NEW YORK: The United Nations (UN) has left Israel off its List of Shame of states violating children’s rights during conflicts, despite an outcry over the death of more than 500 children in the Gaza war.
Rights groups had called on Ban Ki-moon to add Israel to the list released on Monday, and there was much debate among UN agencies before the final decision that rested with UN secretary-general.
Ban decided that last year’s list would remain unchanged, but said he was “deeply alarmed” by the “grave violations suffered by children as a result of Israeli military operations in 2014”.
According to this year’s report on children, the Israel-Gaza conflict takes third place in deaths, with 557 children killed in 2014; this is just behind Afghanistan, with 710 child deaths, and Iraq, which became the most lethal country for children during last year, with 679 children killed. The country that took fourth place was Syria, with 368 fatalities.
