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The UN Security Council held an emergency session on 28 August to discuss the crisis in eastern Ukraine, where fighting between government troops and pro-Russian rebels has escalated since April when the rebels established a self-proclaimed People’s Republic. T
According to Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, armed groups operating in the Donetsk region have reportedly intensified their activities over the last few days, spreading violence along Ukraine’s southern coast, towards the key strategic port of Mariupol.
“The international community cannot allow the situation to escalate further nor can a continuation be allowed of the violence and destruction that the conflict has wrought in eastern Ukraine,” said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s spokesperson.
According to a new report published by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), intense fighting, including the use of heavy weaponry by both sides, in densely populated areas of eastern Ukraine, has increased the loss of civilian life, with an average of around 36 people being killed every day. The report covers the period from 16 July to 17 August and expresses dismay at the killing and wounding of civilians who are trapped in urban areas or attempting to flee the fighting using “safe” corridors established by the Government.
Sunni militants in Iraq and Syria, led by the jihadist group, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant - now called the Islamic State (IS) - have been killing, kidnapping, and threatening religious and ethnic minorities since mid June. IS-led forces took control of a number of cities in Iraq in a rapid advance during the second week of June. Read a briefing on the Sunni-Shia’a conflict.
The UN Human Rights Council held a special session on Monday to discuss the ongoing crisis in Iraq. The Council urged an immediate end to the acts of violence and abuses committed against civilians in Iraq, particularly against children and people from various ethnic and religious communities.
During the session, the Council adopted a resolution requesting the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to urgently dispatch a mission to Iraq to investigate alleged violations and abuses committed by the IS and associated groups.
The 47-member body, based in Geneva, strongly condemned in particular all violence against persons based on their religious or ethnic affiliation, as well as violence against women and children.
“The effect of the ongoing conflict on the children of Iraq has been catastrophic,” said Flavia Pansieri, the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, noting that many have become direct victims of the conflict, while others have been subjected to physical and sexual abuse, whose scars may remain with them throughout their lives.
“Children belonging to ethnic and religious communities targeted by the IS have endured particularly extensive violations of their rights,” she added.
Leila Zerrougui, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, told the Council that the most reported violation by the IS was the killing and maiming of children: 693 child casualties have been reported since the beginning of the year.
There are also reports – both verified and as-yet unverified – of children, especially young boys, being executed by armed opposition groups, including the IS; of schools and hospitals being destroyed; and of young girls from minority groups being abducted for the purposes of sexual violence and forced marriage.
Earlier this month, the UN Security Council placed six individuals affiliated with the IS and Al-Nusra Front on its Al-Qaida sanctions list and threatened measures against those who support them with finance, recruitment or weapons.
An open-ended ceasefire to the conflict in Gaza was announced on 26 August. The UN estimates that the latest wave of violence, which started on 8 July, has killed 2,101 Palestinians, including 1,460 civilians, of whom 493 are children and 67 Israelis, including 64 soldiers and three civilians, in addition to forcing 475,000 Palestinians to seek refuge at UN facilities within Gaza.
The Human Rights Council has appointed members of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry to investigate human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territory, in particular the occupied Gaza Strip. The Commission was established following the resolution adopted during the Council’s special session on 23 July. The resolution called for the urgent dispatch of "an independent, international commission of inquiry" to investigate "all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, particularly in the occupied Gaza Strip".
The Committee on the Rights of the Child will meet in Geneva from 1 to 19 September 2014 to review the promotion and protection of children's rights under the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and its two Optional Protocols in five countries:
- Croatia: third to fourth periodic report.
- Fiji: second to fourth periodic report.
- Hungary: third to fifth periodic report and initial reports under the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict and the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.
- Morocco: third to fourth periodic report and initial report under the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict.
- Singapore: initial report under the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict.
- Venezuela: third to fifth periodic report and initial report under the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict and the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.
At the opening meeting, the Committee adopted its agenda and programme of work. In addition to considering reports of States parties, the Committee will also discuss the organisation of its future work and methods of work.
You can find all alternative reports on our website (which we post in collaboration with Child Rights Connect) and other official documents can be found on the Committee’s session page.
The Committee on the Rights of the Child will hold its 2014 Day of General Discussion on “Digital media and children’s rights”. The discussion will take place on Friday, 12 September 2014 at the Palais des Nations, Room XVII. The purpose of the day is to examine how digital media relate to children’s rights , and develop rights-based strategies to maximise online opportunities for children while protecting them from possible risks. All information can be found on the Day of General Discussion 2014 webpage.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, on 24 September, during its pre-sessional working group, the Committee on the Rights of the Child will dedicate a day to speaking with children from 16 countries. There will be four sessions during the day so that the Committee can speak to children in different time zones. The sessions will take place using Google+Hangout and will be broadcast live at the following link: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRC/Pages/CRC25thAnniversary.aspx.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is preparing a report for the Human Rights Council’s 2015 annual day on the rights of the child on the theme: "Towards better investment in the rights of the child.”
Civil society organisations are invited to contribute information on the main challenges related to the mobilisation, allocation and spending of resources for children. Submissions should not exceed five pages and should be sent to [email protected] by 3 October 2014.
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) held its 58th session between 30 June and 18 July. The Committee’s recommendations addressed the following children’s rights issues:
- The Central African Republic: Recommendations were made around children’s rights issues relating to access to social services, gender-based discrimination, trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and girls, harmful practices, enslaving indigenous people, lack of birth registration and education.
- Georgia: The Committee expressed concern that children are still subjected to various forms of harmful practices, trafficking and sexual exploitation, and their access to education and reproductive health care is restricted.
- India: The Committee expressed concerned about the escalation of sexual violence against girls, emphasising the need for legal reform to ensure access to justice for girls over 15 who have been raped by their husbands. Other issues raised included girls’ access to education, harmful practices, trafficking and sexual exploitation and barriers to birth registration.
- Lithuania: Recommendations were made around trafficking and sexual exploitation, gender stereotypes in schools and harmful practices.
- Mauritania: Children continue to suffer harmful practices and trafficking and sexual exploitation. The Committee also noted the persistence of factors causing girls’ to drop out of school such as early marriages, low quality of education, the lack of adequate infrastructure and roads to access schools in rural areas, and the engagement of girls and women in domestic tasks.
- Peru: Trafficking in adolescent girls for sexual or labour exploitation, the lack of birth registration, access to documentation of children in indigenous communities and the disparities in access to quality education among rural girls, were among recommendations made.
- Swaziland: Education, harmful practices, the high prevalence of violence against women and girls and trafficking and sexual exploitation, featured in the Committee’s recommendations
- Syria: The Committee expressed concern about the impact of the ongoing armed conflict on children, the perpetuation of harmful practices, trafficking and sexual exploitation, violence, the increase in the already high rates of girls dropping out from school, the lack of access to health-care and psychological services for women and girls victims of rape.
The full list of children’s rights issues raised in the Committee’s concluding observations will soon be available on CRIN’s website.
The Human Rights Committee concluded its 111th session on 25 July and considered the following children’s rights issues:
- Georgia: The number of cases of early marriage, corporal punishment, especially in the home, continues to be accepted and practised as a form of discipline by parents and guardians and juvenile offenders are still not dealt with in a separate juvenile justice system in accordance with their age, specific needs and level of vulnerability.
- Ireland: Violence against children in institutions, harmful practices, the failure to separate juvenile and adult prisoners and children’s lack of access to secular schools.
- Japan: Corporal punishment and indigenous people’s right to be educated in their language were the main children’s rights issues raised
- Malawi: Harmful practices against children, the high rate of teenage pregnancies, the age of criminal responsibility, access to education of minority groups, sexual abuse of children, child labour and street children.
- Sudan: Recruitment of children into armed forces, the low rate of birth registration and the authorisation of the death penalty for children.
- Chile - report not yet available in English.
The full list of children’s rights issues raised by the Committee’s concluding observations will soon be available on CRIN’s website.
- The Universal Periodic Review (UPR): 15 September 2014 for the review of Belarus, Liberia, Malawi, Mongolia, Panama, Maldives, Andorra, Bulgaria, Honduras, United States of America, Marshall Islands, Croatia, Jamaica and Libya.
- The Human Rights Committee: 12 September 2014 for the review of Burundi, Haiti, Israel, Malta, Montenegro and Sri Lanka.
- The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: 26 September 2014 for the review of Finland, Guatemala, Montenegro, Nepal, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Viet Nam
- The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women: 6 October 2014 for the review of Belgium, Brunei Darussalam, China, China (Hong Kong), China (Macau), Ghana, Guinea, Poland, Solomon Islands and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of).
- The Committee Against Torture: 17 October 2014 for the review of Australia, Burundi, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Sweden, Ukraine, United States of America and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of).
Closing
The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) questioned Morocco yesterday about its policy of privatising education and appeared to regret the absence of a satisfactory response from the government. The Committee reminded the Moroccan delegation that education is a public good guaranteed as such in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
For more information contact the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR):
Lucy Mc Kernan / [email protected] / +41 (0)79 103 7719
Sylvain Aubry / sylvain@globalinitiative-escr.org
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