Agence France-Presse
Fri Jun 22, 6:37 AM ET
Geneva - The United Nations children's fund on Friday denounced the neglect and abuse of children in a Baghdad orphanage as "totally unacceptable," urging Iraq's government to carry out a review of all children's care homes as soon as possible.
Iraqi and US forces last week uncovered grisly scenes of neglect and squalor in Baghdad's state-run Al-Hanan orphanage, with 24 boys aged between three and 15 years, some tied to cribs, others writhing in their own waste and some appearing, at first glance, to be dead.
The scenes were broadcast by the US television network CBS and sparked outrage worldwide.
"Even in a country overshadowed by daily scenes of violence, these images are truly shocking. Making children suffer in this way is totally unacceptable," said UNICEF's representative for Iraq, Roger Wright.
UNICEF welcomed the call by Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki for a national inquiry into orphanage conditions, but said an open monitoring system of all children's institutions is a top priority.
"I hope these terrible images from the Baghdad orphanange will spur us all on to do even more for Iraq's children," Wright said.
UNICEF spokeswoman Veronique Taveau told journalists in Geneva that the organisation had received no advance notification of the conditions in the orphanage from the US military.
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