountability and a sustainable peace.”
Human Rights Watch called for international observer governments to the peace talks, governments in the region, the UN Special Envoy on the LRA-affected areas, the UN Departments of Political Affairs and Peacekeeping Operations to work together to stem LRA abuses and to ensure justice is done. Human Rights Watch urged these international players to:
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Investigate and disclose findings of recent alleged LRA abuses in the CAR, the DRC, and Southern Sudan, including reported unpublicised UN inquiries into abuses in the CAR;
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Track and make public the LRA’s movements through intensified monitoring of regional borders;
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Monitor and interdict the flow of weapons and other supplies to the LRA;
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Develop effective plans to execute the ICC arrest warrants while minimising the risk to civilian life and without use of excessive force, including by using the UN observer mission in the DRC (MONUC).
“The United States and the European Union should work with regional governments and UN peacekeeping forces, MONUC in particular, to curtail human rights violations and to ensure justice is done,” said Dicker. “They should track the LRA’s movements, cut off their weapons, and make plans toward delivering ICC suspects for trial. The UN should also immediately release any information it has as to recent LRA abuses.”
In the event that Kony does reemerge to sign the final peace agreement, there should be prompt implementation of key provisions of the Juba agreements that provide for trial for the most serious crimes and for the release of women and children kept by the LRA.
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=17363
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PHILIPPINES: State seeks removal from list of countries involving children in armed conflict [news]
[MANILA, 15 May 2008] - The Philippines has sought its removal from a United Nations monitoring list of nations for having children involved in armed conflict.
Philippine permanent representative to the UN ambassador Hilario Davide Jr called for the country's delisting during a meeting of the UN Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict in New York on 8 May.
"In view of my country's legal firewall for the protection of children, the relative calm in the country and the cultural values placing children as the centerpiece of a family's attention, the Philippines should be dropped from Annex 2 so that the Working Group could train its eyes on other countries facing worse circumstances in regard to children and armed conflict," Davide said in a statement posted on the Philippine mission website.
During the meeting, Davide also reaffirmed Manila's extreme sensitivity to the needs of Filipino children, particularly those trapped or maybe trapped in armed conflict. "The Philippines condemns non-state actors in the country who recruit, abduct, and use children, yet deny their illegal and unjustifiable deeds," he said.
The Philippines was included in the Annex 2 shortly after the Security Council adopted Resolution 1612 in 2005 as a result of the actions and activities of the New People's Army (NPA), the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Abu Sayyaf Group.
Davide cited the legal structure in the Philippines designed to protect children, particularly the 1987 Constitution and laws that aim to protect the nation's most valuable resource.
He also mentioned the activities of government agencies including the Department of Social Welfare and Development, which is reintegrating and rehabilitating children involved in conflicts...
At the same meeting, the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, cited the constructive approach of the Philippine government in addressing the issue, particularly in agreeing to the launching of the monitoring and reporting mechanism and in welcoming her visit to Manila later this year.
She said the inclusion of the Philippines in the Annex 2 countries in Resolution 1612 is not intended to embarrass the Philippine government but just to point out a situation wherein children are involved in armed conflict in the country and that non-state actors are the
culpable parties....
Have your say on this article
[Source: GMANews.TV]
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=17368&flag=news
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CRIMES OF WAR: What the Public Should Know - Educator's Guide [publication]
The intention of this Educator's Guide is to make prominent writings of field journalists on war crimes accessible to youth, young adults, and future decision makers, as well as to inform the general public. In the Educator's Guide there are eight thematic chapters: weapons; violence against civilians; child soldiers; sexual violence; terrorism and torture; genocide; international courts and tribunals; and humanitarian intervention.
For more information, contact:
PO Box 382396, Cambridge, MA 02238, USA
Tel: +1 978 341-0200; Fax: +1 978 341-0201
Website: http://www.hrea.org
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=17197
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GENOCIDE: What Role for International Law? [event]
Date: 10 September - 25 November 2008
Location: Distance learning
Genocide is not only a dark legacy of the past but a threat to the present and future of many societies. How best to respond to genocide, prevent its (re-)occurrence, provide redress for the victims and deal with the legacy of atrocities, and what is the role of international law in all this? While the course is focused on international law, it provides space for a multi-disciplinary approach to genocide.
To apply, email: [email protected]
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=17198
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**NEWS IN BRIEF**
Guatemala: Military officials on trial in Spain for past abuses (20 May 2008)
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=17344&flag=news
Psycho-social issues: Psychosocial adjustment and social reintegration of children associated with armed forces and armed groups (Psychology Beyond Borders, May 2008)
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=17316&flag=report
Burundi: Concern for the hundreds of children still in the hands of Palipehutu-FNL of Agathon Rwasa (8 May 2008)
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=17245&flag=news
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