Watchlist

Afghan police intercept suspected suicide bomb children

fguinote — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:01:02 +0000

(CNN) - Afghan police have intercepted 41 children whom insurgents were planning to use as suicide bombers, an Interior Ministry spokesman said Tuesday.

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Somalia’s al-Shabab ‘forced whole classes to fight’

fguinote — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:40:26 +0000

(BBC) - Entire classrooms of Somali children – some as young as 10 – have been forced to fight for Islamist militants, a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report says.

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10th Anniversary of the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict

fguinote — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:35:12 +0000

(OSRSG) - “Ten years ago, the world said no to the forced recruitment of children under the age of eighteen and to their participation in hostilities,” the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy said on the 10th anniversary of the entry into force of the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict.

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Getting children off the battlefield

fguinote — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:17:28 +0000

(Human Rights Watch) - 10 years after UN treaty against child soldiers, much work needed to end practice.

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SRSG Coomaraswamy calls on Syria to immediately halt all violations against children

fguinote — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:16:30 +0000

(OSRSG) - Following another violent day in Syria, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy reiterated her call to the Syria authorities to stop the killing and maiming of children.

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Calling For Help: How Cell Phones Help Protect Children’s Rights In The DRC

fguinote — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:10:24 +0000

Stories of horrific violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are all too common; however, there are even more attacks—especially on women and children—that we don’t hear about. Villages, especially in the eastern provinces, are often raided by armed groups. Women and girls are raped and need immediate medical assistance; but health facilities are scarce. Boys and girls are abducted to be used as soldiers or porters. Girls are taken to be cooks and wives. These villages are isolated and have almost no means to defend themselves. Despite a 2008 peace agreement, the DRC’s eastern provinces continue to be plagued by violent conflict. And civilians face egregious violations on a daily basis.

South Sudan: DDRC, UNICEF Welcome Release of Child Soldiers

fguinote — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 14:13:29 +0000

(AllAfrica) - South Sudan Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Commission (RSSDDRC) and UNICEF welcomed the recent release of 53 children associated with armed forces and groups in South Sudan.

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Driven Away by a War, Now Stalked by Winter’s Cold

fguinote — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:07:15 +0000

(The New York Times) - After 10 years of a large international presence, comprising about 2,000 aid groups, at least $3.5 billion of humanitarian aid and $58 billion of development assistance, how could children be dying of something as predictable — and manageable — as the cold?

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Calling for help – cell phones as a tool to respond to human rights violations in the DRC

fguinote — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:29:00 +0000

A village is raided by an armed group in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Women and girls are raped and need urgent medical assistance. Boys and girls were abducted to be used as “soldiers”, porters, cooks, “wives” by the armed group. The village is isolated; there are no means of communication, no health post nearby. Despite the 2002 Peace Agreement, the DRC’s eastern provinces continue to be plagued by conflict and civilians face pervasive egregious violations, in particular women and children.

One of the biggest challenges of monitoring, reporting and responding to human rights violations in a country like the DRC is access: access to information about the violations and access to the victims that need urgent assistance. In a country the size of Western Europe, with a massive jungle area and poor infrastructure, attacks can go unreported for weeks and months and victims are often not able to get assistance because they don’t know who to go to or can’t get there.

To help address this challenge and build a rapid response, Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict and its local partner organization in eastern DRC, have been using cellular technology to link those who are suffering to those who can help them. Cell phone communication is booming all over Africa and the DRC is not an exception: cells phones are becoming ubiquitous objects and the multiplication of cell phone towers is expanding reception even to remote areas. Bypassing the lack of electricity supply in those areas, solar energy-operated cell phones and chargers have been distributed to village committees in remote areas of South Kivu, enabling hundreds of people to get help. Each call sets in motion rapid response action, as Watchlist’s partner assesses the assistance needed, identifies the nearest assistance point and brings the aid provider and the victim together. Over 400 victims of human rights violations living in remote areas have received assistance through this initiative since end of 2006 in South Kivu alone. Most of them are children that would otherwise not have been able to get help.

In addition to being a rapid response tool, the cell phone initiative is also used to report specifically on conflict-related violations against children – the core problem that Watchlist seeks to address. These violations include killing and maiming, rape and other forms of sexual violence, abduction, denial of humanitarian assistance, attacks on schools and recruitment and use of children as combatants. Cases documented through this initiative are verified, coded to protect the security and privacy of victims and used as a basis for advocacy at the highest level, both in country and at internationally at the United Nations and its Security Council.

Rigorous monitoring and reporting efforts coupled with targeted high level advocacy and have led to the demobilization and reintegration of hundreds of child soldiers by the UN and NGOs in the DRC, as well as to the inclusion of child rights violations as part of the criteria for sanctions against individuals involved in the conflict in the DRC. The use of child soldiers was also included in a war crime charge against Thomas Lubanga, a former commander of an armed group in the DRC, in a landmark case that is now entering its last stages at the International Criminal Court.

All these are concrete examples of how far victims can go by simply being able to call for help.

Syria uprising has killed 384 children, UNICEF says

fguinote — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:18:37 +0000

(Vancouver Sun) – At least 384 children have been killed during Syria’s 10-month uprising and virtually the same number have been jailed, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said last friday

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