24 September 2008 - CRIN Children and Armed Conflict 123
___________________________________________________________
**NEWS IN BRIEF**
___________________________________________________________
To read this CRINMAIL online, visit: http://www.crin.org/email/crinmail_detail.asp?crinmailID=2930
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.
___________________________________________________________
PHILIPPINES: Report on children and armed conflict [report]
Introduction
The Philippine government's long-standing conflict with Muslim separatists on the southern island of Mindanao has flared up again recently. This confrontration and a second conflict with communist insurgents affecting the whole country have, in total, left 160,000 dead and displaced some two million people.
Fighting resumed again after a decade-long peace process between the government and rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) collapsed.
Nineteen children were reportedly killed in conflict situations between July 2005 and November 2007, while 42 were maimed, figures for 2008 are not yet available.
Over half of the killings and injuries in this period were perpetrated by Government security forces, a fifth were attributed to the Abu Sayyaf Group/Jemaah Islamiya rebels, and eight per cent to the communist insurgents, the New People’s Army (NPA). The Government paramilitary forces and rebel groups, including the NPA and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, recruited children during this period, according to the UN Secretary-General’s report.
The Mindanao conflict started in the 1960s when the Muslim minority - the Moros - launched an armed struggle for their ancestral homeland in the south. There has also been a long Maoist insurgency, violence linked to militant Islamist groups, ethnic and clan confrontations and banditry, all exacerbated by poverty and under-investment.
Investigation into recruitment of children as ‘freedom fighters’
Human rights investigators may be dispatched to Mindanao to evaluate reports of children being commissioned as so-called freedom fighters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
However, Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), Leila de Lima, said that the CHR is "still looking for the best and most independent way to communicate this concern to the MILF leadership." De Lima was speaking yesterday at a workshop on the implementation of the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture in the Philippines (OPCAT).
Recent television footage and photographs have shown armed children as young as nine wearing MILF uniforms in MILF camps or strongholds. The children are alleged to be children of MILF members.
Commenting on a possible investigation into the situation, de Lima said: "We have to do it in such a way and it is important for them (the MILF) to perceive the CHR as an independent body so that we can get their cooperation."
Edi Kabalu, spokesperson for the MILF, had earlier justified the participation of children as self-preservation of MILF ranks, saying that it is acceptable in Moro culture.
"What are we to do, we need to prepare the replacement of our soldiers who die," Kabalu said publicly two weeks ago.
[Sources: AlertNet, Philippine Information Agency, Report of the UN Secretary General on Children and Armed Conflict in the Philippines]
Laws protecting children in armed conflict in the Philippines
The Philippine Government is a State party to CRC and to the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict.
The Philippines Republic Act 7610, adopted in 1992, in Article X, Sec. 22 (B) prohibits the voluntary or forcible recruitment of children under 18 to the armed forces, and other non-State armed opposition groups and their use as guides, couriers, and spies. The Act does not, however, specify penalties for those who violate the law.
Article X, Sec. 25 of R.A. 7610 guarantees the rights of children arrested for reasons related to armed conflict to: ensure children’s detention facilities are separated from those of adults except where families are accommodated as family units; free legal assistance, immediate notification of parents or legal guardians concerning the arrest of the child; and release of the child within 24 hours to any social welfare agency, parents, or legal guardians as determined by the court.
The law also provides for the care and humane treatment of rescued or surrendered child soldiers. The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is the leading government agency in the rehabilitation/reintegration of child soldiers.
Republic Act 9208. Section 4 (h) prohibits any person, natural or juridical–among others–to “recruit, transport or adopt a child to engage in armed activities in the Philippines or abroad.” The law stipulates a penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment and a fine of not less than lone million pesos or more than two million pesos for the recruitment, transportation, and adoption of children to engage in armed activities. No such case has yet been filed, however and, despite a range of legal safe-guards to protect children in armed conflict, they have yet to be adequately implemented.
Summarised from an Alternative report submitted by the Southeast Asia Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers in April 2008.
To read Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the Philippines OPAC report, go here: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=17510&flag=legal
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=18502&flag=report
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
USA: Congress Acts to Prosecute Recruiters of Child Soldiers [news]
[NEW YORK, 15 September 2008] – New legislation adopted on September 15, 2008 will permit the United States to prosecute foreign military commanders who recruit child soldiers abroad, Human Rights Watch said. The Child Soldiers Accountability Act passed the House of Representatives unanimously on September 8 and was adopted by the Senate.
The law makes it a federal crime to knowingly recruit or use soldiers under the age of 15 and permits the United States to bring charges under the law against both US citizens and non-citizens who are in the United States. The law imposes penalties of up to 20 years, or up to life in prison if death results, and allows the United States to deport or deny entry to individuals who have knowingly recruited children as soldiers.
“The exploitation of children as soldiers persists in many armed conflicts because child recruiters are rarely held accountable,” said Jo Becker, children’s rights advocate for Human Rights Watch. “This law tells military commanders worldwide that they cannot recruit children into their forces and then seek safe haven in the United States.”
Children are currently used in armed conflicts in at least 17 countries. Recruiters prey upon children, who are often the most vulnerable potential recruits and the most susceptible to threats and coercion. Child soldiers are used as combatants, porters, guards and spies, and for other duties.
The recruitment and use of children as soldiers was recognised in 1998 as a war crime under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. In 2007, four former military commanders from Sierra Leone were convicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone for recruiting and using children as soldiers. Rebel and military commanders from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda have also been charged under the International Criminal Court with recruiting and using child soldiers, though none have yet gone to trial.
“International tribunals are beginning to prosecute individuals for recruiting child soldiers, but almost no national governments have done so,” said Becker. “The United States is giving real leadership to efforts to end the use of child soldiers.”
Senator Richard Durbin authored the bipartisan bill, which he introduced together with Senators Tom Coburn, Russell Feingold, and Sam Brownback.
Countries in which children are known to have been used in hostilities between 2004 and 2007 include: Afghanistan, Burma, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Nepal, Philippines, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Thailand, and Uganda.
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=18433
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ICC: Appeal for Africa war victims [news]
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for $14m (£8m) to help the nearly two million victims of sexual violence in Africa's wars.
The ICC said sex attacks against women and girls had been found to be the most widespread form of criminality.
Rape has become a weapon of war often used to fuel ethnic cleansing, it said.
The ICC said funding was needed for the rehabilitation of victims in northern Uganda, DR Congo, the Central African Republic and Sudan's region of Darfur.
Incomplete justice
South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu said women had become the primary victims of war and civil unrest, and that violence against women was used as a form of ethnic cleansing.
"Rape has become, viciously, a weapon of war meant to punish communities," said Mr Tutu, who is one of five directors of the court's Trust Fund for Victims (TVF).
"Our response to gender-based violence has been inadequate," he said at the appeal launch in The Hague.
Denmark announced a $500,000 donation to start the fund, which will see its money allocated over three years.
The money raised by the global appeal will be in addition to the $3m earmarked by the ICC for reparations to war victims and community rehabilitation projects.
The fund was set up to help victims of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity that have been referred to the ICC - an independent, permanent war crimes court.
The former French politician Simone Veil, who chairs TVF's board of directors, said: "The victims must be taken into account, otherwise justice is incomplete."
[Source: BBC]
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=18501&flag=news
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
GEORGIA: The aftermath of war for children [news]
The war that erupted in Georgia on 7 August 2008 left 128,100 people internally displaced. Among the displaced, 33,360 are children.
“This conflict has been a disaster for civilians,” said Rachel Denber, Europe and Central Asia deputy director at Human Rights Watch. “An international security mission should be deployed to help protect civilians and create a safe environment for the displaced to return home. And international organisations should also send fact-finding missions to establish the facts, report on human rights, and urge the authorities to account for any crimes.”
A growing humanitarian crisis also indicates the urgent need for the deployment of a mission to enhance civilian protection...
The Public Defender of Georgia, together with other State authorities and NGOs coordinates the humanitarian provisions and psychological aid for displaced children.
Read the full report here: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=18375&flag=report
For more information, contact:
The Office of the Public Defender of Georgia; Child's Rights Center
11 Machabeli st., Tbilisi, 0105, Georgia
Tel: +995 32 92 24 79 252
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.ombudsman.ge
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=18375&flag=report
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
UN: Changing nature of warfare makes children more vulnerable [publication]
[GENEVA, 9 September 2008] – Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, is set to present her report to the Human Rights Council. In her statement, she draws the attention of the Council to the impact of the changing nature of conflict on children and on the need to take action to stop grave violations of their rights in situations of armed conflict.
Due to the changing nature of warfare, the distinction between civilians and combatants is blurring. The toll on civilian life, especially children, is increasingly immeasurable. "In the battle between terrorism and counter-terrorism, many insurgent groups are not only mobilising children in their political and military activities but are also using them as child suicide bombers. Some groups attack schools and are particularly brutal with regard to girl students", says Ms. Coomaraswamy.
Children have become victims of aerial bombardments as collateral damage and are also being placed in arbitrary or administrative detention without adequate judicial process. The Special Representative urges the Council to ensure that the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law regarding the separation of civilian from combatant and the rule of proportionality are respected.
Ms. Coomaraswamy draws the attention of the Council to the fact that while human rights and humanitarian law often focus on States, non-state actors also engages in grave violations against children during armed conflict. "The Council should deal comprehensively with the issue of all non-state actors, how to make them accountable for human rights violations and how to deal with State tolerance of their activities. It is also important that States facilitate dialogue with such actors so that UN agencies may bring them into compliance with their international obligations", she states.
The Special Representative also strongly underscores the importance of the fight against impunity for violations of children's rights in terms of achieving deterrence and compliance. "Peace must come with justice it is only the timing that can be negotiated", she declares.
Further information
For more information, contact:
Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, United Nations, Room S-3161 H, New York, NY 10017, USA
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.un.org/children/conflict
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=18377
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
INDIA: Dangerous Duty - Children and the Chhattisgarh Conflict [report]
[NEW YORK, 5 September 2008] – Indian security forces and Naxalite rebels should immediately end the use of children in the conflict in Chhattisgarh state in central India, Human Rights Watch said. Using children under age 18 in armed operations places them at risk of injury and death and violates international law.
All parties to the Chhattisgarh conflict have used children in armed operations. The Naxalites, a Maoist armed group, admit that it is their official practice to recruit children above age 16 in their forces, and have used children as young as 12 in armed operations. Government-backed Salwa Judum vigilantes have used children in violent attacks against villages as part of their anti-Naxalite campaign.
The Chhattisgarh state police admit that they had recruited children under age 18 as special police officers (SPOs) due to the absence of age documentation, but claim that all children have been removed from the ranks. However, Human Rights Watch investigators in Chhattisgarh found that underage SPOs continue to serve with the police and are used in counter-Naxalite combing operations.
“A particular horror of the Chhattisgarh conflict is that children are participating in the violence,” said Jo Becker, children’s rights advocate for Human Rights Watch and member of the research team. “It’s shameful that both India’s government and the Naxalites are exploiting children in such a dangerous fashion.”
Human Rights Watch urged the Indian central and Chhattisgarh state governments to develop a scheme to identify, demobilise, and rehabilitate both underage SPOs and children among Naxalite ranks.
The 58-page Human Rights Watch report, “Dangerous Duty: Children and the Chhattisgarh Conflict,” updates information on the use of children by all parties to the conflict, the harm they have suffered, and the adverse impact of the conflict on children’s education. The report is based on information gathered from more than 160 interviews with villagers, Salwa Judum camp residents, police, SPOs, and former child Naxalites in Chhattisgarh state.
Human Rights Watch found that since mid-2005 the Chhattisgarh police have recruited and used an unknown number of children among the more than 3,500 in Dantewada and Bijapur districts of southern Chhattisgarh. Most SPOs are recruited from indigenous tribal communities that have been displaced to Salwa Judum camps.
They assist government security forces in counter-Naxalite paramilitary operations in the region. Many eyewitnesses of joint raids by government security forces and Salwa Judum members described seeing dozens of children dressed in police uniforms armed with rifles. Several camp residents recounted how police and Salwa Judum members urged them and other children to enroll as SPOs, and they recounted recognising children who were school dropouts serving as SPOs.
In late 2007, the Chhattisgarh police admitted to Human Rights Watch that they had accidentally recruited underage SPOs, but claimed that they had since removed around 150 officers from the ranks, including children. While there is no evidence of new SPO recruitment since March 2006, both SPOs and community members confirmed that SPOs under age 18 continue to serve with the police.
Several SPOs interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that the police had recruited them when they were underage, and boasted that they continue to serve at the forefront of dangerous armed operations. They were also unaware of any initiative of the Chhattisgarh police to identify and rehabilitate SPOs that were underage. None of them reported being asked to produce age-related documentation or having undergone age verification tests in the recent past.
Read more here: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=18331&flag=report
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=18331&flag=report
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
**NEWS IN BRIEF**
DRC: Demand for release of kidnapped children (24 September 2008)
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=18493&flag=news
Sudan: No standing, few prospects: How peace is failing South Sudanese female combatants and WAAFG
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=18430&flag=report
Somalia: Schools close in protest over insecurity (4 September 2008)
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=18315&flag=news
___________________________________________________________
The CRINMAIL is an electronic mailing list of the Child Rights Information Network (CRIN). CRIN does not accredit, validate or substantiate any information posted by members to the CRINMAIL. The validity and accuracy of any information is the responsibility of the originator.
To subscribe, unsubscribe or view list archives, visit http://www.crin.org/email.
___________________________________________________________
