(The Washington Post) – The Pentagon tried to block an independent assessment of child sex abuse crimes committed by Afghan soldiers and police, instead insisting on the creation of its own report offering a far less authoritative review of human rights violations perpetrated by U.S. allies, according to an aide to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). Although […]
Read more
(The Guardian) – The record number of civilians killed or injured by explosive weapons in worldwide conflicts last year has prompted calls for UN member states to conduct an urgent review of military rules of engagement. Germany and Austria have urged states to prevent and reduce the “devastating harm” to civilians from airstrikes and bombs in […]
(SRSG CAAC) – The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Ms. Virginia Gamba, welcomes the transfer of 50 children detained on national security related charges from the maximum-security adult Detention Facility in Parwan (DFiP) to the Juvenile Rehabilitation Center of Kabul province. The transfer, which took place on 7 November, is a […]
(The Washington Post) – The State Department on Tuesday defended Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s removal of three countries from a list of those using child soldiers, after officials upset about his decision wrote a critical dissent memo saying the action violates U.S. law. The dispute centers on the recruitment and use of child soldiers in […]
(HRW) – When US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson excluded Iraq, Burma, and Afghanistan from the State Department’s list of countries using child soldiers earlier this year, my colleagues and I at Human Rights Watch were angry. It turns out we weren’t the only ones. Today, Reuters reported a rare “dissent memo” from State Department officials, […]
(HRW) – From girls in rural Afghanistan, to children in immigration detention on the US-Mexico border, to grandmothers fleeing war in Sri Lanka, throughout my career working on children’s rights, I’ve heard firsthand the importance that education has for families and their children, even in the midst of the most desperate circumstances. These families expect […]
(AFP) – A US mother held hostage by Taliban-linked militants for five years has detailed the violence and sexual assault she endured in captivity, and said her young son was also beaten. “This was an intolerable situation for a child to be in,” Caitlan Coleman Boyle, 31, told ABC News in a television interview broadcast Monday. […]
(UNAMA) – The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) condemns today’s attack in Kabul’s Aspa Square that killed at least nine civilians, including one child, and injured at least 16 others. Preliminary findings indicate that in the Labe Jar Area of Aspa Square, a suicide attacker detonated a body-borne improvised explosive device where a large […]
(The Hill) – A new inspector general report released Thursday found that while the Pentagon did not have formal guidance discouraging the reporting of child sex abuse in Afghanistan, several troops say they were still informally told to ignore it. “Following a review of DoD Instructions, Command Policy and Service guidance, we did not identify any […]
(HRW) – “My sister finished the first year at school, but then she got tired and decided to leave. She walked four hours each way every day, so that made her tired,” Sabina, 12, who grew up in rural Balkh province, said. Sabina was able to study starting at age 10 after her family moved to […]
