UN keeps Israel off child rights violators list

A United Nations “List of Shame” of children’s rights violators was released on Monday but did not include Israel, despite calls for such a move after the Gaza war that left more than 500 children dead.

Human rights groups had called on Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to add Israel to the list as well as the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.

Human Rights Watch had urged Ban to resist pressure from Israel and the United States to keep the Israeli Defence Forces off the list.

Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor welcomed the decision, saying Ban “was right not to submit to the dictates of the terrorist organizations and the Arab states, in his decision not to include Israel in this shameful list, together with organizations like ISIS, Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.”

The 50-day conflict in Gaza last year killed 539 children and injured 2,956, most of whom are Palestinians now struggling with trauma and life-long disabilities, according to the UN children’s agency, UNICEF.

The list has 51 groups including Boko Haram and Islamic State as well as the armed forces from eight countries such as Syria, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.