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	Grave violations surge against children in conflict by UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), agencies   Armed conflict, inter-communal violence and insecurity continued to take a devastating toll on children throughout 2021.   From Afghanistan to Yemen, and Syria to northern Ethiopia, UNICEF denounced grave violations against youngsters in both protracted and new conflicts.   ‘Dreadful disregard’   Last week, four children were reportedly among the victims of an attack that killed at least 35 people – including two Save the Children staff – in Kayah state in eastern Myanmar.   In a statement, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said that, year after year, “parties to conflict continue to demonstrate a dreadful disregard for the rights and wellbeing of children”.   “Children are suffering, and children are dying because of this callousness. Every effort should be made to keep these children safe from harm”, she added.   Data is not yet available for this year, but the UN verified 26,425 grave violations against children in 2020.   The first three months of 2021 saw a slight decrease in the overall number of these grave violations but verified cases of abduction and sexual violence continued to rise at alarming rates – by more than 50 and 10 per cent, respectively.   Verified abductions were highest in Somalia, followed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the countries of the Lake Chad Basin (Chad, Nigeria, Cameroon and Niger).   On the other hand, verified instances of sexual violence were highest in the DRC, Somalia and the Central African Republic (CAR).   This year marked a quarter of a century since the publication of Graça Machel’s seminal Impact of war on children report, which urged the UN and international community to take action.   Over the past 16 years, the UN has verified 266,000 cases of grave violations against children in more than 30 conflict situations across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.   While these cases were verified through the 2005 UN-led Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism, the actual figures are most likely much higher, according to UNICEF.   Regions   Afghanistan, for example, has the highest number of verified child casualties since 2005. With more than 28,500 incidents, the country accounts for 27 per cent of all verified child casualties globally.   Meanwhile, the Middle East and North Africa has the highest number of verified attacks on schools and hospitals, with 22 verified in the first six months of the year.   In October, UNICEF highlighted that 10,000 children had been killed or maimed in Yemen since fighting escalated in March 2015 – the equivalent of four youngsters every day.   ‘Unspeakable’ threats   UNICEF stated that each day, “girls and boys living in areas under conflict endure unspeakable horrors that no human should ever experience.”   One is the persistent and growing threat of explosive weapons, particularly in populated areas.   In 2020, explosive weapons and remnants of war were responsible for nearly 50 per cent of all child casualties, resulting in more than 3,900 children killed and maimed.   Children often fall victim to multiple grave rights violations.   Last year, for example, 37 per cent of abductions verified by the UN led to the recruitment and use of children in war – surpassing 50 per cent in Somalia, DRC and CAR.   UNICEF is calling for all conflict parties to commit to formal action plans.   Since 2005, only 37 of such plans have been signed by parties to conflict, which UNICEF called “a shockingly low number given the stakes for children”.   “Ultimately, children living through war will only be safe when parties to conflict take concrete action to protect them and stop committing grave violations”, Ms. Fore underscored.   * Children in Conflict: http://www.prio.org/podcasts/prios-peace-in-a-pod/98   * Violence against children has increased due to the pandemic and multiple humanitarian crises, and 2021 posed unprecedented challenges for the protection of children living in conflict zones:   http://reliefweb.int/report/world/human-rights-council-violence-against-children-has-increased-due-pandemic-and-multiple Visit the related web page
	Fair trial doubts as Kem Sokha treason case resumes in Cambodia by Phorn Bopha ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, agencies   Phnom Penh, Cambodia – A Cambodian court on Wednesday resumes a treason case against main opposition leader Kem Sokha after an almost two-year delay blamed on the COVID-19 pandemic.   Kem Sokha, the former leader of the now-outlawed Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), was arrested and charged with treason in 2017, a year before Cambodia held its 2018 national election.   Sokha, 68, was accused of trying to overthrow the government with the backing of the United States. The case led to the forced dissolution of the CNRP, the main electoral threat to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP).   The CPP is led by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has been in power for more than three decades.   The international communities and many within the country have condemned the case against Sokha, calling it “politically motivated”.   “He shouldn’t have been imprisoned or charged,” said Ou Virak, president of Future Forum, a think-tank dedicated to public policy issues.   Despite broad criticism, the government has pressed ahead.   Chin Malin, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice and the government’s Cambodian Human Rights Commission (CHRC), claimed there was enough evidence for the case to proceed.   “Regarding the case of Kem Sokha, the court has correctly carried out its judicial authority in compliance with the law,” he said.   Sokha’s treason trial, which started in January 2020 was delayed soon after in March as the first cases of coronavirus began to emerge.   “Now we have COVID-19 under control, so we can move ahead with the trial,” Y Rin, Phnom Penh court spokesperson, told Al Jazeera.   Sokha’s defence team says they are “hopeful” and ready to defend the veteran politician in court.   “We, our-co lawyers, and our client are ready to go to trial,” said Sokha’s defence lawyer Chan Chen. “We have hope to win. As I have said before, my client has done nothing wrong as alleged.”   While the defence lawyers are positive about winning the case, many are more sceptical. Critics have condemned the proceedings as politically motivated.   “I would be surprised if he’s not found guilty. The court hardly acquitted political cases in Cambodia,” said Virak, a former President of Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR), a local human rights organisation founded by Sokha.   “I am expecting further delays. The best-case scenario, unlikely, is a conviction and then a suspended sentence. Even so, Kem Sokha will not be automatically politically rehabilitated. That will require further political negotiation and compromise.”   Fair trial doubts   After local elections in 2017, in which the CNRP turned in a strong performance, hundreds of police raided Sokha’s house.   Sokha was arrested for treason, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. The charge was based on a video in which Sokha said he had received advice from the US on how to build up an opposition movement.   Critics and the international community have largely dismissed the case as spurious. They say the real reason Sokha was arrested was that the CNRP had become too popular.   “I fail to see any legal justification for his arrest. The government simply wanted to make sure the main opposition party (CNRP) would not be able to compete effectively in future elections and this was the main reason for his arrest,” said Sorpong Peou, a professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Ryerson University.   “The Cambodian court remains highly politicised and is unlikely to give him a fair trial. Cambodian politics remain highly volatile because it is all about the politics of survival.   “The incumbent regime always faces what I call a legitimacy crisis and thus prefers to rely on coercive means to stay in power,” he said.   Cambodia’s judiciary system is one of the world’s worst, according to the World Justice Project (WJP).   In a report from October, which ranked countries based on factors such as the protection of fundamental rights, civil justice, regulatory enforcement, and absence of corruption, Cambodia finished second last – 138th out of 139 countries – just above Venezuela.   The US has continued to call on the Cambodian authorities “to stop politically motivated trials” against the political opposition, and dissidents such as Sokha, journalists, labour, and environmental activists, said Chad Roedemeier, the spokesperson for US Embassy Phnom Penh.   “Promoting democracy and respect for human rights is central to US foreign policy in Cambodia and around the world,” he added.   The CPP has long dominated the country’s politics and is completely entwined with all state and military institutions. Its central committee includes top judges, military generals and bureaucrats.   It faced its toughest electoral challenge in 2013 when it faced the CNRP, which was created through the merger of Sokha’s Human Rights Party and an eponymous party led by long time opposition figure Sam Rainsy.   The CNRP won 44 percent of the national vote on that occasion, and four years later secured almost half the vote in local elections.   With a general election looming, Hun Sen’s government moved to crack down on the opposition party and other critical voices, including civil society and independent media.   With Sokha under arrest, the Cambodia Daily, an English-language daily owned by an American family and known for its probing journalism, was forced to close after it was presented with a hefty tax bill of more than $6m. Another independent newspaper, The Phnom Penh Post was forced to sell to a businessman reportedly tied to the government after it too was given a large tax bill.   Sam Rainsy, a longtime prominent leader and Sokha’s political partner at the CNRP, fled the country after he and his colleagues were charged with a myriad of cases.   In October 2021, he and his team including Mu Sochua, another prominent opposition politician, were charged with “conspiracy in treason and incitement to cause chaos to social security” under Cambodia’s criminal law, in addition to the multiple existing charges they already faced. Both are in exile.   “The entire trial is a farce, based on fabricated, politically motivated charges that bear no semblance to reality. The reason there is a trial is PM Hun Sen wanted an excuse to dissolve the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) which was threatening his power by garnering significant support from the Cambodian people,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch.   “Sokha’s trial is a paramount symbol of Hun Sen’s purge of democracy, based on lies, intimidation, arbitrary arrests, and pliant, lapdog courts that answer to the ruling party only.”   Previous waves of repression during Hun Sen’s 36 years in power have usually subsided after those targeted made political deals.   Sam Rainsy was granted a royal pardon that allowed him to return to the country from a previous period of exile and run in the 2013 election.   Other CNRP leaders have been allowed to re-enter politics after seeking so-called “rehabilitation” from the government.   Mu Sochua expects that Kem Sokha will be found guilty and the cycle will continue.   “It won’t be a fair trial; all charges are trumped up. It is total political manoeuvring to keep Hun Sen in power,” she said.   “Kem Sokha will be found guilty and pardoned by the king. There should never be any doubt that Hun Sen wants to ease the political tensions now that Cambodia is chairing ASEAN.”   Cambodia is this year’s chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and Hun Sen’s courting of the generals who seized power in Myanmar a year ago has already created controversy in an organisation best known for its policy of “non-interference” in each other’s affairs.   “Because this is a political trial, I doubt if the court will not find him guilty. I don’t see how the Cambodian role as host of ASEAN in 2022 will have any impact,” said political analyst Sorpong Peou. “Non-interference is one of the ASEAN norms. Nothing can be done about what has happened in Myanmar either.”   Sokha was released from house arrest in late 2019. He has met several ambassadors and travelled throughout the country since, but has abided by a court-imposed ban on political activities.   Robertson, of Human Rights Watch, believes the case against Sokha is designed to drag on for “as long as possible” to keep him out of politics and “always looking over his shoulder” for fear of being returned to jail.   Still, as a new round of local and national elections approach, the trial will be closely watched.   “We encourage all parties involved to uphold the right of the defendants to a fair trial and to ensure the presumption of innocence, the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, is respected and protected throughout,” said Pradeep Wagle, the representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Cambodia.   The accused must be protected “with other fundamental human rights, including the right to freedom of association, assembly, and expression enshrined in international human rights law, voluntarily accepted by Cambodia prior to the arrests,” he added.   “We particularly hope to see these three rights upheld by Cambodian authorities in the lead-up to commune and national elections.”   Sokha could not be reached for comment, while his daughter, Monovithya Kem, declined to comment. “After the trial, I will,” Monovithya said.   * Bopha Phorn is a Cambodian jounalist, this story was published by Al Jazeera.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/07/cambodia-un-human-rights-chief-regrets-elections-held-restrictive http://news.un.org/en/story/2023/07/1139107 http://aseanmp.org/2023/07/24/southeast-asian-mps-and-international-csos-denounce-undemocratic-elections-in-cambodia-urge-international-community-not-to-lend-legitimacy-to-hun-sens-regime/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-briefing-notes/2023/03/press-briefing-notes-cambodia http://www.hrw.org/news/2023/03/03/cambodia-opposition-leader-convicted-bogus-charges http://www.hrw.org/asia/cambodia http://aseanmp.org/2022/09/22/asean-mps-condemn-latest-trials-against-cambodian-political-opposition-as-an-assault-on-democracy/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2020/01/cambodia-un-experts-say-kem-sokha-trial-tainted http://aseanmp.org/2023/01/27/asean-governments-must-stop-using-lawfare-against-critics-southeast-asian-mps-say/ http://www.ipsnews.net/2023/01/asean-parliamentarians-cannot-escape-lawfare-violations-human-rights/
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