UN
Chides
Afghans, CAR,
Sudans, Chad,
Iraq,
Libya, Mali,
Somalia,
Myanmar
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, May
14 -- When the
UN's new
report on
Children and
Armed
Conflict was
circulated to
members of the
Security
Council on May
14,
beyond the
three
countries that
were
immediately
covered as
news by
Inner City
Press -- Syria,
Nigeria
and the Democratic
Republic of
the
Congo
-- there
were others on
the Council's
agenda.
These included
Afghanistan,
Central
African
Republic,
Chad, Cote
d'Ivoire,
Iraq, Israel /
Palestine,
Lebanon ,
Libya, Mali,
Somalia, Sudan
and South
Sudan and
even Myanmar.
(There
were also situations
not on the
agenda of the
Security
Council:
Colombia,
India,
Pakistan,
Philippines
and parts of
Thailand --
these
are the one's
who most push
back against
these
reports.)
On
Afghanistan,
the UN says it
“documented
the
recruitment
and use of
97 children
(all boys,
some as young
as eight years
old.”
On
CAR, the UN
says it
“documented
the
recruitment
and use of 171
boys
and 17 girls
and estimates
that several
thousand
children have
been
and remain
associated
with ex-Seleka
and the
anti-Balaka.”
On
Chad, the UN
cites the
“deployment of
Chadian groups
to” Mali and
that “border
porosity and
weak state
authority in
the CAR has
resulted in
the inflow of
approximately
80,000
refugees
including
unaccompanied
children into
Chad.”
Now that
Chad's Idriss
Deby has
closed the
border, what
is the UN
saying? Inner
City Press
asked UN
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric on
May 13, but by
the end of May
14,
there was
still no
answer.
This
report is set
to be "issued
as a document
of the
Security
Council under
the symbol
S/2014/339."
These
advance copies
have been
known to be
changed before
"final"
release, in a
process for
which a description,
and then proposals
for reform,
were provided
here
and then
here.
On
Cote d'Ivoire,
the UN says
that in 2013
it “documented
a total of
30 grave
violations
against
children
perpetrated by
the FRCI. Four
cases of
recruitment
and use of
children by
the FCRI were
documented.”
On
Iraq, the UN
documented the
most killings
of children,
248, since in
2008.
On
Israel /
Palestine, the
UN report says
that “eight
Palestinian
children (six
boys and two
girls) were
killed and
1,265 injured
in
the occupied
Palestinian
territories in
2013.”
On
Lebanon, the
UN says in
2013 it
documented “56
incidents of
violations
against
children,
including the
killing of 11
children and
injury to 21
others.”
On
Libya, the UN
says in 2013
it “documented
the killing of
14
children (12
boys and two
girls) aged
between four
and 17 years,
and
injury to five
others.”
On
Mali, the UN
among other
things said
that “despite
the signing of
a
protocol on
the release
and hand over
of children
between the
government of
Mali and the
UN on 1 July,
nine boys
remained
detained
in Bamako
under charges
at the time of
this writing.”
On
Somalia, the
UN report says
that “the
arbitrary
arrest and
detention of
1,009 children
by the Somali
National Army,
including
during
operations
against Al
Shabaab,
remained a
grave concern
in
2013.”
On
South Sudan,
the UN report
says “26 new
incidents of
military use
of schools and
hospitals by
SPKA (19)
SSNPS (six)
and non-state
actors (one)
were
documented.”
On
Sudan, the UN
says it
“recorded the
recruitment
and use of 42
children in
South Kordofan
and Blue Nile,
including two
by the SAF.”
On
Myanmar, the
UN report says
“children used
by the
Tatmadaw
continued to
be deployed to
the frontline
as combatants
and in other
roles, in
particular in
Kachin State.”
That would be
the
government.
Watch this
site.
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