What happened: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his concern over the “grave violations” against children in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IoK). He insisted the Indian government to take preventive measures to safeguard children, by ending the use of pellets against them.
Details: The secretary-general stated in the in the annual report on Children and Armed Conflict: “I remain concerned by grave violations against children in Jammu and Kashmir and call upon the Government to take preventive measures to protect children, including by ending the use of pellets against children, ensuring that children are not associated in any way to security forces, and endorsing the Safe Schools Declaration and the Vancouver Principles.” The report was launched last week by his Special Representative on the subject, Virginia Gamba. In the chapter on India, it was revealed that a total of 39 children, 33 boys and 6 girls, were affected by violence in the occupied territory last year. Nine of them were killed and 30 were injured. 11 of them were wounded by pellet guns. The report included occurrences of torture by security forces and unidentified perpetrators, injuries from explosives, crossfire between unidentified groups and Indian security forces, crossfire between unidentified groups, and grenade attacks and crossfire and shelling across the Line of Control. The report, however, did not elucidate that India has been associating children with the security forces. He urged Indian government to “prevent all forms of ill-treatment in detention” while also ensuring “the implementation of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, to address the use of children for illegal activities and the situation of detained children.” In the chapter of Pakistan, the report highlight the killing of 8 children and injury of 31 children at the hands of unidentified perpetrators in “Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Kashmir and Balochistan.” Clashes across the Line of Control and offhand explosive devices caused the above gravities. An attack on a school was also reported in KP due to an improvised explosive device. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative reported 127 incidents by unidentified armed elements. “I welcome the engagement of the [Pakistan] government with my Special Representative to develop preventive measures to protect children,” the SG said in the report. Furthermore, the report exposed the violations that were committed against approximately 19,300 youngsters, particularly in war zones, such as Afghanistan, Syria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Click here to see more from Propergaanda.