CRINmail 175
In this issue:
The fight to combat air pollution, climate change and resistance to antibiotics and other medications has been switched to a higher gear with the start of the new year: the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have agreed on a new collaboration to speed up efforts to curb environmental health risks.“Our health is directly related to the health of the environment we live in. Together, air, water and chemical hazards kill some 12.6 million people a year,” Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, pointed out.This agreement seeks to improve coordination between the two UN agencies on air quality, climate-related health risks, water quality, wastes and chemicals management. The collaboration also includes joint management of the BreatheLife advocacy campaign which aims to mobilise cities and individuals to protect health and the planet from the effects of air pollution. This new pledge follows the adoption in December at the UN Environment Assembly of a declaration on environment and health which called for greater collaboration between governments, the private sector, UN agencies, local communities and civil society and which adopted a raft of concrete measures to tackle pollution.
According to WHO, over 1.7 million children under the age of five died in 2012 from modifiable environmental factors, such as air pollution (over 500,000 deaths) and water contamination. This figure accounts for 26 per cent of the deaths of children under 5 years of age. Pollution is a major cause of premature death, disability, and disease because of silent exposure. Children are exposed to air pollution all around the world, from London to China, causing increased risk of disease from stroke, heart disease, cancer and respiratory diseases, including asthma.
Learn more about the issue
The UN Security Council (SC) has called on Member States to take appropriate action against suspected terrorists through measures on border control, criminal justice, information sharing and counter‑extremism, after unanimously adopting resolution 2396 (2017). The SC also stressed the importance of assisting women or children associated with foreign terrorist fighters who might be victims of terrorism. It noted that children may be especially vulnerable to “radicalisation”, violence, and in need of social support, such as post-trauma counselling, psychosocial support and education programmes. The text also recalled that children need to be treated in a manner that observes their rights and respects their dignity, in accordance with applicable international law. Last year saw a drastic increase in the use of children involved in terrorist activities, with some areas experiencing a fivefold increase in the use of children as suicide bombers.
With children continuing to be prosecuted as terrorists for involvement with armed groups, rather than being treated as victims, the focus of the SC resolution is welcomed. Any juvenile justice system should be purely directed at rehabilitation and reintegration - and this should apply to all under-18s. Detention should be the exception and should be outweighed by the interest of safeguarding the well-being and development of the child in line with article 3 of the CRC.
Meanwhile, though UNESCO found violent groups are using social media to attract younger audiences, it noted more research is needed to assess the impact social media was having on the incitement terrorist acts. The study, based on more than 550 studies in Arabic, English and French found attempts to combat the incitement of terrorist acts on social media had not proved effective and could “damage online freedoms, especially freedom of expression, freedom of information, privacy and the right to association”. The study calls for governments to recognise the status of women as both actors and targets of online “radicalisation” and to reassert the importance of media ethics in the face of recruitment for violent extremism. The fear of children being indoctrinated by terrorist groups online has often resulted in excessive measures, including government surveillance of children’s internet usage and monitoring their activities and behaviour at school to identify signs of possible indoctrination.
Upcoming event
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The World Congress on Justice for Children will be held from 28-30 May 2018. It will address the global trend towards children’s involvement in violent extremism and the possible responses to this problem, the need for more effective ways to reduce juvenile offending and recidivism, and ways to improve protection mechanisms for vulnerable children. To learn more about the event, to register to take part or apply to run a workshop, click here.
More information
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Sexual violence against boys and men in conflict has not been given the attention it deserves, according to Virginia Gamba, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) on children and armed conflicts. Research undertaken by the All Survivors Project should contribute to a better understanding of the issue and to ensure that legal protection against rape and other forms of sexual violence is provided for boys, girls, men and women.
At the end of her visit to South Sudan, Jane Connors, the UN Victims’ Rights Advocate, recalled that there should be ‘zero tolerance’ for sexual exploitation and abuse by UN staff. She also encouraged victims to report the abuses to ensure accountability of the perpetrators.
The Secretary-General’s special representatives on sexual violence in conflict, Pramila Patten, and for children and armed conflict, Virginia Gamba, welcomed the conviction of 11 Congolese militia fighters for raping dozens of children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). “Life sentences rendered by military justice authorities is a significant step forward in ending impunity for sexual violence in the DRC”, said Patten.
Fresh steps should be taken to tackle violence against women in the Bahamas, said the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Dubravka Šimonović, after her visit to the country in December. She recommended in particular to outlaw marital rape and tackle a discrepancy between the age of sexual consent and the age at which women can receive contraceptive and other health services without parental consent. Read more on sexual violence.
Several UN Special Rapporteurs and the Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child have appealed to Iran to halt the execution of Abolfazl Chezani Sharahi, who was 15 when he was sentenced to death. He remains on death row after his original execution date scheduled for 17 January was postponed.
The OHCHR expressed deep concern at the almost one-month-long pre-trial detention of the Palestinian child Ahed Tamimi. “The Convention on the Rights of the Child is clear”, said James Heenan, head of OHCHR’s office in the occupied Palestinian territory, “deprivation of liberty of children shall only be used as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time, and the best interests of the child are to be a primary consideration.”
The UN Task Force in charge of developing the budget for the UN Global Study on children deprived of liberty has indicated that in the short term, it will focus on two settings in which children are detained, as insufficient funds are currently in place to carry out the Study in full. For more information on children deprived of liberty, see our new campaign website which helps to explain the issues, and acts as a call to action for those who want to end child detention.
The UN has called on the authorities in Tunisia to ensure that protesters are not arbitrarily arrested, and that all those detained are treated with full respect for their due process rights and other fundamental guarantees. At least 200 people between the ages of 15 and 20 have been arrested.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, urged the Iranian authorities to handle the protests that have taken place around the country “with great care” so as not to further inflame violence and unrest. At least 20 people, including an 11-year-old boy, have been killed during the recent wave of protests.
Children in the digital world is the theme of the 2017 UNICEF’s annual report on the “State of the world’s children”. The report looks at the different ways that digital technology is affecting children, identifying dangers as well as opportunities.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Koumbou Boly Barry, visited Côte d’Ivoire from 4 to 11 December 2017 to gather first-hand information on the country’s implementation of the right to education. His end-of-visit statement is available in French here.
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Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: 31 January for the review of Sudan, Oman, Slovenia, Nepal, Seychelles, Russian Federation and Haiti.
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Human Rights Committee: 12 February for the review of Belarus, El Salvador, Guatemala, Hungary, Lebanon and Liberia.
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Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: 15 February for the review of Bangladesh, Central African Republic, Mexico, New Zealand, Niger and Spain.
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Committee on Migrant Workers: 19 March for the review of Algeria, Guyana, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
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Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discriminations: 30 March for the review of Kyrgyzstan, Mauritania, Nepal, Peru, Saudi Arabia and Sweden.
Read our latest submission on the right to vote for OHCHR's report on the implementation of human rights with regard to young people. Children face many barriers in engaging with the political system but their exclusion from the electorate fundamentally undermines their political engagement. This submission aims to clarify the human rights standards that underlie the debate.
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Strengthening coherence between the Human Rights Council and the Third Committee, available on the Universal Rightsblog.
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Order from chaos: is the UN a friend or foe?, available on the OpenGlobalRights website.
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How to Stand Up for Human Rights in the Age of Trump, available on the Foreign policy website.
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The Human Rights Council will hold its 37th session from 26 February to 23 March. The annual day of discussion on the rights of the child will happen on 5 March on the theme "Protecting the rights of the child in humanitarian situations" (HRC res. 7/29, 19/37 and 34/16). You can log-in on the HRC Extranet using the following details:
Username: hrc extranet
Password: 1session
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See the agenda of the General Assembly as presented by its president Miroslav Lajčák.
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THE LAST WORD
“After reflection, I have decided not to seek a second four-year term. To do so, in the current geopolitical context, might involve bending a knee in supplication; muting a statement of advocacy; lessening the independence and integrity of my voice — which is your voice.”
Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, will leave the office at the end of his first term, on 31 August. We look forward to circulating the job announcement.
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