A/HRC/12/49 page 12 (k) The guarantee that measures of prevention will be put in place to protect children from trafficking, forced labour, forced prostitution, sexual exploitation, forced early marriage and illegal adoption; (l) The right to durable solutions including the right to return, to integrate at the place of displacement or to resettle elsewhere in the country. Durable solutions must be voluntary, safe and dignified; (m) The liberty of movement with their families, including from and within camps; (n) The right of every child to manifest his/her religion or belief with his/her family and to freely participate in the cultural life of the community; (o) Child participation shall be promoted in devising local strategies for recovery and reintegration; (p) The principle of “the best interest of the child” shall be a primary consideration in regard to all actions concerning children. Terrorism and counter-terrorism and its impact on children 41. Terrorism, more than any other concept, has come to dominate the security discourse in many places around the globe. Both terrorist actions and counter-terrorism measures can have multiple consequences for children and in recent years have created particular challenges for the protection of children, particularly in regard to the violation of human rights and the rule of law. The conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and the occupied Palestinian territory pose many of these problems. 42. Terrorist attacks disproportionately target civilians in hitherto sacrosanct locations, such as places of worship, schools and hospitals, markets and other public spaces. Such indiscriminate attacks, when deliberately targeting civilians, are grave abuses of human rights. And when such attacks take place in the context of an armed conflict, they constitute war crimes. Children are also increasingly being used to perpetrate these attacks, because they can be more easily compelled to act and they are less conspicuous. In some situations, children are being recruited and trained as suicide bombers, in blatant violation of international law, and used as human shields, decoys in suicide car bombings, or to transport improvised explosive devices. 43. Anti-terrorism measures often also target children, including through arrest and detention of children for reasons such as alleged participation in terrorist activities or other forms of association with terrorist groups. Legal and practical safeguards such as regular and independent monitoring of detention centres have often been disregarded. Many of these children are detained for extended periods of time and without due process provisions, in violation of international standards of juvenile justice. In detention they sometimes suffer beatings, and physical and psychological torture. 44. Precision aerial bombardment and other types of military operation also result in what is termed “collateral damage”, and children are often the victims. Recent statements in Afghanistan suggesting that the protection of civilians will be the primary goal of military operations in these areas are therefore welcomed.

Select target paragraph3

Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents