UN Said DR Congo Violates Children’s rights alot
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) reportedly had the largest number of breaches against children in 2022, according to Virginia Gamba, the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict.
This information was provided by Ms. Gamba during the Tuesday presentation of the secretary-general’s most recent annual report for 2022 at the UN headquarters in New York.
According to the study, there were 27,180 grave infractions overall, an increase over the previous year, she informed journalists.
Israel, the State of Palestine, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine, Afghanistan, and Yemen were among the other nations, according to her, that had a significant number of breaches against children.
She claimed that attacks on schools and hospitals increased by 112%, further demonstrating the “devastating impact” that violations of international law pertaining to children and armed conflict continue to have.
“The reported violations only correspond to confirmed information, with the likely toll significantly greater, and spanning four categories: kidnapping, rape and sexual assault, murdering and maiming, and recruiting and use of youngsters into armed groups or forces.
“Boys were involved in 24 different conflict scenarios, accounting for two-thirds of breaches.
“A total of 8,831 children were killed or maimed, and another 7,622 were recruited by armed groups or forces,” she added.
According to Ms. Gamba, access restrictions that result in underreporting of such breaches and an increase in violations validated in 2022 make it extremely difficult to monitor and verify grave violations.
She cited Burkina Faso, South Sudan, and Myanmar as the nations that experienced “the worst deterioration.”
Additionally, Ms. Gamba called for schools to continue being “zones of peace” and referred to the growing military usage of schools by both armed forces and armed organizations as “a very worrisome trend.”
According to her, roughly 2,500 kids were being held in detention, a measure that ought only be taken in extreme cases and for the shortest possible time.
Ms. Gamba stress that due to the frequency of attacks on hospitals and schools committed during the invasion, Russian forces and linked armed organizations in Ukraine have been added to the report’s annex as notable offenders.
She continued by saying that more were being added to account for the killing of kids during military operations.
She noted that the large number of casualties brought on by Russia’s employment of rocket systems, bombings, and shelling of inhabited areas had prompted her to continue working with Moscow to establish measures to curtail attacks.
She claimed that due to attacks made on schools and hospitals during the conflict, the UN secretary-general had also issued a warning to the Ukrainian armed forces through the report.
The senior UN official emphasized the need for even defensive measures to adhere to international humanitarian law and praised the Ukrainian government’s efforts to make reforms.
The special representative emphasized that the warning not to repeat the urban assault on Gaza in May 2021 and retaliatory missile launches had been appropriately heeded when he indicated that Israel and the State of Palestine would not be added to the international list of offenders.
She noted that there had been a significant decline in Israeli airstrikes in 2022 and that the entire point of releasing the report and bringing attention to violence was to alter behavior and bolster safety.
