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.
