UN's
Zerrougui
Cites 29 Child
Soldiers with
NYATURA, Obama
Waiver in
Yemen
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 3 --
When the new
Special
Representative
of the
Secretary-General
for Children
and Armed
Conflict Leila
Zerrougui
came Monday to
take questions
from the
press, the
initial topic
was
Yemen, which
she visited
for three days
in late
November.
But
since
Zerrougui
before she
replaced
Radhika
Coomaraswamy
on child
soldiers was
the deputy
chief of the
UN's MONUSCO
mission in the
Congo, Inner
City Press
asked her
about that
mission as
well.
Specifically,
what
does MONUSCO
do to ensure
that the
militias now
working with
the
Congolese Army
-- parts of
which the UN
supports,
ostensibly in
compliance
with the UN
Human Rights
Due Diligence
Policy -- are
not
recruiting
children?
In
the recent
fighting with
the M23
mutineers, the
Congolese Army
worked
with, among
others, the
NYATURA. And
in August,
Inner City
Press
questioned
the UN
about MONUSCO
flying
Congolese
authorities to
meet
with the Mai
Mai APCLS.
(The
UN claimed it
didn't know
what the
meeting was
about).
These
seem like
holes in the
UN's Human
Rights Due
Diligence
Policy --
other holes
include Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous
refusing to
say, even
now, which
Congolese Army
units were in
Minova when
well upwards
of the UN
reported 22
rapes
took place.
But
Zerrougui
focused on the
positive side,
recounting
that when
NYATURA
elements were
integrated
into the
Congolese
Army, the UN
conducted a
physical
inspection and
removed or
segregated
some 29 child
soldiers.
But what about
APCLS? And
what about
Minova?
On
Yemen, Inner
City Press
asked
Zerrougui if
the Obama
administration
having in late
September
waived the US
Child Soldiers
Prevention Act
of 2008 with
respect to
Yemen (as well
as Libya,
South Sudan
and partially
the DRC)
was helpful to
her mandate or
not, for
example during
her trip to
and
discussions
with Yemen.
The
answer would
clearly seem
to be no, but
instead
Zerrougui
recounting
telling the
Yemeni
authorities
that although
the US had
given the
waiver, it was
only temporary
and that "the
ICC could be
referred."
The
mention of ICC
in Yemen would
seem to apply
most directly
to Ali
Saleh, but he
made sure to
obtain an
immunity
agreement
before
stepping back
(and Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon told
Inner City
Press that in
his phone
conversation
with Saleh,
immunity just
didn't
come up.)
Zerrougui
visited
the Houthis;
it seems to
have been an
active first
field
visit. Watch
this site.
Footnote:
as
a final
question,
Inner City
Press asked
Zerrougui for
her view
of a pending
law in the
Philippines
which would
penalize the
parents
of child
soldiers.
Zerrougui
replied that
it would
depend on the
context. But
to many, the
proposed law
would allow
the government
to
go after
families
perceived to
be in the
opposition,
not to say
Moro
Islamic Front
or MILF...
, 
