FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: U.N. Official Condemns Taliban's Use of 8-Year-Old Girl as Suicide Bomber

June 30, 2011 – NEW YORK – On June 27, 2011, Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, and the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistanreleased statements condemning the recent manipulation of an 8-year-old girl to carry out a suicide bomb attack and a separate attack on a hospital in Afghanistan. To our knowledge, this is the fourth time the U.N. has condemned the use of children as suicide bombers, a phenomenon that has existed since at least 2000.

In southern Afghanistan's Oruzgan province, the 8-year old girl, recruited by the Taliban, unknowingly carried the bomb wrapped in cloth as she walked toward a police vehicle, at which point insurgents remotely detonated the bomb. This is the latest in a series of incidents where children have been used by various organizations, including the Taliban, as suicide bombers. Ms. Coomaraswamy's office said, "The disgraceful act of putting a bomb in a little girl's basket and sending her, unknowing, to kill, is almost unimaginable."

A second attack outside a hospital in eastern Afghanistan's Logar province left 37 killed and 53 wounded, with much of the damage located in the maternity ward. Ms. Coomaraswamy noted, "Attacks on hospitals are two-fold atrocities. Not only do they kill and wound girls and boys, they leave thousands of women and children without access to treatment."

Previous statements from U.N. officials condemning the manipulation of children to execute suicide bombings include the following:

In 2009, Coomaraswamy condemned the targeting of children in Afghanistan and Pakistan suicide bombings. Noted were the use of a 13-year-old boy in a suicide bombing, a December 2008 suicide bombing of school children, and the January 2009 bombing of five private schools.
In 2008, Kai Eide, U.N. Special Representative to Afghanistan and Head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, condemned the Taliban's use of a 13-year-old boy for a December 2008 suicide attack in Helmand Province.
In 2003, U.N. Under-Secretary General and former Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Olara Otunnu declared Palestinian suicide attacks to be "entirely unacceptable" and unjustifiable. Otunnu further called on the Palestinian authorities to take preventative measures to halt the use of children and to mitigate the harmful effect on children in suicide bombings.

The Children's Rights Institute supports the U.N.'s vocal opposition to the widespread and illegal indoctrination and recruitment of children to propagate violent terrorist agendas. This is a significant step forward in recognizing and bringing attention to the use of children as suicide bombers and the harmful effect of suicide attacks on children, both atrocious human rights abuses. Additionally, CRI applauds U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's recent recommendation in the Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict, which discusses the possibility of adding the issue of attacks on schools and hospitals to the List of Shame.

However, there remains to be any U.N. resolution emanating from the Human Rights Council or General Assembly on the subject and UNRWA, the arm of the U.N. responsible for providing education in the Palestinian territories, continues to use textbooks that glorify hate and violence. CRI encourages additional action aimed at raising awareness of these and other violations of children's basic human rights and hopes the U.N. will continue to devote attention and resources to these young victims.