South Sudan among 23 nations with child abductions: UN
June 12, 2015 (BOR) – A new United Nations report has named South Sudan among the top 23 countries in the world where mass abductions of children is increasingly prevalent.
The list initially had Afghanistan, Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo and recently Yemen.
“Abductions have emerged as a rising and alarming trend that are being used in many new ways, including as a tactic to terrorise or target particular ethnic groups or religious communities,” said the UN secretary-general’s special representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Leila Zerrougui.
“The sharp rise in abductions highlights the need for us to elevate our focus on this violation as we seek to strengthen the tools we have that are aimed at protecting children during armed conflict,” she added.
The 11 June report documents unprecedented challenges regarding the protection of tens of millions of children who are growing up in nations affected by conflict.
Extreme violence rose dramatically throughout the year, and this was accompanied by a large increase in the number of grave violations against children.
Children have been killed and maimed, and faced other grave violations, as a result of the targeting of schools by extremist groups that seek to impose their ideology on the wider community, the report said.
Military responses by states to extreme violence have also resulted in an increase in grave violations against children, according to the report to the Security Council.
An additional area of concern relates to the detention – and related deprivation of liberty – of children in response to their alleged association with extremist groups, the report highlights, reminding that such children should be treated primarily as victims.
March 2014 saw the launch of the “Children, Not Soldiers” campaign – by the special representative for Children and Armed Conflict and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
With support from member states and civil society, the campaign seeks to end by 2016 the recruitment of children by governments for use in situations of armed conflict.
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