UN to Question US on Detention of Hundreds of Children

international | rights, freedoms and repression | other press Wednesday May 21, 2008 18:50 by Bazooka Joe

The United States has admitted to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child that it has detained about 2,500 children, mostly in Iraq, since 2002.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said there are currently 1,500 children in detention in Iraq, the youngest of which is 10 years old. These children are held by both the US Occupation forces and their Iraqi puppets. The US is also holding 10 children at the Bagram Theater Internment Facility.

The detention of children is abhorrent and a violation of US treaty obligations and offers no protection to the rights of the children.
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is scheduled to question the US delegation on May 22 in Geneva.