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“The changing nature, complexity, expansion and intensification of armed conflict, the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, deliberate or indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian objects, including infrastructure, and the advent of new armed groups, alongside acute humanitarian emergencies and blatant disregard for international humanitarian law and severe violations of international human rights law, have led to alarming increases in grave violations. The conflict in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory presents an unprecedented scale and intensity of grave violations against children, with hostilities leading to an increase in grave violations of 155 percent.”
- High Violation Areas: Most grave violations happened in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the DRC, Myanmar, Somalia, Nigeria, and Sudan.
- Perpetrators: Almost 50 percent of violations were committed by armed groups (including those designated as terrorists by the United Nations), while the rest were committed by government forces and unidentified perpetrators.
The United Nations released a report confirming violations against children in armed conflict. Violations as per the report of the Secretary-General for the period from January to December 2023, are events where killings, injuries, recruitment and use, abductions, and the denial of access to humanitarian aid take place.
Between January and December 2023, the UN determined that at least 22,557 children were either killed or badly injured with some children losing parts of their bodies. Some were abducted, while others were recruited and used in violating ways. Sadly, another class of children was violated by the fact that they were barred from accessing humanitarian aid.
“Violations affected 22,557 children (15,847 boys, 6,252 girls, 458 sex unknown) in 25 situations and one regional monitoring arrangement covering the Lake Chad basin region.”
In capitalist society, children do generally get affected by ‘soft’ forms of violations, specifically working class and poor children – in other words, those from destitute homes, by way of denial of basic needs such as access to food, healthcare, etc., through the structure of the economy reinforced by the legal form of this a society. In regions where armed conflict rules, ordinary people including women and children suffer a lot of violence, and violations are not minor in armed conflict zones.
Statistics on the situation of children in South Africa
Children in South Africa also suffer a lot of violence. According to a South African Police Service (SAPS) Quarterly report, covering the months of October, November, and December 2023, 285 children were murdered while another 2,707 children survived attempts on their lives.
The SAPS quarterly report says that an average of 33 children face violent attacks every day and three of those will die from the attacks. The statistics for 2023, compared to 2022, show a welcome 11 percent decline in violations against children in the country, but the concern is the 12 percent increase in violent attacks.
Children in the ‘Occupied Palestinian Territory’ and Israel
The Secretary-General’s report shows serious violations against children in countries torn by wars. These countries include but are not limited to, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, Somalia, Nigeria, and Sudan.
The Levant region has been dominated by violence throughout history, since 1948 when imperial forces declared the state of Israel in the region. This region Children have been victims throughout this period. But, from 7 October 2023 to date, after the attack by Hamas which was followed by an endless Israeli continuous attack on Gaza, the violations against children were extremely high, with reports saying more than 1 million children in Gaza are at imminent risk of famine.
“The changing nature, complexity, expansion and intensification of armed conflict, the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, deliberate or indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian objects, including infrastructure, and the advent of new armed groups, alongside acute humanitarian emergencies and blatant disregard for international humanitarian law and severe violations of international human rights law, have led to alarming increases in grave violations. The conflict in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory presents an unprecedented scale and intensity of grave violations against children, with hostilities leading to an increase in grave violations of 155 percent.”
Despite the alarming statistics, “The United Nations made progress in engaging with parties to protect children in Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, the Philippines, Somalia, South Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic, Ukraine and Yemen.”
It is a serious concern that Israel is not listed among the countries that UN was able to make efforts to ensure the protection of children. Unlike Sudan with Whopping 480 percent rise in violations are mentioned but Israel, also with a huge rise in violations against children, is not listed.
For 2023, violations against children were the highest in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. “The United Nations verified 8,009 grave violations against 4,360 children (3,139 boys, 1,221 girls; Israeli children (113), Palestinian children (4,247)) in Israel (120); the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem (4,868); and in the Gaza Strip (3,021).”
The United Nations was able to verify that the vast majority of the 8009 violations in the area came from Israel. It attributed 5,698 violations to Israeli armed and security forces, and a further 58 violations were committed by Israeli settlers. On the other hand, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades from Hamas, together with other armed groups committed 116 violations, Al-Quds Brigades were attributed 1 while Palestinian individuals committed 12 violations.
The report confirmed that on the one hand, 43 Israeli children were killed during 2023, with 37 of them killed on October 7. Palestinian children on the other hand suffered 7,873 violations.
“The United Nations verified the killing of 2,267 Palestinian children”, almost identical number of boys and girls killed.
This article is an opinion piece submitted on 25 June 2024. The views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect those of Karibu! Online or Khanya College. You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and Karibu! Online (www.Karibu.org.za), and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.
