By NNN-KUNA,
United Nations : US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad on Tuesday admitted the US detention of 2,500 youths under the age of 16, almost all in Iraq, for a year or more since 2003 and argued that the aim is to educate them and separate them from the terrorists who use them.
The figure was mentioned in a periodic report on US compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.The US currently detains 503 kids in Iraq.
“It’s very unfortunate that terrorist insurgents use children in a campaign of violence. Because of that, we had to detain young people who should be at school learning and preparing for productive life.
“We understand the sensitivity and the special needs of the children in Iraq … We do our best to (give) them special treatment in terms of their psychological and educational needs, and keep them apart from adults and work with their communities and their families,” Khalilzad told reporters in answer to a question.
He said a special educational curriculum has been developed for them. “No one from our side is happy about such circumstances in which one has to do this, but this is an unfortunate fact of life that some terrorist groups use kids for violence against the government and coalition forces.”
The juveniles were reportedly engaged in activities such as planting explosive devices, operating as lookouts for insurgents, or actively engaged in fighting.