UPDATE - EXCLUSIVE - UN blacklists Russian army for killing children in Ukraine

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS

By Betul Yuruk

UNITED NATIONS (AA) - The UN blacklisted Russian armed forces and its affiliated armed groups for killing children and other grave violations in Ukraine, according to a report seen by Anadolu.

"Russian armed forces and affiliated arms groups have been listed for attacks on schools and hospitals and for killing children in particular through the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area including shelling from heavy artillery, multiple-launch rocket systems, missiles, and airstrikes in populated areas," said the UN annual report on children in armed conflict.

The report covers the period from January to December 2022.

The UN verified 2,334 violations against 1,482 children, including 91 children who were victims of multiple violations in Ukraine.

As many as 477 children were killed and 909 children were maimed by the Russian forces and affiliated armed groups, while 80 children were killed and 175 were maimed by Ukrainian armed forces, according to the report.

A total of 92 children were used by Russian and Ukrainian armed forces "as human shields, as a hostage and for domestic chores and for intelligence gathering," said the report.

Unidentified perpetrators mostly caused by airstrikes killed 261 children and maimed 212.

The UN also verified the abduction of 91 children by the Russian armed forces, in addition to the transfer of 46 children to Russia from Ukraine.

There were 1,163 attacks on schools and 647 attacks on hospitals in Ukraine.

- Grave violations against children increased in 2022

The report said children continued to be "disproportionately" affected by armed conflict and the number of children verified as affected by grave violations increased compared to 2021.

The UN verified 27,180 grave violations of which 24,300 were committed in 2022.

Violations affected 18,890 children in 24 situations.

The highest numbers of violations were the killings with 2,985, and maiming with 5,655, followed by the recruitment and use of 7,622 children and the abduction of 3,985 children.

The UN engaged with parties to protect children in Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Iraq, Israel, Palestine, Nigeria, Syria, and Yemen.

The highest number of violations were verified in the DRC, Israel, Palestine, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine, Afghanistan, and Yemen, the report said.

Verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence perpetrated against children decreased by 12% to 1,165.

Verified incidents of recruitment and use of children increased by 21%, abduction by 15% and killing and maiming by 5%.

The use of live ammunition against children and the excessive use of force increased in particular in Israel, Palestine and Myanmar.

- Israel not on blacklist

The UN verified 3,113 grave violations against Palestinian children and eight Israeli children in the occupied Palestinian territories including the West bank, East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, and Israel, which is not on the list.

As many as 54 Palestinian children and 1 Israeli child were killed last year, said the report.

According to the report, 852 Palestinian were detained for alleged security offenses by Israeli forces.