28 January 2009 - CRIN Children and Armed Conflict 127
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**NEWS IN BRIEF**
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DR CONGO: ICC to proceed with trial despite setbacks [news]
[THE HAGUE, 29 January 2009] — The International Criminal Court is due to press on with the war crimes trial of Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga despite an opening-day setback when a key witness retracted his testimony.
"In order to ensure that this trial maintains momentum, we are of the view that we should continue with the evidence," Judge Adrian Fulford said Thursday after an adjournment for an investigation into witness protection.
An alleged former child soldier, the prosecution's first witness in the ICC's maiden trial, retracted his evidence midstream Wednesday after telling the court he had been recruited by "Thomas Lubanga's soldiers" as a schoolboy.
Pressed by a prosecutor on whether he had indeed attended a military training camp, he replied, "No."
The prosecution then sought a delay of the trial for an investigation overnight into "concerns the witness has about protective measures ... what happens after he gives his testimony and returns home."
On Thursday, Fulford announced that: "The evidence of this witness will be adjourned" since he was "not in an appropriate state to deal with the pressure".
He said a probe into possible threats against the first witness and his family would be concluded by Monday.
The judge also directed the prosecution and victim legal representatives to make submissions Friday about the risk of self-incrimination faced by witnesses who may face prosecution in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Victim representatives said this concern may have played a role in the witnesses' decision to change his testimony.
The judge asked the prosecution to call a new witness on Friday.
This witness, who is or was "in the military" according to the prosecution, has requested special protective measures.
The prosecution has requested that his face and voice be distorted on screens in the public gallery, and that his name be withheld.
Lubanga, 48, has pleaded not guilty to charges of recruiting hundreds of children under 15 to fight in the Democratic Republic of Congo's five-year civil war which ended in 2003.
[Source: AFP]
Further information
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GAZA: Political action needed to resolve humanitarian crisis [news]
[GENEVA, 23 January 2009] – As the people of Gaza struggle to cope with the massive loss of life and the destruction caused by three weeks of armed conflict, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Jakob Kellenberger, called on Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas to take immediate action to end Gaza's humanitarian crisis.
"We once again call on all sides to take the political steps needed to resolve the humanitarian crisis in Gaza once and for all," said Mr Kellenberger, who was the first leader of a major international humanitarian organisation to visit Gaza after the armed conflict started on 27 December. "Emergency aid is vital for Gaza short-term, but what is needed are the right conditions for economic development."
According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, about 1,400 people were killed and more than 5,600 wounded during the conflict. Many of the seriously injured will be marked for life. Thousands of Gazans remain homeless, about 300,000 have no access to piped water and the sewerage network in parts of Gaza has been badly damaged. In addition, the population is facing the danger posed by explosive remnants of war, and this could also complicate the work of humanitarian organisations.
This latest conflict came at a time when the population of Gaza was already suffering worsening poverty, shortages of basic goods and a lack of such basic services as proper medical care and water because of the closures and restrictions that Israel was imposing, particularly since October 2007. Insufficient cooperation between the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah and the Hamas administration in Gaza had also hit the provision of essential services for the population of the Strip.
"It would not be acceptable to go back to the situation prior to this latest conflict," said Mr Kellenberger. "Political preconditions must not be allowed to affect recovery efforts. Israel's right to address its legitimate security concerns must be balanced against the Gazans' right to lead a normal and dignified life.
[Source: International Committee of the Red Cross]
Further information
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INDIA: Don't recruit children into Special Police [news]
[NEW YORK, 27 January 2009] - The Orissa state government in India should develop and put into effect measures to ensure that children are not recruited as "special police officers," Human Rights Watch said in a letter to Orissa's Chief Minister Navin Patnaik. Human Rights Watch also expressed concern that special police officers (SPOs), an auxiliary force, were being used in armed operations against Maoist insurgents, known as Naxalites, contrary to Indian law.
The Orissa government in November 2008 announced a plan to recruit an estimated 2,000 local tribal youth as SPOs to counter Naxalite insurgents in the region. In adjoining Chhattisgarh state, SPOs, including many children under the age of 18, were deployed in armed operations against Naxalites, without adequate protection and training. The Chhattisgarh police claim that it has now removed all children from its ranks, but there are continued allegations that many minors continue to participate in armed operations.
"No matter how serious the threat, Orissa should not use children to fight the Naxalites," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Nor should special police officers, intended only for civilian law enforcement, be sent on paramilitary operations for which they have no training and that leave them at risk of Naxalite reprisals."
In a July 2008 report, "‘Being Neutral Is Our Biggest Crime': Government, Vigilante, and Naxalite Abuses in India's Chhattisgarh State," Human Rights Watch found that the SPOs were routinely deployed alongside paramilitary police on anti-Naxalite combing (search) operations, putting them at risk of injury and death. Many children, including some as young as 14, were recruited and used for dangerous armed operations.
The special police and the Naxalites were also often found to be responsible for serious human rights abuses.
[Source: Human Rights Watch]
Further information
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USA: Army re-emphasises combat age restrictions [news]
The Army has instructed field commands to make sure they are in compliance with an international treaty to prevent children from participating in combat.
As a signatory to the Optional Protocol of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, the U.S. has agreed to not force anyone under age 18 into military service, or to employ such soldiers in operations involving direct combat.
To ensure compliance, the Army established a policy in 1993 that prohibits the assignment or deployment of child soldiers to duty stations outside the continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and U.S. territories and possessions.
The policy applies to soldiers of the Regular Army, Army National Guard and Army Reserve, with no provision for waivers.
While the assignment branches of the Human Resources Command routinely screen the ages of soldiers who are placed on overseas assignment orders, the command has no visibility of soldiers who are assigned individually or in unit sets for deployment by field commands.
In a mid-January directive to all commands, the Office of the G1 at the Pentagon instructed installation commanders to make sure their overseas processing centres bar the deployment of soldiers under age 18.
The Army allows the voluntary recruitment of 17-year-olds. Such young people only can serve with the consent of their parents or legal guardians.
Less than 10 per cent of the 80,000 soldiers recruited annually by the Army are 17 years old, according to Recruiting Command.
“The average age of recruits runs 21 to 22 years old,” said Douglas Smith, USAREC spokesman.
[The Army Times]
Further information
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YEMEN: Half Yemen’s tribal fighters are children [news]
As many as half of the fighters involved in violent tribal clashes in northern Yemen are under age, a Yemenite child-rights organisation said.
The Seyaj Organization for Childhood Protection, based in the Yemenite capital ‘San’aa, said at least 63 people had been killed in tribal clashes in the northern ‘Amran province over the past four months, and some 40 per cent of them were children.
“The tribal culture in Yemen does not regard a 15-year old as a child,” Ahmad Al-Qurashi, director of Seyaj, told The Media Line.
“Yemen’s society as a whole views a 15-year old as a man and they’re forced into battles. The society views fighting alongside a tribe as an important part of a child’s passage to manhood. We see children as young as 13 carrying weapons that are bigger than they are,” he said.
The legal age of joining armed forces in Yemen is 18.
Al-Qurashi explained that the state was not acting to protect these children.
“These tribal areas are unfortunately lacking in education, development and health. The children who do go to school will often drop out after the sixth or seventh grade and they’ll either become farmers of fighters.”
This practice was not limited to ‘Amran but to other tribal areas as well, he said.
“It’s a severe situation but people are keeping silent about this. The state is not intervening to reconcile between the tribes or to stop recruiting children.”
Seyaj believes the government should support the tribes economically and provide them with better education rather than allow them resort to violence.
The clashes in ‘Amran, about 50 kilometers north of ‘San’aa, erupted late last year between the Harf Sufian and ‘U’seimat tribes, and there are fears they will encompass larger tribal coalitions.
There are also concerns that a continuation of the clashes will deflect from the power of the government forces, and give more power to Shi’ite rebels from the Al-Houthi clan, who are positioned in the northern part of the country.
The tribes have a long-standing dispute over land, but the rebellion up north, which pits Shi’ite extremists against government forces, has accentuated their rivalry, with Harf Sufian supporting Al-Houthi and ‘U’seimat tribes siding with the government.
‘U’seimat tribes deny they are receiving government support against Harf Sufian.
Yemen, located on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is one of the poorest countries in the world.
As well as an ongoing threat of Islamist terror, government forces have been engaged in a prolonged conflict with the radical Al-Houthi clan since 2004.
Further information
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SINGAPORE: State ratifies Optional Protocol on Children and Armed Conflict [news]
[6 January 2009] - Singapore ratified the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) on the involvement of children in armed conflict on 6 January 2009...
Read more here: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=19491&flag=news
[Source: Bernama]
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=19491&flag=news
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**NEWS IN BRIEF**
Afghanistan: The Taliban and other armed groups must stop targeting and using children (Office of the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, 21 January 2009)
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=19415&flag=news
Burundi: Rebels vow to free child trials
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=19401&flag=news
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