Σπάζοντας ειδήσεις | Φόρουμ | Βρετανικές ειδήσεις | ΑΜΕΡΙΚΑΝΙΚΕΣ ειδήσεις | Παγκόσμιες ειδήσεις | Πολιτικές ειδήσεις | Ειδήσεις sci-τεχνολογία | Ειδήσεις πολέμου & τρομοκρατίας | Αθλητικές ειδήσεις | Πολυμέσα | Καθορισμένη αρχική σελίδα

Δευτέρα, 26η Μαΐου 2008
Συζητήστε αυτήν την έκθεση στα φόρουμ RINF >

Ρολόι των ανθρώπινων δικαιωμάτων | Οι αμερικανικές δυνάμεις στο Ιράκ πρέπει να εξασφαλίσουν ότι ρολόι τα παιδιά που παίρνει στην επιτήρηση θεραπεύονται σύμφωνα με τη θέση τους ως παιδιά, και τη δεδομένες γρήγορες δικαστικές αναθεώρηση και την πρόσβαση στα ανεξάρτητα όργανα ελέγχου, των ανθρώπινων δικαιωμάτων εν λόγω σήμερα. Στις 22 Μαΐου, η Επιτροπή των Η.Ε των δικαιωμάτων του παιδιού θα συνεδριάσει στη Γενεύη για να αναθεωρήσει την αμερικανική συμμόρφωση με τη διεθνή συνθήκη απαγορεύοντας τη χρήση των στρατιωτών παιδιών, η οποία απαιτεί τα κράτη για να βοηθήσει με την αποκατάσταση και την επανενοποίηση τέτοιων παιδιών υπό έλεγχό τους.

Οι αμερικανικές στρατιωτικές αρχές, που λειτουργούν ως πολυεθνικές δυνάμεις στο Ιράκ, κρατούσαν 12 Μαΐου 2008 513 ιρακινά παιδιά ως «επιτακτικές απειλές στην ασφάλεια,» και έχουν μεταφέρει έναν άγνωστο αριθμό άλλων παιδιών στην ιρακινή επιτήρηση. Σύμφωνα με μια πρόσφατη έκθεση από την αποστολή βοήθειας Ηνωμένων Εθνών στο Ιράκ (UNAMI), τα παιδιά στην ιρακινή επιτήρηση είναι σε κίνδυνο σωματικής κακοποίησης.

«Σε σύγκρουση όπου δεν περιλήφθηκε στο ρολόι άμεσα, οι ΗΠΑ είναι ηγέτης στη βοήθεια των στρατιωτών παιδιών να καταγραφεί η κοινωνία,» εν λόγω Clarisa Bencomo, ερευνητής των παιδιών της Μέσης Ανατολής των ανθρώπινων δικαιωμάτων. «Εκείνο το είδος ηγεσίας λείπει δυστυχώς στο Ιράκ.»

Στις 22 Μαΐου, η Επιτροπή των Η.Ε των δικαιωμάτων του παιδιού θα συνεδριάσει στη Γενεύη για να αναθεωρήσει την αμερικανική συμμόρφωση με το προαιρετικό πρωτόκολλο σχετικά με τα παιδιά στην ένοπλη σύγκρουση, την οποία οι ΗΠΑ επικύρωσαν το 2002. Η συνθήκη απαγορεύει τη στρατολόγηση και τη χρήση των προσώπων κάτω από 18 στις εχθρότητες από οποιοδήποτε συμβαλλόμενο μέρος σε μια σύγκρουση, και απαιτεί τα κράτη για να παρέχει όλη την κατάλληλη βοήθεια για τη φυσική και ψυχολογική αποκατάσταση και την κοινωνική επανενοποίηση τέτοιων παιδιών υπό την αρμοδιότητα ή έλεγχό τους.

Από το 2003, οι ΗΠΑ έχουν θέσει υπό κράτηση περίπου 2.400 παιδιά στο Ιράκ, συμπεριλαμβανομένων των παιδιών τόσο νέων όπως 10. Τα ποσοστά κράτησης αυξήθηκαν δραστικά το 2007 σε έναν μέσο όρο 100 νέων παιδιών μηνιαίως από 25 μηνιαίως το 2006. Οι ΗΠΑ κρατούν τα περισσότερα παιδιά Cropper αμερικανικών στρατόπεδων στη Βαγδάτη, αλλά έχουν κρατήσει επίσης τα παιδιά στην κύρια δυνατότητα αμερικανικής στρατιωτική κράτησης, στρατόπεδο Bucca κοντά στη Βασόρα. Οι αμερικανικοί ανώτεροι υπάλληλοι είπαν νωρίτερα αυτό το χρόνο το ρολόι των ανθρώπινων δικαιωμάτων ότι χωρίζουν τα παιδιά από τους ενηλίκους σε αυτές τις εγκαταστάσεις αλλά δεν χωρίζουν τα πολύ νέα ή ιδιαίτερα τρωτά παιδιά από άλλους κρατουμένους παιδιών.

In early 2007, a 17-year-old boy was reportedly strangled to death by a fellow child detainee at Camp Cropper.

Child detainees, no differently from adults, may be interrogated over the course of days or weeks by military units in the field before being sent to the main detention centers. They have no real opportunity to challenge their detention: earlier this year US officials told Human Rights Watch that children are not provided with lawyers and do not attend the one-week or one-month detention reviews after their transfer to Camp Cropper. In addition, children have very limited contact with their families. While the US does assign each child a military “advocate” at the mandatory six-month detention review, that advocate has no training in juvenile justice or child development.

As of February 2008, the reported average length of detention for children was more than 130 days, and some children have been detained for more than a year without charge or trial, in violation of the Coalition Provisional Authority memorandum on criminal procedures. That memorandum’s section on “security internee process” states, “Any person under the age of 18 interned at any time shall in all cases be released not later than 12 months after the initial date of internment.”

“The vast majority of children detained in Iraq languish for months in US military custody,” Bencomo said. “The US should provide these children with immediate access to lawyers and an independent judicial review of their detention.”

In August 2007, the United States opened Dar al-Hikmah (House of Wisdom) at Camp Cropper with the stated intention to provide 600 detainees, ranging in age from 11 to 17, with educational services pending release or transfer to Iraqi custody. However, in May 2008, US military officials in Baghdad told Human Rights Watch that only “200 to 300″ of the 513 child detainees were enrolled in classes at Dar al-Hikmah. Currently, children who are excluded from the program do not receive any other educational services.

Like adults, children transferred to Iraqi custody are at risk of abuse and poor conditions of confinement. A US military official in Baghdad told Human Rights Watch this month that the US was delaying the transfer of 130 child detainees to Iraq’s al-Tobchi juvenile detention facility because of conditions there.

The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) found that overcrowding at al-Tobchi was causing hygiene problems during visits in October and November 2007. At the time the facility was operating at close to double its normal capacity of 200 beds, and children were sharing beds or taking turns to sleep on the floor without mattresses.

To date, the United States has not released statistics on the number of children it has transferred to Iraqi custody for trial. According to UNAMI, 89 children transferred from US to Iraqi custody had been convicted of offenses by December 2007. Between December 2007 and March 2008, there was a drop of 450 children in US custody, but the United States has not made known whether they were released or transferred to Iraqi custody.

Human Rights Watch calls on US military forces in Iraq to:

• Ensure children in its custody receive prompt access to independent legal assistance and family visits;
• Provide children with prompt review of detention by an independent judicial body;
• Release children who have been detained for more than a year, in compliance with Section 6, Article 5 of Coalition Provisional Authority Memo 3 (revised) of June 27, 2004;
• Separate very young and other particularly vulnerable children from other detainees;
• Allow UNICEF, UNAMI, and other independent monitors confidential access to children in US custody;
• Refrain from transferring physical custody of children to Iraqi authorities pending trial when there is reason to believe they will be at risk of abuse; and,
• Ensure the right to education and recreation of all children in US custody.

Background

Since the declared end of the US occupation of Iraq in June 2004, detained persons should be provided due process under international human rights law. Security Council Resolution 1546 and its successors allow for internment of Iraqis “for imperative reasons of security.” However, the United States improperly uses this language to justify holding the detainees without judicial review and other basic rights, as if the operative law were the Fourth Geneva Convention on the treatment of civilians during international armed conflict.

Human rights law, as found in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, requires that all persons arrested be brought promptly before a judge, have access to legal counsel and family members, be charged with a cognizable criminal offense, and receive a prompt trial meeting international fair trial standards. It also requires states to provide every child “such measures of protection as are required by his status as a minor.”

Under international juvenile justice standards, children accused of criminal offenses must have access to specialized juvenile justice systems, with specially trained judges, prosecutors, and attorneys working in a framework of restorative justice and social rehabilitation. The arrest and detention of a child must be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time. Detained children should be separated from adults, and are entitled to prompt access to legal and other appropriate assistance in challenging detention.

See More:Iraq World News 

Discuss this report in the RINF forums >

Have Your Say: US: Respect Rights of Child Detainees in Iraq

RSS TrackBack URL

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

This entry was posted on Monday, May 26th, 2008 at 8:43 pm and is filed under General, War & Terrorism News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Loading ...

ADVERTISEMENTS

SITE MAPS

7/7 Afghanistan Alternative Energy Art BBC Big Brother Bilderberg Biometrics Bush CIA Climate Change Cover Up Cults Culture Database State David Hicks David Ray Griffin Democrats Demos Drugs Education EU False Flag FBI Fraud Free Speech Freemasons G8 Globalization Guantanamo Health News History ID Cards Internet Iran Iraq Israel Law Marches MI5 MI6 Microsoft Military MoD Money Music NASA Neocons NSA Oil Pakistan Podcast Police State Propaganda RFID RINF Rumsfeld Science Secrecy Security Slavery Space Sports Spying Stephen Lendman Technology Terrorism Tony Blair Torture TV UK News UN USA News Video Voting Warfare White House Wolfowitz World News Yahoo
2003 - 2005 Archives | 2005 - 2007 Archives | 2007 - 2008 Archives | Current Archives | Past Version