UN Body “Alarmed” by US Killings of Afghan Children
UNITED NATIONS, 11 Feb 2013
Channel News Asia – TRANSCEND Media Service
A UN committee has expressed “alarm” over reports that hundreds of children have been killed by US military forces in Afghanistan in the past five years.
The Geneva-based Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) said the deaths were “due notably to reported lack of precautionary measures and indiscriminate use of force”.
The report, received by AFP on Friday [8 Feb 2013], also expressed concern that troops responsible for the killing of children had not always been held accountable and that family grievances had not been redressed.
The CRC’s comments came after a five-yearly review of US compliance with an international treaty on the involvement of children in armed conflict.
It said it was “alarmed at reports of the death of hundreds of children as a result of attacks and air strikes by the US military forces in Afghanistan over the reporting period”.
“The committee expresses grave concern that in fact the number of casualties of children doubled from 2010 to 2011.”
There was no immediate reaction from the United States. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters on Thursday that she had not seen the report, but would look into it.
A UN report in April last year said 110 children were killed and 68 wounded in airstrikes conducted by US-led NATO and Afghan National Security Forces in 2011.
The CRC report gave no precise statistics.
“The US can and should do more to protect children affected by armed conflict,” said Jo Becker, children’s rights advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, a watchdog based in New York.
She called on the US to heed the committee’s recommendations, which include taking “concrete and firm precautionary measures and prevent indiscriminate use of force” to ensure that no more civilians and children are killed.
UN figures show that the vast majority of civilian casualties in the Afghan war are caused by Taliban insurgents, mainly through roadside bombs and suicide attacks.
But those caused by NATO forces have long been a cause of friction with the government of President Hamid Karzai.
-AFP/fl
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Three imaginary tests:
Imagine that the three kinds of test are conducted as follows:
Test One: Let me explain about the current situation a bit before you will imagine: The United States, signed on 16 February 1995, has not ratified the “Convention on the Rights of the Child” (CRC). What is the “Convention on the Rights of the Child”? Visit http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm One of the main arguments that oppose the United States to become a State Party to the Convention is that the United States has already satisfied the conditions and standards that the Convention requires to the State Party so that there is no necessity for the United States to become a State Party to the Convention: “Some Americans oppose the CRC with the reasoning that the nation already has in place everything the treaty espouses, and that it would make no practical difference.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_ratification_of_the_Convention_on_the_Rights_of_the_Child ) If that is the case, provide all children in Afghanistan with the US citizenship. What will happen, then? Now, imagine that. From now on, the US troops will truly be responsible for the killing of the “US children in Afghanistan”. Will the US troops kill the “US children” in Afghanistan as they have been killing Afghan children so far?
Test Two: What would happen if the US troops killed children in the United States in the same way that the US troops were killing children in Afghanistan? Suppose that the religion of these children in the United States was Islam, not Christianity. If that was the case, what would the American public react, then? What would the American mass media react, then? What would the US lawmakers react, then? What would the White House react, then?
Test Three: Put Afghan children in the United States. Put American children in Afghanistan. Do not inform to the US troops that all the children in Afghanistan now are American children. Then, let the US troops keep fighting in Afghanistan; business as usual. What will happen to the “children in Afghanistan”, then? This is not a black joke. This is a litmus test that checks the value system of the US troops on “human life”. Is human life precious? Whose human life is precious? The US troops will tell through this test.
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As mentioned in the beginning, the above mentioned tests are “imaginary” tests. Just imagine all that. That is enough. However, if you imagine as mentioned in the above paragraphs, you will be able to understand or to guess well what the US troops think about the value of “human life”.
I understand that the difficulty for the US soldiers of practicing the things mentioned above in the war front. In the war front, if in doubt, shoot them before you will be killed. You never know that children are used as attackers (who may be hiding weapons somewhere in their clothes) in the war front. Very often, it is a decision in a matter of a second. In that situation, who can make an appropriate decision to prevent the tragedy? Nevertheless, I dare to say as mentioned above. So, what is the best way to prevent the tragedy? The answer: Stop the war.
May the rights of all children in the world be respected. May their lives, among others and among all other rights, be valued at the highest standard.