CRINMAIL 146
In this issue:
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State of children and armed conflict in 2010
The 2010 annual report of the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict sets out critical areas of child protection in the context of the changing nature of armed conflict.
The report highlights in particular efforts to address the impunity of perpetrators of grave violations against children, including through the judicious use of sanctions and other targeted measures. Read the report.
The new Human Security Report from the Human Security Research Project at Simon Fraser University highlights broader trends in armed conflict.
The findings reveal that the post-Cold War period has seen a greater percentage of the world's countries involved in wars than at any time since the end of World War II. Read the report
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Duty-bound
The US administration has caused outrage by backtracking on its commitment to end the recruitment of children into armed forces in certain countries in order to strengthen military cooperation. President Obama has waived the application of section 404 (a) of the Child Soldiers Prevention Act 2008 for Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and Yemen.
The law prohibits all forms of defence-related assistance to countries that actively recruit troops under the age of 18.
The only remaining restrictions apply to Myanmar and Somalia.
A group of NGOs issued a letter calling on President Obama to urge the governments concerned to move towards a total ban on recruitment of children and the full demobilisation of children currently serving. Read the letter.
In further efforts to stem the abuse of chidlren in armed conflict, Geneva Call has announced the launch of the "Deed of Commitment". This universal instrument aims to provide armed non-State actors (NSAs), which lack the legal capacity to become party to relevant international treaties, with an opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to international norms protecting children from armed conflict.
The Deed of Commitment has been developed by Geneva Call following focused discussions with National Security Agencies, and under the advice of an expert advisory group including participants from the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, UNICEF, the ICRC, the Quaker UN Office and international legal experts. Full story.
To mark International Children's Day on 19 November 2010, the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers published a briefing highlighting the United Kingdom's ongoing military recruitment of children under the age of 18 years. The UK is one of a diminishing number of countries that still recruit children into the armed forces, and one of fewer than 20 countries which recruit from the age of 16. No other country in the European Union recruits 16-year-olds. Read the briefing.
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Children's rights run aground
A new report by the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Somalia stresses that the level and scale of grave violations against children in Somalia have been increasing over the past two years. Particularly disturbing developments include an increase in the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict; the killing and maiming of children; and the denial of humanitarian access to children. In Mogadishu, tens of thousands of children are suffering under the direct impact of one of the most intense and indiscriminate conflicts in the world, while the broader implications of displacement, livelihood collapse and lack of statutory protection services have affected children across the country and further increased their vulnerability to all forms of violence, exploitation and abuse. Download the report.
On a recent visit to the country, Radhika Coomaraswamy, the United Nations (UN) Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, warned of the challenges posed by maritime piracy to children's rights, reports SOS Children's Villages Canada. Coomaraswamy met with children who had been charged with piracy, saying that those in charge of piracy operations stay on shore and send children out to "do the dangerous stuff". See article.
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Brought to book
The UN Security Council has imposed sanctions against Colonel Innocent Zimurinda of the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) for abuses against children, announced the UN office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict last week. Zimurinda is charged with four of the six "grave violations against children," defined by the UN, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, executing and maiming of children, sexual abuses and blocking of humanitarian access, reports CRIENGLISH.com. See article.
Human Rights Watch has criticised an Israeli military court's sentence on 21 November 2010, for two soldiers found guilty of using a Palestinian boy as a "human shield" during the 2008-09 offensive in Gaza as inadequate given the gravity of the offence.
"The slap on the wrist for these soldiers is another slap in the face for the victims of violations during Operation Cast Lead," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "Not only do these sentences seem unjustifiably lenient, but two years later, they are the only sentences Israel has handed down for serious human rights violations among the many alleged during the Gaza offensive." See article.
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Time wasting
The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre at the Norwegian Refugee Council has issued two briefings on displaced children's right to education.
Displacement lasts 20 years on average. This means displaced children's education cannot wait until solutions are found. The first paper introduces a series of case studies looking at education for IDPs. It examines the international human rights legal framework for guaranteeing their education, focusing on issues such as non-discrimination. Read the report.
In a second paper, the IDMC focuses on two factors that affect displaced children’s ability to exercise their right to education in Turkey: poverty and discrimination. Read the report.
{THE LAST WORD}
“Every year we list armed groups who steal children from their homes, brainwash them and turn them into soldiers, those who deny humanitarian access to children, who attack schools and kill teachers, who sexually violate girls and boys and kill and maim children. Those listed by the Secretary-General now have a choice. Work with us to get off the list or face sanctions.”
- UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict commenting on sanctions for DRC Colonel accused of grave violations against children
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