View previous stories
	Child casualties rise dramatically in latest fighting in Somalia’s capital by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)   June 2011   The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has draw attention to what it describes as grave violations of children’s rights that are taking place every day in Somalia, which has been wracked by factional warfare since the collapse of the government 20 years ago.   “Children in central-south Somalia face never-ending unremitting suffering in what is arguably one of the most extreme, indiscriminate and complex conflicts in today’s world,” the agency stated in a news release issued yesterday.   “Somali children are the most affected by the unrelenting violence in which they risk being killed, maimed or injured when caught in crossfire or as a result of being unlawfully recruited and used on the front lines by all parties to the conflict,” it added.   The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that violence in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, has driven the number of child casualties to a new high, and that the main causes of children’s deaths were burns, chest injuries and internal haemorrhage resulting from blasts, shrapnel and bullets.   UNICEF said that reports by WHO of a 46 per cent increase in weapon-related injuries to children under the age of five in Mogadishu last month underscore the vulnerability of Somali children in the ongoing conflict.   The agency drew attention to the “detrimental and disproportionate” impact the conflict has on children’s physical and mental well-being. Ongoing violence also exposes them to displacement and food insecurity and leaves them without health care, education and protection from abuse.   “Not only is this a tragic humanitarian disaster in the present, it also represents a critical challenge to peace and stability in Somalia in the future,” warned UNICEF.   Somalia has had no fully functioning national government and has been wracked by factional warfare since the collapse of the Government in 1991.   An estimated 2.4 million people – or about a third of the country’s 7.2 million people – are in need of relief aid as a result of drought and two decades of conflict.   May 2011   Child casualties rise dramatically in latest fighting in Somalia’s capital.   Violence in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, has driven the number of child casualties to a new high, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) said today, noting that the main cause of children’s deaths were burns, chest injuries and internal haemorrhage resulting from blasts, shrapnel and bullets.   Of the 1,590 reported weapon-related injuries in May alone, 735 cases or 46 per cent were suffered by children under the age of five, compared to only 3.5 per cent in April.   “This is the highest number of injured children that has been reported since the beginning of this year,” said Marthe Everard, WHO’s representative for Somalia, in a press release. “Many children are suffering from very severe wounds, burns and other injuries due to bullets, blast injury and shrapnel.”   In response to the high child casualties, WHO trained 50 doctors and nurses in Mogadishu’s Banadir Hospital on how to treat burns and chest injuries in children.
	The United Nations aims to help post-conflict societies rebuild by United Nations news   Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the United Nations family have paid tribute to the more than 120,000 military, police and civilian personnel serving in peacekeeping missions across the world and honoured those who have lost their lives in the cause of peace.   “Their deployment is a manifestation of our collective conviction that people who have survived a war should not have to suffer again through a period of insecurity, injustice and fear – and that only by removing these conditions can we engender lasting peace,” Mr. Ban said in his message on the International Day of UN Peacekeepers, observed on 29 May every year.   In a separate statement, Mr. Ban condemned the attack that occurred today on a convoy carrying Italian peacekeepers serving with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) that resulted in several injuries.   “It is all the more deplorable because today is the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers,” he said, adding that the UN will work closely together with the Lebanese authorities to have a “full and swift” investigation to bring the perpetrators to justice.   The marking of the Day this year was already a particularly sombre occasion. In early April, seven personnel were murdered in an attack on a UN compound in Afghanistan, and a few days later, 32 lives, many of them UN staff, were lost in the crash of a plane serving the UN peacekeeping operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.   Those incidents followed others involving fatalities around the world, including last year’s loss of a total of 173 peacekeepers to natural disasters, violence, accidents and disease, including the more than 100 who died in a single catastrophic event – the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti.   “The victims came from all over the United Nations system. They were military, civilian and police – UN volunteers and national staff,” Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro said in her remarks at a wreath-laying ceremony at UN Headquarters for fallen peacekeepers.   “They had different responsibilities, nationalities and interests. But they shared an abiding belief in the principles of the United Nations Charter. They put their lives on the line, so that others could have a safer and brighter future.”   The 73 peacekeepers who lost their lives between 1 March and 31 December last year as a result of hostilities, accidents and diseases posthumously received the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal at a ceremony presided over by Ms. Migiro. Twenty-six peacekeepers who died between 1 January and 10 April this year were also recognized at the ceremony.   “While it is Member States that authorize our missions, and governments that send us their uniformed personnel, in the end – the burden falls on individuals: in particular the men and women we posthumously honour today,” said the Deputy Secretary-General.   In his message, Mr. Ban noted that on the International Day, the world body not only remembers the heavy sacrifices of its staff, but it also hails their accomplishments.   “From supporting the Southern Sudan referendum to helping resolve the post-electoral crisis in Côte d’Ivoire, from supporting training, capacity-building and institutional development of police in Timor-Leste to patrolling the hills of southern Lebanon, United Nations blue helmets have represented the Organization at its best – restoring stability; fostering reconciliation; and nurturing hope for a better future,” he said.   This year’s observance highlights the important work that peacekeepers are doing to strengthen the rule of law in many of the post-conflict countries where they serve.   Mr. Ban stressed that upholding the rule of law is essential to successful peacekeeping and that it required strengthening confidence in police, justice systems and correctional services. “That is why the United Nations trains police to never abuse their power, supports the proper functioning of courts to serve justice, and works for humane conditions of detention,” he said.   Echoing the Secretary-General’s sentiment, Alain Le Roy, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations said: “Developing fully functioning and unbiased police and judicial court systems is fundamental to building sustainable peace. Without law and order, there can be no peace. And without peace, there can be no law and order.”   Almost 60,000 UN personnel are today actively engaged with national counterparts to help rebuild, renovate and strengthen the foundations on which criminal justice systems are built, according to Dmitry Titov, the Assistant Secretary-General for the Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions.   “Conflicts begin with a myriad of reasons. The United Nations aims to help post-conflict societies rebuild institutions that will make it possible for future conflicts to be managed peacefully,” he said during a press conference at UN Headquarters.   There are nearly 85,000 military personnel, more than 14,000 police officers, 5,700 international civilian and 13,700 national staff serving in 15 operations on four continents, according to the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO). Visit the related web page
	View more stories