Weekly Update from the Children's Rights Institute (CRI)

CRI is pleased to introduce its Weekly Update, containing pertinent information about children's human rights issues and our activities.

Relevant & Timely News

Somali Militants Using Children as Suicide Bombers—AU Official, NASDAQ, October 2010. In Somalia, al-Qaeda inspired Sharab militants have been kidnapping and brainwashing children to serve as fighters and suicide bombers. According to Major Barigye Ba-Hoku, spokesman for the African Union's peacekeeping mission in Somalia, such tactics are "against all civilized norms and international conventions." Click here for the full article.

How to Defuse a Human Bomb: Rescuing the Taliban's Teenage Recruits, by Cathy Scott-Clark & Adrian Levy, Guardian, October 16, 2010. The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has been recruiting male children to become suicide bombers. Hundreds of young boys from Kabal and surrounding villages have disappeared, swept into the ranks of the TTP. Some have been taken by armed force, others have been lured from their homes, and some have been sold by their parents. One boy who managed to escape reported that he had been "locked into" a program to make "martyrs" of these children. Other boys have reported that, amongst other tactics, the TTP taught them that "foreign infidels" run Pakistan such that it is imperative to wage jihad, and that those who join the holy war will go to heaven. Can education and therapeutic treatment undo the Taliban's brainwashing? Click here for the full article.

Court in UAE Says Beating Wife, Child OK if No Marks are Left, CNN, October 19, 2010. The United Arab Emirates' top court held that Sharia law (Islamic law) permits a man to "physically discipline" (i.e. beat) his wife and children if no marks are left and he has tried other methods of punishment. In the case at issue, the court held that the accused had exceeded his authority under Islamic law, based on the severity of his wife's beating and the determination that his daughter was too old to be disciplined. The New York Times has reported that Chief Justice Falah al Hajeri ruled that the law permits the husband to use his right to discipline, but must "abide by the limits of this right." Click here for the full article.

President Karzai Pardons Pakistani Would-be Suicide Bomber, Office of the President, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, October 14, 2010. President Hamid Karzai pardoned a male Pakistani teenager who was arrested after attempting to execute a suicide attack in Afghanistan. The incident received almost no press. We must ask: When will the mainstream media and human rights groups give this issue, the illegal recruitment of innocent Muslim children to violently kill themselves, the attention it deserves? Why aren't the likes of Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the Coalition Against Child Soldiers covering this issue, rather than turning a blind eye? Click here for the full article.

Jamia Hafsa Students Plan Suicide Attacks: Report, Asad Kharal, October 2, 2010. The Daily Times has reported that three female students of Jamia Hafsa, a madrassa in Pakistan, were given "complete training of suicide bombing" and were being prepared to carry out suicide attacks on "allegedly anti-Islamic" groups. A report prepared by an intelligence agency stated that the students' ages ranged from 14 to 16 and suggested that certain government officers might be the prime targets of the attacks. Additionally, the report implicated Jamia Hafsa teachers, including an explosives expert, as being involved in the training. Note: This story has been removed from the Daily Times' website. Click here for the full article.

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If you would like to alert us of a children's rights-related article or for general matters, please contact CRI Research Associate Benjamin Ryberg at [email protected]