If you aren't informed about this stuff, you will be made sick. If you are informed, you will be made mad, all over again.
Posted on 02/09/2005 10:18:18 PM PST by NormsRevenge
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Governments and rebel groups found to be forcing children into combat or sexual slavery should be punished if they fail to stem the abuses, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) said on Wednesday.
The U.N. Security Council should hit the responsible individuals with targeted measures such as travel limits, arms embargoes, a cutoff of military aid or restrictions on their finances, Annan said in a new report on child soldiers.
Certain abuses should be given priority attention, including killing or maiming children, recruiting or using them as soldiers, attacking schools or hospitals, rape and other sexual violence, abduction of children and cutting them off from humanitarian assistance, he recommended.
The 15-nation Security Council has scheduled a Feb. 23 debate on the report.
Olara Otunnu, Annan's special envoy for children in armed conflict, said the report marked a milestone for children in combat zones as it signaled the United Nations (news - web sites) was finally getting serious about ensuring their protection.
The issue has been on the council agenda since 1998, but "atrocities against children and impunity for violators continue largely unabated on the ground," Otunnu said. There are about 300,000 child soldiers around the world today, compared to 380,000 a year and a half ago, he estimated.
42 GROUPS IN 11 NATIONS
Otunnu's office was created as a result of a landmark 1996 report by Graca Machel of Mozambique, now the wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela, who detailed the recruitment and exploitation of children in war zones.
The new report says 42 armed groups in 11 nations should be punished for recruiting or using children in war.
The 11 nations are Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (news - web sites), Ivory Coast, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Colombia.
Nearly all of the 42 armed groups are rebel groups, but government forces from Congo, Myanmar and Uganda also appear on the list.
Dropped this year from previous lists were groups from Angola, Liberia (news - web sites), Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka and southern Sudan -- where children are no longer in immediate danger, Otunnu said.
Also missing were paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland and Chechen guerrillas in Russia, removed from an earlier report after Moscow and London objected to the term "armed conflict" to describe what was going on in their territories.
But in western Sudan, things have gotten worse for children and the armed Arab militia known as Janjaweed have been added to the list for the first time, he said.
Also cited in the U.N. report for the first time are U.N. peacekeeping forces, after a series of U.N. investigations found sexual exploitation or abuse against women and children by 20 military personnel in Congo, Otunnu said.
"This is clearly unacceptable," he said, urging swift and decisive U.N. action to end the abuses.
Children are only to be used and abused by Un staffers
Its the UN thats doing this, =o)
he picked a good subject, rattled off a few penalties and no doubt patted himself on the back. Now he'll go back to making himself a few more bucks.
Hey Kofi, STFU! The only "kids" you care about are your own who happen to be one half step away from jail and taking you with them.
Listening to edicts from that &*(&#!@# is punishment enough, and we didn't even do anything wrong.
Travel limits. This is a joke, right? Somebody please tell me it's a joke.
The people who are principally known for using child soldiers are (1) Palestinians, and hence untouchable; (2) foreign terrorists in Iraq, who prefer ones with Down's Syndrome, and (3) African warlords who like to eat people. Kofi, I just don't think travel restrictions are gonna put a dent in it.
At one time they had the gall to include the United States on the list of countries using children for soldiers because we allow 17 year olds to enlist with parental consent. I see that they have come to their senses and dropped us from the list.
When Annan speaks -- does anyone hear?
Does anyone care?
To hear Annan speak, is to hear a brain fart.
The next thing I want to hear from Annan -- is his plea before a judge.
Semper Fi
If you aren't informed about this stuff, you will be made sick. If you are informed, you will be made mad, all over again.
To declare that the UN's "new" purpose for existance is "The Children"..
All of a sudden, Koffee Annan and the United Nations becomes intensely interested in the abuse and killing of "the children"..
It has Liberal echoes to it, reverberating through the canyons of Politically Correct thought..
We're doing it for the Children ..
Blechhh..
Throw the Bastards out..
And this time, I don't mean congress..
H.R. 1146 will WITHDRAW the USA from the United Nations' madhouse/cesspool
Go to: http://www.getusout.org/un/index.html . Then go lobby at http://www.conservativeusa.org/megalink.htm .
The United Nations is a corrupt disgrace and it is time for the USA to WITHDRAW from and defund the United Nations. Please tell your senators, congressmen and everyone you know to support Representative Ron Paul’s bill H.R. 1146 which would WITHDRAW the USA from the United Nations, prohibit US funds going to the UN and prohibit US troops serving under UN command. H.R 1146 is the American Sovereignty Restoration Act.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.