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U.N. fails to protect children in Congo, group says

June 16, 2003, Monday

Despite its repeated appeals to warring parties in Congo to end the war and respect human rights, the U.N. Security Council has failed to protect Congolese civilians, particularly children, an organization said Monday.

The organization Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict says children in Congo have suffered torture, rape, abduction and sexual torture, and have been forced to join armed groups or participate in the illegal exploitation of the country's natural resources.

"Both foreign and domestic parties to the conflict have committed gross violations of international rights and humanitarian law, including widespread abuses against Congolese children and adolescents," Watchlist said in a report presented at U.N. headquarters in New York.

"The situation in Congo is also a result of decades of poor governance and broader regional insecurity," it said.

Watchlist also says the 15-nation council has "contributed to the lack of protection of civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo by failing to vigorously hold accountable those parties that violate relevant resolutions."

Gross atrocities are committed against Congolese children every day, Julia Freedson, coordinator of Watchlist in New York said.

"The Security Council must give higher priority to protecting the lives and rights of children and holding the perpetrators of these crimes accountable."

Watchlist also charged that donor countries failed to meet appeals for funds to improve security and rights of Congolese children. It said in 2002, donor countries gave only 40 per cent to the U.N. appeal for 202 million dollars, and the appeal for 2003 for 268 million dollars did not fare better.

The organization, which made use extensively of studies by human rights and relief groups like Amnesty International, the U.N. Children's Fund and International Rescue Committee, said 3.3 million people have been killed by fighting since 1998.

Six African nations and numerous armed groups have been involved in the conflict in Congo over the past five years, it said.

It also said at least 12 per cent of children die before their first birthday. The French group Doctors Without Borders said one- quarter of all children in the Basankusu province in eastern Congo have died in the past 12 months, while normal child mortality for the same group over the same period was 3.6 per cent countrywide.

Other human rights groups say many children die while hiding in the bush, while those who survive are traumatized by acts of "vandalism and barbarity" carried out by armed groups. dpa tn gj

Copyright 2003 Deutsche Presse-Agentur