From: hrcoord@igc.apc.org (Human Rights Coordinator)
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
Subject: CHILDREN: Industrialised world blam
Date: 8 Oct 92 17:26:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1476700597:000:4880
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Oct  8 10:26:00 1992


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: CHILDREN: Industrialised world blam

/* Written 12:19 am  Oct  8, 1992 by newsdesk@igc.apc.org in
igc:ips.englibrary */ Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all
rights reserved.  Permission to re- print within 7 days of
original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: CHILDREN: Industrialised world blamed for the many victims
of war

an inter press service feature

by victor ego ducrot

geneva, oct 5 (ips) -- the united states and europe are indirectly
responsible for the hundreds of thousands of children throughout
the world who have become victims of war, charged a united nations
agency monday.

during a meeting on the problem of children in armed conflicts,
organised by the united nations committee for children's rights,
the united nations children's fund (unicef) the point that the
united states and many european countries are the leading arms
suppliers.

the large majority of the 60 arms producing and exporting
countries are located in the industrialised world, unicef stated,
adding that measures should be put in place to keep a tab on which
countries are supplying arms to countries that are at war.

according to unicef, although the u.n. has statistics on the
buyers -- mostly in the third world -- nobody has information on
the countries that make and sell weapons.

margaret mcmillan, head of the refugee programme at the
international catholic office for children (ocii), told ips:
''right now the grave problem is found as much in the third world,
in somalia, as in the heart of europe, with the war in the ex-
yugoslavia.''

it was reported at the meeting that over a thousand children have
died in bosnia-hercegovina during the last six months. for
somalia, a country involved in civil and tribal war for two
decades, the figures are even more tragic.

according to unicef, more than 200,000 somali children died last
year as a direct consequence of the war, either by the gun or
through starvation.

during the last 10 years, more than 1.5 million children worldwide
have died in armed conflicts; four million were injured and 12
million lost their homes, ocii statistics said.

luis bambaren, a peruvian expert said that peruvian and colombian
children have been most effected by the wars and conflicts in
latin america and the caribbean during the last 12 years.
(more/ips)

children: industrialised world blamed for the many victims of
war(2-e)

children: industrialised (2)

the 12-year civil war in el salvador beginning in 1980 has
resulted in the death or serious injury to 5,000 children, he
stated. the clashes between government forces and the insurgent
sendero luminoso (shining path) movement in peru claimed as many
as 400 children under the age of 15 in a single year, he added.

with regard to colombia, he said the combined actions of drug
traffickers, security forces and leftist rural guerrilla fighters
have caused the deaths of 2,000 children under the age of 15 in
the last five years.

according to experts at the meeting, the problem is not only the
thousands of children killed by bullets each year. what is of
equal concern is the recruitment of children in the various
warring factions.

in a document presented by unicef at the meeting, it states that
minors are used as soldiers in almost all of the present armed
conflicts.

the first international agreements on children's rights (london
1922 and geneva 1924) and the geneva convention of 1949 both
prohibit the recruitment of children under the age of 18 as
soldiers.

martin mcpherson, of the religious organisation quakers advisory
committee, told ips that ''in this sense the great responsibility
rests with the developed nations''.

mcpherson stated that washington and various members of the
european community (ec) finance military programmes in the third
world where minors are drafted for service and trained in combat
techniques.

''the united states, britain, germany and france spent a joint
programmes in paraguay, uganda and somalia, among other developing
countries,'' he charged.

''the incorporation of children in the armies in the third world
is a consequence of the underdevelopment and poverty, since for
many, joining the army is the only way to get food clothing and
medicine,'' he maintained.

unicef, the international committee of the red cross (icrc) and
the united nations high commissioner for refugees (unhcr)
suggested that the united nations human rights centre should
appoint a special rapporteur or working group to investigate the
problem.

this week's meeting at which independent experts from all the
united nations' member countries are participating, will end on
oct. 9. representatives of the icrc, unhcr, the world health
organisation (who), the international labour organisation (ilo)and
other u.n. agencies are also participating.
(end/ips/cw/ved/da/trd/mv/cpg/92).