[Media-watch] Iraqi children abused in US prison camps - Der Spiegel(Germany)/Aftenposten(Norway) - 6 and 7/7/2004

[Julie-ann Davies]

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6430.htm

More Than 100 Children Imprisoned

Report Of Abuse By U.S. Soldiers

07/04/04 "Der Spiegel" -- (Translated by SAB, NY) -- According to
information from the International Red Cross, more than a 100 children are
imprisoned in Iraq, including in the infamous prison Abu Ghraib.

The German TV magazine "Report" revealed that there has been abuse of
children and youth by the coalition forces.

Mainz - "Between January and May of this year we've registered 107 children,
during 19 visits in 6 different detention locations" the representative of
the International Red Cross, Florian Westphal, told the TV station SWR's
Magazine "Report Mainz". He noted that these were places of detention
controlled by coalition troops. According to Westphal the number of children
held captive could be even higher.

The TV Magazine also reported of evidence and eye witness reports according
to which U.S. soldiers also abused children and youthful detainees. Samuel
Provance, a staff sergeant stationed in the now infamous Abu Ghraib prison
said that interrogating officers had pressured a 15 or 16 year old girl.
Military police had only intervened when the girl was already half
undressed. On another occasion, a 16 year old was soaked with water, driven
through the cold, and then smeared with mud.

UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, confirmed the detention of Iraqi
children by foreign military according to "Report" which cited an interim
memorandum by the organization, The as yet unreleased report, which is dated
June 2004, is quoted as follows: "Children who were detained in the cities
of Kerbala and Basra because of alleged activities against the occupying
forces were reportedly routinely sent to a detention camp at Umm Kasr. The
classification of these children as detainees is worrisome because it
includes unspecified length of detention without contact to their families
pending further proceedings or legal actions".

The German section of the human rights organization Amnesty International is
demanding a clarification of the allegations and a response from the US
government.
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http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article823183.ece

6 July 2004

Norway protests child abuse in Iraq

Norwegian authorities reacted with shock and disgust Tuesday to a
documentary on German TV that American soldiers allegedly have been holding
children in prisons in Iraq, and abusing them as well. The Norwegians joined
the Red Cross and Amnesty International in calling for an immediate end to
the abuse, and release of the underage prisoners, some of whom are as young
as 12 years.

In one case, a girl around age 15 was said to have been shoved up against a
wall by a group of male soldiers who proceeded to manhandle her. They then
started ripping off her clothes, and she was half-naked before military
police broke in.

In another case, a boy aged 15 or 16 was stripped naked and sprayed with
water before being placed in an open truck and driven around in the cold
night air last winter. He then was covered with mud.

"These types of attacks are absolutely unacceptable," said a spokesman for
Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik. "They violate international
law and are morally indefensible."

Odd Jostein Sæter of the prime minister's office told Norwegian Broadcasting
(NRK) Tuesday that Norwegian officials will react "both politically and
diplomatically" to their US counterparts.

Neither the imprisonment nor abuse of children "can be tolerated," Sæter
said.

"We will take this up in a very sharp and direct way and make concrete
demands," he said on national radio, adding that such practices "damage the
struggle for democracy and human rights in Iraq."

Norwegian authorities plan to review other reports of the abuse by both
Amnesty International and Red Cross in detail.

The head of Amnesty International in Norway said Tuesday that Norway should
not continue its military cooperation with the US after the reports of child
"torture" were revealed.

Most of the more than 100 minors still believed to be held in
American-controlled prisons in Iraq were taken into custody after US forces
raided their homes.