«In The Line Of Fire» - Somalia's Children Under Attack

Amnesty International, 2011, 74 Seiten

Children in southern and central somalia are under relentless attack. Their lives are in constant danger and their hopes for the future ahve been shattered by armed conflict and grave human rights abuses. Homes are bombed, families killed, schools destroyed or closed. Much of the violence is indiscriminate - no effort is made to spare civilians, event he very young.

Children have also been directly targeted. They describe how Al-Shabab, the armed Islamist group which controls much of Somalia, has forcibly recruited children, some as young as eight, and raided schools. They tell of those who do not conform to al-Shabab's rules being punished with floggings, amputations and death.

For two decades, the children's access to health care, education, food and water has steadily diminished. Armed groups have refused to allow humanitarian aid in areas the controlled, leaving children at the mercy of drought.

This report calls on the warring parties to end their aussaults on children and for accountability for war crimes and ohter grave human rgihts abuses in Somalia. It also calls on all states to step up programmes for education and psychosocial care for Somali children fleeing the conflict.