Children's Rights Institute Blog  

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Child marriages in Yemen, Somalia's commitment to ending recruitment of child soldiers, and more...

Rights group urges Yemen to ban child marriage, The Kansas City Star, December 8, 2011

Human Rights Watch (HRW) called for Yemeni authorities to take legal steps to set the minimum age for marriage at 18, an effort to "improve girls' opportunities for education and protect their human rights." According to HRW's report, approximately 52 percent of girls in Yemen are married before age 18, 14 percent before age 15, and, in rural areas, girls were married as young as age 8. Some reported that they were victims of marital rape and domestic abuse. Although a February 2009 law set the minimum age for marriage at 17, lawmakers argued that enforcement of such an age requirement was contrary to Islamic law and the legislation was repealed. Read more.

Evidence of child labor in Mali gold mines, Associated Press, December 6, 2011

An estimated 20,000 to 40,000 children work in artisanal gold mines in Mali, some believed to be as young as 6. Exposure to toxic mercury is common, and children interviewed complained of recurring head and back pain, respiratory problems, and other ailments. Some have suffered long-term spinal injuries. Accidents in unstable pits and physical and sexual abuse were also reported. Investigations by the Associated Press and Human Rights Watch into the supply chain revealed that companies in the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland, including the Geneva-based importer Decafin SA, have purchased the majority of the gold. An individual from Decafin tersely denied that the company had purchased from mines that use child labor, while a lawyer from Decafin stated that the company lacks the means to investigate the problem and has not been in direct contact with the government of Mali or the gold producers. Read more.

Wiener Library relocates Nazi archive to new premises, BBC News, November 30, 2011

Among the objects housed in the Wiener Library, the world's oldest Holocaust archive, are children's books and games "intended to imbue hatred and fear of Jews." These toys portray Jews as grotesque-looking figures exploiting "heroic-looking" Germans for financial gain. According to library director Ben Barkow, the "sheer quantity of [anti-Semitic material], the sheer inescapability, certainly meant it had an effect" on the nation's society. Read more.

The similarities between the Nazi-era methods of targeting children with youth-oriented hate propaganda and the tactics of al Qaeda and other present-day radical groups are striking. For instance, CRI reported on an effort by al Qaeda to produce a children's cartoon aimed at encouraging viewers to join in armed conflict against the West. Depictions in children's television shows from Hamas include a would-be Mickey Mouse killed by "terrorist" Jews and a Jew-eating rabbit. The propaganda itself has been modernized, but its harmful impact on children has not likely weakened and the goal of instilling hatred remains just as insidious as it was during the Holocaust.

Somalia's leaders commit to UN process to end recruitment of child soldiers, UN News Centre, November 23, 2011

During a meeting with UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy, the President, Prime Minister, and Defence Minister of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) "recommitted the TFG to the signing and implementation of a Security Council-mandated plan" to stop the recruitment and use of children in the country's armed forces. To this end, the three Somali officials also agreed to immediately "nominate military and civilian focal points" within the TFG to work with the UN. Coomaraswamy stated that, upon completion of the plan, no children would occupy the ranks of the TFG and the UN would be able to remove the TFG from the Secretary-General's "list of shame." Read more.

Colombian ad campaign aimed at FARC child soldiers, Miami Herald, November 17, 2011

The government of Colombia commenced an ad campaign aimed at reducing the number of children who become soldiers with guerilla groups and criminal organizations. Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzón stated that 13% of the 24,000 individuals who defected from the ranks of the FARC (Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia) guerillas were recruited as minors. The campaign is targeted at parents and conveys the message that abuse and neglect makes children easily susceptible to recruitment efforts. Pinzón added that the average age at which children are recruited by the FARC is 12 and, in a press conference, stated that "the majority of girls who are recruited by illegal armed groups (the FARC) are forced to become sexual slaves." Read more.

By  |  December 12, 2011 at 2:40 pm  |  Permalink

Child slaves in Haiti, UN says child soldiers should not be treated as perpetrators, and more…

The UN: Accessory to Slavery and Other Crimes Against Humanity, Mideast Outpost, October 26, 2011

Simon Deng, a citizen of South Sudan and former child slave, delivered a speech at The Perils of Global Intolerance conference protesting the third Durban conference and, more broadly, the UN's anti-Israel campaign. Deng said that the UN's preoccupation with blaming Israel for exaggerated Palestinian suffering diverts much-needed time and resources from and overlooks "those who suffer on a far larger scale." The black indigenous population of the Sudan, for example, has been subjected to "oppression, brutalization, Islamization, Arabization, and enslavement" by the Arab regime in Khartoum but has received relatively little aid in comparison to what the UN has provided Palestinians (e.g., UNRWA). Deng noted that approximately four million innocent men, women, and children were slaughtered in South Sudan between 1955 and 2005, that children were abducted and forcibly converted to Islam in the 1990s, and that the regime in Khartoum sent militias to abduct children as slaves. The full article is available here.

New CRI Blog Post: Child Soldiers: Lost Youth

CRI contributor Marie Owens's blog post on child soldiers discusses key factors that make children susceptible to recruitment, the psychological damage that results from indoctrination and involvement in armed conflict, and the issue of culpability of armed child combatants. The post is available here.

Child Slaves – Slavery: A 21^st Century Evil, Al Jazeera, November 1, 2011

At least 8.4 million children are enslaved around the world today, held as forced labor, prostitutes, and child soldiers. In Haiti, poor families are selling their children into slavery to be domestic help for wealthy families. These child slaves are known as "restaveks," from the French words "rester avec" (to stay with), and are also sold and trafficked to the United States. This article and broadcast discuss the "restavek" system and interview children who have been subject to the life of a slave.

Suicide bomber recruitment, a meal a day will keep the terrorists away, The Express Tribune, November 2, 2011

At the 15^th National Health Sciences Research Symposium at Aga Khan University, Dr. Feriha Peracha, a psychologist and director of Sabaoon Project, presented her research on the topic of terrorism, demographics, and psychosocial variables in adolescents. Peracha interviewed 162 children, ranging from 12 to 18 years old, who were captured by the Pakistan Army, some in the process of carrying out suicide bombings for the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan. She concluded that "the underlying motivation to join the militants was 'poverty and lack of opportunities.'" As such, a continuous program of discussions and the opportunity to pursue a better education was found to be helpful in reintegrating the former child soldiers into Pakistani society. The full article is available here.

Teen suicide bombers often have roots in poverty, Central Asia Online, October 14, 2011

The investigation wing of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police found that, more often than not, parents and other family members of child suicide bombers and would-be bombers had no connection with the recruiting militants and were unaware of their children's activities. Poverty, illiteracy, and unemployment were common factors in children becoming suicide bombers. Additionally, police found that fewer urban children became bombers because "socio-economic advantages make it harder for militant recruiters to find desperate, receptive children." The full article is available here.

Children Should Be Treated Primarily, Not As Perpetrators – SRSG for Children and Armed Conflict Stressed at the Human Rights Council, UN Press Release, September 12, 2011

In her presentation to the Human Rights Council, Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy said that states are increasingly detaining, arresting, and prosecuting child soldiers who lack legal representation. She emphasized her position that these children should be treated as victims rather than as perpetrators, in light of their age and that they are forced into armed conflict and then abused, exploited, and beaten into submission by their commanders. Coomaraswamy further advocated that the "world should unite" to combat the use of children as suicide bombers, "one of the most perverse developments in modern warfare." The full press release is available here here.

Is the tide turning against the killing of 'cursed' infants in Ethiopia?, CNN, November 5, 2011

Despite an alleged intensifying government crackdown on the practice, ritualistic infanticide in Southern parts of Ethiopia, particularly along the Omo River Valley basin, is still rife amongst the local tribes: the Kara, Banna, and Hamar. The ritual is reserved for children deemed cursed—or "mingi"—by virtue of the fact that a child's top teeth have emerged before his bottom teeth. Such a growth pattern, they fear, signifies a bad omen for the village. The killing is seen as a purge; a resort to ward off curses. The infanticide "process" consists of plunging the helpless child into the nearby crocodile-infested river. Protection for these children is inversely commensurable to the pervasive nature of the superstition; the more entrenched the fear, the less likely someone will object. It has been left to the local Christian missionaries to offer safety and shelter from such abuses. The full article is availablehere.

By  |  November 14, 2011 at 12:07 pm  |  Permalink

Child Soldiers: Lost Youth

By Marie Owens

The recruitment of children as soldiers is one of Six Grave Violations Against Children During Armed Conflict that is recognized by the United Nations. Not only are child soldiers vulnerable to other atrocities of war - being killed or maimed, sexually exploited or abducted and sold into slavery - they suffer lifelong psychological trauma even if they survive a war and are able to escape military service. Also, complex issues of culpability arise if child soldiers have participated in war crimes or are found to have committed atrocities themselves. It doesn't matter if one has a background in psychology or a criminal justice degree; everyone can understand the horror behind child soldiers.

A person of age 18 or older who joins any branch of the military is assumed to have made a rational and informed decision. The same cannot be said of those younger than 18 who join armies or militias. Like many adults who decide to become soldiers, children who join military organizations often do so because they have limited options. They may face extreme poverty or even starvation, or a life of hard manual labor. Most children who become soldiers have little or no opportunity for schooling before they are recruited. Children who become soldiers do so for many of the same reasons that adults do - to satisfy a sense of adventure, to take revenge on ethnic groups that have killed or injured family members or attempt to improve their social status. A key difference between adult recruits and child recruits is that many child recruits are orphans, and so have no one to counsel them on the possible consequences of their actions. Many children don't have the mental capacity to understand that they could be killed during combat. Children are much more easily indoctrinated than adults because they lack the education and maturity to adequately question the statements made by recruiters and trainers.

A key difference between adults who are drafted or conscripted into armies and children who are forcibly enlisted into militias is that most children are illegally conscripted. Some soldiers who are younger than 18 are drafted or allowed to join military units because of a lack of adequate procedures to verify the age of enlistees. A recent report released by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers details how both sides in an armed conflict in Southern Thailand used child soldiers. Children are often forced to join rebel armies or organizations that have criminal or financial goals rather than political aims.

The psychological and emotional trauma suffered by child soldiers often begins well before they join a military organization; at the death of their own mother. A study conducted among children abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda shows that children who had lost their mothers suffered even more psychological damage than other child soldiers. The same study reveals that these children form bonds with their captors, and identify with their goals. Many child soldiers have lost not only their parents, but siblings, neighbors and members of their extended families as a result of armed conflict. Recruiters are able to exploit the grief and sense of loss suffered by children by offering a sense of belonging in the army. Child soldiers do gain a sense of belonging in an army, even when they have to endure beatings, rape and other forms of sexual exploitation and miserable living conditions. The children are so thoroughly indoctrinated that they believe they deserve such treatment or that the treatment is necessary in order for the army to win the war. Poor treatment and exposure to combat contribute to the psychological trauma suffered by children before joining a military organization. Psychological counseling is now an important component of international efforts to demobilize child soldiers.

While children who are used as human shields clearly have no culpability in the actions in which they are involved, the issue of culpability becomes less clear for children who carry and use weapons. Child combatants who are taken prisoner by their enemies are considered just as much potential combatants by their captors as adult soldiers who are taken prisoner. Legal questions of culpability may arise if a soldier committed atrocities before reaching the age of 18. The Nuremberg war crimes trials established that merely following orders is not a defense for committing atrocities. This isn't very clear when the atrocities are committed by children, as children lack the judgment and maturity to determine if their actions are atrocities. They may also lack the emotional strength to resist orders given by adults. Naomi Cahn, in her article Poor Children: Child Sorcerers and Child Soldiers in Sub-Saharan Africa, calls for "social services justice." Such an approach acknowledges that child soldiers have diminished capacity to make informed decisions and may not have full culpability for their actions, but also acknowledges that child soldiers most likely need psychological counseling and other social services before they can rejoin society without risk of becoming lifelong criminals or career soldiers.

In some parts of the world, children as young as nine-years-old are forced to fight in armed conflicts. Those younger than fifteen who become soldiers often have great difficulty re-integrating into civil society at the end of armed conflict. Many international efforts have been established to address these issues, but much more needs to be done.

By  |  November 10, 2011 at 2:53 pm  |  Permalink

Support the Children's Rights Institute!

"If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children." – Mahatma Gandhi

Dear Friends,

The Children's Rights Institute (CRI) needs your help!

Since its inception, CRI has worked tirelessly to raise awareness and legally combat heinous violations of children's basic human rights as occurring throughout the globe. Our focus is on the incitement and recruitment of children to become suicide bombers, child soldiers, and human shields, a tragic and widespread phenomenon that receives far too little attention from human rights organizations, politicians, lawyers, and the mainstream media.

SUPPORT CRI

Our efforts include: facilitating legal actions against parties responsible for mass-scale child abuse; government briefings; film screenings; events with recognized experts in the fields of human rights and international law; student CRI chapters at law schools across the nation; speaking engagements, lectures, and debates with a diverse range of participants; an internship program for school credit; media appearances; publishing articles for the mass media and in legal and counter-terrorism journals detailing and analyzing instances of children's human rights violations; and tracking violations of children's rights throughout the Middle East and elsewhere.

CRI is the only recognized watchdog focused on the abuse of innocent Muslim children worldwide as they are ignored by the human rights community.

We also operate the only comprehensive online resource for news about the recruitment and education of children to become suicide bombers, child soldiers, and human shields, which is constantly updated.

STOP CHILD SUICIDE BOMBING

To ensure that we can continue our operations, we are running an urgently needed fundraising campaign. As a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit, the Children's Rights Institute is dependent wholly on our supporters. All donations are deductible under section 170 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Please consider making a donation today! Donations can be made via PayPal (by clicking any of the colored links herein) or can be sent to CRI at:

P.O. Box 3709, New York, NY 10163

DONATE NOW! Help stop the illegal incitement to violence directed at innocent children!

"There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children." – Nelson Mandela

By  |  November 7, 2011 at 1:12 pm  |  Permalink

UN condemns death penalty in Iran after execution of teenager, child sexual abuse in Pakistan, and more...

By  |  September 22, 2011 at 12:08 pm  |  Permalink

Invitation to outdoor screening of "The Making of a Martyr" in Washington Square Park, Sept. 21 @ 7PM

Watch the official trailer of The Making of a Martyr on YouTube.

By  |  September 8, 2011 at 6:45 pm  |  Permalink

CRI director Brooke Goldstein on Deradicalization Panel at ICT's World Summit on Counter-Terrorism

CRI director Brooke Goldstein will participate in a panel discussion on "Countering Violent Extremism and Radicalization" at ICT's 11th Annual International Conference, World Summit on Counter-Terrorism: Terrorism's Global Impact. Ms. Goldstein will speak on legitimate uses of the legal system to counter radicalization, amongst other things. The panel will also feature:

• Chair: Dr. Lorenzo Vidino - Visiting Fellow, Center for Security Studies, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
• Dr. Rohan Gunaratna - Head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
• Mr. Michael Whine - Director, Government & International Affairs, Community Security Trust, U.K.

Event Details:

Date: Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Time: 2PM - 5PM

Location: Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), Herzliya, Israel

Additional information and registration are available on ICT's website.

By  |  September 6, 2011 at 4:01 pm  |  Permalink

Recruitment in Somalia and UN Security Council sanctions, al Qaeda cartoon, and more

UN envoy welcomes step on sanctions against violators of children in Somalia, UN News Centre, August 2, 2011. On Tuesday, the UN envoy advocating for the rights of the child during armed conflict embraced the Security Council's decision to apply sanctions against any individuals or entities that violate children's rights. The available sanctions include travel bans, arms embargos, and asset freezes. The UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict hailed the decision as "one step closer to ending impunity of the worst violators of children in war" and urged all partners working in child protection "to redouble their efforts to gather reliable information on grave violations against children." The full article is available here.

Somali Islamic Militias Recruit Child Soldiers, Amnesty International Says, Bloomberg, July 19, 2011. Amnesty International reported that the "systematic recruitment of children" by Islamic militias in southern and central Somalia is increasing. According to Amnesty, many of these child soldiers are under 15 years old. The full article is available here.

Conflict generating more child soldiers, Yemen Times, July 25, 2011. According to child rights advocates, both pro-government and defecting units of the Yemen army have increased their recruitment of children. While the exact number of child soldiers in unknown due to the refusal of military authorities to provide such information, local NGO Seyaj Organization for Childhood Protection (SOCP) estimates it to be several thousand. SOCP chairman Ahmad al-Qurashi added that 50 percent of pro-government fighters and al-Houthi (rebel) gunmen in the Sa'dah governorate were found to be younger than age 18. Regarding the prevalence of fake IDs, a recruitment officer at the Ministry of Defense acknowledged that some recruits look younger than the age on their ID cards, but added that the ID card is "the only reliable document for determining the age of an applicant." The full article is available here.

Taliban Blamed in Death of Afghan Officer's 8-Year-Old-Son, The New York Times, July 24, 2011. In a perverse act of violence, kidnappers believed to be Taliban strangled to death the son of a police officer in southern Afghanistan after the father, Mohammed Daoud, refused to give them his police truck. Daoud received a call requesting the truck in exchange for the boy, but had not yet realized that his son was missing. When he returned home, his wife and daughters informed him that his son had been kidnapped and, several days later, the police found the 8-year-old dead. Although the Taliban has denied responsibility for the young boy's murder, Daoud received a call from the Taliban, again demanding the truck, on the same day that his son's body was found. The full article is available here [subscription required].

Al Qaeda Children's Cartoon Might Be Group's Newest Propaganda Tool, The Huffington Post, July 20, 2011. Security specialists reported that al Qaeda sympathizers are developing a children's cartoon film to encourage viewers to join in armed violence against the West. British counter-extremism think tank Quilliam said that a contributor to a password-protected Arabic-language online discussion forum announced the planned movie, posted stills showing "masked figurers firing rifles and executing captives," and stated that the cartoon would show "operations surrounding real events . . . including incursions, clashes, and assassinations." IPT News has reported that the media wing of Al-Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is responsible for the cartoon, calling the effort "an attempt to make kid-friendly propaganda that will replace prevalent Western media." The full article is available here.

By  |  August 12, 2011 at 10:07 am  |  Permalink

Relevant & Timely News

Killing of infants on the rise in Pakistan, CNN, July 20, 2011. In a phenomenon that has been called "Pakistan's worst unfolding tragedy," more than 1,200 newborns were "killed and dumped" last year. This number marks an estimated increase of 200 from the year before. Usually only days old, babies have been found hanged, stabbed, and burned. Many of these infants were born outside of marriage, which is condemned by Pakistan's culture. Additionally, statistics show that approximately nine out of ten murdered babies are girls, potentially because families consider them too costly to raise in a nation where women are often prohibited from working. The full article is available here.

China calls on international community to create safe environment for children, XINHUANEWS, July 13, 2011. At a UN Security Council open debate on children and armed conflict, Wang Min, deputy permanent representative of the Chinese Mission to the UN, called on the international community to create a safer environment for children. Min affirmed China's dedication to the protection of children in armed conflict as well as the nation's rejection of the recruitment and use of child soldiers. To these ends, he stressed the importance of establishing protective measures tailored to particular situations of armed conflict and encouraged the international community to adopt comprehensive measures to reintegrate affected children into society. China's recent efforts with respect to children are laudable. Since the Chinese government's launch of a national anti-trafficking campaign in April 2009, a reported 9,388 abducted children have been rescued. Additionally, the nation has seen widespread revisions of local regulations in support of the Law on the Protection of Minors, and various courts have concluded 7,395 criminal trials concerning the organization of minors to beg, the abducting and trafficking of women and children, and other violations of children's rights. The full article is available here.

UN adopts measures protecting schools, hospitals in conflict zone, Monsters & Critics, July 13, 2011. The UN Security Council recently adopted a new resolution that condemns "all violations" of international law banning the recruitment of, killing of, rape of, and sexual violence against children. Additionally, the resolution condemns the use of child soldiers in armed conflict, as well as attacks on schools and hospitals. The resolution emphasizes that schools and hospitals are zones of peace, stipulates that perpetrators will be listed in an annex to the annual report on children in armed conflict, and advises that violations should be reported to the Security Council by governments. CRI hopes that the UN will hold its own organizations to the same standards and, among other measures, conduct a review of UNRWA schools, which have employed teachers who were members of Hamas (a designated foreign terrorist organization) and have taught from textbooks that espouse hatred and violence. The full article is available here.

AUDIO: Outlook, BBC World Service, July 12, 2011. This broadcast features an interview with Sara Morales, who was kidnapped by left-wing Farc militants at age 11 and forced to fight in Colombia's insurgency. By age 12, she had become a trained killer. The broadcast is available here.

Taliban's army of child soldiers, The Sun, July 1, 2011. British soldiers report that the Taliban has adopted a new practice of using children not only as suicide bombers but also to plant IEDs ("improvised explosive devices," or homemade bombs). Intelligence sources opine that this is a response to the development of British technology capable of picking up and destroying Taliban IED-planting teams and the Taliban's awareness that British troops are reluctant to fire on children. Surveillance cameras recorded two children younger than ten hiding IEDs. The full article is available here.

UN: Demobilized child soldiers in Chad will need help with reintegration, Channel 6 News Online, June 22, 2011. Chad is making strides to remove the nation from the UN Secretary-General's "list of shame," which includes nations whose governments use child soldiers. More than 1,000 children have been released from Chadian military units since January. Still, the UN has stated that Chad will need assistance with the reintegration, which will include UN-offered educational programs, particularly vocational schools. The full article is available here.

By  |  July 26, 2011 at 11:41 am  |  Permalink

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: U.N. Official Condemns Taliban's Use of 8-Year-Old Girl as Suicide Bomber

June 30, 2011 – NEW YORK – On June 27, 2011, Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, and the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistanreleased statements condemning the recent manipulation of an 8-year-old girl to carry out a suicide bomb attack and a separate attack on a hospital in Afghanistan. To our knowledge, this is the fourth time the U.N. has condemned the use of children as suicide bombers, a phenomenon that has existed since at least 2000.

In southern Afghanistan's Oruzgan province, the 8-year old girl, recruited by the Taliban, unknowingly carried the bomb wrapped in cloth as she walked toward a police vehicle, at which point insurgents remotely detonated the bomb. This is the latest in a series of incidents where children have been used by various organizations, including the Taliban, as suicide bombers. Ms. Coomaraswamy's office said, "The disgraceful act of putting a bomb in a little girl's basket and sending her, unknowing, to kill, is almost unimaginable."

A second attack outside a hospital in eastern Afghanistan's Logar province left 37 killed and 53 wounded, with much of the damage located in the maternity ward. Ms. Coomaraswamy noted, "Attacks on hospitals are two-fold atrocities. Not only do they kill and wound girls and boys, they leave thousands of women and children without access to treatment."

Previous statements from U.N. officials condemning the manipulation of children to execute suicide bombings include the following:

• In 2009, Coomaraswamy condemned the targeting of children in Afghanistan and Pakistan suicide bombings. Noted were the use of a 13-year-old boy in a suicide bombing, a December 2008 suicide bombing of school children, and the January 2009 bombing of five private schools.
• In 2008, Kai Eide, U.N. Special Representative to Afghanistan and Head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, condemned the Taliban's use of a 13-year-old boy for a December 2008 suicide attack in Helmand Province.
• In 2003, U.N. Under-Secretary General and former Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Olara Otunnu declared Palestinian suicide attacks to be "entirely unacceptable" and unjustifiable. Otunnu further called on the Palestinian authorities to take preventative measures to halt the use of children and to mitigate the harmful effect on children in suicide bombings.

The Children's Rights Institute supports the U.N.'s vocal opposition to the widespread and illegal indoctrination and recruitment of children to propagate violent terrorist agendas. This is a significant step forward in recognizing and bringing attention to the use of children as suicide bombers and the harmful effect of suicide attacks on children, both atrocious human rights abuses. Additionally, CRI applauds U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's recent recommendation in the Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict, which discusses the possibility of adding the issue of attacks on schools and hospitals to the List of Shame.

However, there remains to be any U.N. resolution emanating from the Human Rights Council or General Assembly on the subject and UNRWA, the arm of the U.N. responsible for providing education in the Palestinian territories, continues to use textbooks that glorify hate and violence. CRI encourages additional action aimed at raising awareness of these and other violations of children's basic human rights and hopes the U.N. will continue to devote attention and resources to these young victims.

By  |  June 30, 2011 at 10:23 am  |  Permalink

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