Roundup: Report on children, armed conflict not easy to draft: UN Spokesperson

A new UN report on children and armed conflict was not an easy report to draft or issue and, like many UN reports, involved a large consultative process, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here Tuesday.

Responding to questions from the media about whether Israel and Hamas should have been included in an annex of the report, Dujarric emphasized that both UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the special representative of the UN secretary-general for children and armed conflict, Leila Zerrougui, stood by the report's contents.

The report, a copy of which was obtained by Xinhua, said that "2014 saw unprecedented challenges for the protection of tens of millions of children growing up in countries affected by conflict."

Of the 22 countries included in the report only 14 were named in the report's annexes, two lists reserved for the worst parties that "recruit or use children, kill or maim children, commit rape and other forms of sexual violence against children, or engage in attacks on schools and/or hospitals in situations of armed conflict."

The 14 countries included in the annexes were Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Mali, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Colombia, Nigeria and the Philippines.

Chad was removed from the list in 2014, because it had fully implemented its Action Plan to end the recruitment and use of children in conflict, the report noted.

Israel and the State of Palestine were included in the body of the report but not in the annexes. According to the report, 2014 "saw a dramatic increase in the number of children killed and injured, especially in Gaza."

At least 561 children -- 557 Palestinians and four Israelis -- were killed and Israeli airstrikes damaged at least 262 schools, according to the report, which also detailed Palestinian transgressions, including five verified cases of child recruitment by Palestinian armed groups.

However, Israeli UN Ambassador Ron Prosor said in a statement provided to Xinhua that the secretary-general was right not to include Israel in the annex which he described as a "shameful list."

"The UN secretary-general was right not to submit to the dictates of the terrorist organizations and the Arab states, in his decision not to include Israel in this shameful list, together with organizations like ISIS, Al Qaeda and the Taliban," Prosor said.

Other major trends and developments listed in the report included an increase in the abduction of children and unprecedented levels of "extreme violence."

The report gave examples of abductions from Iraq and Syria -- where more than 1,000 girls and boys were abducted by ISIL -- and Nigeria -- where Boko Haram abducted hundreds of women and girls in 2014.

"Mass abductions of civilians, including children, have become an increasingly prevalent feature of conflict in many situations," the report said.X The difficulties in addressing the recruitment of child soldiers were also detailed in the report.

Children, Not Soldiers -- a UN campaign launched in March 2014 -- aims to build support to end and prevent the recruitment of child soldiers by 2016. The campaign's focus is on Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen.

The UN Security Council will hold an open debate later on June 18, and it is expected that the contents of the children and armed conflict report will be discussed. Endi