14 children killed, 24 hurt by AFP, PNP personnel, armed groups in 2016 —UN report

Fourteen children were killed and 24 more were victims of maiming in the Philippines in 2016, said a United Nations Security Council report released Friday.

The report, which was presented on August 24 and released last October 5, showed that 11 of the 38 cases of killings and maiming were attributed to the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

The report also said that in two cases, the role of AFP and Philippine National Police personnel were verified.

Alleged pro-government armed group New Indigenous People's Army Reform was verified by the UN to be responsible for six of the 38 cases, while the "paramilitary group" Alamara was responsible for one.

Four of these cases were attributed to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and another two were attributed to the New People's Army (NPA).

The report covered the period between January and December 2016.

Killings and maiming of children is only one of the six "grave violations" the UN watches out for when reporting on children affected by armed conflict.

The others are the recruitment or use of children as soldiers, sexual violence against children, abduction of children, attacks against schools or hospitals, and denial of humanitarian access for children.

The UN said in its report that children in the Philippines in 2016 continued to be affected by both low-intensity armed engagements and large-scale military operations against non-state armed groups, primarily in Mindanao.

The report noted, however, that such grave violations "decreased significantly" during clashes between the government and the NPA, owing to the resumption of peace talks between the two parties in the latter half of 2016.

The UN report verified the following:

• recruitment and use of children by armed groups - nine boys aged 13-17 (Moro National Liberation Front: 5; NPA: 3; AFP: 1, in a "support role" in Negros Occidental since 2013
• detention without a formal judicial process - eight (one detained in an adult prison in Basilan for alleged link with the Abu Sayyaf since November 2015)
• killing - 14
• maiming/injuring - 24
• attacks on schools - 10, affecting 12 schools (AFP: 2; BIFF: 1; the rest unattributed)
• schools used for military purposes - AFP: 8; PNP: 6; Maute Group: 2 (four schools were attacked while occupied by armed groups)
• abduction - one verified, four reported

GMA News Online is seeking reactions from the AFP and the PNP. —ALG, GMA News