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Summary: Latest update of the State crackdown in the MENA region
Libya In Libya, children as young as 15 are being used by security forces to regain control of Misrata, and threatened with being shot if they refuse to fight, according to young government troops captured by rebels. Seventeen-year-old Umran told how he and 90 others aged 15 to 19 were given rifles, instructed to shoot targets for practice, and were then thrown into a war zone. "We were told we had to cleanse Misrata. There were invaders from Egypt and we had to fight against them," he said. "We didn't want any part in it and requested to leave. They refused and some tried to run off and officers fired on them." Umran is now recovering in a rebel hospital after being hit by an anti-aircraft gun, resulting in a broken arm and amputated leg. Full story. The UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, has released a statement on the situation of children in Misrata and Libya, emphasising that the use of children as combatants on both sides of the conflict is a grave violation against children, and perpetrators will be held accountable. She also condemned heavy shelling, bombardment and land mines which have claimed children as victims. Full statement. One woman has told how her son was killed by a sniper in Misrata, and that “[t]here were corpses in the gutter and in the vegetable market where I buy produce. The militia raped women, slaughtered men and killed children.” More on the story. Meanwhile the African Court on Human and People’s Rights has given Libya 60 days to respond to an application filed by the African Commission alleging grave and widespread violations of the African Charter, including the repression of peaceful demonstrations and the use of heavy artillery and machine guns against civilians. Full story. Yemen In Yemen, at least 26 children have been killed, 80 others injured, and over 800 exposed to tear gas, according to UNICEF. Full story. Children are also being used as soldiers by the armed forces, namely by the defected unit that is now supporting anti-government protesters. Yemeni child soldiers, some as young as 14, are known to have already been serving in the army for one to two years. Interviews with officers from the First Armoured Division, whose commander, Gen. Ali Muhsin, defected to the opposition in March, have revealed that the unit recruits 15-year-olds and sometimes makes exceptions by recruiting even younger children. However, Yemeni security forces have been urged to immediately stop recruiting minors, as their presence in a conflict zone puts them at grave risk of harm. Additionally, by using child soldiers, Yemen is in breach of article 32 of the CRC which recognises the right of children to be protected from performing any work that is likely to be harmful to their health or development, as well as the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the involvement of children in armed conflict, which was ratified in 2007 and establishes that States Parties should ensure that persons under 18 are not forcibly recruited into the armed forces or take a direct part in hostilities. Bahrain The situation in Bahrain also continues to deteriorate as a fourth person has died after being tortured while under police custody. A 20-year-old woman who had written anti-government poems has alsodied after enduring repeated rape and torture at the hands of Bahraini security forces. On March 15, the country was declared in a state of emergency, officially labelled as a “State of National Safety”, which effectively gives authorities unrestrained powers of arrest, censorship, and prohibitions on civil liberties. Syria On the other hand in Syria, the government lifted its 48-year state of emergency on Tuesday. It occurred just hours after security forces fired on protesters in the city of Homs, killing at least six people. The country’s president, Bashar al-Assad, has yet to sign the legislation, but his signature is just a formality, a senior lawyer has said. The government has also abolished the state security court, which handled the trials of political prisoners, and passed a new law allowing the right to peaceful protests. Yet this concession is limited by another law approved by the interior ministry which says that citizens must obtain permission to demonstrate. Campaigners, however, fear that the end of emergency rule will not halt State repression, noting the arrest of prominent former political prisoner Mahmoud Issa at his house just hours after the bill to lift the emergency law was announced. "Lifting the emergency law is long overdue, but there are a host of other laws that should be scrapped, such as those giving security forces immunity from prosecution, and giving powers to military courts to try civilians," Rami Adelrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said. More than 200 people have been killed in Syria since the popular uprising began a month ago. Full story. Further Information: