UN keeps Israel, Hamas off children's rights blacklist; raps Israel army

UNITED NATIONS - Reuters

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addresses a press conference after his visit at the European Commission in Brussels on May 27, 2015. AFP Photo

The United Nations on June 8 left Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas off its blacklist of states and armed groups that violate children's rights during conflicts, but criticized Israel over its 2014 military operations. 

UN special envoy for children and armed conflict, Leila Zerrougui, had included Israel's army and Hamas in a draft of the report she had sent to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Ban had final say on the blacklist, which was distributed to Security Council members on June 8. 

UN sources have said Ban's decision to override Zerrougui's recommendation was unusual. They also said Israel lobbied Ban hard to stay off the list, though it denied pressuring him. 

Still, his report strongly criticized Israel. 

"The unprecedented and unacceptable scale of the impact on children in 2014 raises grave concerns about Israel's compliance with international humanitarian law ... (and) excessive use of force," he said. 

Philippe Bolopion, a representative of Human Rights Watch advocacy group said: "Ban's disappointing decision to override the advice of his special representative by removing Israel and Hamas is a blow to UN efforts to better protect children in armed conflict. 

"Facts and consistency dictated that both be included on the list, but political pressure seems to have prevailed." 

Israel's UN Ambassador Ron Prosor said it was good that Ban did not list Israel alongside groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), al Qaeda and the Taliban. Emmanuel Nahshon, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, said Israel took all possible steps to protect civilians. 

"Israel acted to defend its residents from attacks by a murderous terrorist group, which has no qualms about placing Palestinian civilians, including children, in the line of fire," Nahshon said. 

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum criticized the UN for keeping Israel off the list and equating his Islamist faction, which he said was defending the Palestinians against Israeli "state terror," with Israel. 

Ban criticized "Palestinian armed groups" for indiscriminate rocket fire that endangered children in Israel and Gaza. 

More than 2,100 Palestinians, mostly civilians and including 540 children, were killed during last year's 50-day Gaza war between Hamas and Israel, while 67 Israeli soldiers and six civilians in Israel were killed. 

A UN inquiry found that Israel fired on seven UN schools and killed 44 Palestinians who had sought shelter, while Palestinian militants hid weapons and launched attacks from several empty UN schools. 

Ban said that in conflicts in Central African Republic, Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Nigeria, South Sudan and Syria, "children were affected to a degree which is an affront to our common humanity." 

The report provided details of the five deadliest conflicts for children. It said 710 children were killed in Afghanistan, 679 in Iraq, 557 Palestinian children died, 368 in Syria, and 197 in Darfur, Sudan. 

The UN report blacklists groups or armed forces that "recruit or use children, kill or maim children, commit rape and other forms of sexual violence against children, or engage in attacks on schools and/or hospitals."