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TechnoratiUN Experts Rap US "Cruelty" to Child Prisoners
GENEVA - United Nations experts on child rights criticized the United States on Friday over detention of juveniles at Guantanamo, in Afghanistan and Iraq, and voiced concern that some may have suffered cruel treatment.
They also called for an end to recruitment of under-18s into the U.S. armed forces and for a halt to enlistment campaigns aimed specifically at young people from minority groups and poor or single-parent families.
The strictures were issued in a report from the 18-member Committee on the Rights of the Child, which monitors performance under U.N. pacts, including two signed by Washington on children and armed conflict and on child prostitution.
On under-18s -- defined by the U.N. as children -- held in U.S.-run prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Committee said it was "concerned over reports indicating the use of cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment."
The 18 experts, nominated by governments but expected to be independent of them, said they had similar reports on abuse of young prisoners held for several years at the U.S. naval base in Cuba's Guantanamo Bay.
They declared themselves "seriously concerned that children who were recruited or used in armed conflict, rather than being considered primarily as victims, are classified as 'unlawful enemy combatants'," and face military tribunals at the base.
In a presentation to the Committee last month, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense Sandra L. Hodgkinson said the United States did detain juveniles who fought its troops so as to protect its forces and innocent civilians.
SPECIAL NEEDS
But it went to great lengths to attend to their special needs while they were held in Iraq, Afghanistan or Guantanamo, she said. At the base in southeastern Cuba, there were no more than 8 juveniles held, only two facing criminal charges.
Hodgkinson said U.S. youths aged 17 could join the military if they had the written permission of their parents or legal guardians, but the Committee said it was concerned "over reported misconduct and coercive measures used by recruiters."
Most members of the Committee are lawyers. They come from countries ranging from South Korea, which provides the chairman, to Canada, Germany, Norway, Switzerland, Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, Qatar and Italy.
The American Council for Civil Liberties (ACLU), which made a presentation of its own to the Committee, said the report made clear that the United States was breaking global agreements on children in war.
"The message from the U.N. Committee....leaves no doubt that U.S. policies and practices violated universal standards aimed at protecting suspected foreign child soldiers from unlawful treatment and prolonged incarceration," it said.
The United States was also failing to protect its own young citizens "from abusive military recruitment," said ACLU human rights program director Jamil Dakwar in a statement sent to Reuters in Geneva.
"To claim the high moral ground and assert leadership on the issue of human rights, the U.S. government must take vigorous action to bring its current conduct in line with the Committee's recommendations," declared Dakwar.
There was no immediate comment from U.S. officials in Geneva. Another U.S.-based group, Human Rights Watch, said last month that the United States was holding 513 juveniles under 18 in prisons in Iraq as "threats to security". Some were interrogated for days or weeks, it added.
Editing by Stephanie Nebehay
© 2008 Reuters
9 Comments so far
Show AllI'm sure none of this will stop the UN from "extending the American mandate to protect Iraq" when that comes up for renewal next year.
Shameful.
If you would like to join any branch of the military, you would need to have a four year college degree, have worked at your present job for a minimum of three years, and you must be between the ages of 30 and 35. Your height and weight must be proportionate. Also you may neither be married nor have any dependents or children. You may not be a land owner in the United States or any of its territories. You may not have a criminal record. Your measurable IQ must be measurable (no Republicans or Democrats).
You may not be a citizen of a foreign land, and the U.S. government may not promise you citizenship if you voluntarily join any branch of the U.S. military. You must have been born in the United States by U.S. citizens. Conscription shall be outlawed in perpetuity.
If you do not meet these criteria, a recruiter may not approach you in any manner. No recruiters.
If you want to stop the war machine, stop the machine from prospecting for fodder. No loopholes. No BS. No wars.
on the whole i reckon the issue boils down to poverty...which presnts a major difficulty regarding the stated claims aspirations and objectives of the world powers towards moving both children and adults out of poverty...that being generaly held up as a good idea and something to aim for ..
rich kids cannot easily be vanished...rich adults cannot easily be vanished...on the whole
so basicaly you can suppose that these kids are being held because they are not rich..
this is traumatic...as all civilistations need the poor..some one has to do the poorly paid jobs..with little or no realistic prospects or future..it's not an option..in order for the rich to be rich the poor have to be poor..you can have a certain amount of bleed thru from one group to the other.. but there has to be poor in order for there to be rich..if one group is to be paid more ..the other must be paid less...more or less...give or take a shenanigin or two..
it's a hard sell...and remains the most corrosive and hypocritical courner stone of our society/economy
but it's hard to avoid the "elephant in the room" to steal the phrase..
these kids (and adults) are for the most part locked up not because they are suspected terrorists..but because they are not rich...if they were rich..all manner of hell would follow their arrest and detention and would not cease untill they were both released and costly reperations had been made..
regardless of wether they had terrorist connections or not...
of course the rich have connections of their own...hence the point
I think the UN has a good idea concerning protection of immature young people enlisting in the military. Some 58 years ago I enlisted for military service in the Korean War, and I had four years to think about and largely regret my decision. I think it would have a salutary effect on our political leaders' tendency to use military force to resolve disputes that might be resolved without the use or threat of force, were we to raise the minimum age for military service to 21. After all, if under many US state laws one must be 21 before being legally regarded as competent to sign a binding contract to buy a car, isn't it reasonable to require that a young person be at least 21 before signing a contract to assume the risk of death or permanent injury when ordered to do so at any future time or place of the Government employer's choosing? As for the current US Government's mistreatment of children, I would recommend that UN Human Rights investigators GOOGLE "CIA holds two Pakistani boys" -- which will give them instant access to a 2003 London Telegraph story detailing how the CIA had essentially kidnapped and was then holding the two young (under 10) sons of Khalid Sheik Mohammed at an undisclosed site within the US, for the purpose of extorting information from their father who had thus far resisted the CIA's interrogation methods. As you might expect, this story by a major London newspaper has been effectively blacked out by all major US media for the past five years, so the UN investigators need not waste time by looking for this news story in the US media. As a grandparent of young children, I would like to know what our Government has done with these two little boys and whether they are still being held by our Government -- perhaps as "enemy combatants"?
May be Mrs. Bush can look in to this matter on her current surprise "sneak" visit to Afghanistan.
Enough of the empty statements about the military and soldiers, such as - "I honor your service and sacrifice", and "the soldiers in Iraq are defending our freedoms"...no...not untill tanks are massed on our northern and southern borders could they remotly be defending our freedoms. these statements are designed to silence the questioning of policies like recruitmemnnt of children and death of 500,000+ Iraqis.
The generals who march around like proud peacocks need a forced retirement along w/ the rest of the military...600 billion can be used in less destructive ways
We don't have to talk about the Repubs' position on this. But how about the Dems, Obama, Clinton, Pelosi, you name it?
I know I'll get beat up, but Obama-lovers, what has your saint done so far to stop this inhumanity? What has you saint done to stop the war? (NADA).
The U.S. dosen't torture and execute it's hostages sez Bush.
Only 'terrorists,' no matter how young she might be. How many children is our government keeping in it's Death Camps?
Let's face it. We are a rogue criminal state. The apex of the axis of evil to all people who suffer our misguided assistance- promoted of course by those who have a purely financially driven interest or equally distasteful religious zeal.