A/HRC/31/46
improvised explosive device detonations on or near school premises. At least 87 of the
verified incidents were attributed to anti-Government elements.
37.
From 1 January to 30 November, UNAMA/OHCHR documented 62 incidents and
attacks against or impacting hospitals and health personnel, including 55 incidents
attributed to anti-Government elements. Six civilians were killed and four injured owing to
some of those incidents. Other incidents included the abduction of 44 medical personnel
and 28 cases of threats, intimidation and harassment. The most significant single incident
impacting the provision of health care was the air strike on the Médecins Sans Frontières
hospital in Kunduz city on 3 October, which killed 30 civilians and injured 37 and
destroyed the main building of the hospital (see para. 16 above).
38.
Conflict-related violence continued to impede access to health care, in particular for
women. On 7 November in Ghormach district, Faryab province, a pregnant woman and her
unborn child died owing to the closure of the only health-care facility in the district
following the Taliban’s capture of Ghormach district centre.
39.
During the period under review, the country task force on monitoring and reporting
on children and armed conflict verified 11 incidents of underage recruitment and use of
children by parties to the conflict, compared with 17 cases in 2014. The children had been
recruited and used for planting improvised explosive devices, transporting explosives,
carrying out suicide attacks and spying. The Taliban was responsible for the recruitment of
six boys, while two boys were recruited by the Afghan Local Police, three by the Afghan
National Army and three by the Afghan National Police.
40.
During the period under review, the country task force on monitoring and reporting
documented six incidents of abduction involving 33 children, all of which were perpetrated
by anti-Government elements. Nine of the children were killed while in custody, including
two boys whose fathers worked as Afghan National Police officers, the son of a
Government employee and two off-duty, underage Afghan National Police elements.
41.
In November, UNAMA/OHCHR and the United Nations Children’s Fund
(UNICEF) facilitated a visit of the Ministry of Interior to the child protection unit in the
Afghan National Police recruitment centre, in Herat province. The establishment of child
protection units is part of the Government’s efforts to comply with the 2011 Government
and United Nations action plan for the prevention of underage recruitment. At the end of
November, such units had been created in four provinces, all within the western region.
Following the visit, the Ministry of Interior expressed a commitment to expand the child
protection units to all recruitment centres, beginning with Balkh and Nangahar provinces,
in compliance with the Government’s action plan and road map.
42.
In June 2015, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission established
an advocacy committee to develop an action plan to eliminate bacha bazi (playing with
boys) or pederasty and other forms of sexual abuse of boys by men. As members of the
committee, UNAMA/OHCHR and UNICEF provided technical support to draft the
legislation prohibiting and criminalizing that practice. At the end of November, the draft
remained under review by the Ministry of Justice.
43.
After a delay of over two years, the country task force on monitoring and reporting
met on 21 July and adopted its terms of reference and established a technical working-level
mechanism on children and armed conflict. Members of the country task force on
monitoring and reporting renewed their commitment and support to assist the Government
in meeting its obligations under the action plan and road map to comply with the aim of
delisting the Afghan National Police from the annexes to the report of the SecretaryGeneral on children and armed conflict.
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