Schools Priority Targets in Armed Conflicts
Schools are becoming the priority target for warring parties in armed conflicts where they rape, kill, maim, abuse, or abduct children, says the Secretary-General’s 10th annual report on Children and Armed Conflict released Wednesday by the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflicts Radhika Coomaraswamy.
Addressing reporters , Coomaraswamy stressed the rising trend of violence on children in armed conflicts in 2010. '2010 proved another tragic year for children in conflicts all over the world,' she said, adding, 'We have taken no parties off the list but added four more — two in Yemen and two in Iraq.'
In his report, Ban notes progress has been made in Afghanistan, Nepal, Sudan, Sri Lanka and the Philippines with warring groups agreeing on action plans, which now needs to be fully implemented. He also spotlights the release of hundreds of children by armed groups in Chad, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Colombia.
However, releasing children does not mean the end of the problem, the report says. Indeed, once the children are free from these armed groups, governments need to ensure they are not likely to go back, and that they return to normal life. . 'We need to provide children the necessary social and community support after they are released, so they can be re-integrated to a non-violent environment,' Coomaraswamy’s communications officer Timothy La Rose, told IPS.
Fear, guilt, distress, are common feelings for former abducted children, who need to overcome the trauma. Places such as the Rachele Centre in North Uganda, for example, are trying to help children formerly abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army. But grave violations are still committed on children around the world, even in countries where progress has been achieved.
According to La Rose, children are recruited and exploited in conflict zones because they require low funding and are easily manipulated by small rebel groups. 'In conflict zones, children become easy targets, as they are inexpensive and have no sense of death. They make good soldiers,' he told IPS.
© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service