Over 1,000 children killed and maimed in Somalia in 2016-UN report
At least 1,000 children were killed by armed groups, government and Amisom forces in 2016, a UN report has said adding a further 1,915 were abducted, double the number recorded in 2015.
The report, Children and Armed Conflict noted that majority of killings which it said were related to indiscriminate gunfire or improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are attributed to unknown elements accounting for 482 cases. The Somali National Army, the report said killed or maimed 146 children while Al-Shabaab was responsible for 290 cases.
The African Union force Amisom was responsible for 42 cases primarily occurring in operations against Al-Shabaab or in indiscriminate fire responding to attacks. Child casualties also resulted from air strikes by the Kenyan defence forces (11) and United States armed forces (1).
Most child casualties resulted from crossfire during military operations, mortar shelling, improvised explosive devices and explosive remnants of war, the report says but noted, among the children killed by Al-Shabaab, at least 30 were publicly executed on suspicion of spying.
Clan militias killed 143 children while Puntland armed forces were responsible for 5 and Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jama‘a (1). In total, the report says 1,121 children were killed and maimed between January and December 2016.
UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Ms. Virginia Gamba, said the incidents involving over ten countries were tragic and called for action.
“The tragic fate of child victims of conflict cannot and must not leave us unmoved; a child killed, recruited as a soldier, injured in an attack or prevented from going school due to a conflict is already one too many,” Gamba said.
The report released Friday documents 1915 cases of child abductions in Somalia which is double the figure recorded in 2015 (903). Majority of the abductions were conducted by Al-Shabaab (1206). In September 2016, Al-Shabaab compelled elders in the Galguduud region to persuade children to join the group, leading to the recruitment of 100 boys. Cases attributed to clan militias was second highest (447) followed by Somali National Army (182) and Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jama‘a (78). The use of 17 children by AMISOM was documented.
The report also documents cases of sexual violence affecting 310 girls and one boy. Out of these, 96 cases are attributed to unknown armed elements, clan militias responsible fo4 94 while SNA, Al-Shabaab and Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jama‘a were responsible for 81, 33 and 3 cases respectively.
Rape and forced marriage often occurred in the context of abductions; for example, on 16 June, a sixteen-year-old girl, abducted from her house, was gang raped by 5 Somali National Army soldiers in the Bakool region.
The UN however notes remarkable progress had been registered. In May, the Galmudug Interim Administration handed over to child protection actors 44 children allegedly associated with Al-Shabaab whom the group had captured in March. In October, the Puntland authorities also handed over 26 children from twelve to fourteen years old. Regarding reintegration, the United Nations supported 604 separated children and provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Defence Child Protection Unit.
But the UN has raised concerns with the treatment of children as adults citing the Puntland case in which 40 children aged between 15 and 17 years were handed jail terms of ranging from 10 years to death sentence after they were captured on grounds of being members of Al-Shabaab. The death sentences were however commuted to 20 years imprison following UN intervention, the report says.