UN adds Israel to “blacklist” of countries violating children’s rights in conflict
The United Nations has added Israeli regime to a blacklist of countries that commit abuse against children in armed conflicts following the regime’s massacre of the civilians in Gaza Strip, most of them children and women.
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The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres sent an official notification regarding his decision to the Israeli ambassador to the international body.
The annual report on children in armed conflict compiles “a list of parties engaging in violations against children”, including killing and maiming, sexual violence and attacks on schools and hospitals.
The blacklist is meant to call out parties engaged in abuses against children. But other countries can use it to restrict arms sales to the offenders.
Senior Palestinian official Riad Malki welcomed the UN’s decision on Friday, saying that the move is overdue.
“Now, faced with the catastrophe in Gaza that the world sees with its naked eyes with the genocide that specifically targets children and women, the UN secretary general no longer has excuses not to place Israel on the blacklist,” Malki said in a statement.
Rights groups have condemned the dire toll Israel’s bombardment and siege of Gaza has had on Palestinian children across the besieged strip.
More than 36,700 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since early October, including 15,571 children, according to the Gaza government media office.
UN experts have also said Israel’s restrictions on deliveries of food, water, medicine and other critical supplies have created a humanitarian crisis, with parts of the coastal territory facing the threat of famine.
Earlier this week, the UN’s child rights agency UNICEF warned that nine out of ten Palestinian children in Gaza were living in “severe child food poverty, surviving on diets comprising two or fewer food groups per day – one of the highest percentages ever recorded”.
The World Health Organization also said last week that more than four in five Palestinian children in Gaza “did not eat for a whole day at least once in the three days” ahead of a food insecurity survey.
Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCIP) has also reported on the dire consequences Israel’s continued military assault on Gaza is having on Palestinian children, including thousands that have been critically injured since October.
