By Allison Frankel <
http://www.aclu.org/blog/author/allison-frankel>, ACLU
Human Rights Program at 11:41am
The Obama Administration recently underwent its first U.N. treaty body
review, and the resulting concluding
observations<
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/crcs62.htm> made
public yesterday should be a cause for alarm. The observations, issued by
independent U.N. experts tasked with monitoring compliance with the
international treaty on the rights of children in armed conflict (formally
known as the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child
on the involvement of children in armed
conflict<
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc-conflict.htm> or
"OPAC"), paint a dark picture of the treatment of juveniles by the U.S.
military in Afghanistan: one where hundreds of children have been killed in
attacks and air strikes by U.S. military forces, and those responsible for
the killings have not been held to account even as the number of children
killed doubled from 2010 to 2011; where children under 18 languish in
detention facilities without access to legal or full humanitarian
assistance, or adequate resources to aid in their recovery and
reintegration as required under international law. Some children were
abused in U.S. detention facilities, and others are faced with the prospect
of torture and ill-treatment if they are transferred to Afghan custody.
By ratifying OPAC in 2002, the U.S. committed to guaranteeing basic
protections to children<
http://www.aclu.org/blog/human-rights-national-security/us-military-treatment-juvenile-detainees-undergoes-international>
in
armed conflict zones, and to submit periodic reports on the implementation
of its treaty obligations to the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child.
We wrote<
http://www.aclu.org/blog/human-rights-national-security/new-government-report-reveals-over-200-children-have-been-held>
about
the latest U.S. report, released in November, which revealed that over 200
children have been held in U.S. custody in Afghanistan since 2008, some for
lengthy periods of time. During its review of the U.S. on January 16, the
Committee posed critical questions about the treatment of children by the
U.S. military and issued recommendations to remedy these human rights
violations.
These recommendations include taking "concrete and firm precautionary
measures [to] prevent indiscriminate use of force" particularly against
children, and ensuring all allegations of unlawful use of force are
"investigated in a transparent, timely and independent manner" and that
"children and families victims of attacks and air strikes do always receive
redress and compensation." In regard to the detention of juveniles, the
Committee urged the U.S. to ensure that all children under 18 are detained
separately from adults and guaranteed access to free and independent legal
assistance as well as an independent complaints mechanism. Importantly,
considering the previous U.S.
response<
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/crcs62.htm> to
the Committee revealed that the average age of children detained by U.S.
forces is only 16 years old and the average length of stay for juveniles in
U.S. military custody has been approximately one year, the Committee
recommended children be detained only "as measures of last resort and for
the shortest possible period of time and that in all cases alternatives to
detention are given priority."
The Committee also stressed that allegations of torture and other forms of
mistreatment must be investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice,
and that no child should be transferred to Afghan custody if "there are
substantial grounds for the danger of being subject to torture and ill
treatment." The Committee specifically mentioned the case of Omar
Kadr<
http://www.aclu.org/blog/human-rights-national-security/new-government-report-reveals-over-200-children-have-been-held>,
a former child soldier who was detained by U.S. forces at the age of 15 and
was subjected to torture and a systematic program of harsh and highly
coercive interrogations at the American prisons at Guantánamo Bay and
Bagram.
The U.S. government's human rights obligations do not end with the release
of a periodic report or the completion of a treaty body review. In order to
give meaning to the words of the children's rights treaty, the U.S. must
work diligently to implement the Committee's recommendations and ensure
that our military forces, intelligence agents, and other government
officials treat children in the war zones of Afghanistan and elsewhere in
accordance with international law.
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http://www.aclu.org/blog/human-rights/us-violating-human-rights-children-says-un-committee
Received on Sun May 19 2013 - 12:42:40 EDT
