India has been removed from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ yearly report on the impact of armed conflict on children, citing “measures taken by the government to better protect” them. Guterres stated in his report last year that he welcomed the Indian government’s cooperation with his special representative and observed that it may lead to India being removed as a situation of concern.
The UN Secretary-General stated in his 2023 report on Children and Armed Conflict, “In view of the measures taken by the government to better protect children, India has been removed from the report in 2023.” Guterres emphasised the technical mission of his special representative’s office in July 2022 to identify areas of cooperation for child protection, as well as the government’s workshop on strengthening child protection held in Jammu and Kashmir last November with the participation of the UN.
In his most recent report, he also urged India to carry out the remaining actions identified in cooperation with his special envoy and the UN. These include training armed and security forces in child protection, prohibiting the use of lethal and non-lethal force on children, including the use of pellet guns, and ensuring that children are detained only as a last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time, according to Guterres.
He also emphasised the importance of preventing all sorts of ill-treatment in detention, as well as the complete execution of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. Virginia Gamba, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, told reporters on Tuesday that “we have been working very closely with India” over the previous two years.
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