Press Conference to Launch Report ‘Setting the Right Priorities: Protecting Children Affected by Armed Conflict in Afghanistan’

A global network of child rights monitors today called on the Security Council to prioritize child concerns during its planned visit to Afghanistan, where it said more than 1,000 children had been killed in 2009 as a result of aerial bombings, night raids, landmines and other explosives.

Eva Smets, Director of Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, made the call during a Headquarters press conference to launch the report Setting the Right Priorities: Protecting Children Affected by Armed Conflict in Afghanistan, ahead of a Security Council debate on children and armed conflict scheduled for 16 June. She said that in 2009 Afghanistan had hit the world record for the most “attacks on education” by armed groups.

The attacks had destroyed school buildings and directly harmed pupils, teachers and other staff, she said, adding that other violations of children’s rights included their recruitment into armed conflict, sexual violence, and denial of humanitarian access and health services. In addition, about 1.5 million Afghan children were refugees in Pakistan or Iran, she said, noting that more than half of the approximately 160,000 internally displaced Afghans were children, who were thus especially vulnerable to child recruitment and sexual violence.

She said that the Watchlist — an international network of local and international non-governmental organizations working to influence decision-makers on child-protection issues — was pressing for greater child-protection capacity within the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), which needed to place more child-protection advisers within its ranks. The group was also recommending that the Afghan Government draw up an action plan to reduce violations of children’s rights, ensure that they were investigated and that victims and their families received adequate compensation. It was also calling on donors to prioritize child-protection concerns in their funding decisions, she added. - Press Conference to Launch Report ‘Setting the Right Priorities: Protecting Children Affected by Armed Conflict in Afghanistan’
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