UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon has issued a report on children in armed conflict, detailing grave abuse going on in Syria and other countries, adding a few new members to the so-called “list of shame” of child abusers.
Although the report accuses Syrian rebels of
recruiting children, it also accuses the government of detaining
minors who side with the rebels, and allegedly extracting
information out of them with torture.
Ban ki-Moon has condemned the abuse of children’s rights in the
given conflict zones as “unacceptable and unbearable.”
The report covers 21 countries – among them also Mali, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Central African
Republic (CAR). A total of 55 armed groups from 14 countries have
been added to the list, each for varying types of child abuse.
In Mali, 12-15 year-olds were recruited by the hundreds to fight
alongside rebel groups like the Tuareg tribe, or the MNLA, MUJAO
and Ansar Dine. The same has been said for pro-government
militias.
Ban ki-Moon’s report criticizes the Syrian government for failing
to prevent its intelligence services from using detention and
torture of children as a means of getting information, as well as
alleging that sexual abuse is also taking place. The report then
talks about child recruitment happening on the rebel side –
usually children between 15 and 17.
Despite the grim information, there were details of progress in
child protection being achieved in other conflict zones, with
action plans and strategies being put in place in South Sudan,
Myanmar and the DRC, as well as Somalia – all targeting the
recruitment of minors.
"In 2012, boys and girls from several countries had better
protection from the effects of conflict, but new and ongoing
crises in Mali, Central African Republic and Syria for example
had — and continue to have — a devastating effect on
children," said the secretary-general’s Special
Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Leila Zerrougui.
The secretary-general’s report also informs that both the Syrian
government and the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and
Opposition Forces had both spoken to Zerrougi, reassuring her of
their commitment to working together with the United Nations at
tackling the problems of child abuse, recruitment and torture.