美國： 兒童被拘留者尊敬在伊拉克
人權觀察 | 美國部隊在它採取入監管的伊拉克應該保證孩子根據他們的狀態被對待作為孩子和對獨立顯示器的特定及時司法審查和通入，今天說的人權觀察。 在5月22日，聯合國委員會在日內瓦將見面回顧美國遵照國際條約取締對兒童戰士的用途的兒童權利，要求狀態幫助以補救和重新結合的這樣孩子在他們的控制之下。
美國軍事當局，經營作為多民族力量在伊拉克，是自2008年5月12日拿著513個伊拉克孩子作為「對安全的必要的威脅」，和轉移了其他孩子的一個未知數到伊拉克監管。 根據一個最近報告由聯合國協助使命在伊拉克(UNAMI)，孩子在伊拉克監管是在危险中人身誣蔑。
「在衝突，它未直接地介入，美國是一位領導在戰士再進入社會的幫助的孩子」，兒童的研究員說Clarisa Bencomo，中東在人權觀察。 「種類領導不幸地在伊拉克想念」。
在5月22日，聯合國委員會在兒童權利在日內瓦將見面回顧美國遵照關於孩子的任意協議在武力衝突， 2002年美國批准。 條約取締對人的補充和用途在18以下在敵意由所有黨到衝突，并且要求狀態為物理和心理補救提供所有適當的援助和社會重新結合的這樣孩子在他們的司法或控制之下。
自2003年以來，美國在伊拉克作為扣留了大約2,400個孩子，包括兒童年輕人像10。 2007年2006年拘留率猛烈地上升了到平均100個新的孩子每月從25一個月。 美國在巴格達拿著多數孩子在美國陣營收割者，但也拿著孩子在主要美國軍事拘留設施，陣營Bucca在巴士拉附近。 美國官員今年初告訴了人權觀察他們從成人分離孩子在這些設施，但從其他兒童被拘留者不分離非常年輕人或特殊脆弱的孩子。
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 NewsHave Your Say: US: Respect Rights of Child Detainees in Iraq
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This entry was posted on Monday, May 26th, 2008 at 8:43 pm and is filed under War & Terrorism News, General . 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.
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