12 Jun 2012

UN / SYRIA CHILD SHIELDS

A new UN report says that Syrian troops have used children as human shields. UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said today that this is “another example of how far beyond the pale of humanity the Syrian regime has gone.” UNTV

Posted at: June 12, 2012 5:03 pm

Duration: 03:33

Available in: SD

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Full script

STORY: UN / SYRIA CHILD SHIELDS
TRT: 3.33
SOURCE: UNTV 
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 12 JUNE 2012, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE – 2011, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters

12 JUNE 2012, NEW YORK

2. Wide shot, press conference
3. Med shot, journalists
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children in Armed Conflict:
"There's been extraordinary violence against children in Syria. Because it's not only the killing and maiming which we see in crossfire, or the sexual violence and the recruitment and use which we find in other conflicts, but we have - As you know, I sent a technical team out to the refugee camps to take affadavits and testimony, and we have children as young as 14 years old in detention being tortured by government forces, with marks visibly on their bodies. We have seen children, they've described to my technical team of being beaten, of being scarred by cigarette burns and being whipped with electrical cables. Cases of sexual torture were also recorded against these children. So the torture of children in detention is something quite horrific. In addition, we have evidence of children being used as human shields. In the Ayn L'Yarous village for example, children from that village described how in a bus that was carrying military personnel, the children were put up against the window so as to protect the bus from being attacked."
5. Med shot, journalists
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children in Armed Conflict:
"My technical team as I said spoke to Colonel Riad Assad and they are against it, they say there is no such policy. But in the field it is occurring, these children are being recruited, sometimes in medical evacuation units, sometimes running to, in the front line. So we want to send a very strong signal to the Free Syrian Army that they really have to take more steps to stop this recruitment."
7. Med shot, cameraman
8. SOUNDBITE (English) SOUNDBITE (English) Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children in Armed Conflict:
"We strongly believe that there should be a referral to the ICC on this, and I think the High Commissioner's been very vocal about that, and I hope that at least the evidence that has been gathered by various parts of the UN and others will form a part of any kind of action by the ICC at a future date. People have to be held accountable for these terrible acts."
9. Med shot, journalists
10. Wide shot, end of press conference
11. Wide shot, UK Ambassador Lyall Grant walking up to the microphone

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

12. Cutaway, cameras

12 JUNE 2012, NEW YORK

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Lyall Grant, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations:
"It's clearly a very disturbing finding in the report. And it will be looked at very carefully by the Security Council. But it is just yet another chapter in the barbarity that is being imposed by the Syrian regime on its own civilian population. So to be honest we are not surprised by the report but it is still abhorrent and another example of how far beyond the pale of humanity the Syrian regime has gone. As you know we are discussing in consultations with various partners about next steps in the Security Council and that will continue."

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

14. Cutaway, hands typing on laptop

12 JUNE 2012, NEW YORK

15. Wide shot, Ambassador Grant leaving stakeout area

STORYLINE:

The UN special envoy on children and armed conflict today (12 June) gave a harrowing report on the killing, maiming and torture of children by Syrian government forces, saying that a recent mission to the country had also found evidence of the regime's using children as human shields.

The Secretary-General's Special Representative Radhika Coomaraswamy was speaking at a press conference at UN headquarters to launch the annual UN report on children and armed conflict.

Coomaraswamy announced that this year the Syrian government, along with Sudan and Yemen, had been added to the 52-strong 'list of shame' of those parties who recruit and use children, kill and maim, commit sexual violence or attack schools and hospitals.

She said her office had taken the unusual step of dispatching a technical mission to Syria last month to gather first-hand information through unsupervised interviews with "large numbers" of children as well as deserters and community members. The findings, she said, were "hair-raising".

She went on to describe the "extraordinary" violence against children in Syria perpetrated by the Syrian armed forces, the intelligence forces, and the Shabiha militia, which went beyond killing and maiming as a result of crossfire, or the sexual violence and recruitment seen in other conflicts.

Her team had found "horrific" cases of "children as young as 14 years old in detention being tortured by government forces, with marks visibly on their bodies". Children had described being beaten, burned with cigarettes, and whipped with electrical cables. Cases of sexual torture were also recorded.

The envoy said there was evidence of children being used as human shields, and cited the example of one village where children had been put up against the windows inside a bus carrying military personnel in order to deter attackers.

Coomaraswamy said the opposition forces were also guilty of recruiting children, but because there was no "pattern of recruitment", the Free Syrian Army had not been listed as a party on the 'list of shame'. She called on the Free Syrian Army to "take more steps to stop this recruitment".

Asked about a possible referral of those responsible for the violence against children in Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC), Coomaraswamy said she "strongly believe that there should be a referral" because "people have to be held accountable for these terrible acts". She hoped the evidence gathered by the UN and others would form part of "any kind of action by the ICC at a future date."

Earlier in the day, British ambassador Lyall Grant was asked for a reaction to Syria's using children as human shields when speaking to reporters outside the Security Council chambers.

He said it was "a very disturbing finding" that would be looked at very carefully by the Security Council. It was "another example of how far beyond the pale of humanity the Syrian regime has gone". Consultations "with various partners about next steps in the Security Council" would continue.