According to the publication, Human Rights Watch criticized the non-inclusion of the name of the Zionist regime and the Saudi-led Arab aggression coalition against Yemen in the list of “child rights violators” published annually by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Joe Becker, director of child protection at the International Human Rights Organization, said: Antonio Guterres saved the warring parties involved in killing and maiming children by not including the name of Israel and the Saudi-led Arab coalition against Yemen.
He added that the UN Secretary-General’s repeated failure to compile a list of violators of children’s rights, based on UN evidence, was a betrayal of children and contributed to the impunity of criminals. Now that Guttierez has taken over as UN Secretary-General for the second time, he must step aside and make sure his list reflects the facts. The UN Security Council must also act responsibly to ensure that all violators are on the list.
The United Nations began issuing a “disgrace list” in 2002. The list includes those responsible for serious violations of children’s rights, including crimes such as murder, disability, sexual violence, kidnapping, attacks on schools and hospitals, and preventing humanitarian aid from reaching children.
However, the Zionist regime and Saudi Arabia commit each of these crimes against children, and the fact that their names are not included in the list challenges the validity of this list. Interestingly, the United Nations has included the Yemeni Ansarullah movement in its list of violators of children’s rights in areas of armed conflict in 2020.
The Zionist regime and Saudi Arabia are also not on the UN list of child abusers, while the UN secretary-general’s report shows that the UN has registered 1,031 serious crimes against 340 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
The report also states that the United Nations confirmed the detention of 361 Palestinian children in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem by Zionist militants in 2020, and that 87 children reported being severely tortured during their detention.
Also in the recent 11-day war, attacks by the occupying Zionist regime on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank have killed at least 289 people, including women and children, and caused extensive damage. Schools, medical centers and media offices were among the centers targeted by Israeli airstrikes.
As for Saudi Arabia, Guttierez removed the name of the Saudi-led aggressor coalition from the UN’s stigma in 2015 after Riyadh threatened to suspend all financial aid to the United Nations.