Children and Armed Conflict CRINMAIL 141
In this issue:
Top story: Global report on children and armed conflict
Latest news and reports:
- Campaign for universal ratification of CRC Protocols
- US soldier investigated for taunting Iraqi children
- Chadian government admits child soldiers serve in army
- More
TOP STORY: UN expert issues global report on children and armed conflict
The United Nations has for the first time named the military forces and rebel groups that are the most persistent violators of children in armed conflicts, identifying groups in Asia, Africa and Latin America which continue to recruit child soldiers and use them to wage war.
The annual report of the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict shows that 16 different armies and insurgent groups – in conflicts ranging from the Philippines and Myanmar to Darfur, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Colombia – have recruited or used child soldiers for at least the past five years.
The report also identifies the groups which subjects minors to the most brutal violence, such as killings, maimings, rapes and other sexual assaults.
Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, warned that “we still live in a world with those who would use children as spies, soldiers, and human shields.
“The shifting nature of conflict has put many children on the front lines. Too often children become collateral damage during military operations. Every year the release of this report should give us pause. Let us remember that we must protect the most innocent and most vulnerable,” she added.
The persistent violators include Abu Sayyaf, the New People’s Army and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), three insurgent groups that are active in the Philippines. Myanmar’s national army, known as Tatmadaw Kyi, and the rebel Karenni Army and Karen National Liberation Army were also identified.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) continue to recruit and use child soldiers in their fight against Government forces and paramilitary groups in the South American country, the report noted.
In the DRC, the report named violators on both sides of the conflict still flaring in the east – the national army (known as the FARDC) and the rebel Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), Nationalist and Integrationalist Front (FNI), the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and various militias that are known as the Mai-Mai.
In Sudan, pro-Government militias in Darfur and the southern-based Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) were included in the list, while Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) was also named.
But the report, which has been sent to the Security Council, makes clear that progress has been made with some groups which have recently signed action plans in which they aim to end the recruitment and use of child soldiers. The MILF, the SPLA and the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist have all signed such plans.
Burundi has been removed from the annexes to the report following UN verification that all children associated with the National Liberation Forces (FNL) have been reunited with their families and that the group has ceased recruitment.
By contrast, some groups have been named for the first time as recruiting or using children in armed conflict. These include the Afghan National Police, the rebel Convention of Patriots for Justice and Peace in the Central African Republic (CAR) and Somalia’s Hizbul Islam militia.
Somalia’s Al-Shabaab, an Islamist rebel force, and the TFG both stand accused of killing and maiming children in the Horn of Africa country.
Several groups involved in fighting in the eastern DRC were named as being responsible for rapes and other forms of sexual violence against children. They are the FARDC, LRA, FDLR, the Patriotic Resistance Forces in Ituri district (FRPI), the FNI and the Mai-Mai.
The report lists several recommendations to the Security Council for consideration, including more vigorous measures against those groups and individuals who persistently commit grave violations against children. The Council will discuss the report at an open debate next month.
For more information, contact:
UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict
Room S-3161 H, New York, NY 10017, USA
Website: www.un.org/children/conflict
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=22628
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LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS
UN children's rights experts launched a global campaign for universal ratification of the UN Optional Protocols on children's rights this week. The two-year campaign will strive to achieve universal ratification of the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (OPSC) and the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict (OPAC) by 2012 to mark the 10th anniversary of their entry into force. Forty-four countries have yet to ratify either Protocol. OPAC has been ratified by 132 countries, while OPSC has been ratified by 137. Read about the campaign.
Amnesty International has published its annual State of the World's Human Rights Report today. On armed conflict, the report highlights in particular the international community's paralysis in the face of serious human rights abuses. The UN Human Rights Council has failed to take action against Sri Lanka where alleged war crimes have been carried out by government forces as well as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court’s 2009 arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al Bashir, for crimes against humanity and war crimes, broke new ground and illustrated that sitting heads of State are not above the law, the African Union has failed to cooperate with the Court's decision. Read the full report.
An American soldier who posted a video mocking Iraqi children as 'future gay terrorists' on Facebook is being investigated by the Army.
An American voice can be heard in the background of the video asking two young Iraqi boys, "Are you going to grow up to be a terrorist? Yeah! All right! Cool! Yeah, terrorists! Woo!"
Apparently not understanding, both boys give thumbs-up signs and nod...
The Associated Press spoke to Tim Stallard, a spokesman for Alaskans Together for Equality, about the video. "For anybody to be so cruel and disrespectful to children of any country but especially a country that we are occupying is really disgraceful and repugnant," he said.
Stallard also decried the anti-gay bias seen in the video. "It’s ugly, as well, and it’s sorry to see anybody expressing such unfortunate and strong bias against gay people," said Stallard. Read the full story.
CRIN issued a special report on children and sexuality this week to mark International Day against Homophobia.
The Chadian government has for the first time recognised the presence of child soldiers in the ranks of its armed forces. State officials have signed an agreement with UNICEF confirming their commitment to demobilise children from the army. Read the full story in French.
Two senior United Nations officials today urged an immediate halt to the recruitment and use of child soldiers in Somalia, where they say the practice is growing and affects children as young as nine years old. Read the full story.
Elsewhere, The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) welcomed a ban on the recruitment of people under the age of 18 into the national police force and called on the defence ministry to adopt a similar prohibition with regard to the army. Read the full story.
In other news, one child has been killed, and four injured, in a bomb blast in Turkey near the Iranian border this month, reports SOS Children's Villages. The children were playing with explosives they found near the army barracks (located near a firing range) where they were playing. Read the full story.
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