United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has expressed deep concern over grave human rights violations against Filipino children as both rebel and government forces have killed and recruited them during ongoing conflicts in the country.
In his first annual report to the Security Council, the UN chief listed the Philippines as one of the world’s worst child rights violators in the last five years, along with Somalia, Congo, Myanmar, Colombia, Sudan and Uganda.
The 51-page report released on May 21 stated that dozens of children were either killed in conflict situations or used by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, communist New People’s Army, the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels, and the terrorist Abu Sayyaf group in combat operations.
However, Ban noted that reports on grave violations against children in the Philippines “may only be indicative” as its investigators in the country face tremendous challenges, such as inadequate human resources capacity for the monitoring and reporting mechanism, as well as safety and security considerations in affected areas. A significant portion of southwestern Mindanao, particularly in
Zamboanga, Sulu and Basilan provinces, continues to be highly restricted to UN staff travel, as armed skirmishes between militant groups and government forces intermittently erupt, a situation compounded by the tangible threat of abduction.
But during the reporting period, reports on recruitment and use of children by the MILF and the NPA were received consistently according to UN partner organizations, although the reports could not be verified. In addition, although children have been reportedly associated with Abu Sayyaf units, no accurate estimate of the number of children is currently available.
Ban said he is alarmed over a number of reports of children who, suspected of having links with armed groups fighting against the government, have been physically abused by the military in the course of counter-insurgency operations.
“A total of six cases of children were used by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to carry supplies, for intelligence purposes, or who had been illegally detained for their alleged association with MILF recalcitrant commands or NPA have been documented by the country task force,” the report said.
“In one case, three children were blindfolded and mistreated by elements of the 7th and 40th Infantry Battalions of the Philippine Army (IBPA) in an attempt to obtain confessions regarding their membership in MILF,” it added.
It also noted that from January to December 2009, 12 children were killed and 40 injured in Mindanao.
The UN, Ban said, has also uncovered a considerable increase in incidents involving the use of improvised explosive devices in populated areas, in particular by the Abu Sayyaf, causing more casualties among the civilian population, including children. Mortar shelling by AFP during clashes with MILF has also caused serious injuries to some children.
Ten incidents of attacks on schools and hospitals have been verified by the UN country task force from January to December 2009, where in several instances children were injured as a result.
“All incidents resulted from ongoing clashes between the military and non-State armed groups. Furthermore, accounts of school teachers abducted in Zamboanga and Sulu provinces by members of the Abu Sayyaf caused fear among the civilian population and disrupted the learning activities of children in conflict-affected areas,” the report said.
The recruitment and use of children as soldiers was recognized in 1998 as a war crime under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.
In 2007, four former military commanders from Sierra Leone were convicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone for recruiting and using children as soldiers. Rebel and military commanders from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda have also been charged under the International Criminal Court with recruiting and using child soldiers, though none have yet gone to trial.
Under a United States law, leaders of military forces and armed groups who have recruited child soldiers may be arrested and prosecuted in the US.
Signed on Oct. 2, 2008, the Child Soldiers Accountability Act makes it a federal crime to recruit knowingly or to use soldiers under the age of 15 and permits the United States to prosecute any individual on US soil for the offense, even if the children were recruited or served as soldiers outside the United States.
The law imposes penalties of up to 20 years, or up to life in prison if their action resulted in the child’s death. It also allows the US to deport or deny entry to individuals who have knowingly recruited children as soldiers. –Michaela P. del Callar, Daily Tribune
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