Suffer the children

Whatever feelings or reactions people may have on a report by the United Nations (UN) that more than 10,000 children had been killed or maimed in armed conflicts in at least 20 countries last year, these would be an understatement.

How those young boys and girls suffered were indescribable, according to UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Virginia Gamba.

But the scary thing is that many have already been desensitized from the daily killing and maiming of children in armed conflicts. It is as if the atrocities are just normal. No one cares anymore.

The figure cited in the May 2018 report released last week is part of a total 21,000 violations of children’s rights recorded by Gamba in 2017.

For 2016, she reported a total 15,500 violations — armed attacks, abduction, detention, deprivation of humanitarian aid, rape and recruitment of children as combatants.

Afghanistan leads the countries with the most number of children casualties: 3,179, including 861 killed. A total 251 girls were among the victims, accounting for 30 percent of all civilian casualties in that country.

Sadly, many of the deaths were caused by Afghan security forces, pro-government militias and international military forces. The Taliban rebels and other armed groups accounted for 1,384 casualties.

How they died was unimaginably horrific. In Afghanistan, children were blown up to pieces by aerial bombings, cross-border shelling and suicide bombings.

“Afghan boys were recruited and used for combat, as bodyguards, at checkpoints, to assist in intelligence gathering and to plant improvised explosive devices. When recruited by armed groups, children were also used to carry out suicide attacks,” the UN report said.

The total number of children killed and maimed in 2017 is almost the same as the total number of civilian casualties in Syria that year. The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) reported 10,204 civilians killed in Syria in 2017.

The UN counted 910 children killed and 361 maimed in 2017. The SNHR counted 2,298 children killed that year.

All warring groups in Syria have blood in their hands for the deaths of the children: government forces, Russian forces, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), armed opposition factions, international coalition forces, Kurdish forces and other parties.

In Iraq, 279 children were killed and 438 were maimed in 2017, according to the UN report. They suffered the same fate as their Afghan and Syrian counterparts, in addition to getting shot by snipers for refusing to follow ISIS regulations and fleeing ISIS areas.

ISIS fighters used children as suicide bombers and combatants, for logistics and manufacturing explosive devices, and as wives.

One account of atrocity was the rape of a 15-year-old boy over three consecutive nights by an ISIS commander. There was also a 17-year-old Yazidi girl who was sexually abused by ISIS members before being forced to manufacture bombs.

In Somalia, Al-Shabaab fighters executed children. In Nigeria, Boko Haram rebels used children, mostly girls, as carriers of improvised explosive devices.

The Philippines had its share of children casualties –16 killed, 17 injured — during the fighting in Marawi City between government forces and the ISIS-affiliated Maute Group.

In other countries mentioned in the report, the death and injury tolls are as follows:

Central African Republic – 61 killed, 43 maimed; Colombia – 46 killed, 7 maimed; Democratic Republic of the Congo – 156 killed, 178 maimed; Palestine – 15 killed, 1,160 injured (by Israeli forces); Lebanon – 8 killed, 12 wounded; Libya – 40 killed, 38 injured; Mali – 19 killed, 15 maimed; Myanmar – 243 killed, 24 maimed; Somalia – 931 killed; South Sudan – 54 killed, 57 maimed; Sudan – 19 killed, 75 maimed; Yemen – 552 killed, 764 maimed; India (unclear); Nigeria – 570 killed, 311 maimed; Pakistan – 24 killed; and Thailand – 1 killed, 16 injured.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ call for restraint and peace by warring groups had fallen on deaf ears. So did the call of humanitarian groups and other governments. A more tangible intervention is necessary.

The super powers must halt their proxy wars in the Middle East. The militaries and rebels must hold a ceasefire and peace talk. UN peacekeepers must help by serving as buffer among belligerents.

Enough is enough. Save the suffering children.