NGOs accused of “flagrant violations”

The Sudan government had recently established a higher council on children and created a commission to investigate reports of the kidnapping of children in the country, the UN Security Council was told. But Sudanese representative, Mubarak Hussein Rahmtalla, accused humanitarian NGOs working in Sudan of “flagrant violations” of international law. In a special debate on children and armed conflict, led by Olara Otunnu, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict, the Council heard country representatives speak of national measures taken to protect war-affected children. Rahmtalla said armed groups in Africa were directly responsible for violations of the rights of the child and that the actions of those groups should be condemned. He said a distinction should be drawn between the activities of states and those of armed groups. He said there was “proof” that “several NGO’s” working in the area of humanitarian assistance in Sudan were “committing flagrant violations of international law and of the United Nations Charter”. The remarks were transcribed in a report issued after the debate on Wednesday.