What is the UN “List of Shame” and why are Israel and Hamas on it?

The Israeli military and security forces, as well as the armed wings of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, have been added to the United Nations list of groups “that commit grave violations against children” during conflict, also known as the “list of shame.”

This list is annexed to the annual report of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on children and armed conflict.

The most recent report, which covers the period from January to December 2023, was made public on June 13.

The United Nations Security Council will debate the report’s findings on June 26.

“In 2023, violence against children in armed conflict has reached extreme levels, with a shocking 21% increase in serious violations,” the latest report says.

“The number of killings and mutilations has increased by a staggering 35%.

The 2024 report cites Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory as one of the regions with the highest number of verified “grave violations” against children.

The United Nations verified 5,698 violations attributed to Israeli armed and security forces, 116 to Hamas’ Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades and 21 to Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades.

The report states that the process of assigning 2,051 other established violations is still ongoing.

According to the UN report, checks were carried out:

• the killing of 2,267 Palestinian children, most in Gaza, between October 7 and December 31: “Most incidents were caused by the use of explosive weapons in populated areas by Israeli armed and security forces .
• 43 Israeli children were killed by live ammunition, most in Israel and during acts of terror on October 7,
• the abduction of 47 Israeli children by Hamas’ Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades and other Palestinian armed groups
• the detention of 906 Palestinian children for alleged security offenses by Israeli armed and security forces
• 371 attacks on schools and hospitals attributed to Israeli armed and security forces, Israeli settlers and unidentified perpetrators
• 17 attacks on schools and hospitals in Israel by Hamas’s Izz al-Din al-Qassam brigades, other Palestinian armed groups and unidentified perpetrators

Serious violations listed in the report also include the mutilation of children and the denial of access to humanitarian aid.

However, “the information reported does not represent the full extent of violations committed against children, given that access for observers remains difficult,” notes the UN.

In 2001, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1379 requested the UN Secretary-General to identify and list “parties to the conflict” that recruit and use children.

Since then, the list has been included in the UN Secretary-General’s annual report to the Security Council, which includes “trends in the impact of armed conflict on children and information on violations committed.”

The mandate of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, established in 1996, to report on the impact of armed conflict on children identifies six grave violations affecting children during conflict.

Five of these violations are automatically placed on the UN’s “list of shame” by any perpetrator who commits them:

• Recruitment and use of children
• Killing and mutilation of children
• Sexual violence against children
• Attack on schools and hospitals
• Child abduction

Another violation is the denial of humanitarian access to civilians, including children.

This practice is “prohibited by the Fourth Geneva Convention and its additional protocols and may constitute a crime against humanity and a war crime,” declares the UN.

The current list includes armed groups such as Boko Haram, the Islamic State and the Taliban.

Last year, the Russian Armed Forces were added to it.

While Hamas and Islamic Jihad have yet to comment on the recent UN report, Israel has attacked it as “immoral.”

On June 7, Courtenay Rattaray, chief of staff to the UN Secretary-General, informed Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan during a “courtesy call” that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would be included on the list.

This call is usually “granted to countries newly added to the list in order to warn them and avoid leaks,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

In response to the IDF’s listing, Mr. Erdan posted a video on social media of himself on the phone with Mr. Rattaray, during which he called the decision “immoral and will only help Hamas.

Mr. Dujarric then called the “partial broadcast” of the recording on “.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement saying the UN “has added itself to the blacklist of history by joining those who support the murderers of Hamas.”

“The Israeli army is the most moral army in the world; no crazy UN decision will change that,” he said in response to the list.

While Israel is being added to the list for the first time, the country has been identified in previous reports on children in armed conflict.

The previous report, published last year, stated that “524 children (517 Palestinians, 7 Israelis) were mutilated and 563 required medical assistance after inhaling tear gas fired by Israeli forces.”

Secretary-General Guterres has previously been heavily criticized by human rights organizations for failing to mention Israel in his previous reports.

“The inclusion of Israeli forces on the UN ‘list of shame’ is long overdue,” said Jo Becker, children’s rights advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, following the recent publication.

“The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas and the Al-Quds Brigades of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad also have their place on this list,” she added.

“It would not have taken 15,000 children to be killed in Gaza for Israel to appear on this shameful list,” Agnes Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International, wrote earlier this month.

The report aims to highlight the situation of children, but it is not legally binding.

Emanuela-Chiara Gillard, a research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict, told the BBC that “the main purpose of putting countries and entities on this list is to naming and shaming them – it has no immediate concrete legal consequences for the parties listed.”

“It may, however, have an impact on states’ decisions regarding arms transfers to Israel if they believe there are concerns about Israel’s compliance with the law, but it does not imply sanctions or embargoes.”

Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are already designated as terrorist organizations by Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries. As non-state actors, the reference to these organizations in the report “does not affect their legal status”, says the UN.

Ms Gillard maintains that listing has practical consequences – in terms of monitoring and reporting on children in armed conflict – as Israel and Hamas will come under greater scrutiny and could be cited in Security Council resolutions.

To be removed from the UN list, the organisations named in the UN report must engage in dialogue with the UN to develop and implement “action plans” to prevent further violations against children of the type cited.