(Reuters) – When the boys first arrived at the Islamic State training facility in eastern Mosul they would cry and ask about their parents, who went missing when the militants rampaged through northern Iraq in 2014. But as the weeks passed they appeared to absorb the group’s ultra-hardline ideology, according to a worker at the former […]
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(Geneva Call) – On 14th February 2017 Geneva Call is launching a 10-day video campaign on social media – mainly Facebook and Twitter – to raise awareness on the issue of recruitment and use of children during armed conflict and the protection of children during hostilities, but also on humanitarian norms as a whole. Using its […]
(The Guardian) – Islamic State is paying the smugglers’ fees of child refugees in a desperate attempt to attract new recruits, according to a report highlighting the potential vulnerability of unaccompanied minors to radicalisation. The report, from counter-extremism thinktank Quilliam, also says that an estimated 88,300 unaccompanied children – identified by the EU statistics agency Eurostat as having gone […]
(Save the Children) – An estimated 350,000 children are trapped in siege-like conditions under ISIS control in western Mosul, risking summary execution by militants if they try to flee, as Iraqi and coalition forces look set to cross the River Tigris and advance deeper into the city. The civilians that remain are at extreme risk from the […]
(Human Rights Watch) – Seventeen children detained since July 2016 by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on suspicion of involvement with the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, say that government security forces tortured or otherwise abused them in detention, Human Rights Watch said today. They are among at least 183 boys the KRG has […]
(International Business Times) -The latest development in the battle to retake Mosul from Islamic State (Isis) is one that has shocked the world. More than 300 IS (Daesh) child soldiers, known as ‘Caliphate Cubs’, were killed as US-backed Iraqi forces advanced into the country’s city, which was once the heart land of the terror group’s […]
(Save the Children) – “The police beat us, took our clothes and boots and then pushed us back.” Aalem, Afghanistan, 12. The EU-Turkey deal has spelled a deadlier land route for refugees crossing the Balkans, with children experiencing harsh weather conditions, dog bites and violent treatment by both police and smugglers as they cross mountains and […]
(UNICEF) – As fighting subsides in East Mosul, 30 schools reopened on Sunday with help from UNICEF, allowing over 16,000 children to resume their education. Some schools in the area were closed for up to two years, and girls were banned from getting an education. Some schools in the area were closed for up to two […]
(Human Rights Watch) – Recent car and suicide bombings claimed by the Islamic State (also known as ISIS) targeting crowded markets and hospitals in Baghdad amount to crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said today. The Iraqi authorities should improve its implementation of the law to compensate victims of “military mistakes and terrorist actions” as part […]
(Just Security) – Human Rights Watch saw Shia armed forces allied with the Iraqi government commit horrific abuses against the Sunni civilian population during the operation to retake Fallujah back in May. We didn’t want it to happen again in Mosul. As a result, Human Rights Watch pressed the Iraqi government to keep the abusive units […]
