Hyderabad(Telangana): Every year International Day Of Innocent Children Victims Of Aggression (UNO) is observed on June 4, which drew global attention to the devastating impact of armed conflict on children in 1997. The General Assembly adopted 51/77 Resolution on the Rights of the Child. It was a landmark development in efforts to improve the protection of children in conflict situations. This signalled the start of a new consensus among Member States, on the need for dedicated attention, advocacy and coordinated effort, by the international community, to address the vulnerabilities and violations faced by children in conflict-related situations.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provides us with the universal masterplan to secure a better future for children. The new agenda includes for the first time a specific target (16.2) to end all forms of violence against children, and ending the abuse, neglect and exploitation of children is mainstreamed across several other violence-related targets.
What does the Act state?
In response to a rise in grave violations committed against children in recent years, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict is launching ACT to Protect Children Affected by Conflict, a global campaign to generate greater awareness and action to protect children affected by war.
“With more children suffering horrific abuses in war zones across the globe, we desperately need to reinvigorate our efforts to raise awareness about the core of the mandate I represent – the six great violations, and to redouble our common advocacy to ensure action by parties to conflict to give children the protection they deserve,” said Virginia Gamba.
Over the next three years, the campaign will seek to strengthen collaboration between the United Nations, civil society and the international community to support actions designed to end and prevent grave violations committed against children in times of conflict.
What are the types of crimes monitored in Security Council resolution?
The UN identifies six categories of crimes against children in armed conflict. These violations are specifically monitored in Security Council resolutions:
1.Recruitment or use of children as soldiers;
2.Killing and maiming of children;
3.Sexual violence against children;
4.Abduction of children;
5.Attacks against school or hospitals, which make access to school system and cares more difficult, as it is currently the case in Syria.
6.Denial of humanitarian access for children. Children in Yemen are particularly affected by this sixth violation since the beginning of the conflict in the country.
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How wars in conflict zones devastate the lives of children?
Annual United Nations (UN) report titled, Children and Armed Conflict 2019 highlights how wars continue to devastate the lives of children in conflict zones. More than 12,000 children were killed and injured in armed conflicts last year, a record number, with Afghanistan, Yemen, Palestine and Syria topping the casualty list.
The deaths and injuries were among more than 24,000 ‘grave violations' against children verified by the UN. They pointed out that the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen remained on the list of parties that have put in place measures to protect children, despite the rise in child casualties.
“The Saudi-led coalition since 2015 has committed appalling violations against children in Yemen without any evidence that it’s trying to improve its record,” said Louis Charbonneau, UN Director at Human Rights Watch.
“By including them once again in the ‘not so bad’ category of serious reformers, the secretary-general makes a mockery of the whole exercise.”
The report also blamed Israel for killing 59 Palestinian children and injuring 2,756 in 2018, the highest number since 2014. Six Israeli children were injured during the same period. Afghanistan and Syria topped the list of countries with the most child casualties in armed conflict.
Is recuritement of child soldiers still in practice?
The report revealed that the terrorist PKK group’s Syrian affiliate, YPG, recruited over 300 children and has also used schools as training grounds and ammunition depots in the region.
The YPG has a history of using child soldiers in its ranks. The group tricks families into giving up their children or kidnaps them, taking them to training camps. Some are even exposed to drugs, so they can be used as suicide bombers or to fight on the front lines later
Nearly 40 percent of children recruited by terror groups were girls younger than 15 years old. Twenty-four schools and hospitals were used as training grounds and 14 schools as ammunition depots.
"The signing of an agreement by the UN, which should be at the forefront in the fight against terror, with a terrorist organisation cannot be explained in any way. This is also a clear violation of the UN's own decisions on terrorism," the Foreign Ministry said.
How does conflict affect young boys and girls?
New analysis also reveals how conflict affects girls and boys differently. Nine in ten child victims of sexual violence are girls.
Boys are more often killed or maimed, abducted or recruited by armed groups. Boys more likely to be killed in direct warfare, if girls are killed or badly injured it is more likely to be a result of indiscriminate explosive weapons.
Girls were far more likely to be raped, to be forced into child marriage or to fall victim to other forms of sexual abuse than boys—87 percent of all verified cases of sexual violence involved girls, while 1.5 percent were boys. In 11 percent of the cases, the gender was not recorded. Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo were the most dangerous countries for girls.
At least 12,125 children were either killed or injured by conflict-related violence in 2018 alone, a rise of 13 percent compared with the reported total the year before, with Afghanistan being the most dangerous country for children.
Of all verified cases of killing and maiming, 44 percent were boys, 17 percent were girls. In the other cases, gender was not recorded. Boys are also more vulnerable to recruitment by armed forces or armed groups, and abductions. Of the more than 2,500 children abducted by armed groups in 2018, 80 percent were boys.
Since 2005, at least 95,000 children were recorded to have been killed or maimed, tens of thousands of children abducted, and millions of children denied access to education or health services after their schools and hospitals were attacked. The senseless destruction of children’s lives will continue, unless all governments and warring parties act now to uphold international norms and standards, and make perpetrators answer for their crimes.
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