(France 24) – As Malian voters prepare to vote in Sunday’s presidential election, the deteriorating security situation in the centre of the country has often gone overlooked, overshadowed by violence in the north. The election is set against a backdrop of growing insecurity in Mali, which, despite a 2015 peace deal between the government and Tuareg-led […]
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(Human Rights Watch) – I held my breath yesterday, waiting for the US State Department to issue its latest annual list of governments implicated in the use of child soldiers. Last year’s list was a disaster: then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson overruled his own staff and left blatant violators – Afghanistan, Burma, and Iraq – off the list. […]
(The New York Times) – Raiding among cattle-herding tribes is a traditional part of life in South Sudan, but in the past five years, the skirmishes have become more violent and unrestrained. Small armed bands that traditionally guarded their communities’ livestock have been drawn into bitter proxy battles between the country’s two largest tribes: the […]
(UN) – At its 71st Meeting, on 4 May 2018, the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, in connection with the examination of the second report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Mali (document S/2018/136), covering the period from January 2014 to June 2017, agreed to convey the following messages through a public statement by […]
(Amnesty International) – A mass grave uncovered in central Mali is the latest grim confirmation that the security situation in the region has reached crisis point, Amnesty International said today. Local witnesses in the village of Dogo identified on 22 March six bodies as people who had been arrested by the military three days earlier. Amnesty […]
(OSRSG-CAAC) – Increasing insecurity in Mali’s northern and central regions, along with the slow implementation of the peace agreement, have created an environment ripe for grave child rights violations. This is the conclusion of the second report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Mali, published today and covering the period from January 2014 to […]
(UNSC) – Despite progress in West Africa and the Sahel, particularly regarding democratic and peaceful political transitions, the security situation in the region remained a grave concern, the Security Council heard today in a briefing by the Special Representative of the Secretary‑General in the region. Following a notable decline in Boko Haram attacks in the first […]
(UNICEF) – Despite global progress, 1 in 12 children worldwide live in countries where their prospects today are worse than those of their parents, according to a UNICEF analysis conducted for World Children’s Day. According to the analysis, 180 million children live in 37 countries where they are more likely to live in extreme poverty, be […]
(Times Colonist) – Vancouver is poised to become a symbol for protecting children and preventing the use of child soldiers when a series of commitments bearing the city’s name is rolled out at this week’s peacekeeping summit. The international community has been quietly working on the so-called Vancouver Principles for some time, which a senior […]
(The National Interest) – In February, President Donald Trump identified human trafficking as a key issue of concern for U.S. domestic and foreign policies, and stated that his administration would make it a priority to stop the epidemic. Yet on September 30, President Trump waived nearly all sanctions that would prevent certain countries that use child […]
