Report details grave violations against children in Afghanistan

The study recovered that 5,770 Afghan youngsters were killed oregon maimed betwixt January 2019 and December 2020, the reporting period.   Meanwhile, kid casualties deed their highest levels ever during the archetypal fractional of this year. 

Stop each abuses 

Virginia Gamba, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, said Afghanistan continues to beryllium 1 of the astir unsafe places to beryllium a child. 

“I americium appalled by the continuing and rising precocious levels of unit endured by children successful Afghanistan, including those caught up successful combat,” she said. 

“As the already melodramatic concern continues to germinate rapidly and concerning reports of quality rights violations support arising, I telephone for each abuses to stop, and I impulse the Taliban and each different parties to abide by their obligations nether planetary humanitarian instrumentality and planetary quality rights law, arsenic good arsenic by nationalist commitments and support the lives and rights of each people, including those of women and girls.”  

The probe revealed that during the reporting period, 1 successful 3 casualties was a child. 

‘Dark’ aboriginal looms 

Armed groups, peculiarly the Taliban, were liable for astir incidents, oregon 46 per cent, with Government and pro-Government forces accounting for 35 per cent, followed by landmines and explosive remnants of war. 

“It is urgent that each parties instrumentality the indispensable actions to minimize harm to children and prioritize their extortion successful the behaviour of hostilities arsenic good arsenic support schools and hospitals,” said Ms. Gamba.  

“Such harm is different bound to impact generations to come, erstwhile Afghan children person already had their puerility taken distant from them. With figures already alarmingly precocious and the Taliban identified successful the study arsenic a large perpetrator of unit against children, the aboriginal of children, particularly girls successful Afghanistan is dark.”  

Education nether attack 

The UN besides verified much than 6,470 sedate violations against children during the reporting period, with astir fractional attributed to the Taliban.  Some 297 attacks connected schools and hospitals besides were verified. 

Despite a alteration successful assaults connected schools, the report’s authors noted that attacks connected hospitals and protected unit rose, which they recovered peculiarly egregious, fixed the fragile authorities of the Afghan healthcare strategy and the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Meanwhile, deliberate Taliban attacks connected girls’ schools stay “a worrisome trend”.  Ms. Gamba appealed for the group, and each different parties to the conflict, to respect quality rights, including the close to acquisition for girls. 

Forced to fight 

Warring sides, chiefly the Taliban, besides recruited 260 boys into the hostilities, mostly successful combat roles.  Ms. Gamba explained that the pandemic exacerbated boys’ vulnerability: a concern she said volition deepen fixed the existent levels of violence. 

“Today, I telephone connected each parties, particularly the Taliban, to forestall recruitment and use, abduction, and the sidesplitting and maiming of children and to cease each violations and urgently instrumentality factual measures to support children, schools, and hospitals, and mitigate kid casualties,” she said.   

The UN Special Representative further called for Afghanistan to uphold the criminalization of the signifier of bacha bazi, a signifier of intersexual maltreatment against boys, successful enactment with revisions to the penal codification successful 2018. 

She stressed that existent extortion for Afghanistan’s children volition lone travel done peaceful solution of the conflict. 

 “I telephone connected each parties, particularly the Taliban today, to guarantee that kid extortion issues are prioritized by each actors progressive successful bid negotiations to sustainably forestall sedate violations against children from occurring again and lend to enhancing the viability of peace,” said Ms. Gamba.