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In this issue:
March is a busy time at the United Nations. The Human Rights Council held its annual day on the rights of the child during its 37th session, and other experts presented their annual reports - several focusing on children's rights. This edition provides an update on some of the key outcomes of the session for children’s rights and other happenings at the UN.
The theme for this year's annual day was on protecting children’s rights in humanitarian situations. Alongside the report by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, two panel discussions took place: meeting children’s needs and rights and how States and the international community can be more accountable to children. As part of the discussions, panellists pointed out that although the framework of protection of children’s rights existed, it was the implementation that was the problem. It was also noticed that international law relating to humanitarian situations was being applied selectively, and that the monitoring and reporting mechanism was needed for promoting accountability for violations committed against children during armed conflicts. Other popular issues of discussion from the floor included the lack of access to sexual and reproductive health rights in humanitarian situations, the impact on access to education and the need for greater endorsement of the Safe Schools Declaration, and the failure to implement measures to protect children from recruitment as child soldiers.
Most panellists, States and NGOs, however, failed to address the sexual exploitation of children in UN peacekeeping and humanitarian operations. While a statement made by Latvia on behalf of a group of Baltic States mentioned the importance of tackling this issue, it was left to Kate Gilmore, the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, to highlight the failures of the UN, States and the humanitarian sector in not tackling this issue. Questioning why, in 2018, the UN Secretary General should need to confirm the UN’s zero-tolerance policy for sexual exploitation and abuse of children and adults, Gilmore stated: “the UN must own its shame.”
To challenge this silence, CRIN published a statement arguing that humanitarian organisations and the UN are failing in their response to the sexual abuse of children by staff. Our statement noted that allegations against senior officials have been undermined or dismissed, with the accused often being allowed to resign, avoiding justice thanks to a disciplinary system shrouded in secrecy, while internal investigation mechanisms have failed to provide victims with justice and redress. Our statement argued that sexual exploitation and abuse of children by UN peacekeeping and humanitarian staff has been so frequent as to call into question the complicity of these institutions in the exploitation of the very people they are supposed to protect.
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For the first time, the issue of surrogacy was addressed in a comprehensive way by the UN, through the thematic report of the Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio. In her study addressing the sale of children in the context of surrogacy, she explains how, as a reproductive practice on the rise, the demand-driven system may endanger the rights of children. The report notes that while there are no international standards on surrogacy, national regulations vary from prohibitionist to permissive and from extensive to non-existent. Boer-Buquicchio makes clear that there is no human right to have a child under international law, and that commercial surrogacy, as currently practised in some countries, usually amounts to the sale of children. She called for urgent action in terms of regulation, including properly altruistic surrogacy to avoid the sale of children.
In cases where a child conceived through an international surrogacy arrangement is brought to a country where surrogacy is prohibited, the Special Rapporteur notes that the State is nonetheless responsible for determining the best interests of the child returning from abroad with their intending parents, including the child’s right to know their identity and origin and ensuring statelessness does not occur. In any case, the child must not be punished or discriminated against because of the circumstances of their birth, the report concludes. It further recommends that other UN bodies, including the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, should address surrogacy in their work to help develop human rights-based norms and standards.
On this subject, CRIN will soon publish a consultation paper on assisted reproductive technologies and children’s rights, which will examine prenatal screening, surrogacy and gamete donations, as well as the freezing of gametes for future use. In this paper, CRIN explores the rights of children at stake, including the right to health, the right to know and be cared for by one’s parents, the right not to be sold, and the right to a nationality.
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Detaining children because of their or their parents’ immigration status is never in a child’s best interests and constitutes a violation of the rights of the child according to an unambiguous statement from Renate Winter, chairperson of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. She urgedEuropean countries to ban the practice in EU law without exception. According to the Committee, although the possibility of detaining children as a last resort exists in criminal law, it does not apply to immigration proceedings. “To truly protect children,” Winter said, “the EU and its Member States should redirect resources from detention centres to non-custodial, human rights-based solutions.” In recent years, immigration detention has dramatically increased in many countries, prompting several UN human rights experts to join their voices to the CRC’s, including the UN Working group on arbitrary detention in its revised Deliberation No. 5, the Special Rapporteur on torture in his last report to the Human Rights Council focusing on migration-related torture and ill-treatment, and in a joint reportto the General Assembly by the Special Rapporteurs on the sale of children and on trafficking in persons.
Meanwhile, substantive work on the UN Global study on children deprived of liberty is now underway, with a questionnaire being sent to States, national human rights institutions and civil society and presented at an expert level meeting during the HRC. Aimed at collecting and providing statistical data about the number of children deprived of liberty, the questionnaire is a tool to collect data and provide examples of best practices and alternative approaches that uphold children’s rights and ultimately reduce the number of children deprived of liberty. The questionnaire is available online via the OHCHR website (third section down in the column to the right). Guidance will be published on how NGOs can provide information as part of the Study and we will provide updates as more information is available.
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The Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) on Violence Against Children presented her annual report to the Human Rights Council (HRC), focusing on investment in early childhood to prevent violence against children.
In her first report to the HRC, Virginia Gamba, the SRSG for Children and Armed Conflict, focused on the denial and politicisation of humanitarian access for the delivery of aid.
The Special Rapporteur (SR) on human rights and the environment, John Knox, presented his final set of reports to the HRC, including on the relationship between children’s rights and environmental protection. While presenting his report, Knox also argued that it was time for the UN to formally recognise a human right to a healthy environment, as many States have already done so in their national laws and constitutions or through regional agreements.
International action is needed to protect privacy in cyberspace, the SR on the right to privacy told the Human Rights Council. The SR noted domestic oversight mechanisms for the surveillance of communications and internet use do not always exist, and where they do, they are frequently ineffective and do not provide adequate transparency and accountability. The report also highlighted the situation of citizens who have had their privacy grievously breached with no means of remedy.
UNESCO has published a new guide on comprehensive sexuality education. Outlining the essential components of effective sexuality education programmes, the guide addresses sexuality with a rights-based approach, and covers respect, including consent, bodily integrity, acceptance, tolerance and non-discrimination.
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UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities: call for inputs on "the right of persons with disabilities to the highest attainable standard of health" - deadline 30 March 2018.
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UN Secretary-General: call for inputs for the report on the "question of the death penalty" - deadline 15 April 2018.
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OHCHR: Call for inputs to a report on "the right to privacy in the digital age" - deadline 9 April 2018.
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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 Against Torture: 26 March for the review of Belarus, Czech Republic, Norway, Qatar, Senegal, Tajikistan.
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Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: 30 March for the review of Kyrgyzstan, Mauritania, Nepal, Peru, Saudi Arabia and Sweden.
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Committee on Enforced Disappearances: 27 April for the review of Honduras, Austria and Albania.
Is being the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights an Impossible Job? Available on the Universal Rights Blog.
A group of regional and international human rights NGOs were blocked from making a statement at the UN NGO Committee session. Read the NGOs' call for leadership and reform. Learn more about CRINs transparency campaign
New report by the Universal Rights Group: ‘An assessment of the UN human rights communications procedures and proposals for a single integrated system’.
New report by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR) analysing the Concluding Observations of UN treaty bodies in relation to climate change. You can download the analysis of the CRC here.
Updated version of the ISHR factsheets on UN Special Procedures and listing the references to LGBTI persons and recommendations that these Special Procedures have made.
The 63rd session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, from 12 to 29 March 2018. The Committee will consider the reports of Bangladesh, Central African Republic, Mexico, New Zealand, Niger and Spain.
The 122nd session of the Human Rights Committee, from 12 March to 6 April 2018. The Committee will consider the reports of El Salvador, Guatemala, Hungary, Lebanon, Liberia and Norway.
The 28th session of the Committee on Migrant Workers, from 9 to 20 April 2018. The Committee will consider the reports of Algeria, Guyana, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
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THE LAST WORD
"We must ensure that people understand and support human rights…Words are our only weapon, if we don’t use them well they will be used against us and we will lose the battle”.
-- mentioned at a HRC side event on improving public communication about human rights.
Panellists addressed questions like: in times of populism and scepticism, how do we reframe communication on human rights, going beyond jargon? And how do we challenge the hostile discourse against human rights that has emerged in the past few years? Regretting that many people perceive the issues as irrelevant for them, or feel excluded from the discussions, panellists explored ways to better communicate about rights: sharing positive human rights stories, engaging with general population and at the national level, in national languages, incorporating non traditional networks including artists, and reaching young people.
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