CRINmail 172
In this issue:
After months of speculation, Saudi Arabia has finally been included in the blacklist of parties to conflict who have committed grave violations of children’s rights. Presented to the Security Council, the much awaited annual report of Secretary-General (SG) on children and armed conflict reveals the widespread violations that children have faced during 2016 at the hands of parties to armed conflicts, both from government forces as well as non-State armed groups. According to Reuters who has seen the report, the list of shame includes, among others, the Saudi Arabia-led coalition for the attacks that have killed hundreds of Yemeni children, the Iran-allied Houthi rebel group, Yemen government forces, pro-government militia and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG), Virginia Gamba, said in a press release that children from countries such as Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen, suffer an unacceptable level of violations, with at least 4,000 verified violations committed by Government Forces and over 11,500 by non-State armed groups. In Yemen alone, at least 1,340 children were killed or maimed and at least 1,299 children suffered the same in Syria. The report also documents 851 verified cases (more than double the number in 2015) of children recruited to be soldiers in Syria, and 1,915 in Somalia in 2016.
However, this year, the annexes of the report, which consist in the so-called blacklist, also include parties that have put in place measures to improve protection of children during the reporting period and those who have not implemented adequate measures. According to Gamba, Saudi-Arabia has created a child protection unit at the coalition headquarters to reduce the impact of conflict on children and is thus listed accordingly.
The UN Secretary-General (SG) convened a High-Level Meeting on combating sexual exploitation and abuse appointing Jane Connors as the UN’s Victims’ Rights Advocate. The role of the Victims' Rights Advocate will be to develop system-wide mechanisms and policies to promote reliable gender- and child-sensitive processes for victims and witnesses to file complaints. In her address, Ms. Connors presented a two-pronged approach of identifying ways to prevent abuses and, should they occur, “to protect the human rights and dignity of the victims.” António Guterres also announced the creation of a 'Circle of Leadership' for Governments to demonstrate resolve and commitment at the highest political level to eradicate sexual exploitation and abuse. He also announced he will establish an Advisory Board of external experts and representatives from civil society to act as a “critical interface” between communities and the UN.
Meanwhile, the UN has again been accused of mishandling allegations of sexual misconduct against peacekeepers in the Central African Republic (CAR). Internal documents on 14 cases were leaked to the Code Bluecampaign which showed how cases were repeatedly mishandled and botched by UN authorities. Read more here.
Speaking at a ministerial event held by the UN LGBTI Core Group, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (HC) called on governments to set up the necessary protections to keep LGBTI people safe from harm. He stated individuals should be free to choose who they love. He called on Governments to outlaw discrimination, tackle hate crime and the bullying so frequent in schools, and to protect intersex children from harm – including by banning medically unnecessary surgery on intersex infants. He noted that the onus had to be on governments to protect and respect rights – and explained to the public why these measures were needed.
The elections for membership of the HRC will take place on 20 October. The GA will elect 15 new members, whose term will start in 2018.
The candidates are:
- African group (4 seats available): Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria and Senegal
- Asia-Pacific group (4 seats available): Afghanistan, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan and Qatar
- Eastern Europe group (2 seats available): Slovakia and Ukraine
- Latin American and Caribbean group (3 seats available): Chile, Mexico and Peru
- Western European and others group (2 seats available): Australia and Spain.
Unfortunately, in this year's elections, there will be no scrutiny and the elections themselves will do nothing to raise membership standards as four groups out of the five regional blocs represented will not face any competition.
However, in preparation of these elections, States candidates participated in two simultaneous events in New-York and Geneva to present their vision for Council membership and to respond to questions from member States and civil society organisations.
Only a few countries made specific commitments towards children’s rights: Afghanistan announced the establishment of ‘children’s protection units’ in different regions of the country to prevent their recruitment into armed forces; Angola stressed the particular attention to be given on implementing the strategy for the prevention and combating violence against children and universalisation of birth registration; Australia committed to ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment by the end of 2017; Chile was considering draft legislation for the creation of an ombudsperson for children's rights; Pakistan highlighted the adoption of laws on the prohibition of violence and abuse against children and the increase of the age of criminal responsibility.
For more information consult the yourhrc.org webpage. Also see the “scorecards” that ISHR has published for each of the candidates.
For more information about the current GA' s session:
- programme of work
- resolutions
- summaries of the meetings
- homepage of the General Assembly website.
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Following the panel discussion that took place during the June session, a resolution adopted without a vote, urged States “to give primary consideration at all times to the best interests of the child, particularly with regard to children in transit or crossing borders, and when formulating policies on integration, return or family reunification. It also called on States to carry out individualised, comprehensive best-interest assessments to identify the protection needs of migrant children and adolescents, particularly unaccompanied and separated children”.
The HRC had before it the report of OHCHR as well as the final report of the Council Advisory Committee. In its report, the Advisory Committee looked at age determination procedures across the European Union, which it found “frequently intrusive and unreliable” and “carried out routinely, without respect for the dignity or rights of the child, and contrary to the principle that it should be a last resort”.
Presenting two reports to the HRC, one on guidelines to good practicesand a report on his mission to the UK, Baskut Tuncak, the Special Rapporteur (SR) on toxics and human rights, warned that exposure to pollution and toxic chemicals through air, water, food, and consumer products was estimated to be the leading cause of death and disease worldwide. He said the rights of children remained at grave risk, with States having a duty to prevent childhood exposure to toxic pollution. The guidelines to good practices which he presented highlighted how States can tailor their laws, policies and practices to their own unique circumstances.
In a resolution on the mandate of the SR, adopted without a vote, the HRC decided to extend the mandate for three years. The SR is requested to update the guide to good practices by the end of his mandate. He should also investigate national, regional and international efforts in respect of the Sustainable Development Goals and undertake thematic research on the effective implementation of the 2030 Agenda.
Kate Gilmore, the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, said many indigenous children continue to live on the margins, deprived of opportunity, esteem and protection. Infant and maternal mortality, alcohol and substance abuse remained high, she said; their access to education, employment and healthcare persistently low. Much of that suffering, she explained, stemmed from the deeply rooted trauma of forced assimilation.
During the interactive dialogue on the rights of indigenous people, the SR on indigenous peoples, Victoria Tauli Corpuz, presented a report on her visit to Australia highlighting the massive violations of indigenous children who had been tortured in detention, hooded, gassed, held in solitary confinement, subject to forced strip searches, and been subjected to other degrading treatment. (Read more here)
In the resolution adopted without a vote, the HRC decided that the theme for next year panel discussion will be on the means of participation for and the inclusion of indigenous peoples in the development of strategies and projects, and the implementation of those projects in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and related Goals.
A resolution on human rights in the administration of justice, including juvenile justice, adopted without a vote, reaffirmed the principles that should apply to the detention of children: best interests of the child as a primary consideration in all decisions; measure of last resort, for the shortest appropriate period of time, and with a periodic review of its continuing necessity and appropriateness; and the avoidance of pretrial detention for children whenever possible. Were also recalled the recommendation of the Committee on the Rights of the Child to States to increase their lower minimum age of criminal responsibility as well as the principle that no capital punishment nor life imprisonment should be imposed for offences committed by persons under 18 years of age.
An OHCHR report on human rights in the administration of justice, in particular on violence, death and serious injury in situations of deprivation of liberty, shall be presented to the HRC at its 42nd session.
The Commission of inquiry on the situation in Syria stressed how children throughout the country remain victimised on multiple grounds, and continue to be denied the protection to which they are entitled under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Syria is party. Syrian children suffer as a consequence of attacks against civilians, lack of access to education. The Commission highlighted attacks against schools which violate the right to education and undermine the future potential for Syrian children to participate fully in their communities. The Commission finally noted numerous allegations of children being recruited, being placed in training camps and, in some cases, being sent to active front lines.
A resolution, adopted by a vote of 27 in favour, seven against, and 13 abstentions, requests the HRC to convene a high-level panel discussion on violations of the human rights of children in the Syrian Arab Republic at its next session in March.
The HC has been tasked to set up a “Group of Eminent International and Regional Experts” to monitor and report on the situation of human rights in Yemen. It will carry out a comprehensive examination of all alleged violations and abuses committed by all parties to the conflict since September 2014. The experts should be appointed before the end of 2017 and will have to report back on their findings in September 2018.
The Independent Expert (IE) on the situation in Central African Republic noted in his report that thousands of children have been re-recruited into armed groups after two years of efforts to reintegrate them into their communities of origin. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that from 4,000 to 5,000 children still belong to armed groups. Reportedly, only half of the 9,000 former child soldiers have benefited from reintegration programmes and the IE reported that children have continued to be used as combatants, guards, human shields, porters, messengers, spies, domestic workers or sex slaves. The issues of witchcraft and charlatanism were also addressed with many of those accused being women and children who often end up in prison.
The HC’s report on cooperation with Georgia noted that children of Georgian ethnic origin have been facing limitations on exercising the right to receive education in their native language or are unable to do so in certain regions, unlike children from Armenian or Russian ethnic backgrounds. The report also noted cases of long-term deprivation of liberty in Abkhazia and South Ossetia which were cited by various sources. Detainees, including children, would not be provided with water and food for several hours, and that dozens were placed in the same room regardless of their sex and age. Children were reportedly deprived of liberty mainly to secure the payment of fines.
The report of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan explored the scale of recruitment of children into armed groups and forces in the conflict in South Sudan. UNICEF estimates that 17,000 children have been recruited as child soldiers since December 2013, mostly by opposition and self-protection forces, while 1,300 children were recruited in 2016 by the Government and their militia allies. The report also highlighted that 1,130 children had been sexually assaulted since 2013, while 2,342 had been killed or maimed. As shocking as these numbers may be, the Commission noted that they probably underestimate the actual extent of grave violations endured by children.
More information about the HRC September session:
- programme of work,
- reports for the session,
- summaries of the meetings.
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A new report, ‘Harrowing journeys’, launched by UNICEF and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) explores the risks of abuse, trafficking and exploitation that children migrating to Europe are exposed to. The research found children are at greater risk than adults and the Central Mediterranean route to Italy is the most dangerous route a child can take to Europe. The report recommends EU authorities set up “legal migration pathways” for children to reach the continent and to end the detention of children for immigration purposes.
According to a new UNICEF report, 27 million children of primary and lower secondary school age are out of school in 24 conflict-affected countries. The report also highlights the unique risks that adolescent girls on the move face to become victims of sexual and gender-based violence. “Finding ways to provide education for uprooted children will require funding, creativity and commitment. Together, we can, and must, find solutions so every child can go to school and learn. Children’s futures – and our own – depend on it,” said UNICEF presenting the report.
More specifically on refugee children, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) found in a new report, “Left Behind: Refugee Education in Crisis”, that 3.5 million refugee children did not have the chance to attend school in the last academic year. “The education of these young people is crucial to the peaceful and sustainable development of the countries that have welcomed them, and to their homes when they are able to return” said High Commissioner Filippo Grandi in a news release.
Speaking ahead of International Safe Abortion Day, a group of UN human rights experts called on States across the world to repeal laws that criminalise and unduly restrict abortion and which perpetuate stigma and discrimination, and infringe women’s dignity and bodily integrity. Highlighting in particular the situation of girls and adolescents who may face additional restrictions to their access to care, the experts called for 28 September to become an official UN day for safe abortion worldwide.
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Concluding his visit to Mongolia, the SR on human rights and the environment, John Knox, stated that air pollution is interfering with the rights to life and health, causing respiratory and cardiopulmonary illnesses that lead to premature mortality, with children being particularly at risk. In 2016, UNICEF estimated that over 400 children under the age of five were dying every year in the city of Ulaanbaatar as a result of pneumonia related to air pollution. In addition, exposure to air pollution in childhood can result in long-term health problems, including lung cancer and cardiovascular disease. The SR also highlighted the issue of the environmental impact of gold mining in Mongolia, including dust clouds causing respiratory illnesses, wells drying and pasture lands for herders being greatly decreased. Children were also found to be playing near unguarded and dangerous open pits.
Seven UN experts have joined together to call on the Government of Myanmar to stop all violence against the minority Muslim Rohingyacommunity and halt the ongoing persecution and serious human rights violations which the HC has described as an apparent textbook example of ethnic cleansing. “There have been credible allegations of serious human rights violations and abuses committed against the Rohingya, including extrajudicial killings, excessive use of force, torture and ill-treatment, sexual and gender-based violence, and forced displacement, as well as the burning and destruction of over 200 Rohingya villages and tens of thousands of homes,” the experts said. An estimated 430,000 people, mostly women and children have reportedly crossed into Bangladesh in the past few weeks trying to escape violent persecution in Myanmar. Reports have also surfaced of children being beheaded, civilians being burned alive and homes being torched by soldiers.
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and the Committee on the Rights of the Child have also called on the Myanmar authorities to immediately stop violence in northern Rakhine State which may amount to crimes against humanity. To ensure full accountability, the Committees also called on the Government to grant access to and fully cooperate with the fact-finding mission established by the UN Human Rights Council, so it can conduct a thorough and independent investigation.
Transparency
The UN commissioned and then “suppressed” a report that criticised its strategy in Myanmar and warned it was ill-prepared to deal with the impending Rohingya crisis, according to insider sources. The report offered a highly critical analysis of the UN’s approach and accurately predicted a “serious deterioration” in the six months following its submission and urged the UN to undertake “serious contingency planning”. The report was commissioned by Renata Lok-Dessallien, the UN resident coordinator and the organisation’s most senior figure in Myanmar and made 16 recommendations. However, sources within the UN and humanitarian community claimed the recommendations were ignored and the report was suppressed. A source said the paper was not circulated among UN and aid agencies “because Renata didn’t like the analysis”.
The SR on the rights of persons with disabilities reported that despite showing a strong commitment to advancing the rights of persons with disabilities, Kazakhstan has yet to make progress in providing inclusive education, with only 32,125 out of 96,555 children with “special educational needs” receiving education in mainstream schools. SR Catalina Devandas-Aguilar found parents ashamed of their children’s disability and some parents of children without disabilities opposed to them sitting alongside children with disabilities. Health professionals were also found to be encouraging parents of new-born children with disabilities to place them in institutions. The SR also received worrisome allegations of violence, abuse and degrading treatment against persons placed in those institutions, particularly girls and women with disabilities.
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The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) held its 18th session in August and reviewed the compliance of six countries with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities:
Latvia: the Committee expressed concerns about the continued institutionalisation of children with disabilities in long-term care centres due to low provision of family and community-based services for children of all ages and impairments, as well as for their families; and about the alleged high rate of domestic violence perpetrated against children with disabilities.
Luxembourg: the Committee was concerned that children with disabilities do not systematically participate in decision-making that affects their lives and that they lack opportunities to express their opinion on matters pertaining to them directly, including in administrative and judicial procedures.
Montenegro: the Committee expressed concerns over the institutionalisation of children, including in so-called day-care centres, despite the prohibition against placing children with disabilities under 3 years of age in institutions. The Committee found early identification and intervention services largely insufficient, particularly at the local level, as well as the support provided to parents of children with disabilities.
Morocco: the Committee was concerned about reported violence against, abuse of and use of corporal punishment on children with disabilities, including abandoned children with disabilities, in the home, in alternative care and day-care settings and in schools. It also expressed concern about the lack of effective representation of children with disabilities in national discourse, especially in the national parliament and congresses, and the lack of opportunity for these children to express their views, especially on matters that concern them.
United Kingdom: the Committee was concerned about the continued use of physical, mechanical and chemical restraint on persons with disabilities, which affects persons with psychosocial disabilities in prisons, the youth justice system, health-care and education settings, as well as practices of segregation and seclusion. It also expressed concern that persons with disabilities, including women, intersex persons, girls and boys, reportedly continue to be subjected to involuntary medical treatment, including forced sterilisation and “conversion surgeries”.
The concluding observations for Panama are not yet available in English.
During the session, the CRPD also adopted a new general comment on the right to independent living (art. 19). The text of the general comment No. 5 is not yet available on OHCHR website, but according to Disability Rights International, it states that every child has a right to grow up in a family, not in an institution or group home. See CRIN's submission here.
The Committee against Torture (CAT) held its 61st session in July and August and reviewed the compliance of four countries with the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment:
Ireland: looking at conditions of detention and at inter-prisoner violence in the State, the Committee was concerned at the reported placement of juveniles presenting disciplinary issues for weeks in “single separation”, which may amount to solitary confinement.
Antigua and Barbuda: the Committee was concerned that the minimum age of criminal responsibility was 8 years old and that the only alternative to conviction and imprisonment of juveniles is probation; it also expressed concerns at reports that juveniles were not detained separately from adults.
The concluding observations for Panama and Paraguay are not yet available in English.
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) held its 93rd session in August and reviewed the compliance of eight countries with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination:
Canada: the Committee was concerned that migrant children were being detained and urged the State party to immediately end such practice. The Committee also expressed concern at the reported disparity in resource allocation for education and the lack of sufficient funding of mother tongue education programmes, leading to unequal access to quality education, especially for African-Canadian and indigenous children.
Djibouti: the Committee was particularly concerned about harmful practices such as early marriage and female genital mutilation, which continue despite being prohibited under the Family Code and the Criminal Code, respectively. It also expressed concerns about reports of violence against women and children in refugee camps and about the trafficking of foreign women and children.
Ecuador: the Committee was concerned by the administrative barriers many migrants, including asylum seekers and refugees, face in accessing health care, education, employment and family support programme. It also expressed concern about the discrimination against and bullying of children in school on account of their nationality or refugee status, which in many cases leads to them dropping out.
Kuwait: expressing concern at the situation of ‘Bidoon’ who are deemed “illegal residents”, despite the fact that some of them have lived in Kuwait for generations, the Committee recommended the State party to guarantee access for all to adequate social services and education on an equal footing with nationals of Kuwait, and to provide in its next periodic report information on access to primary, secondary and tertiary education.
New-Zealand: the Committee was alarmed by the reported abuses of children in foster care or state institutions that were alleged to have included physical, sexual and emotional abuse. The reports focused on a period of approximately 40 years, during which as many as 100,000 children were in care, the majority of whom were Maori children.
Russian Federation: the Committee remained concerned that Roma continue to be discriminated against, and particularly about the persistence of de facto segregation in education faced by Roma children, combined with very low education outcomes and school completion rates, especially at the secondary school level.
Tajikistan: the Committee, while noting the efforts undertaken by the State party to combat human trafficking and assist victims, remained concerned that Tajikistan continues to be a source of trafficking in women and children, in particular those from vulnerable groups, including minorities, refugees and asylum seekers.
United Arab Emirates: while welcoming that a 2011 royal directive allows citizenship to be granted to children of female citizens married to foreigners, the Committee regretted that citizenship cannot be granted until the child reaches the age of 18.
Call for inputs for the OHCHR report on Sustainable Development Goals and Health: deadline 16 October.
Call for inputs for the report of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee on the negative effects of terrorism on the enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, pursuant to the Human Rights Council resolution 34/8: deadline 27 October.
Call for inputs for the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing on human rights-based housing strategies to realise the right to housing and to fulfil commitments made in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the New Urban Agenda: deadline 30 October.
Call for inputs for the OHCHR report on best practices and specific measures to ensure access to birth registration, particularly for those children most at risk: deadline 31 October.
Call for inputs for the report of High Commissioner on "Civil society space in multilateral institutions": deadline extended to 31 October.
Call for inputs for the report of the UN Secretary-General on child, early and forced marriage, pursuant to the UN General Assembly resolution 71/175: deadline 3 November.
Call for inputs for the OHCHR report on engaging men and boys in preventing and responding to violence against all women and girls, pursuant to the Human Rights Council resolution 35/10: deadline 3 November 2017.
Call for comments from the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on the draft General Comment on the right of persons with disabilities to equality and non-discrimination (article 5): deadline 15 November.
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: 30 October for the review of Algeria, Australia, Belarus, Jordan, Serbia and Slovakia.
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THE LAST WORD
Children’s rights at stake around the world
“ In the first three years of my current term, the world has grown darker and dangerous. My vision for the work of my Office has become more determined, drawing even more deeply on the lessons which come to us from our forbears: human rights principles are the only way to avoid global war and profound misery and deprivation.”
These are the closing words of the High Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein in his address to the 36th Human Rights Council (HRC). In his statement, he highlighted the multiple human rights concerns around the world, including a number of children's rights issues in Pakistan, Yemen, Syria and in the Philippines. The HC also addressed the issue of the death penalty, noting that Iran has highest rate of executions per capita. At least four children have been executed this year, and at least 89 children remain on death row in the country. The HC then raised a number of children's rights concerns in migration. This included the situation of asylum-seekers in Hungary where children in migration are automatically and unlawfully detained for long periods, and he called on all States to ensure the safety of NGOs working on saving refugees at sea. Finally, the HC expressed concern with the US decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme, despite evidence of its positive impact on the lives of almost 800,000 young immigrants.
On a more positive note, the HC also highlighted that North Korea has recently submitted a report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, and has ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and supported the visit of the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities earlier this year; “these signs of engagement with the mechanisms and treaty bodies are positive steps forward, and I hope to see others”, he added..
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