Children in Sudan are living in grave danger of abduction, killing and sexual violence, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a report.
The Tuesday report to the UN Security Council said there are thousands of documented cases of women and children abducted for forced labor or forced sex. There are also dozens of cases of children killed in fighting in southern Sudan and Darfur, it said.
The report also examined what Annan called the "deeply rooted" practice of recruiting child soldiers in southern Sudanese military culture, a practice that has taken place as recently as last month.
"It is estimated that thousands of children are still associated with armed forces and groups in Darfur and were actively involved in conflict between May and July 2006," it said.
Official military groups such as the Sudan Armed Forces and the Sudan People's Liberation Army, as well as militias like the Janjaweed are only some of the groups responsible for the thousands of children who are "used in conflict," according to the report.
They are also responsible for child abductions and sexual violence that plague the country and often go unreported, it said.
Annan said he is concerned at the human rights violations against children, which largely go unpunished, and he urged both the Sudanese government and rebel movements to "act without delay to stop this practice."
The secretary-general singled out "the increase in sexual violence against girls and women, particularly in Darfur," the vast western region where the government and various rebel groups have been fighting for more than three years.
"Grave violence against women in Darfur continues to worsen," he said. "Girls have been targeted in inter-ethnic conflicts as a deliberate form of humiliation of a group, and as a means of ethnic cleansing."
Annan stressed the "urgent need for national authorities to rigorously investigate and prosecute responsible parties and to put into place measures for the protection of girls and women who are more vulnerable, especially among young internally displaced populations."
He said he was especially concerned about the "systematic abduction and kidnapping of children, particularly in Darfur," and urged the government and rebel groups to stop the practice.
The secretary-general also urged the Sudanese government, the government of southern Sudan and rebel groups to end the recruitment of child soliders.
The report, covering the period from May to last month, said that individual commanders of the numerous armed forces and groups in Sudan should "bear responsibility" for the systematic violations against children by their forces.
But it said the Sudanese government and the government of southern Sudan are "directly accountable" for violations by individuals under their command.
The exact number of violations against children is difficult to track because of restricted access in certain parts of the country like eastern Sudan, and the lack of reporting by officials or victims, Annan said.
The report cited several examples of various human rights violations, among them an abduction of a woman and her 12-year-old son by suspected Janjaweed militiamen riding on camels through the Shag Al-Nil village in Northern Darfur, and a 13-year-old boy kidnapped napped while collecting firewood near Kalma camp, in South Darfur.
Between May and last month, it said, there were confirmed reports of child recruitment in armed forces in Khartoum, Jonglei and Bahr al Ghazal.
More than 200,000 people have been killed in Darfur since 2003 when ethnic African tribes revolted against the Arab-led Khartoum government.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number