CRINMAIL 83:
Daily CRINMAIL: 8 March
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A Day in Children's Rights: 8 March
Welcome to the fourth 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 is reporting. See also: DAY 1: 5 March / DAY 2: 6 March / DAY 3: 7 March.
Full details of the 19th session here.
Administration of justice
Today, States, NGOs and independent experts met for the Human Rights Council's 2012 day on the rights of the child under the theme 'children and the administration of justice'.
Public security paranoia
Opening the discussion, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, referred to how perceptions of worsening public security, which often justify the detention of children, are "not grounded on evidence but based on media reports of a few serious cases, influence political discourse and too often lead to the adoption of legislation on the treatment of young offenders that weaken children's rights."
Weighing the costs
The detention of children in some countries is often used as the first measure and not as the last resort, noted Ms Renate Winter, panellist and judge to the appeals Chamber of the Special Court for Sierra Leone. Ms Winter proceeded to make two of the most significant contributions of the day.
First, she reflected on how we use language that stigmatises child offenders and criminals and nothing more. And second, she demonstrated that custodial sentences is not only more expensive than diversion measures, but is also considerably less effective, with 80 per cent of children who were detained go on to re-offend after release.
Vulnerable groups
The Consortium for Street Children spoke out against the recent trend among many States to criminalise poverty by treating street children as criminals for begging or vagrancy, which are survival activities.
Other vulnerable groups to be mentioned include indigenous children in Australia, who are overrepresented in the country’s prison system.
Inhuman sentencing left out
There were a number of State delegations that when taking the floor failed to mention that child offenders can legally be sentenced to death, life imprisonment and/or corporal punishment in their respective countries, including Pakistan, Iran and Sudan.
Impact of detention
The International Juvenile Justice Observatory (IJJO) called attention to the high incidence of mental health problems in juveniles that come into contact with the justice system, as well as the discriminatory practice in some countries whereby adult offenders found to have a mental disability cannot be convicted of a crime, yet research shows that half to two-thirds of juveniles in detention suffer from prior mental health problems, far higher than that the adult population.
Conflicting laws
The panellist and human rights professor, Ms Connie de la Vega, referred to the problem of conflicting laws within federal systems, where states each have their own legislation. She noted that this occurs in India, Nigeria, and the United States, among others. In the case of inhuman sentencing of children in India, while life imprisonment for child offenders is unlawful under federal law, it is legal in Jammu and Kashmir. More on the issue here.
Read CRIN's full coverage of the day here.
Juvenile justice in Latin America
“Children in Latin America are detained indiscriminately, and not because they have committed an offence, but because of their appearance and race”, said child rights advocate Luis Pedernera, alluding the issue of police profiling, at an event on the administration of justice organised by Plan International.
On the problem of lengthy pre-trial detention of children, Mr Pedernera also highlighted that the distress produced by spending a period of time in detention is felt much more strongly by children than by adults, alluding to the special emotional needs of children and the need for family support during childhood and adolescence.
Meanwhile on the issue of media portrayal of children and adolescents, “when a crime is committed, children always end up on the front page of newspapers” and are identified as the perpetrators, condemned 15-year-old Rocio Peña, youth representative from El Salvador’s National Network of Children and Adolescents (RENAES).
Read more on the discussion at the event here.
Violence against children
In the continuation of yesterday's session, Slovenia and a number of other States backed the renewal of the mandate of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, Marta Santos Pais, which comes up for renewal at the General Assembly in September.
Germany continued the discussion on violence in schools, referring to a "culture of acceptance" and the worrying impact of this on children. Defence for Children International expressed concern that capital punishment, life imprisonment and flogging remain applicable to persons under 18 in several countries.
In her concluding remarks, Ms Pais urged States to develop national strategies on data collection to break the "invisibility of violence", to support law reform with mobilisation campaigns, and to include children in the decision-making process.
Sale of Children
Access to remedies and appeals and a better legislative framework are key to addressing violence against children during and after humanitarian crises, Ms. Najat Maalla M'JID, the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography said as she presented her report to the Council.
UNICEF referred to the campaign for universal ratification of the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, saying that "whilst the campaign is yielding important results, implementation is of course critical".
Coming up tomorrow
'The Domestic Workers Convention: Advancing human rights for millions of women and girls'
Organiser: Human Rights Watch
Time: 12-1.30pm
Room: XXII
'Children of incarcerated parents'
Organiser: Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO)
Time: 1-3pm
Room: XXIII
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