United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has removed India from his annual report on ‘Children and Armed Conflict 2023″ citing measures taken by the government to better protect them.
Key points
- This is the first time since 2010 that India has not been named in the report alongside countries like Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Lake Chad basin, Nigeria, Pakistan and the Philippines.
- Mr. Guterres highlighted the technical mission of the office of his special representative in July 2022 to identify areas of cooperation for child protection, and the workshop on strengthening child protection held in Jammu and Kashmir in November 2022.
- In his latest report, he also called upon India to implement the remaining measures identified in consultation with his special representative and the United Nations. These include the training of armed and security forces on child protection, prohibition of the use of lethal and non-lethal force on children, including ending the use of pellet guns, ensuring that children are detained as a last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.
- He also stressed the implementation of measures to prevent all forms of ill-treatment in detention and the full implementation of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
