NEW YORK
The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously Thursday to 'name and shame' governments and armed groups that abduct children in armed conflicts.
In 2005, the council adopted a resolution to identify governments and armed groups that recruit child soldiers. In 2009, the council also voted for a resolution to identify countries and insurgent groups engaged in conflicts that lead to children being killed, maimed and raped.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the council that "abduction is now being used as a tactic to terrorize or target particular ethnic groups or religious communities, and children have been a particular focus".
Previously, Ban was criticized over his decision not to include Israel on a list of countries and organizations that cause harm to children.
Ban's decision was made against his special envoy Leila Zerrougui's recommendation that Israel should be on the list alongside the likes of Daesh and al-Qaeda for violations during its 2014 military operation in Gaza.
The decision also follows media reports that Israel and the U.S. government pressured the UN chief to drop the Israeli military from the list.
In the body of the report, the UN says there are “grave concerns about Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law” in 2014, the summer in which a 51-day Israeli assault on Gaza killed 2,100 Palestinians, mostly civilians.
Speaking to reporters on June 8, Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that the report is "much more than the list".
Talking at the UN Security Council on Thursday, Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour said: "The removal of Israel from this year's list of shame prevents Israel to be accounted for."
