CRINMAIL 80:

Daily CRINMAIL: 5 March

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A Day in Children's Rights: 5 March

Welcome to the first of this week's special daily CRINMAIL on children's rights at the 19th Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, from where CRIN will be reporting.

If you missed our previous CRINMAIL covering the opening week of the session, click here. 

And for full information on the 19th session and how you can participate, click here.
 

Human Rights Defenders

Presenting her annual report to the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, focused on the specific risks and challenges faced by selected groups of defenders, including youth and student protesters.

'Troublemakers'

Sekaggya said: “I am concerned about the general perception of youth in society, which is also conveyed by established media outlets. Youth student protestors are seen as troublemakers rather than groups that can contribute to constructive debate.”

She registered concerns about recent trends seen in several countries, where legislation has been passed prohibiting young people from participating in public assemblies, as well as other legislative moves, such as blocking access to the Internet.

Read what States had to say on the issue here.

Protecting journalists

The issue of protecting journalists dominated a side-event organised by the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR). A journalist from Brazil spoke about the judicial and political pressure against journailsts, citing examples from various South American countries where journalists had been threatened, including in Chile, by the special police. He said "the wider civil society has a role to play in pressuring govenments to protect the rights of journalists.”

Discussions took place on whether there was a need for a new convention on protecting journalists, or whether existing mechanisms needed to be strengthened.

Torture

The Special Rapporteur on Torture, Juan E. Mendez, said that he hoped his report, which focused on commissions of inquiry into torture, would encourage the establishment of more of such commissions, saying that they "can be a powerful tool [and] can play a complimentary role with other mechanisms.”

Solitary confinement

Mr Mendez also said that solitary confinement is on the rise around the world, and stressed that the measure "is harsh... and should only be used in exceptional circumstances.” He added that "indefinite solitary confinement is of particular concern to me.”

Read what States had to say on the issue here.

Detention and alternative measures

In a side event organised by Defence for Children International [DCI], Mr Marcos Guillen of DCI Latin America stressed the importance of child participation in the process of selecting alternative measures to detention. He said: "Measures must be taken to ensure that adolescents are involved. In many cases, we are seeing more of an accusation and the child is not really involved in the process."

Mr Guillen also stressed the importance of the follow-up stage, that is after the child is released from detention, notably education and reintegration programmes. He described this area as complex and in need of more attention.  

Also, do not forget that this Thursday's annual discussion on the rights of the child is on 'Children and the Administration of Justice'!   

Tackling child malnutrition

During a side event organised by World Vision International and Save the Children, 'The right to nutrition: key to children's health and survival', the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier de Schutter, asserted that "we know what we need to do, but we are failing."

Mr de Schutter said that failure to tackle child malnutrition would not just have health consequences but also economic ones. He said a human rights-based approach must be adopted to tackle the issue, whereby the highest levels of government are aware of their legal obligations and are held accountable.

• Joint panel session with the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of religion or belief / Working Group on enforced and involuntary disappearances (continued from 5 March) 
• Joint panel session with the Working Group on arbitrary detention / Special Rapporteur on internally displaced persons.

Side Events:

• 11am, Room XXIV, "Solitary Confinement"
  Sponsors: American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Penal Reform International.
• 12pm, XXIII, "Human rights defenders in Latin America"
  Sponsors: International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
• 2pm, XI: "Ending Torture"
  Sponsor: Human Rights First

To view the full list of side events, visit CRIN's 19th session page here.