UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has criticized the UN for failing to mention the two “blatant” situations of foreign occupation by Israel and India, in its report on “Children and Armed Conflict.”
Ambassador Munir Akram while speaking before the UN Security Council, highlighted the severe hardships endured by children living under foreign occupation, and said that to had”horrible experiences.”
“This is, therefore, the most obvious anomaly in the report that the two blatant situations of foreign occupation perpetrated by Israel on the one hand and by India in Jammu and Kashmir on the other, are not listed in the report and are given a free pass,” the Pakistani representative told the 15-member Council on Wednesday.
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba, released her most recent annual report and stated that 27,180 grave violations were perpetrated against children caught up in war last year, the largest number ever verified by the UN.
In his remarks, Ambassador Akram stated that more has to be done to safeguard the safety, welfare, and prosperity of the 1 in 6 children worldwide residing in conflict-affected areas.
He said that since India unilaterally annexed the occupied and disputed territory on August 5, 2019, an entire generation of Kashmiri children has grown up in unspeakable fear, violence, and repression. He specifically mentioned the “suppression” of children in Jammu and Kashmir by the Indian occupation forces.
The Pakistani envoy spoke in a vibrant tone, saying, “We still remember the heartbreaking photo of a three-year-old Kashmiri boy sitting in shock on the lifeless body of his grandfather after the Indian soldiers killed him. Although lots of innocent Kashmiris, including children and women, have been assassinated in fake search operations to get confessions or secure commitments not to participate in Kashmir’s self-determination struggle, Ambassador Akram stated that India’s 900,000 occupation forces have captured an estimated 13,000 Kashmiri children and youth.
Pakistan highlights Indian brutalities in Kashmir
He claimed that in 2022 Pakistan made public a dossier detailing 3,432 cases of war crimes committed by prominent Indian officers and urged the Special Representative to call for the release of 30,000 kidnapped children. The latest report from the Secretary-General, the Pakistani envoy said, “has rightly urged India to implement measures, including the prohibition of the use of lethal and non-lethal force on children, ending the “use of pellet guns,” preventing all forms of ill-treatment of children in detention, and protecting children from sexual offenses.”
He added that extensive legal, policy, and operational measures aimed at protecting children in security situations had been taken and that Pakistan, as one of the Convention on the Rights of the Child’s earliest signatories, remains fully aware of its obligations under the Convention. As she briefed the Security Council earlier, Ms. Gamba noted that attacks on schools and hospitals, kidnappings of children, and denying access to humanitarian aid were mostly carried out by government armed and security personnel.
According to her, the Secretary-General’s report on this subject reveals 27,800 violations against 18,890 children in 2022, including 3,985 kidnappings, 8,630 cases of recruitment, and 8,630 deaths or mutilations. Furthermore, children victims are punished for their circumstances rather than obtaining protection. 2,496 kids had their freedom taken away in 2022 due to real or imagined ties to the combatants. The Iraqi government signed a plan of action to stop the Popular Mobilization Forces from enlisting young people and repatriating 1,448 Iraqi children from northeast Syria.
She stated that the UN is also in contact with parties involved in the Ukraine, Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Russian Federation crises.
APP—
