(Voice of America) – They are known as the cubs of the caliphate, youngsters enlisted by the Islamic State, which views them as “the generation that will conquer Baghdad, Jerusalem, Mecca and Rome.” The West and the Middle East communities from which they have been recruited see them as a grim threat, the deadly legacy of […]
Read more
(IRIN) – “Don’t open the door under any circumstances,” shouts Iraqi special forces soldier Salem, as his Humvee climbs over the wreckage of Mosul’s Old City. “Daesh run out from houses and side streets and blow themselves up anytime.” Large military vehicles were never supposed to be part of the battle for the Old City – […]
(UN News Centre) – Some 9.2 million children living in emergency countries will miss out on schooling unless the international community contributes an additional $820 million, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned at the start of today’s G20 summit. “Without education, children grow up without the knowledge and skills they need to contribute to the […]
(SaveTheChildren) – Brutal fighting and years living under ISIS have left Mosul’s children with dangerous levels of psychological damage, new research by Save the Children shows. Experts found children are so deeply scarred by memories of extreme violence they are living in constant fear for their lives, unable to show emotions, and suffering from vivid ‘waking nightmares’. The […]
(Foreign Policy) – The Donald Trump administration released the annual Trafficking in Persons Report this week, which includes the list of governments known to use or support the use of child soldiers and thus which may be prohibited from receiving U.S. weapons and military assistance. Yet this year’s list is particularly remarkable for what it lacks, namely […]
(UNICEF) – Thousands of children continue to be trapped in relentless violence in West Mosul’s Old City neighborhoods as the fighting heavily intensified over the past hours. Children are facing multiple threats to their lives. Those stranded in the fighting are hiding in their basements, fearful of the next onslaught. Those who try to flee, […]
(Huffington Post) – Three years after Mosul first fell to the so-called Islamic State in Iraq & Syria (ISIS), the battle to retake Iraq’s second city appears to be reaching its decisive and brutal final stages. Up to 100,000 civilians, including an estimated 50,000 children, are trapped in the last enclave held by the armed group […]
(RT) – US State Department has dropped Iraq and Myanmar from a child soldiers’ blacklist in its annual people trafficking report, despite multiple reports of continuous usage of children in armies and militias, and human rights activists’ outcry. The annual Trafficking in Persons Report unveiled by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and senior president’s advisor and […]
(Anadolu Agency) – Children in Iraq and Syria are imperiled by a host of armed groups who actively seek, and often force, their recruitment, the State Department said Tuesday. The department’s annual report on human trafficking detailed accounts of vulnerable children forced on to the battlefield, sometimes by government-funded groups. Link
(HRW) – US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson should return Burma and Iraq to the US list of governments using child soldiers, Human Rights Watch said today. Reuters reported that Tillerson overruled State Department officials and senior US diplomats in ordering the two countries to be removed from the list, which will be announced on June […]
