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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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May 19th,
2008 - US: 500 Youths Detained in Iraq; 10 in Afghanistan |
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US: 500 Youths Detained in
Iraq; 10 in Afghanistan By Peter James Spielmann Associated Press May 19, 2008 New York - The U.S. military
is holding about 500 juveniles suspected of being "unlawful enemy
combatants" in detention centers in Iraq and has about 10 detained in
Afghanistan, the United States has told the United Nations. A total of 2,500 youths
under the age of 18 have been detained, almost all in Iraq, for periods up to
a year or more in President Bush's anti-terrorism campaign since 2002, the
United States reported last week to the U.N.'s Committee on the Rights of the
Child. Civil liberties groups such
as the International Justice Network and the American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU) denounced the detentions as abhorrent, and a violation of U.S. treaty
obligations. In the periodic report to
the United Nations on U.S. compliance with the Convention on the Rights of
the Child, the United States confirmed that "as of April 2008, the
United States held about 500 juveniles in Iraq." "The juveniles that the
United States has detained have been captured engaging in anti-coalition
activity, such as planting Improvised Explosive Devices, operating as
lookouts for insurgents, or actively engaged in fighting against U.S. and
Coalition forces," the U.S. report said. The majority are believed to
be 16 or 17 years old. In the United States a 17-year-old can enlist in the
U.S. army, with parental consent. The report said that of the
total of 2,500 juveniles jailed since 2002, all but 100 had been picked up in
Iraq. Of the remainder, most were swept up in Afghanistan. A total of eight juveniles
have been held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, but all were
released from 2004 to 2006. "It remains uncertain
the exact age of these individuals, as most of them did not know their date
of birth or even the year they were born," the report says. But U.S.
military doctors who evaluated them believed that three were under age 16. In Afghanistan, "as of
April 2008, there are approximately 10 juveniles being held at the Bagram
Theater Internment Facility as unlawful enemy combatants," the report
said. In Bagram, a U.S. military
spokesman, Marine 1st Lt. Richard K. Ulsh, told the AP on Sunday: "At
any time there are up to 625 detainees being held at the Bagram Theater
Internment Facility. There are no detainees being held under the age of 16
and, without getting into specifics due to the frequent fluctuation in the
number of detainees being held, we can tell you that there are currently less
than 10 detainees being held under the age of 18." Civil liberties groups were
outraged. "It's shocking to me
that the U.S. government has not figured out a way to keep children out of
adult prisons. It's outrageous, and it is not making us any safer, I can say
that about Afghanistan from personal experience," Tina M. Foster, the
executive director of the International Justice Network, said Sunday. Her group brought lawsuits
on behalf of the Guantanamo detainees in 2006, and has taken on the cases of
adult detainees in Bagram. She said the U.S. military does not release the
names of juveniles it is holding in Bagram, so her group is trying to learn
who they are by finding Afghan relatives. "It is shocking to know
that the U.S. is holding hundreds of juveniles in Iraq and Afghanistan, and
even more disturbing that there is no comprehensive policy in place that will
protect their rights as children," Jamil Dakwar, director of the
American Civil Liberties Union's Human Rights Program, said in a statement.
"Juveniles and former child soldiers should be treated first and
foremost as candidates for rehabilitation and reintegration into society, not
subjected to further victimization." According to the ACLU, the
lack of protections and consideration for the juvenile status of detainees
violates the obligations of the U.S. under the Optional Protocol on the
Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict that the U.S. ratified in 2002, as
well as universally accepted international norms. The U.N. Committee on the
Rights of the Child is scheduled to question the U.S. delegation on its
compliance with its obligations on May 22 in Geneva. The U.N. Convention on the
Rights of the Child was adopted by the General Assembly in 1989, with backing
at the time from the U.S. government of President Bill Clinton, and with
strong lobbying from then-first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, who now is competing
for the Democratic Party presidential nomination with Barack Obama. Associated Press writer
Fisnik Abrashi contributed to this report from Kabul, Afghanistan. External link: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gI8tkcdPaMgJO4JfdgqKXi63NWqwD90OJN380 |