CRINmail 178:
In this issue:
On 30 June 2018, UN Member States at the UN General Assembly in New York elected nine people to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Those selected will replace nine outgoing members of the 18-strong Committee whose terms expire on 28 February 2019.
Elected by secret ballot, the new members are:
Ms. Suzanne Aho-Assouma - Togo (Re-elected)
Ms. Hynd Ayoubi Idrissi - Morocco (Re-elected)
Mr. Bragi Gudbrandsson - Iceland (New member)
Mr. Philip D. Jaffe - Switzerland (New member)
Mr. Gehad Madi - Egypt (Re-elected)
Mrs. Faith Marshall-Harris - Barbados (New member)
Mr. Clarence Nelson - Samoa (Re-elected)
Mr. José Angel Rodriguez Reyes - Venezuela (Re-elected)
Ms. Aïssatou Alassane Moulaye Sidikou - Niger (New member)
More information:
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Timeline for the elections and the results. See here.
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Brief explainer on what the Committee is and who can be elected to it. See here.
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Profiles of the elected members and their replies to the questionnaire as candidates. See here and here.
The Human Rights Council (HRC) held its 38th session from 18 June – 6 July 2018.
Reports
In a thematic report on the relationship between the right to health and specific forms of deprivation of liberty, the Special Rapporteur (SR) on the right to health addressed the case of children deprived of their liberty. He called for the abolition of child prisons as well as large care institutions, considering that all forms of detention severely compromise children’s enjoyment of their rights to health, healthy development and to survival and development. The SR further denounced the institutionalisation of children with disabilities, the impact of penal institutions on the mental well-being of children and the aggravation of pre-existing trauma in immigration detention.
The report of the SR on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance documented the recent political impact and popularity of neo-Nazism and its embrace by political leaders at the highest levels of national office. She highlighted how the internet and social media have become a means through which neo-Nazi groups recruit young followers with online content being specifically tailored towards children, such as through music, games, memes and cartoon characters.
The SR on trafficking in persons, especially women and children presented her report on trafficking in the context of mixed migration movements, addressing situations where refugees, asylum seekers or other migrants use similar means of travel. She expressed concern that migration is increasingly treated as a matter of law enforcement, which is used to justify restrictive migration policies on the basis of the fight against organised crime, including human trafficking. She stressed that an innovative model for early identification, referral and protection of victims and potential victims of trafficking is needed within the context of the Global Compact on Migration and expressed hope that the Global Compact would strongly prohibit the detention of children.
The new Independent Expert (IE) on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity(SOGI), Victor Madrigal-Borloz, presented his first report to the HRC during this session. Recalling that the objectives of his mandate were to raise the visibility of violence and discrimination based on SOGI as well as to identify their root causes, the IE sought to identify international best practices and give advice to States on effective measures to adopt. Those identified included comprehensive sexuality education, acknowledgement of responsibility for the establishment of the historical truth, and the banning of intrusive and inhuman practices such as so-called “conversion therapies”.
Resolutions
A number of resolutions were also adopted at the end of the session including a text on ‘Preventing and responding to violence against women and girls in digital contexts’. This text, the first to pay particular attention to the issue, affirms that there is a need for comprehensive sexuality education programmes as they could play a pivotal role in empowering young people to safely use and navigate digital technologies, while preserving their right to freedom of opinion and expression online and offline. In the same area, another text was adopted by the Council on ‘The promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the Internet’.
A resolution was also adopted seeking to improve the regulation of private education providers. Adopted without the need for a vote, the resolution highlights the increasing consensus among States regarding the human rights requirement to regulate education providers and to address the negative impacts of commercialisation in education.
For more information about this HRC session, you can view the reports, read the summaries of meetings that have taken place, and access all the adopted resolutions. Other information can be found on the homepage of the Human Rights Council website.
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UN news and participation
On 11 June the UN Secretary-General (SG) launched the search for the next UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (HC). The successful candidate will begin the job on 1 September. You can find out more about the role, the process, the candidates and job description via the UNA-UK website.
The United States has withdrawn its membership of the Human Rights Council, the Trump administration announced, calling it a “cesspool of political bias” that targets Israel in particular while ignoring atrocities in other countries. The SG, Antonio Guterres, expressed regret about the US withdrawal. The HC, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein tweeted that: “Given the state of human rights in today’s world, the US should be stepping up, not stepping back.”
Slovenia has become the latest country to ratify the complaints procedure of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It will come into force in the country on 25 August 2018.
Deprivation of liberty and death penalty
The NGO Panel for the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty has developed guidance for NGOs on how to engage with the Global Study at the national level. Find out more here on the different ways to support and contribute or through our Deprivation of Liberty website.
The Chair of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the SR on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions made an urgent appeal to Iran to halt the execution of Mohammad Kalhori, who was sentenced to death as a 15-year-old for murder. Adding his voice to the call, the HC recalled that the “execution of juvenile offenders was strictly prohibited by international law under all circumstances, regardless of the nature of the crime alleged to have been committed”. Kalhori is among at least four people at imminent risk of execution in Iran for crimes they committed as children.
Migration
A group of SR’s have strongly criticised the US policy of separating children from their asylum-seeker or migrant parents. Eleven SR’s released a statement calling on the US to release these children from immigration detention and to reunite them with their families. “Detention of children is punitive, severely hampers their development, and in some cases may amount to torture,” the experts said. “Children are being used as a deterrent to irregular migration, which is unacceptable.”
Armed conflict
The annual report of the Secretary-General (SG) on children and armed conflict noted surges in the recruitment and use of children and increasing numbers of child casualties, with Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen experiencing the highest number. The report also fails to list the Saudi-led coalition for committing attacks on schools and hospitals in Yemen, despite verified evidence it was responsible for both. For more information on the politicisation of this process, see CRINs 2015 policy paper The UN and children in armed conflict: playing politics?
The first-ever UN report on the human rights situation in the contested Kashmir region highlights the use of arbitrary arrests and detention of children, and notes a situation of chronic impunity for violations committed by security forces.
Myanmar has failed to fulfil its commitment to end the use of children as soldiers and to halt underage recruitment. The Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba, said that the army has not provided timely evidence that it is discharging children. She also said that children remained at risk, as new underage recruits continued to trickle into the ranks of both the military and insurgent groups.
Children continued to bear the brunt of conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) according to the latest SG's report on the country’s situation. There were over 11,500 grave violations committed by 40 parties to the conflict between 2014 and 2017, a 60 percent increase compared to the previous reporting period. Over 1,000 children were killed and maimed during the reporting period, often in the most brutal way and increasingly on the basis on their ethnicity.
Environment
Marking World Environment Day on 5 June, the head of UN Environment and the SR on human rights and the environment issued a statement urging the UN to recognise the human right to a healthy environment. The statement noted that, “The interdependence between human rights and the environment has become undeniable. A healthy environment is necessary for the full enjoyment of human rights, including the rights to life, health, food, water and development.”
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Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: 16 July for the review of Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, Cuba, Japan, Latvia, Mauritius and Montenegro.
Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: 31 July for the review of Algeria, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Malta, the Philippines, Poland and South Africa.
Committee on Enforced Disappearances: 10 August for the review of Japan and Portugal.
Committee on Migrant Workers: 13 August for the review of Madagascar and Mozambique.
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: 31 August for the review of Argentina, Cabo Verde, Germany, Mali, South Africa and Turkmenistan.
Human Rights Committee: 10 September for the review of Belarus, Belize, Bulgaria, Guinea, and Sudan.
The backlash against civil society access and participation at the UN: new report of the International Service for Human Rights.
US departure from the Human Rights Council: what really happened and what will happen next? by the Universal Rights Group.
The 70th session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, from 2 to 20 July. The Committee will review the reports of Australia, Cook Islands, Cyprus, Liechtenstein, Mexico, New Zealand, State of Palestine, Turkmenistan.
The 123rd session of the Human Rights Committee, from 2 to 27 July. The Committee will review the reports of Algeria, Bahrain, Laos, Liberia, Lithuania. The country situation of Eritrea and Gambia will also be considered in the absence of a State report.
The 64th session of the Committee Against Torture, from 23 July to 10 August. The Committee will review the reports of Chile, Mauritania, Russia and Seychelles.
The 96th session of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, from 6 to 30 August. The Committee will review the reports of Bosnia and Herzegovina, China as well as Hong Kong and Macau, Cuba, Japan, Latvia, Mauritius and Montenegro.
Special Procedures - Forthcoming visits
Republic of Korea: SR on the situation of human right in DPRK, 1 - 10 July 2018
Argentina: SR on the right to food, 12 - 21 September 2018
Malaysia: SR on sale and sexual exploitation of children, 24 September - 1 October 2018
Egypt: SR on adequate housing, 24 September - 3 October
Poland: SR in the field of cultural rights, 24 September - 5 October
Georgia: IE on sexual orientation and gender identity, 25 September - 5 October
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THE LAST WORD
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