GENEVA, March 4 (Reuters) - A committee of UN experts said on Wednesday it was "deeply disturbed" by the deaths of children amid escalating violence across the Middle East, particularly the bombing of
UN 'deeply disturbed' by strike on Iran school that killed 160 children
By Olivia Le Poidevin
UN Response and International Reactions to Iran School Bombing
Details of the Incident
GENEVA, March 4 (Reuters) - A United Nations panel of experts said on Wednesday it was "deeply disturbed" by the deaths of children, after the bombing of the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' school in southern Iran, which it said killed more than 160 children, citing reports.
The school in Minab was hit on Saturday, the first day of U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran.
Statements from the United States and Israel
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that the country's forces "would not deliberately target a school".
Israel has said it is investigating the incident.
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child's Position
Concerns Over Civilian Infrastructure
"The Committee is alarmed by reports of strikes on civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, which have injured and traumatised children, and claimed many young lives," the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child said in a statement.
Protection of Children in Conflict
Children must be protected from war, the committee added.
About the Committee
The U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child is a body of 18 independent experts that monitors implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which protects children’s rights to education and safeguards them from violence.
Calls for Investigation and Accountability
UN Human Rights Office Appeal
On Tuesday, the U.N. human rights office urged what it called "the forces behind a deadly attack on a girls' school in Iran" to investigate and share insights into the incident, without saying who it believed was responsible.
Iran's Response
Iran's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, had raised the issue with U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk in a March 1 letter, calling the attack "unjustifiable" and "criminal".
(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin, additional reporting by Emma Farge, editing by Kirsti Knolle and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
