Afghanistan Times
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KABUL: The United Nations in its annual reports verified that around 3,410 grave violations against 3,245 Afghan children were committed by the militants, the Afghan and international security forces in 2019 in Afghanistan.
The report published on June 9th said that of total 3,149 children, including 2,226 boys, 910 girls and 13 unidentified sex, at least 874 of them were killed and 2,275 were maimed.
The militants totally caused 1,535 causalities, 1,238 of them attributed to the Taliban and 242 of them to ISIL, and unidentified groups were responsible for 55 casualties.
The pro-government and international caused 784 casualties on the children, the report said, adding that the international forces were responsible for 248 casualties.
“Mainly as a result of ground engagements 1,213 (children) suffered casualties, 575 children by non-suicide attacks with the use of improvised explosive devices and 460 children suffered casualties in suicide and complex attacks,” the report reads.
In addition to that, the explosive remnants of war inflicted casualties on 403 children and also 342 other children suffered casualties in the aerial attacks, according to the UN report.
Around 157 children suffered casualties in search operation and deliberate killings, the UN said.
UN said at least 64 teenage boys have been abused for sexual purpose in the combat line by the Taliban and Afghan security forces.
According to the statement, around 146 boys have been spending their prison terms in the government’s juveniles.
“Among the 506 children, reportedly including foreigners, who surrendered with the thousands of individuals allegedly associated with Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant-Khorasan Province,8 all children over the age of 12 were transferred to the Kabul juvenile rehabilitation centre,” the statement reads.
António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations called on the Afghan government to progress the implementation for the 2011 action plan and 2014 road map to prevent the children abuse. “for the presidential enactment of the Child Rights Protection Law in March 2019, prohibiting bacha bazi and the recruitment and use of children, and I call for its swift implementation, particularly in Logar Province,” he added.
The Secretary General also has praised the effort to achieving a lasting political settlement to the conflict in Afghanistan and urged the government and Taliban to cooperate with the UN in considering the use of “practical guidance for mediators in order to protect child’s protection in the peace process.
