Activists criticize U.N. chief for ‘absolving’ Israel
NEW YORK – A Palestinian diplomat and activists have criticized U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres for excluding Israel from the list of countries that kill and harm children.
The annual report, “Children and Armed Conflict,” reportedly does not include Israel on the list of countries that seriously harm children.
According to activists, Israel has killed and injured over 1,000 Palestinian minors in the past two years. The U.N. itself has attributed 6,700 child deaths between 2015 and 2020 to Israeli forces in many reports.
Human rights activists say Guterres’ decision to exclude Israel from the list is a major mistake.
They say this encourages Israeli forces to use unlawful lethal force against Palestinian children.
They also point out that Israel is not the only controversial omission from the list. The secretary-general’s annual report on children and armed conflict is expected to be released on June 30.
The report comes shortly after three Palestinian children were killed by Israeli forces last week.
Palestinian Ambassador to the U.N. Riyad Mansour called Israel’s omission from Guterres’ list very disappointing.
“The secretary-general made a big mistake in not listing this current Israeli government,” Mansour said during a press conference.
“This is the most extreme government, loaded with fascist elements. If you do not list this government now, when will you list the Israeli government? It’s very unfortunate that he selected not to list them,” he added.
Noting that 2022 was the deadliest year for Palestinian children in the West Bank in 15 years, Jo Becker, advocacy director for children at Human Rights Watch, said Guterres’ “unwillingness year after year to hold Israeli forces accountable for their grave violations against children has backfired, only emboldening Israeli forces to use unlawful lethal force against Palestinian children.”
While Russia was included in the list, Ukraine is not mentioned in the report. Ukrainian homeland security forces reportedly killed 80 children last year. Saudi Arabia was removed from the list in 2020, although it continues to lead the U.S.-backed coalition intervention in Yemen’s civil war. UNICEF states that more than 11,000 children have been killed in Yemen in the last seven years.
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