Javed Khan, 13, holds his weapon as he poses for a photo at the headquarters of a Lashkar (local citizens’ militia) to fight against Taliban militants in their area, in Sultanwas village, in Dagar, Buner district, Pakistan in 2009. – File photo by AP

UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council has backed the naming and shaming of governments and armed groups that recruit, kill or sexually attack children in armed conflicts over protests from Russia, China, Pakistan and Azerbaijan.

A resolution supporting the UN special representative for children and armed conflict and continuing annual reports by the secretary-general identifying those countries and groups victimising youngsters was approved by a vote of 11-0 with abstentions by the four countries late Wednesday.

The dissenters accused the report’s supporters of trying to expand the naming and shaming list to all countries and not sticking to conflicts that the Security Council is dealing with, which is its mandate.

Pakistan also protested that the report includes situations that are not conflicts but acts by terrorists and criminals.

The secretary-general’s latest report in June included Pakistani armed groups as well as Syrian government forces and their allied “shabiha” militias on a list of 52 governments and armed groups that recruit, kill or sexually attack children in armed conflicts.

The list includes 32 “persistent perpetrators” that have been on the list for at least five years, including the security forces of seven countries.

The resolution calls on member states to bring those responsible for such violations to justice, either through national or international judicial systems.

The Security Council also reiterated its readiness to adopt “targeted and graduated measures” – a code phrase for sanctions – against persistent perpetrators.

Pakistan’s deputy UN ambassador Raza Bashir Tarar said his government supports reporting on violations in conflicts addressed by the council.

Pakistan is not on the council’s agenda and Tarar called allegations against armed groups associated with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in the report, “unwarranted and completely misleading.”

“This not only misrepresents Pakistan’s law enforcement and counter-terrorism measures but also serves to accord undeserved respectability to terrorists and criminals,” he said.

China’s UN Ambassador Li Baodong called for more international support for Pakistan to fight terrorism “rather than creating difficulties and obstacles.”

He insisted that the resolution cannot be interpreted “to equalise the incidents of terrorist attacks in Pakistan to armed conflict,” a view echoed by Russia and Azerbaijan.

The Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, an international network of organisations established in 2001 to end violations against children in armed conflict, said Wednesday’s vote marked the first time a country has ever abstained from a resolution protecting children. It quoted members as calling the abstentions “shocking” and “disappointing.”

Philippe Bolopion, UN director for Human Rights Watch, accused Russia, China, Azerbaijan and Pakistan of playing politics, saying their absentions “are a huge disservice to children caught up in conflicts around the world.”

“Children victimised by war do not care whether the country in which they live is on the Security Council’s agenda or not, but instead deserve all the UN attention they can get,” he said.

Leila Zerrougui, the new UN special representative for children and armed conflict, pointed to the resolution’s success in getting 20 governments and groups to adopt plans to stop recruiting and using children in conflicts.

She also pointed to the International Criminal Court’s convictions of Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga and former Liberian president Charles Taylor for using child soldiers.

But Zerrougui said thousands of children are still being victimised, and she urged the council to take action against persistent perpetrators, saying “the cost of inaction has become too high.”

“The situation for children in Syria is dire,” she said, citing attacks on schools, the killing of children in bombings, and youngsters being tortured and subjected to sexual violence, sometimes for weeks.

Syria’s UN Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari criticised the secretary-general’s report for implicating the Syrian armed forces for violence against children – and not the leaders of “terrorist groups” which he accused of using armed groups of children to take part in terrorist acts.

Zerrougui said that since the report was published her office has gathered evidence of violations committed by armed groups including the Free Syrian Army, “who may have children associated with their forces.”

A resolution adopted by the UN Security Council in 2005 took the first major step to prevent the victimisation of young people in war zones by addressing the exploitation of children as combatants and identifying governments and armed groups that recruit child soldiers.

In 2009, the council voted to also name and shame countries and insurgent groups engaged in conflicts that lead to children being killed, maimed and raped.

Members of the UN Security Council meet at the United Nations headquarters in New York. —AFP

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan hopes to win a seat on the UN Security Council as a temporary member alongside archrival India when the United Nations holds annual elections to the 15-nation body on Friday.

Elections for two-year terms —this time running from Jan. 1, 2012, to Dec. 31, 2013 —on the Security Council are held on the basis of regional ballots.

Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan are vying for a single seat available to the Asia-Pacific group.

India joined the council this year and will stay through 2012. India and Pakistan have fought three wars, mainly over Kashmir, since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.

The last time the two nuclear-armed states served together on the council was in 1977. UN diplomats said they do not expect any regional tension if Pakistan joins.

The two countries’ ambassadors are “best friends” and their positions on many issues are quite similar, a senior Western diplomat said on Wednesday.

Pakistan, a UN member state since 1947, has already served six terms on the council. Kyrgyzstan, which joined the United Nations in 1992, has never been on the council.

Both countries have been criticized by human rights advocates for rights abuses. Kyrgyzstan was embroiled in a major civil conflict last year.

There are five veto-holding permanent members of the Security Council —the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China —and 10 temporary elected members without vetoes.

Diplomats said it was difficult to say what next year’s council will look like due to uncertainty about Friday’s election.

It is possible that a new council member like Pakistan would join Russia and China in resisting renewed US and European pressure to sanction nations like Syria and Iran.

BRIC BREAK
This year all five “BRICS” emerging powers —Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa —are on the council.

But that bloc will be broken in January when Brazil leaves the council, along with Gabon, Nigeria, Lebanon and Bosnia.

Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN Munir Akram (bottom left) in negotiations with western diplomats. - File Photo (Thumbnail illustration by Hasaan Haider/Dawn.com)

KARACHI: United States officials expressed grave reservations over the trend of Pakistan’s positions at the United Nations becoming increasingly divergent from those of the Americans and American interests, according to a previously unpublished American diplomatic cable.

According to the cable dated June 6, 2006 and written by John Bolton, former US ambassador to the UN under President George W. Bush and considered a hardliner, Pakistan was “one of a handful of countries…that routinely oppose the United States in multilateral debates despite strong bilateral ties to the US.”

“While much of its behaviour in New York may reflect Pakistan’s rivalry with India…the positions Pakistan adopts to curry favour with other member states often put it in direct opposition to US policies,” wrote Bolton. “A statistical analysis of Pakistan’s voting record at the UNGA [UN General Assembly] illustrates this point. Pakistan’s voting correlation with the US… has been on a downward trend since 1996 and reached a record low of 17.4 percent last year.”

Mr Bolton reserved special censure in the secret cable for Munir Akram, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, saying he “personified” Pakistan’s cultivation of “a false image of constructive engagement among other delegations in New York…even while working to block key US priorities.”

Critical of Pakistan’s opposition to US positions on counterterrorism, Mr Bolton states that “Pakistan, which undoubtedly sees counterterrorism at the UN through the prism of Kashmir…has long been a leader among the OIC in opposing US CT [counter-terrorism] positions through indirect criticism of US policies.”

Mr Bolton also notes that by “arguing that attacks perpetrated by peoples living under foreign occupation are not terrorism”, Pakistan has joined Egypt, Venezuela and other NAM states “in emphasizing the need to confront the ‘root causes’ of terrorism.” Speaking of counterterrorism, the cable also brings up a UN session during which insisting on references to “state terrorism”, a “Pakistani delegate” argued that “militaries engaging in foreign occupation often carry out ‘wanton violence against innocent civilians and other non-combatants.’”

Mr Bolton moreover refers to Pakistan’s attempts to persuade the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the General Assembly “to adopt positions on development, trade, and social issues at odds with the interests of the US and other like-minded nations.” Criticising Mr Akram for being a behind-the-scenes force “promoting positions inimical to US interests”, Mr Bolton says the Pakistani envoy was actively promoting Islamabad’s “drive to link (unhelpfully, in our view) development assistance into every aspect of the UN`s activities.”

Taking issue with Pakistan’s approaches during the negotiations to establish a Peacebuilding Commission (PBC), Mr Bolton says “Pakistan generally focused on buttressing the influence of the GA and the Asian Group at the expense of the SC [Security Council] and Western interests…rather than engage in constructive efforts to create an effective institution.” He adds that “the Pakistani delegation often resorted to power plays and posturing.”

Cable referenced: WikiLeaks #66945