9 March 2010 - Child Rights at the Human Rights Council 58
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Side event on national violence strategies [news]
A side event at the 13th Council session tackled the issue of violence against children, with delegates discussing the publication and implementation of the Council of Europe’s new Council of Europe Policy guidelines on integrated national strategies for the protection of children from violence.
Hannu Himanen, Permanent Representative of Finland to the United Nations Office, began the event by quoting the 2006 UN Study on Violence Against Children, which emphasised that action on violence requires an integrated plan. He said: “A piecemeal approach does not do the job.”
"For example", he said, "in Finland, my country, the governement banned corporal punishment in 1984. This was an important step, but still it occurs. A recent study showed that one quarter of Finish adults accept the notion of corporal punishment.”
Mr Himanen said that a quote from Thomas Hammerberg, Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe, at the 20th CRC anniversary conference, had stayed with him. Mr Hammerberg said: “It is paradoxical and an affront to humanity that the smallest and most vulnerable people should have less protection from assault than adults.”
Lothar Friedrich Krappmann, of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, said: “The adoption of these guidelines is a significant step in the protection of violence against children.”
He went on to emphasise that: “No violence against children is acceptable. All violence against children is preventable.” Mr Krappmann said this was not limited to physical violence, but also mental abuse.
He said there had not been enough coordination between different initiatives, programmes and policies. "These guidelines affect more than 200 million children," he added.
Marta Santos Pais, Special Representative to the Secretary General on Violence Against Children, also presented at the event. She said: “Regional organisations such as the Council of Europe can have a huge influence in regional implementation of standards, and aid cross fertilisation.”
The Council has been very influential in promoting a regional platform, she continued. In 2010, many countries have not adopted a violence strategy, even though the UN Study on Violence Against Children stated all countries should adopt a strategy by 2007. This should also include laying down markers for implementation. These European guidelines help to address some of these requirements and are relevant everywhere, she added.
She said: “I believe that promoting the dissemination of these guidelines will help us move forward on implementing the UN Study’s recommendations, and could provide a good framework in countries all over the world.”
Lioubov Samokhina, Head of the Children’s Rights Policies Division at the Council of Europe, spoke about the development of the guidelines, and the approach taken in the drafting process. “The main objective of the guideline is to promote a culture of respect for the rights of children, and to stimulate change in the attitude towards children and childhood,” she said. The main aim of the guidelines, she added, was to encourage States to develop a multi-faceted and systematic framework.
Idália Moniz, Secretary of State for Disability, Portugal, spoke of her country’s efforts to adopt an integrated and model strategy. She emphasised the importance of redefining budgets. Portuguese criminal law was changed in 2007 to outlaw all forms of corporal punishment. Cooperation is needed on all levels, from local researchers to policy and decision makers, she said.
NGO role
Peter Newell, of the NGO Advisory Council on Violence Against Children, spoke of the role of the non-governmental sector.
He said: “We are speaking about all violence, however slight. There is an adult tendency to draw a line between so-called softer forms of violence.”
He said the biggest role for NGOs was advocacy. “I think these guidelines are an advocacy tool of great value,” he added.
Mr Newell said there is still a long way to go, within the Council of Europe, and everywhere else. Mechanisms are still not being used to promote an end to all violence against children, and no country can claim to have an effective strategy against violence against children when some forms of punishment are still legally endorsed.
Twenty seven of the 47 Member States have still not prohibited all forms of violence against children, and in many countries corporal punishment is still permitted in institutions such as care homes. It is inconceivable that States would defend legalised violence towards any other groups, such as women, people with disabilities or elderly people, Mr Newell said.
Retrospective research studies interviewing young adults about their childhood show many had experienced sexual assault and other forms of violence, but they did not report it, in part because of a mistrust of social services. He said: “Proper child protection systems must involve children being systematically invited to give their views on such systems.”
Mr Newell said it was important that, while it is usually NGOs that facilitate child participation for government programmes and policy, it should really be governments themselves that are involving children directly.
“It is fine for NGOs to provide demonstration and pilot projects, but in doing so it is important we are not colluding with governments in their failure to fulfil their obligations,” he said.
A change in attitudes requries long-term campaigning. Mr Newell also mentioned how some church and faith groups were embracing an approach against violence, while evidence of abuse in such institutions is becoming more publicly acknowledged.
He said he felt conspiracy laws should be used against those groups that attempt to cover up evidence of sexual exploitation and other forms of violence towards children.
During the discussion following the presentations, a delegate asked if there had been any positive examples of the international dissemination of the guidelines. Ms Samokhina spoke of plans to organise events on the guidelines, inviting international representatives from a range of countries and organisations.
Mr Krappmann said it is “such a hard job” to eradicate violence against children, and that it is “not just the job of European States, but of all States.”
Ms Santos Pais noted that international cooperation was also essential in respect of the migration of children.
About the guidelines
In line with the recommendations of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child and of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Study on Violence against Children, these guidelines were developed to promote the development and implementation of a holistic national framework to safeguard the rights of the child and to eradicate violence against children.
The guidelines are based on eight general principles (protection against violence, the right to life and maximum survival and development, non-discrimination, gender equality, child participation, a state’s obligations, other actors’ obligations and participation, best interests of the child) and four operative principles (multidimensional nature of violence, integrated approach, cross- sectoral co-operation, multi stakeholder approach). These have been mainstreamed throughout, including into sections on integrated national, regional and local action; education and awareness-raising measures; legal, policy and institutional frameworks; research and data collection.
Further information
For more information, contact:
Council of Europe
Building a Europe for and with children, DG III- Social Cohesion / Council of Europe, B Building - Office B137, F - 67075 Strasbourg Cedex
Tel: +33 3 88 41 22 62; Fax: +33 3 90 21 52 85
Email: children@coe.int
Website: www.coe.int/children
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=22119
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Interview with Marta Santos Pais [news]
Marta Santos Pais, 58, was appointed to the position of Special Representative to the Secretary General on Violence Against Children in May 2009. Before taking up the post, she held the position of Executive Director of the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, based in Florence, Italy. Previously, she has worked behind scenes on the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child and has also served as Vice-Chair of the Coordinating Committee on Childhood Policies of the Council of Europe.
How has it gone so far?
I have been encouraged by my time so far because I have seen a lot of international commitment to the issue – both the agenda and the follow-up, as well as the recommendations of the UN Study on Violence Against Children.
What are your priorities in the coming years?
I have three main aims. One, to see the development of national strategies to address violence against children. Two, to see the introduction of legislation to prohibit all forms of corporal punishment of children. And three, to see the development of robust data systems so that this data can be used to overcome any gaps that exist.
When I speak about these things there is very wide and strong support for them. That is not to say that this will be easy, or that it will happen overnight, but I have to be confident.
What do you think is special about the role? Do you think you have the power to make a difference?
I think that the role has unique potential because its grounded in human rights principles, and these are principles that governments have already committed themselves to. My role can help bring together people, communities and agencies that are not talking to each other. I am also able to speak to people at the political level, and talk about good practices.
Is it turning out how you expected?
I hope that the role will become more active and enabled. A lot of time has been taken up so far on getting a team together, getting funding and so on, so I hope that once all this is achieved I can concentrate more on the substantive issues. I’m still in the first six months, so I expect this to happen.
What specific subjects are you planning to address?
I am planning to investigate the impact of HIV/AIDS on violence, as a result of stigma and discrimination – both for those children infected with HIV, and also for the children of family members infected. Children on the move is another focus area, for example those who move with families and also those left behind. Often, just not speaking the language means that such children are confronted with stigma and discrimination.
Thirdly, the impact of technologies. There was the example just last week in my native country of Portugal when a young boy threw himself into a river because of bullying. He has not been found. The issue of, for example, bullying of children with disabilities being recorded on mobile phones, or the rape of girls, is under-researched. But it is important also to look at the positive sides of new technologies, not just the negative.
I will also be looking at violence in sport, because although these subjects have been investigated separately, they have not so much together. For example, with the football World Cup coming up, we are wary of cases of children being brought into situations of violence and abuse, such as sexual exploitation.
What do you hope to have achieved by the end of your mandate?
I hope that the mandate will be renewed when it ends in 2012, but before then I hope to be able to celebrate gains in lots of areas. For example, I would hope that three times as many countries will have prohibited all forms of corporal punishment. I also want countries to have adopted national strategies on violence against children. I do not necessarily expect them to be perfect, but it would offer a good grounding to build on. I also hope there will be better data collection and monitoring, so that all the issues are recognised and can be dealt with.
I would also hope, that by 2012, there will be already a follow-up plan in place for the subsequent years.
What has particularly moved you during your experiences in the role so far?
I am always moved by children’s voices, and how much children experience violence in their daily lives, and how they are excluded and do not have their voices taken seriously. Only last week, a child told me how he felt useless in society. On the other hand, I have also been amazed by the resourcefulness of children in dealing with challenges.
Further information
For more information, contact:
Child Rights Information Network
East Studio, 2 Pontypool Place, London, SE1 8QF
Tel: +44 (0)207 401 2257
Email: info@crin.org
Website: www.crin.org
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=22120
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NGO statements
Read NGO written statements to the 13th session: http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/sdpage_e.aspx?b=10&se=104&t=7
This oral statement, by Defence for Children International Palestine, was read out during Monday's plenary session debating Manfred Nowak's report on torture.
And this oral statement, by OMCT and relating to torture in Uruguay, was also read out during the same session.
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News in brief
Plenary: A debate, or ‘clustered interactive dialogue’, took place to discuss the reports of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Representative of the Secretary General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons. For a detailed account of the plenary (full) sessions, visit the International Service for Human Rights here: http://www.ishr.ch/publications
**Coming up tomorrow** A full day of business will be devoted to the rights of the child.
We also expect to be reporting from a side event on sexual violence. Visit: http://www.crin.org/violence/search/closeup.asp?infoID=22094
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