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Read, Debate: Engage.
| topic: | Human Rights |
|---|---|
| editor: | Bob Koigi |
As Mali continues to descend further into anarchy in a bloodletting pitting of government and international forces against armed and terror groups, civilians continue to pay the ultimate price in the 13-year conflict that pundits have described as one of the bloodiest instances of extremist violence.
While the war seeks to tame further spread of Islamist militia across the Sahel region, Mali remains the epicenter due to a security vacuum and high number of both combatant and non-combatant casualties.
The militants, the majority of whom have an affiliation to Al Qaeda, have made successful inroads in the West African nation, making it ungovernable by forcefully evicting civilians from their homes; recruiting children as fighters; torturing, murdering and raping civilians; and pillaging.
Tens of hundreds of civilians have fled to neighbouring countries as the conflict mutated into a bloodbath.
Key institutions and services like medical centers have either been run down by the armed groups or abandoned for fear of reprisals even as the health crisis in the country reached dire proportions. Beyond treating casualties, there are no personnel or facilities to take care of the emerging health crisis as outbreaks of diseases like Malaria and Cholera reach fever pitch. Getting the much needed humanitarian aid is near impossible with aid workers being cut off from accessing the affected areas.
The situation has been further exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. Since schools were shut down last year, there has been a marked increase in the number of children recruited to fight as soldiers, forced to work in mines, trafficked or forced into child marriages. There is no end in sight to the conflict.
The international community must pile more pressure on the parties to the conflict to value and respect the aids systems and allow the vulnerable communities access to vital services. This, while amplifying the call to those at war to respect the tenets of international human rights laws and abide by the principles of precaution and distinction. This is one crucial way the world will show its solidarity with the innocent Mali civilians caught in the crosshairs.
Image by Mali à tout prix
