Latest news with #InternationalCrisisGroup
The Guardian
a day ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Colombia gangs lure children to join ranks via TikTok, UN warns
Gangs in Colombia are increasingly recruiting children into their ranks, with a notable number coerced over TikTok and Facebook, the United Nations has warned. The UN Human Rights Office in Colombia said it had verified 474 cases of recruitment or use of under-18s between 2022 and 2024, and that the situation was 'worsening in 2025'. In 36 cases children were recruited at school, while recruitment through social networking platforms was of 'grave concern', it said. 'It's horrific, toxic and ugly. Illegal groups are using social media to lure girls and boys into their ranks, which is increasing violence across the country and strengthening narco-trafficking,' said Scott Campbell, Colombia's representative for the UN high commissioner for human rights. Elizabeth Dickinson, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, said the first contact often comes over social media, with TikTok rife with videos posted by armed groups 'depicting the perks' of the lifestyle. Posts showed 'parties in clubs, designer clothes and heavy weapons', she added. Campbell said the children are promised motorbikes, mobile phones and money, with girls also offered cosmetic surgery. Investigators from the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) said such content spread rapidly, with some posts receiving up to 625,000 views. Campbell criticised social media companies for failing to properly tackle the problem. 'If children were being recruited into illegal groups in London or Silicon Valley, social media companies would be putting huge resources into this,' he said. TikTok and Meta told UN Human Rights they were working with state entities on the issue and removing harmful content. The crisis was only worsening, UN Human Rights said, highlighting that in the first quarter of 2025 it had received 118 allegations of recruitment or use of children, of which it verified 51. Child recruits were a big issue in Colombia's decades-long internal armed conflict, with the JEP reporting that more than 18,000 minors were recruited by the rebel group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Farc, before it demobilised in 2016. The findings come amid an increase in violence across Colombia. In January, clashes between armed groups fighting for control of a region bordering Venezuela led to the displacement of more than 50,000 people, while in June a wave of coordinated bomb and gun attacks killed at least seven people and wounded 50 across the country's south-west. Campbell said child recruitment appeared to be rising as presidential elections approach next year. This month a 15-year-old was charged with the attempted assassination of the presidential candidate Miguel Uribe. Colombian authorities have claimed a criminal organisation was behind the attack. The International Crisis Group recently warned that the rate of child recruitment had reached its highest point in more than a decade. Meanwhile, JEP said that since the final peace agreement was signed with Farc in 2016, a minor had been recruited on average every 48 hours. Many families are too afraid to report their children missing due to fears of reprisals and stigmatisation. In January, when 112 members of the armed 33rd Front turned themselves in, 20 were found to be minors. In another case, after a clash left nearly two dozen fighters dead, a third of those killed were discovered to be under the age of 18.
The Guardian
a day ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Colombia gangs lure children to join ranks via TikTok, UN warns
Gangs in Colombia are increasingly recruiting children into their ranks, with a notable number coerced over TikTok and Facebook, the United Nations has warned. The UN Human Rights Office in Colombia said it had verified 474 cases of recruitment or use of under-18s between 2022 and 2024, and that the situation was 'worsening in 2025'. In 36 cases children were recruited at school, while recruitment through social networking platforms was of 'grave concern', it said. 'It's horrific, toxic and ugly. Illegal groups are using social media to lure girls and boys into their ranks, which is increasing violence across the country and strengthening narco-trafficking,' said Scott Campbell, Colombia's representative for the UN high commissioner for human rights. Elizabeth Dickinson, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, said the first contact often comes over social media, with TikTok rife with videos posted by armed groups 'depicting the perks' of the lifestyle. Posts showed 'parties in clubs, designer clothes and heavy weapons', she added. Campbell said the children are promised motorbikes, mobile phones and money, with girls also offered cosmetic surgery. Investigators from the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) said such content spread rapidly, with some posts receiving up to 625,000 views. Campbell criticised social media companies for failing to properly tackle the problem. 'If children were being recruited into illegal groups in London or Silicon Valley, social media companies would be putting huge resources into this,' he said. TikTok and Meta told UN Human Rights they were working with state entities on the issue and removing harmful content. The crisis was only worsening, UN Human Rights said, highlighting that in the first quarter of 2025 it had received 118 allegations of recruitment or use of children, of which it verified 51. Child recruits were a big issue in Colombia's decades-long internal armed conflict, with the JEP reporting that more than 18,000 minors were recruited by the rebel group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Farc, before it demobilised in 2016. The findings come amid an increase in violence across Colombia. In January, clashes between armed groups fighting for control of a region bordering Venezuela led to the displacement of more than 50,000 people, while in June a wave of coordinated bomb and gun attacks killed at least seven people and wounded 50 across the country's south-west. Campbell said child recruitment appeared to be rising as presidential elections approach next year. This month a 15-year-old was charged with the attempted assassination of the presidential candidate Miguel Uribe. Colombian authorities have claimed a criminal organisation was behind the attack. The International Crisis Group recently warned that the rate of child recruitment had reached its highest point in more than a decade. Meanwhile, JEP said that since the final peace agreement was signed with Farc in 2016, a minor had been recruited on average every 48 hours. Many families are too afraid to report their children missing due to fears of reprisals and stigmatisation. In January, when 112 members of the armed 33rd Front turned themselves in, 20 were found to be minors. In another case, after a clash left nearly two dozen fighters dead, a third of those killed were discovered to be under the age of 18.
Time Magazine
3 days ago
- Politics
- Time Magazine
How Bombing Iran May Have Made Nuclear Diplomacy Much Harder
What began as a military campaign against Iran's nuclear infrastructure may have given way to a more enduring crisis: the collapse of decades-long efforts to contain nuclear proliferation through diplomacy. After days of escalating airstrikes between Israel and Iran that killed hundreds in Iran and dozens in Israel—and the United States' decision to involve itself—one of the most lasting, and difficult to quantify, losses may be the fragile framework of international nuclear cooperation. Read More: Trump Brokers Ceasefire to End '12 Day War' Between Israel and Iran While the full scope of physical damage to Iran's nuclear facilities remains unclear, analysts warn that the attacks may have pushed Iran to the brink of abandoning the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the foundational agreement designed to limit the spread of nuclear weapons and promote peaceful atomic energy that Iran has been a party to for five-and-a-half decades. Iran is now 'quite likely' to withdraw from the NPT under which it pledged not to develop a bomb, warned Ali Vaez, director of the Iran Project at the International Crisis Group. Outlining 'worst-case scenarios' in an essay for TIME, Vaez suggested: 'Over time, Iran's regime could attempt to reconstitute its nuclear activity from the rubble, only with an explicit aim of fashioning a weapon in the shortest possible time as a means of deterrence in the future.' Read More: Where Iran's Nuclear Program Goes From Here Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute in Washington, D.C., said in a post on X that Iran's nuclear program 'has at best been set back, but certainly not destroyed, while dramatically increasing Tehran's determination to achieve nuclear deterrence.' He added that Iran having a damaged but not fully dismantled nuclear program makes any future peace between Iran and Israel even more precarious. Israel, which is believed to have its own clandestine nuclear weapons program and is not a member of the NPT, has stated that it cannot allow nations hostile to it to develop a nuclear weapon. 'While Trump may have genuinely envisioned a one-and-done,' Parsi said, U.S. intervention at the request of Israel has signaled that, should Israel or Iran choose to reignite the war, Israel will have 'succeeded in trapping him in a long, if not a forever, war.' Read More: In Bombing Iran, Trump Looked Past 80 Years of U.S. Regime Change Mistakes For diplomacy to resume, he argues, 'Trump's only exit out of this is to discard the Israeli red line of zero-enrichment and return to the American red line of no weaponization.' A blow to non-proliferation diplomacy The diplomatic fallout is already materializing in Tehran. Iran's parliamentary national security committee passed the outline of a bill on Monday to suspend Tehran's cooperation with the United Nations' nuclear watchdog—the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)—so long as Iran's nuclear sites remain vulnerable to military attack. Committee spokesperson Ebrahim Rezaei reportedly told semi-official Tasnim news agency that the bill would mean a suspension in installing surveillance cameras, inspections, and submitting reports to the IAEA. Mohammad Eslami, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the government is planning to restore its nuclear program as it evaluates what damage has been done. 'Preparations for recovery had already been anticipated, and our plan is to prevent any interruption in production or services,' Eslami said in a statement reportedly carried by government-affiliated Mehr News. Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Reza Najafi, told reporters on the sidelines of an emergency IAEA board meeting on Monday that U.S. involvement in the strikes had 'delivered a fundamental and irreparable blow to the international non-proliferation regime conclusively demonstrating that the existing NPT framework has been rendered ineffective.' Scope of physical damage to Iran's nuclear facilities remains unclear The breakdown in diplomacy is unfolding as questions hang over just how significant the physical damage is to Iran's nuclear infrastructure—an element that may carry long-term consequences for non-proliferation efforts. After the U.S. dropped 30,000-pound bombs on three of Iran's key nuclear facilities and risked a wider war, President Donald Trump declared from the White House that 'Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.' 'THE NUCLEAR SITES ARE COMPLETELY DESTROYED!' President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social on Tuesday. Earlier the same day, he posted: 'IRAN WILL NEVER REBUILD THEIR NUCLEAR FACILITIES!' But Iran's nuclear program has at most been set back a few months, according to a reported initial assessment by U.S. intelligence. A leaked Defense Intelligence Agency preliminary report, which members of the Trump Administration have claimed is wrong, found that Iran's nuclear facilities were damaged, but not severely degraded, and that Iran still has the ability to enrich uranium. Earlier damage assessments by U.S. and Israeli militaries using satellite images of Fordow also suggested that the site had not been obliterated. Read More: Democrats in Congress Fume as Iran Strike Briefing Is Abruptly Cancelled Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said at a news conference on Sunday that the country is 'calculating the damages' from the strike. IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi told the U.N. Security Council that there are visible craters at Fordow, and that entrances to tunnels used to store enriched uranium appeared to have been hit at Isfahan. But he also cautioned that 'no one, including the IAEA, is in a position to assess the underground damage.' Some observers believe Iran may have preemptively moved enriched uranium to undisclosed locations. The IAEA confirmed last week it was unable to track Iran's stockpile amid the ongoing bombardment. Iran had previously warned the IAEA that its stockpile, which is typically secured at Isfahan, could be moved in the event of an Israeli attack. Grossi said after the U.S. strikes that 'Iran has informed the IAEA there has been no increase in off-site radiation levels at all three sites,' suggesting that the strikes may not have hit uranium stores directly. Still, he urged Iran to disclose the new location of any relocated nuclear material and reaffirmed Tehran's obligations under the treaty. Read More: Breaking Down the Environmental Risks From Strikes on Iran's Nuclear Enrichment Sites Iran's legislative response suggests a hardening stance. 'Iran has no plans for non-peaceful activities, but the world witnessed clearly that the IAEA has not honored any of its commitments and has turned into a political instrument,' parliamentary speaker Mohammed-Bagher Ghalibaf said during Monday's session. 'This war makes it more, not less, likely that the Iranian government will eventually build a nuclear weapon,' argues Sara Haghdoosti, executive director of Win Without War, a progressive Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group. 'Israeli—or even U.S.—airstrikes cannot wipe out the knowledge behind the nuclear program or reliably destroy all centrifuges and uranium in a country over twice the size of Texas.' Iran more likely to withdraw from nuclear diplomacy Whether Iran was actively pursuing a nuclear weapon remains in dispute. U.S. intelligence concluded earlier this year that the country had no plans to develop a nuclear weapon, while Trump and Israeli officials have insisted it did. Iran has maintained that its uranium enrichment is in line with its right to peaceful enrichment for energy purposes under the NPT. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian reiterated that view on Tuesday, reportedly telling regional officials that Iran is interested only in pursuing its 'legitimate rights' and has no ambitions 'to acquire nuclear weapons.' Iran and the U.S. had been in the midst of protracted talks centered on Iran's nuclear program when Israel launched its surprise attack on Iran. The war put a halt to further talks with the U.S.—although Iran continued talks with European officials—and it is unclear whether they will begin again. Several agencies and countries, including the European Union and Grossi, have urged Iran to return to the negotiating table. But Iran's envoy to the U.N. Ali Bahreini said on Sunday that it can't return to something 'it never left.' He said the NPT has been 'manipulated into a political weapon' and 'exploited as a pretext for aggression and unlawful action.' Read More: A New Middle East Is Unfolding Before Our Eyes Iran ratified the treaty in 1970, and signed another deal with former President Barack Obama in 2015 agreeing that its nuclear program will be exclusively peaceful in exchange for the relief of economic sanctions. Trump exited the deal in 2018 during his first term, reimposing heavy sanctions on Iran, which pushed Iran to restart some nuclear operations. Foad Izadi, a professor at the University of Tehran, told Al Jazeera that Iran's collaboration with the IAEA as a member of the NPT has clearly not benefited or protected Tehran. 'Iran doesn't have to be there,' Izadi said, 'given the fact that Iranian nuclear sites that were under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency, that were under the monitoring of [the IAEA], were attacked.' Haghdoosti, the Win Without War activist, tells TIME that the airstrikes on Iran, which the Trump Administration has framed as part of a deliberate strategy to pursue 'peace through strength,' will erode diplomatic efforts around nuclear programs for all countries now and in the future. 'The lesson of this war for the Iranian government and any other government contemplating acquiring nuclear weapons is that even if the U.S. is negotiating with you to end that pursuit, it will still support—and even join—a war against you,' Haghdoosti says. 'That's a strong incentive for governments to skip diplomacy entirely and go straight to getting a nuclear weapon.'
Iraqi News
4 days ago
- Politics
- Iraqi News
Trump announces ceasefire between Iran and Israel
Washington – President Donald Trump announced Monday that Iran and Israel had agreed to a staggered ceasefire that would bring about an 'official end' to a conflict that had threatened to escalate into a full blown war involving the United States. 'It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE,' Trump wrote Monday on his Truth Social platform, although there was no official confirmation from either of the Middle Eastern adversaries. Over a week of tit-for tat missile launches have killed hundreds in Iran and two dozen in Israel, according to officials on both sides. The United States joined the conflict over the weekend with unprecedented strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, spurring a retaliatory missile attack Monday on an American base in Qatar, which Trump said had been successfully defeated. Trump said the ceasefire would be a phased 24-hour process beginning at around 0400 GMT Tuesday, with Iran unilaterally halting all operations. Israel would follow suit 12 hours later, the president said. 'Upon the 24th hour, an official end to the 12-day war will be saluted by the world,' he said, adding that both sides had agreed to remain 'peaceful and respectful' during each phase of the process. Several loud explosions were heard in Tehran overnight, AFP correspondents said, after the Israeli army warned residents in a central area of the Iranian capital to evacuate. Any cessation in hostilities would come as a huge relief to world leaders frantic about an escalation in violence igniting into a wider conflagration. The adversaries had been swapping missile fire since Israel carried out surprise 'preemptive' strikes against Iran on June 13, targeting nuclear and military sites, and prompting Trump to warn of a possible 'massive' regional conflict. – Strikes on US base – The US leader's ceasefire announcement came hours after Iran launched missiles at the largest US military facility in the Middle East — Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar — in a move Trump shrugged off as 'very weak.' Calling for a de-escalation, Trump said Tehran had given advance notice of the barrage. No one had been hurt in the attack, Trump said. Iran's National Security Council confirmed having targeted the base 'in response to the US aggressive and insolent action against Iran's nuclear sites and facilities.' But it added that the number of missiles launched 'was the same as the number of bombs that the US had used' — a signal that it had calibrated its response to be directly proportional rather than escalatory. 'This was calibrated and telegraphed in a way that would not result in any American casualties, so that there is an off ramp for both sides,' Ali Vaez, a senior advisor at the International Crisis Group, told AFP. The Qatari offensive came after the United States joined its ally Israel's military campaign against Iran, attacking an underground uranium enrichment center with massive bunker-busting bombs and hitting two other nuclear facilities overnight Saturday into Sunday. As international concern mounted that Israel's campaign and the US strikes could ignite into a wider conflict, French President Emmanuel Macron insisted that 'the spiral of chaos must end' while China warned of the potential economic fallout. – 'Blatant aggression' – Iran said its assault in Qatar wasn't targeting the Middle Eastern neighbor, but the government in Doha accused Tehran of 'blatant aggression' and claimed its right to a 'proportional' response. Iran's state media quoted the Revolutionary Guard Corps announcing that six missiles had hit Al Udeid, which had been evacuated beforehand, according to the Qataris. The broadside was made up of 'short-range and medium-range ballistic missiles,' a US defense official said. AFP reporters heard blasts in central Doha and in Lusail, north of the capital, on Monday evening, and saw projectiles moving across the night sky. Iranians gathered in central Tehran to celebrate, images on state TV showed, with some waving the flag of the Islamic republic and chanting 'Death to America.' Qatar earlier announced the temporary closure of its airspace in light of 'developments in the region,' while the US embassy and other foreign missions warned their citizens to shelter in place. Israeli strikes on Iran have killed more than 400 people, Iran's health ministry has said. Twenty-four people have died in Iran's attacks on Israel, according to official figures. After a day of tit-for-tat missile launches between Israel and Iran, the Israeli army called around midnight for residents in part of central Tehran to evacuate, saying it was 'targeting the Iranian regime's military infrastructure.'
Borneo Post
4 days ago
- Politics
- Borneo Post
Trump announces ceasefire between Iran and Israel
Trump said the ceasefire would be a phased 24-hour process beginning at around 0400 GMT Tuesday, with Iran unilaterally halting all operations. Israel would follow suit 12 hours later, the president said. – AFP photo WASHINGTON (June 24): President Donald Trump announced Monday that Iran and Israel had agreed to a staggered ceasefire that would bring about an 'official end' to a conflict that had threatened to escalate into a full blown war involving the United States. 'It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE,' Trump wrote Monday on his Truth Social platform, although there was no official confirmation from either of the Middle Eastern adversaries. Over a week of tit-for tat missile launches have killed hundreds in Iran and two dozen in Israel, according to officials on both sides. The United States joined the conflict over the weekend with unprecedented strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, spurring a retaliatory missile attack Monday on an American base in Qatar, which Trump said had been successfully defeated. Trump said the ceasefire would be a phased 24-hour process beginning at around 0400 GMT Tuesday, with Iran unilaterally halting all operations. Israel would follow suit 12 hours later, the president said. 'Upon the 24th hour, an official end to the 12-day war will be saluted by the world,' he said, adding that both sides had agreed to remain 'peaceful and respectful' during each phase of the process. Several loud explosions were heard in Tehran overnight, AFP correspondents said, after the Israeli army warned residents in a central area of the Iranian capital to evacuate. Any cessation in hostilities would come as a huge relief to world leaders frantic about an escalation in violence igniting into a wider conflagration. The adversaries had been swapping missile fire since Israel carried out surprise 'preemptive' strikes against Iran on June 13, targeting nuclear and military sites, and prompting Trump to warn of a possible 'massive' regional conflict. Strikes on US base The US leader's ceasefire announcement came hours after Iran launched missiles at the largest US military facility in the Middle East — Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar — in a move Trump shrugged off as 'very weak.' Calling for a de-escalation, Trump said Tehran had given advance notice of the barrage. No one had been hurt in the attack, Trump said. Iran's National Security Council confirmed having targeted the base 'in response to the US aggressive and insolent action against Iran's nuclear sites and facilities.' But it added that the number of missiles launched 'was the same as the number of bombs that the US had used' — a signal that it had calibrated its response to be directly proportional rather than escalatory. 'This was calibrated and telegraphed in a way that would not result in any American casualties, so that there is an off ramp for both sides,' Ali Vaez, a senior advisor at the International Crisis Group, told AFP. The Qatari offensive came after the United States joined its ally Israel's military campaign against Iran, attacking an underground uranium enrichment center with massive bunker-busting bombs and hitting two other nuclear facilities overnight Saturday into Sunday. As international concern mounted that Israel's campaign and the US strikes could ignite into a wider conflict, French President Emmanuel Macron insisted that 'the spiral of chaos must end' while China warned of the potential economic fallout. 'Blatant aggression' Iran said its assault in Qatar wasn't targeting the Middle Eastern neighbour, but the government in Doha accused Tehran of 'blatant aggression' and claimed its right to a 'proportional' response. Iran's state media quoted the Revolutionary Guard Corps announcing that six missiles had hit Al Udeid, which had been evacuated beforehand, according to the Qataris. The broadside was made up of 'short-range and medium-range ballistic missiles,' a US defense official said. AFP reporters heard blasts in central Doha and in Lusail, north of the capital, on Monday evening, and saw projectiles moving across the night sky. Iranians gathered in central Tehran to celebrate, images on state TV showed, with some waving the flag of the Islamic republic and chanting 'Death to America.' Qatar earlier announced the temporary closure of its airspace in light of 'developments in the region,' while the US embassy and other foreign missions warned their citizens to shelter in place. Israeli strikes on Iran have killed more than 400 people, Iran's health ministry has said. Twenty-four people have died in Iran's attacks on Israel, according to official figures. After a day of tit-for-tat missile launches between Israel and Iran, the Israeli army called around midnight for residents in part of central Tehran to evacuate, saying it was 'targeting the Iranian regime's military infrastructure.' ceasefire donald trump Iran Israel
