UN Chief Guterres Takes Off India From Report on Impact of Armed Conflict on Children After 12 Years

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has removed India from a report on impact of armed conflict on children in view of “measures taken by the government to better protect children”. This is the first time since 2010 that India has not been named in the report.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in his report last year, he had welcomed the engagement of the Government of India with his special representative and noted that it might lead to the removal of India as a situation of concern.

In last year’s report, Guterres had said he was concerned by the “increased number of violations against children verified in Jammu and Kashmir”, and had called upon the Indian government to strengthen child protection.

The UN chief had welcomed the legal and administrative framework for the protection of children and improved access to child protection services in Chhattisgarh, Assam, Jharkhand, Odisha and Jammu and Kashmir, and progress in the creation of a Jammu and Kashmir Commission for Protection of Child Rights.

In his 2023 report on Children and Armed Conflict, the UN chief highlighted the technical mission of the office of his special representative in July 2022 to identify areas of cooperation for child protection, and the workshop on strengthening child protection held in Jammu and Kashmir last November by the government, with the participation of the United Nations.

Guterres, in his latest report, also called upon India to implement the remaining measures identified in consultation with his special representative and the United Nations.

The remaining measures include training of armed and security forces on child protection, prohibition of the use of lethal and non-lethal force on children, including ending the use of pellet guns, ensuring that children are detained as a last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time, Guterres said.

Guterres also sought the implementation of measures to prevent all forms of ill-treatment in detention and the full implementation of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.