As the ceasefire in Gaza has entered its second day and appears to be holding, we begin our coverage in Ramallah. “We’re hoping that it will continue, the Israelis will continue to release prisoners. And, of course, we have no guarantees they will not be rearrested again,” says Tala Nasir, a lawyer with the Palestinian prisoner and human rights organization Addameer. She also notes that many of those released are coming home in poor health. “They were starving inside the prisons,” Nasir notes.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Orphanage-style boarding schools for Uyghur children whose parents were detained by Xinjiang authorities in internment camps that began in 2017, remain open and are expanding in certain areas, police and teachers with knowledge of the situation said.
The development comes despite claims by the Chinese government that it shut down the “re-education camps,” in which an estimated 1.8 million Uyghurs have been held.
Radio Free Asia has found that at least six such schools are operating in Yarkand county of Kashgar prefecture, Kuchar township of Aksu prefecture and Keriye county of Hotan prefecture.
A police officer from Yarkand county said she had been assigned to take children whose parents had been arrested to schools in six different locations.
“The most recent one I took one of them to was in Arslanbagh [village],” she told Radio Free Asia. “It was a school building that already existed before, and it seemed like it was a dormitory.”
“The child used to live in Arslanbagh of Yarkand, but was later moved to Lengar [village],” she said. “So far, I’ve taken orphans to six different places. All of their parents have been arrested.”
China said the re-education facilities were in fact “vocation training centers” set up to combat terrorism and extremism by re-educating individuals suspected of radical views, and teaching them Mandarin Chinese and trade and job skills.
But human rights groups and Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims who were in the facilities said they were not vocation training centers but detention camps where authorities forced political indoctrination and abused inmates.
‘Protecting’ children
After the mass detentions began about eight years ago, authorities opened so-called “Little Angels” schools to house and indoctrinate children whose parents were detained or imprisoned.
Special police officers were assigned after 2017 to gather, place and “protect” children whose parents were taken to internment camps. They worked with teachers at these orphanage-like schools to monitor the children’s psychological and ideological state, keeping detailed records.
In September 2018, RFA reported that nearly 3,000 children from Keriye county, whose parents had been taken to political re-education camps, were being held in two Little Angels schools, where they took classes, Uyghur sources said at the time.
The police officer from Yarkand county could not provide a figure for the number of parentless children currently or previously educated in such schools there, nor could she say when the children’s parents would be released from confinement.
“We don’t have information on when the school will be closed or when their parents are getting released,” she said.
She added that a new boarding preschool had been established recently in Lenger village and now accommodated about 30 children.
For easier monitoring and management, the preschools, elementary schools, and middle schools for children whose parents are serving prison sentences have been placed side by side in some areas, the police officer from Yarkand county said.
“The earliest one built is at Yarkand Bazaar,” she said. “It serves as both a primary and middle school. Recently, we’ve been taking children there.”
Barbed wire
The police officer from Yarkand county also said the children attending the boarding schools were well-fed and safely educated, and that other police officers guarded the entrance gates to the schools, whose outer walls were topped with barbed wire.
“The school environment is good, and they are eating on time with good food provided,” she told RFA. “The first one I went to was Charibagh. They have guards at the gates, and there is barbed wire on the walls. I’m not sure how many buildings there are in the Charibagh orphanage, but it’s quite large.”
A security guard who has worked for eight years at a kindergarten in Kuchar county said such boarding-schools for Uyghur children “are everywhere” in the county.
“In the early days, we worked 10-20 hours each day,” he said about the time when such schools were set up. “In those days, there were very few staff members but lots of children. The kids cried all the time as their parents were taken to reeducation not too long ago.”
“Now the kids are somewhat used to it,” he said, adding that there were about 300 children at the Angels School. “The younger kids are here. The older kids are in the schools outside the township and county.”
A police officer from Keriye county said that children whose parents were sent for re-education were placed in a boarding school, known as the Angels School, in Yengi Osteng village, and in another location.
“The second one used to be an elementary school and has remained as such and named the Angels School,” he said. “There are two schools called ‘Angels Schools’ in Yengibagh — one is a preschool, and the other is an elementary school.”
Ali Husain Matrook Abdulla was a 15-year-old minor and school student when Bahraini authorities arrested him on 26 August 2024 in Karranah while spending time with friends. The arrest was carried out without a warrant. During his detention, he endured torture, denial of family visits, denial of access to his lawyer, deprivation of his right to education, and medical neglect. He has been held at the Dry Dock Detention Center for five months without trial, as Bahraini authorities repeatedly delay and continue to postpone his hearings.
On the evening of 26 August 2024, Ali was with his friends in the village of Karranah when plainclothes officers and officers from the Ministry of Interior (MOI) arrested him without presenting an arrest warrant. During the arrest, an officer slapped him on the face. The officers then transferred him to Budaiya Police Station before sending him for medical examinations. Unaware of Ali’s arrest, his parents attempted to contact him, but their calls went unanswered. They later learned of his detention from witnesses who saw him being apprehended and taken to Budaiya Police Station. When his family inquired at the station, officers at the police station denied he was being held there. In reality, Ali was not at the station at the time, as he had been sent for a medical examination, a detail the officers failed to disclose. Ten hours later, the station called to inform the family that Ali was there and requested they send him clothes and shoes. Ten minutes later, Ali called his family, informing them he was being transferred to Roundabout 17 Police Station and asked for the clothes to be sent there instead.
On 27 August 2024, the day after Ali’s arrest, at approximately 8:30 A.M., Ali’s mother visited Budaiya Police Station to inquire about him and requested to see him, unaware that he had already been transferred for interrogation at Roundabout 17 Police Station. Officers informed her that he was charged with arson and possession of Molotov cocktails but stated that Ali was no longer at the station and had been transferred for interrogation without disclosing his destination.
During interrogation at Roundabout 17 Police Station, officers slapped Ali in the face and subjected him to psychological torture to force a confession. One officer threatened him, saying, “If you don’t talk and confess, I’ll beat you with this stick or bring something else from outside.” Fearing further abuse, Ali falsely confessed. His lawyer was not allowed to be present during the interrogation. The following day, 28 August 2024, Ali was brought before the Public Prosecution Office (PPO). Although his lawyer was present, he was only allowed to exchange greetings with Ali and was not permitted to consult with him. Consequently, the Juvenile and Family Prosecution decided to detain him for one week pending investigation. Following this, Ali was transferred to the Dry Dock Detention Center.
On 4 September 2024, Ali appeared before the Juvenile and Family Prosecution for the second time, where his detention was extended for another two weeks pending investigation, based on his coerced confessions obtained under threats and torture. This pattern of extending his detention every two weeks continued after each appearance before the Prosecution, relying on the same coerced confessions, until his referral to trial on 19 December 2024. During these sessions, Ali’s lawyer was consistently prohibited from attending. As of 6 January 2025, it was revealed that Ali faced charges in two separate arson cases. On 8 January 2025, he discovered a third arson charge against him, related to an arson incident in Karranah on 24 August 2024, which had been referred to the High Criminal Court.
Ali was not brought before a judge within 24 hours of his arrest, does not have adequate time and facilities to prepare for trial, is unable to present or challenge evidence, and is denied access to his attorney. As a result, his mother serves as an intermediary, communicating with the lawyer and relaying the information to her son through phone calls. On 19 December 2024, after nearly four months of arbitrary pre-trial detention, Ali and several of his peers were referred to trial, with the first court session initially scheduled for 23 December 2024. However, the session was later postponed to 30 December 2024. He remains detained at Dry Dock Detention Center, awaiting trial, as his court sessions continue to be postponed.
Ali has been subjected to medical neglect while in detention. Before his arrest, he was receiving dental treatment at a private clinic, but his detention prevented him from completing the treatment. As a result, his front teeth remained exposed after nerve extraction and gum surgery, causing him frequent, severe pain. Initially, authorities denied him medical care and even refused to provide painkillers. After a complaint was filed with the Ombudsman, treatment resumed, with one tooth being treated and a promise to continue treatment on one tooth per week. However, this treatment was later discontinued, and his care was limited to pain relief medication. Ali experienced three consecutive fainting episodes due to severe pain. Additionally, comprehensive medical examinations revealed low blood pressure, but neither he nor his family were provided with detailed results.
Ali, a first-year high school student, has been deprived of his education while in detention. The Ministry of Education refused to allow him to take exams or continue his studies. His mother was summoned to the ministry and presented with two options: either withdraw Ali from school or accept a certificate marked “Deprived” with a zero average. The Ministry of Education justified this by stating that Ali had not attended any school days due to his detention.
Since his arrest, Ali’s family has been denied visits with him in detention. They submitted multiple complaints to both the Ombudsman and the National Institute for Human Rights (NIHR) regarding mistreatment, denial of medical care, and the deprivation of his right to education. However, most of these complaints have yielded no results.
Ali’s warrantless arrest as a minor, torture, denial of family visits and lawyer access, deprivation of his right to education, medical neglect, and prolonged arbitrary pre-trial detention are clear violations of the Convention Against Torture (CAT), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), all of which Bahrain is a party to.
Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) calls upon Bahraini authorities to fulfill their human rights obligations by immediately and unconditionally releasing Ali. It calls on the Bahraini government to investigate allegations of arbitrary arrest, torture, coerced confessions, denial of family visits and lawyer access, deprivation of the right to education, and medical neglect, and to hold the perpetrators accountable. ADHRB also demands compensation for the violations Ali has suffered in detention. At the very least, ADHRB advocates for a prompt, fair trial for Ali under the Bahraini Restorative Justice Law for Children, and in accordance with international legal standards, leading to his release. Furthermore, ADHRB calls on the Dry Dock Detention Center administration to provide Ali with immediate, appropriate medical care, including the completion of his dental treatment, holding it responsible for any further deterioration in his health. It also demands that the center allow Ali to resume his education and permit family visits without delay.
A scientific study from 2017 found that deep childhood traumas can mark a person both physically and psychologically. Trauma reroutes children’s developing nervous systems, causing them to be highly alert and anxious even decades later. This process, the authors write, generates a mechanism called ‘enhanced threat processing’. No wonder studies of children who lived through earlier wars show that they disproportionately suffer from medical conditions, including heart ailments and cancer.
In March 2022, five doctors from Afghanistan, India, Ireland, and Sri Lanka wrote a heartfelt letter to The Lancet in which they reminded the world of the plight of the children of Afghanistan.
Figure includes hundreds of children, who make up one in five migrants trying to reach Europe fleeing war and poverty
More than 2,200 people either died or went missing in the Mediterranean while trying to reach Europe in search of refuge in 2024.
The figure, cited in a statement from Regina De Dominicis, the regional director for Europe and central Asia for the UN’s children’s agency, Unicef, was eclipsed on New Year’s Eve when 20 people fell into the sea and were reported missing after a boat started to take in water in rough seas about 20 miles off the coast of Libya.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – The North Korean leader’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, was seen with two children attending a New Year performance, in a video released by state media, sparking renewed speculation about her family and its place in the Kim dynasty.
A video of the New Year art performance, aired by Korean Central Television, showed Kim Yo Jong – leader Kim Jong Un’s sister who serves as vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea – walking outside the venue, holding the hand of a boy, with a girl next to her.
The video only showed Kim Yo Jong walking with two children but other scenes suggested the leadership, including her brother, Kim Jong Un, entered the venue with their families. Kim Jong Un was seen walking with his daughter, Ju Ae, who is increasingly suspected of being lined up as his successor.
North Korea is very secretive and little information is released about the private lives of its leaders, meaning outside observers trying to build up a picture of senior figures seize upon any sighting.
Kim Yo Jong has been closely monitored by foreign governments and media due to her presumed power and influence in North Korea.
An official at South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which focuses on inter-Korean relations, noted that it was difficult to draw presumptions based on the video.
In April 2015, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, or NIS, reported that Kim Yo Jong was presumed to be expecting a child the following month. Later, in 2018, a government source stated that she was pregnant with her second child during her visit to South Korea for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in February of that year.
Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un, attends wreath laying ceremony at Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi, March 2, 2019.(Jorge Silva/AFP)
There has been speculation that Kim Yo Jong’s husband is the second son of top official Choe Ryong Hae, a member of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People’s Assembly, but this has not been confirmed.
South Korea’s NIS had previously speculated that Kim Yo Jong’s husband was a former classmate at Kim Il Sung University.
The North Korean Strategic Information Service Center, a Seoul-based defector group, said in 2018 that Kim Yo Jong’s husband is the child of a low-level party official and a Kim Il Sung University graduate named Woo In Hak.
At that time, the center suggested that Kim Jong Un may have chosen an ordinary family man with no political ties to be his sister’s husband to prevent him from garnering too much power, as his uncle, Jang Song Thaek, did.
Jang, married to the only daughter of the North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, was once one of the most powerful figures in the regime, serving as vice chairman of the National Defense Commission. In December 2013, he was arrested during a high-profile party meeting, accused of treason, corruption, and factionalism.
Days later, he was executed in what the regime called an effort to purge “counter-revolutionary elements.”
His dramatic downfall and execution marked a turning point in Kim Jong Un’s consolidation of power and sent shockwaves through North Korea’s political elite.
Family members of the ruling Kim dynasty who are not in line for leadership often face isolation, exile or worse.
The siblings of former leader Kim Jong Il, for instance, experienced varied fates; some lived in relative obscurity, while others fell out of favor. His younger brother, Kim Pyong Il, spent decades abroad as a diplomat, reportedly under surveillance, and returned to North Korea in 2019, possibly under house arrest.
Kim Jong Il’s half-brother, Kim Yong Ju, who was seen as a successor, was sidelined and lived a low-profile life until his death in 2021.
Kim Jong Nam, Kim Jong Il’s eldest son and estranged heir, lived in exile before his 2017 poisoning at an airport in Malaysia , an assassination North Korean exiles and experts suspected was ordered by Kim Jong Un.
Other members of the extended family have disappeared from public view, believed to be either under tight control or eliminated to prevent any challenge to the leader’s power.
Kim Yo Jong’s children, if indeed the two pictured with her are hers, would not appear to be in the direct line of succession.
North Korea watchers suspect Kim Jong Un is nurturing his daughter, Ju Ae, as a successor.
Kim Ju Ae’s age has not been publicly confirmed but she is believed to be between 10 and 12 years old.
She has increasingly been seen with her father at various events, leading to speculation she has been chosen as the fourth generation of the Kim family to lead the nation.
The NIS has suggested North Korea is portraying Ju Ae as a strong candidate to succeed her father by stepping up her public appearances to gauge the public reaction.
Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.
December 30, 2024 – The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) is concerned and outraged that four Afro-Ecuadorian children, between the ages of 11 and 15, can go missing for almost two weeks after coming into contact with members of the armed forces without any concerns or official statements provided by government officials. The children (the “Guayaquil Four”) are from the Las Malvinas neighborhood, a largely Black and impoverished community, in Ecuador’s largest city, Guayaquil.
BAP supports the demands of AfroEcuadorian and human rights organizations for the safe return of these boys and a transparent investigation.
Four children in Guayaquil, Ecuador, disappeared after they were arrested by state forces on December 8. The news of their parents desperately searching for their underage children has dominated the news in Ecuador for the last several weeks even amid the festive season. On December 8, Ismael and Josué Arroyo (15 and 14 years old), Saúl Arboleda (15 years old), and Steven Medina (11 years old) were detained by a military contingent patrolling the area where the boys were playing football. The four young Afro-Ecuadorian boys have not been seen since then.
An analysis published Monday by the humanitarian group Save the Children estimates that roughly 35 kids across the globe were born into hunger every minute in 2024 — a year in which the world’s billionaires saw their combined wealth surge to a record high. At least 18.2 million children were born into hunger this year, according to the new analysis, as war and climate-fueled extreme weather…
Just days before Christmas, Sunday’s Washington Post report revealing that over 3,100 Native students died while attending Indian boarding schools cast a sobering shadow over this festive season. The article is a heartbreaking confirmation of what Indigenous communities have known and carried in silence for generations.
The Washington Post report, spearheaded by Dana Hedgpeth, a citizen of the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe of North Carolina, and Sari Horwitz, an investigative reporter and author of Justice in Indian Country, highlights the critical role of the media in truth-telling.
Three newborn babies have frozen to death in Israel’s designated “humanitarian safe zone” in Gaza over the past two days, as Israeli authorities block the entry of nearly all cold weather supplies into the besieged enclave. The Gaza Health Ministry’s head, Munir al-Bursh, shared on social media that the babies were exposed to “extreme cold” in their tents on the beach in Al-Mawasi in south…
In November, over a year into Israel’s genocide in Gaza, a report by the Gaza-based Community Training Center for Crisis Management produced a grim statistic: “Nearly all children in the embattled Palestinian enclave believe their death is imminent — and nearly half of them want to die.” It is no wonder why the statistic, which came from a survey of families with disabled…
Israeli forces carried out an “unprecedented assault” on Palestinian children in Gaza and the occupied West Bank in 2024, a children’s rights group has said, including repeatedly using children as human shields amid Israel’s genocide. Israeli forces have killed over 17,500 children in Gaza since October 2023, according to Gaza health officials, with the true death toll likely far higher as…
Private healthcare companies are facing increased scrutiny following the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson over what appears to be dissatisfaction with the company’s exploitative policies and frequent denials of care. Recent investigations from ProPublica and reporter Annie Waldman find that UnitedHealthcare is aggressively trying to limit mental health coverage and treatment for thousands of children with autism in its latest effort to cut costs and curtail care.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Trigger Warning: Murder, Suicide, Violence Against Children
The story uses only screenshots in view of the graphic nature of the actual video.
A video is viral on the social media showing distressing footage of the lifeless bodies of three children and a woman. Users have claimed that this video is from Bangladesh, and depicts the brutality of ‘radical Islamists’ who apparently attacked the village of Giripur, in Mymensingh. Such claims have been viral against the backdrop of the unrest that has engulfed the country since the abdication of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, continuing to the present day, under the interim leadership of Mohammed Yunus.
X user @Sanatan Voice (@SanatanVoice_in) shared the video, claiming that ‘a mother and her three young children were injured in the attack.’ The tweet was later deleted. (Archive)
The X account Megh Updates (@MeghUpdates) shared the viral video, claiming that ‘radical Islamists’ had attacked the homes of Hindu residents in Mymensingh, committing rape and vandalism. The tweet had managed to accumulate more than 33,000 views and over 750 re-shares, but was eventually deleted by the user. (Archive)
Readers should note that Alt News has previously debunked several false claims by this user, including misinformation related to the Bangladesh situation.
Another verified X user, Sunanda Roy (@SaffronSunanda) shared the viral video, claiming that Muslim perpetrators had raped a woman and attacked her children, leaving them badly injured. At the time of this article being written, the post has garnered more than 19,000 views, and has been re-shared over 870 times. (Archive)
Another X user, Amitabh Chaudhary (@MithilaWaala), who has been called out by Alt News for sharing disinformation on social media on several occasions, also shared the viral video with the same claim. (Archive)
Below are a few more instances of the same claim being made along with the viral video.
To verify the claim, we ran a relevant keyword search on Google, which led us to a news report by Times of India, from November 7. In the report, it is mentioned that on November 6, a 32-year-old woman by the name of Babita Devi had killed her three children, Riya, Suraj, and Sujeet, aged 8, 5, and 3, respectively. This had taken place at Kilpara village in Purnea district of Bihar.
After hanging her children from nooses inside their house, she had allegedly killed herself. During preliminary investigation, it was revealed that the woman was mentally unstable, and was on medication.
Taking a cue from this, we checked if any video or footage from this unfortunate event in Bihar could be found on the internet. A keyword search in Hindi led us to this YouTube video uploaded on November 7. We are not embedding the video in view of the graphic content.
Comparing the viral video with footage from the YouTube report, we could ascertain that the footage of the dead woman and her three children showed the woman from Purnea identified as Babita Devi, and her three children, whom she had killed before killing herself.
Further, we came across another YouTube video, uploaded by a news outlet called Khabar Seemanchal, which reported on the same event from Purnea, Bihar.
We were also able to find news reports by India TV News, ETV Bharat News, Aaj Tak, etc, that corroborated the circumstances under which the tragic event had transpired on November 6.
To sum up, the video that is viral on social media showing distressing footage of the dead bodies of a woman and three children are not linked in any way to any incident in Bangladesh. It is from Purnea, Bihar. The claims of the footage showing the aftermath of an attack on Hindus are entirely false.
Queensland’s Liberal National party government has acknowledged that its signature youth crime legislation will “directly discriminate” against children, by limiting their “protection from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment”.
The bill is also “expected to have a greater impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, who are already disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system”, according to the government’s tabled statement of compatibility with human rights.
An estimated 130,000 children under the age of 10 have been trapped in areas of northern Gaza almost entirely cut off from aid assistance, food and medical supplies for 50 days, a major humanitarian group said Monday. According to Save the Children, life-sustaining aid has largely failed to make it through to any of the people besieged by Israeli forces in northern Gaza since early October…
When David Neal, the former independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, visited the Manston asylum processing centre in Kent at the height of the crisis in October 2022, he said the conditions he found there were so alarming it left him “speechless”.
People were crammed on the dirty floors of marquees to sleep, toilets overflowed with faeces, there was inadequate access to medical care and new arrivals were referred to by a number on a wristband rather than by their name.
Children make up nearly 40% of the more than 3.4 million people displaced in Myanmar due to the civil war, UNICEF said Thursday.
The findings from United Nations Children’s Fund came as an organization that monitors conflict in Myanmar said the ruling junta and affiliated groups have killed more than 670 children since the military seized power in a February 2021 coup d’etat, sparking the conflict.
In a statement on Thursday — a day after World Children’s Day — UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban said that the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar is “reaching a critical inflection point,” with escalating conflict and climate shocks “putting children and families at unprecedented risk.”
He said that approximately 1 million people have been affected by the country’s war, which was sparked amid public opposition to the military takeover, and devastation caused by late September’s Cyclone Yagi — Southeast Asia’s worst storm of the year.
Chaiban said that during a recent trip to Myanmar’s embattled Kachin state, he saw children “cut off from vital services, including healthcare and education, and suffering from the effects of violence and displacement.”
“[I] saw firsthand how vulnerable children and other civilians are in conflict-affected areas and the urgent need to uphold international humanitarian law to protect them from such brutal attacks,” he said.
“The increasing use of deadly weapons in civilian areas, including airstrikes and landmines hitting homes, hospitals, and schools, has severely restricted the already limited safe spaces for children, robbing them of their right to safety and security,” he said, adding that “the situation is dire.”
Chaiban called for all stakeholders in Myanmar to guarantee safe and unhindered aid, especially for children and families in conflict zones, to remove administrative barriers and ensure minimum operating standards and to protect children from grave violations.
“International humanitarian law must be upheld, with a focus on protecting civilians and civilian infrastructure – including schools and hospitals – and ensuring safe passage for those fleeing from violence,” he said.
Additionally, he urged the international community to increase its support for the country’s children through funding and advocacy.
“The cost of inaction is far too high — Myanmar’s children cannot afford to wait,” he said.
Hundreds of children killed
Also on Thursday, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners – Burma reported that, as of Nov. 20, the junta and its affiliate groups had killed at least 671 children in Myanmar since the coup nearly four years ago.
The group said that the number showed a year-on-year increase in child mortality rates, attributable to the conflict.
In 2021, AAPP said, 101 children under the age of 18 were reported killed, followed by 136 the following year. By 2023, the number had increased to 208 and, by the end of 2024, had reached 226 child fatalities.
In one of the worst incidents since the coup, the junta bombed Konlaw village in Kachin state’s Momauk township on Nov. 15, killing nine displaced people, including seven children, the group said.
Amid an escalating toll of child casualties caused by airstrikes, Naw Susanna Hla Hla Soe, the shadow National Unity Government’s Minister of Women, Youth, and Children’s Affairs, called for urgent measures to ban the sale of aviation fuel to Myanmar’s military.
“We urgently request the cessation of aircraft fuel sales to the military regime, as it is being used to carry out brutal attacks that result in the killing of children,” she said during remarks delivered at a World Children’s Day event in Myanmar on Wednesday.
Attempts by RFA to reach junta spokesperson Major General Zaw Min Tun for comment on the situation facing children in Myanmar went unanswered Thursday.
According to the AAPP, junta authorities have killed at least 5,974 civilians since the military coup.
Translated by Kalyar Lwin. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Burmese.
Myanmar’s air force bombed a church where displaced people were sheltering near the border with China killing nine of them including children, days after the junta chief reiterated a call for peace talks, an insurgent group official told Radio Free Asia.
Fighting in Myanmar is expected to intensify in coming weeks as forces of the junta that seized power in 2021 take advantage of the dry season to try to recapture territory lost to guerrilla groups over the past year, and despite efforts by neighboring China to promote dialogue.
In northern Myanmar’s Kachin state, fighters from the Kachin Independence Army, or KIA, have made significant gains this year, capturing numerous military positions as well as jade and rare earth mines and most crossings on the border with China.
The military has responded with airstrikes, which insurgents and rights groups say are often targeted at civilians in a bid by the military to scare off support for the rebels.
A junta plane dropped a bomb on a church in Kachin state’s Konlaw village on Friday, next to a camp for people displaced by fighting, killing nine of them, said a KIA information officer, Naw Bu said.
“It hit kids from the camp who were playing in the area at the time, the camp itself and the church,” Naw Bu said.
“In just one family, the father, the mother, and all their kids, six people in total, died,” he said, adding that nine people were killed in all.
He said there was no instigation for the attack, adding that an attack on displaced civilians and a religious building was a war crime. Eleven people were wounded, seven critically, and were being treated at a hospital near Lai Zar on the Chinese border, he said.
RFA tried to telephone military spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment but he did not answer.
Many Kachin people are Christian as are members of some of the other ethnic minorities in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar’s hilly border lands.
The KIA captured Kung Law, which is to the east of the town of Bhamo, in late March in fighting that displaced about 3,000 people.
The deadly bombing comes days after the junta chief, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, reiterated during a visit to China a call for peace talks with the rebel forces fighting for self-determination and to end military rule.
Anti-junta forces have dismissed Min Aung Hlaing’s call as aimed at appeasing China, which is pressing for an end to the bloody turmoil in its south neighbor that threatens its economic interests there, including energy pipelines running up from the Indian Ocean and mining projects.
Insurgents say they expect offensives against them in different parts of the country this dry season, which usually begins in November and enables the military to advance with its heavy vehicles over poor roads.
Naw Bu identified those killed in the airstrike as Sut Zai Li, 5, May Sen Pan, 7, Gum Seng Maw, 9, Tsawm San, 10, Mung Htoi Awng, 11, Sa Ra Seng, 11 Myu Jet Awn, 13, Lazum Lung Wa, 35 and Mun Mai 36.
From January to October, airstrikes killed 540 people nationwide, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners human rights group said in a report on Nov. 6.
The Israeli military is killing over five dozen children every day in Gaza, a UN official has reported, as Israel is worsening already unimaginable conditions in Gaza each day with no end in sight. Israel is killing at least 67 Palestinian children on average each day amid its genocide, UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) officer Louise Wateridge told Al Jazeera on…
As Israel continues to block lifesaving humanitarian aid from entering northern Gaza, humanitarian organizations are describing its siege as “apocalyptic” and warning of mass Palestinian starvation and death. “The situation is absolutely desperate,” says Rachael Cummings of the aid group Save the Children International. Cummings joins us from Deir al-Balah in central Gaza…
“War is not healthy for children and other living things,” reads a poster titled “Primer” created by the late artist Lorraine Schneider for an art show at New York’s Pratt Institute in 1965. Printed in childlike lowercase letters, the words interspersed between the leaves of a simply rendered sunflower, it was an early response to America’s war in Vietnam. “She just wanted to make something that…
A boat carrying 70 people off the coast of southern Myanmar overturned on Sunday night and eight people were confirmed dead and 17 were missing, including children heading back to school after a holiday, a rescue worker told Radio Free Asia.
The crowded ferry capsized when it encountered strong currents soon after setting off from the island village of Kyauk Kar, bound for Myeik town to the south in the Tanintharyi region, said a resident of the area who declined to be identified due to media restrictions imposed by military authorities.
“We only managed to recover eight bodies last night. There are a lot still missing,” said the rescue worker who also declined to be identified.
“There are also survivors. We don’t know the exact list. Right now, it’s chaos.”
Boat accidents are common in Myanmar, both on its many rivers and off its coasts. Hundreds of commuters, migrant workers and refugees have been involved in accidents this year.
The resident said students heading back to school after the Thadingyut holiday, along with their parents and others displaced by recent conflict in the area, were among the victims of the accident that occurred as the ferry was passing through a channel known for treacherous currents.
“From Kyauk Kar there’s … the opening of the ocean where the current is too strong,” one resident said. “When the current was too rough, due to the boat’s position and because it was top heavy, it overturned.”
The eight people found dead were identified as seven women between the ages of 16 and 60, and a three-month-old boy, residents said.
According to a rescue committee, 47 people survived while 17 children were unaccounted for. Residents and civil society organizations were searching for more victims.
The military has not published any information about the accident, and calls by RFA to Tanintharyi region’s junta spokesperson, Thet Naing, went unanswered.
