A total of 39 children including 33 boys and six girls were directly affected by violence in J&K, says the Secretary General’s report titled ‘Children and Armed Conflict’
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appealed to India to end the use of buckshot pellet guns against children in Kashmir.
The appeal was made in the latest report by the Secretary-General on “Children and Armed Conflict” which was presented in the UN Security Council for open debate on Monday.
The secretary-general of the top global forum also urged India to stop associating children with security forces in any way but it did not clarify how India was associating children.
According to the report, last year around 19,300 children were subjected to grave violations, mainly in war zones, such as Afghanistan, Syria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“The disregard for children’s rights amid war and upheaval is shocking and heartbreaking,” Guterres said during the debate, held over video conferencing. “Schools and hospitals [are] constantly attacked, looted, destroyed or used for military purposes, with girls’ educational and health facilities targeted disproportionately”.
Four children were detained by security forces in Jammu and Kashmir for alleged association with armed groups, the report noted.
A total of 39 children including 33 boys and six girls were directly affected by violence in J&K. Of these, nine were killed and 11 were maimed by pellet guns, the report revealed, adding that two children were torture by unidentified perpetrators.
The report further said that children were affected by violence due to explosive remnants of war, crossfire between unidentified armed groups and security forces, grenade attacks crossfire and shelling across the line of control
Guterres expressed his concern over grave violations against children in Jammu and Kashmir”
“I call upon the [Indian] government to take preventive measures to protect children,” the UN chief said, “including by ending the use of pellets against children.”
He urged the Indian government to ensure that children are not associated in any way to security forces, as he endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration and the Vancouver Principles.
“I am alarmed at the detention and torture of children and concerned by the military use of schools,” Guttress further said.
“I urge the Government to ensure that children are detained as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time, and to prevent all forms of ill-treatment in detention. I also urge the Government to ensure 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.”
Pellet shotguns were introduced in Kashmir in the summer of 2010 during the peak of the mass uprising as a ‘non-lethal’ weapon of crowd control. However, there have been many instances when civilians have been shot dead in targeted attacks using pellet guns. The summer of 2016 saw widespread use of pellet guns by police and paramilitary forces during months-long mass protests and curfew following the killing of popular militant commander Burhan Wani. The use of pellets left thousands injured and hundreds blind.