UNITED
NATIONS, June
30 -- There is
a lot of talk
at the UN
against the
use
of child
soldiers, and
to mitigate
the impact of
armed conflict
on
children. But
does the UN
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations
under
Herve Ladsous
live up to
this?
As
first
reported
by Inner City
Press, Ladsous
is poised to
pay as UN
peacekeepers
in Mali the
Chadian army,
which is on
the UN's own
list
of child
soldier
recruiters.
As
with Ladsous'
non-enforcement
of the UN's
supposed
conditionality
and
human rights
due diligence
policies with
regard to the
Congolese
army
units
implicated in
135 rapes in
Minova in
November,
the UN's
stated
principles are
being
systematically
undermined.
Pursuing
the
Minova abuses
since last
November, in
the face of repeated
Ladsous
refusals to
answer,
Inner City
Press asked
the UN for a
list
of the units
of the
Congolese army
(FARDC) which
it supports.
The UN,
or Ladsous'
DPKO, refused.
Now
the new UN
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo
sanctions
report, which
Inner City
Press put
exclusively
online early
yesterday,
lists FARDC
units involved
with child
soldiers. Two
sample
paragraphs, on
“...cases
involving
the illegal
detention and
use of
children for
military
purposes by
the FARDC.
According to
FARDC and
MONUSCO
sources as
well
as local
authorities in
the Kisala
area of
Butembo
territory,
between
February and
April 2013,
FARDC’s 1032nd
Battalion
arrested four
boys aged
between 15 and
17 on charges
of belonging
to the Nyatura
rebel group.
An FARDC Major
subsequently
enlisted three
of them as
cooks, while
assigning the
fourth to be a
soldier in
Mushaki with
the
106th Regiment
commanded by
Col. Civiri.
150.
In April,
UNICEF
separated 19
children from
the FARDC
812th Regiment
located at
Camp Bobozo in
Kananga, in
Kasai
Occidental
province. The
Regiment had
rotated from
North Kivu to
Kananga in
March, and had
forcefully
recruited the
children
before their
departure from
North
Kivu. Four
soldiers from
this Regiment
acknowledged
to the Group
that
they had been
aware of the
presence of
the minors
(commonly
referred
to as
‘kadogo’) in
their ranks.
In April,
UNICEF
separated two
minors (one of
them a girl)
from the same
Regiment; both
had been
forcefully
recruited.”
So
has MONUSCO
supported
FARDC’s 1032nd
Battalion or
812th
Regiment?
Inner
City Press
already has
specific
questions
pending at
DPKO without
yet
an substantive
response.
Inner City
Press has
asked DPKO
chief Herve
Ladsous' four
top
spokespeople
to comment on
these issues
-- and,
incidentally,
if they have a
new position
on their
MONUSCO's
January
30, 2013 press
release
denouncing the
publication
(now confirmed
by
the Report) of
links between
the FARDC and
FDLR, by Inner
City Press.
Now, DPKO
confirmed
receipt more
than 17 hours
before this
publication,
but so far no
substantive
response.
On
questions
ranging from
the 135 FARDC
rapes in
Minova through
the
kidnapping
of UN
peacekeepers
in the Golan
Heights,
the introduction
of cholera
into Haiti
and Ladsous
and Ban
Ki-moon
accepting
as an adviser
of a Sri
Lankan
military
figure
depicted in
the UN's
own report as
engaged in war
crimes,
Ladsous'
strategy has
been to
provide
answers to
Inner City
Press'
questions to
other,
friendlier
journalists.
Now
evidence has
emerged that
for at
least one of
these outlets,
Reuters, the
flow
goes the other
way to, with
the provision
to the UN of
information
ostensibly
only for the
UNCA group
that the UN
should not
have, here.
This is being
pursued by the
new Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
@FUNCA_info.
Ladsous
is
today in Mali
(where as
noted he is
incorporating
a UN listed
child soldier
recruiting
country into
DPKO's
peackeeping
mission
MINUSMA to be
so launched
tomorrow). But
Ladsous, ever
since Inner
City Press
asked about his
statements
during the
Rwanda
genocide,
has
refused to
answer Inner
City Press'
questions, video compilation
here.
Watch this
site.
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