| Dear Readers,
Welcome to the new CRINMAIL!
After 15 years, CRINMAIL as you know it has shed its skin.
The revamped CRINMAIL will provide a more analytical take on the week's news, connect child rights happenings across the world and provide follow-up on stories.
We will of course continue to bring to your attention the latest news, reports and upcoming events, and encourage your contributions.
The new edition will be delivered to your inbox once a week - instead of the twice weekly editions you are used to.
Any thoughts or comments on the new look are most welcome.
Happy reading!
The CRIN team
Email [email protected]
In this issue:
Editorial: Banning the veil - the impact on children's rights
Latest news and reports:
- Campaign for universal ratification of CRC Optional Protocols
- US Supreme Court limits juvenile life sentences
- More
EDITORIAL: Banning the veil - the impact on children's rights
Belgium's decision to ban people from wearing veils which cover the face in public spaces last week has sparked debate across Europe about individuals' freedom to wear religious symbols.
While supporters justify the ban on the grounds that it will liberate women and ensure public security, critics say it violates freedom of expression, thought, conscience and religion and unfairly targets Belgium's Muslim community.
John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International's expert on European affairs condemned the ban, saying: "The Belgian move to ban full-face veils, the first in Europe, sets a dangerous precedent...The obligation to combat discrimination cannot be fulfilled by imposing a measure that is itself discriminatory."
Other European countries are now considering similar laws. France, which has the largest Muslim population in Europe, will debate a full ban on the niqab and the burqa in public spaces later this month. The draft text stipulates a €150 fine for those who breach the ban, with the possibility of a one year prison sentence.
Some Members of the European Parliament are also calling for a Europe-wide ban on the veil.
Beyond the ban
What will the ban mean in practice for women and girls who wear the veil either out of choice or because of pressure from their family or religious community?
Belgium's prohibition on the veil was ostensibly passed to promote women's equality. But the government has declared that fines will be imposed on those who infringe the ban, in effect criminalising those it purports to protect.
Imposing an outright ban shows scant regard for the potential negative consequences on the lives of women and girls wearing the veil, who could find themselves essentially under house arrest. Being unable to even walk down the street without fearing arrest, these women and girls would be barred from visiting even essential public institutions like schools, libraries, hospitals, and police stations, severely jeopardising their human rights to education, health care and security, among many others.
Thomas Hammarberg, Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe, warned recently:
Prohibition of the burqa and the niqab would not liberate oppressed women, but might instead lead to their further alienation in European societies. A general ban on such attires would constitute an ill-advised invasion of individual privacy...
Nor has it been possible to prove that these women in general are victims of more gender repression than others. Those who have been interviewed in the media have presented a diversity of religious, political and personal arguments for their decision to dress themselves as they do. There may of course be cases where they are under undue pressure - but it is not shown that a ban would be welcomed by these women. Read the full viewpoint here.
Furthermore, banning the veil effectively means that those who harbour ill will or discriminatory attitudes towards those who look or dress differently now have State backing for their intolerance. In short, people are being criminalised for being different.
There is certainly support for the argument that this has little to do with gender discrimination and everything to do with intolerance. Child rights activists are familiar with the instigation of repressive policies under the guise of 'protection', for example, the Lithuanian law which prohibits discussion of homosexuality in schools and bans all references to it in public information that can be viewed by children.
Examples of how such a ban has been enforced elsewhere offer little reassurance. In northern Italy this month a Tunisian woman was fined on her way to a mosque for wearing the niqab, which covers the face, leaving only the eyes exposed. She was fined 500 euros under a bylaw introduced by the mayor that bans people from wearing clothing in public that could prevent the police from identifying them.
In fact, a recent article on the effect of banning girls from wearing the hijab - the Islamic headscarf - in schools in Tajikistan says that the prohibition is having the opposite effect and has led to more girls opting to wear the more concealing niqab. Read more here.
Religious symbols in schools
Schools have been the main arena for controversy for children and freedom of religion, where students wishing to wear religious symbols may be prevented from doing so in order to comply with a secular or neutral school dress code.
High profile cases of children being excluded from school for wearing religious symbols have included a Sikh girl in Wales wearing a Kari bangle and a number of Muslim girls in France wearing the veil. In Spain, the government allows schools to decide how to handle the wearing of the veil. However, the recent case of a 16-year-old Muslim girl who was expelled because of her refusal to take her headscarf off has provoked debate about the need to establish a nationwide policy, especially with regard to children.
In 2001, former UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Abdelfattah Amor, noted: ‘The policy of assimilating the children of minorities, thereby making them lose their identity, is a most harmful form of discrimination because it sows the seeds for the continuation of discriminatory attitudes beyond the generations practising them at any given time’.
Children face additional hurdles to enjoying their right to freedom of religion or belief by virtue of their age and relative immaturity - ultimately, a child's choice of religion is restricted by parents until such a time as they can decide for themselves.
However, children's right to explore different belief systems and express their views is linked to all rights in the Convention and children must not be compelled to follow a belief system they do not adhere to. If children are restricted from exploring different belief systems or expressing opinions, including by the way they dress and the symbols they wear, how can they develop their own beliefs or respect for those of others?
What does international human rights law say about children and religious symbols? Story continues online.
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LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS
UN children's rights experts are launching a global campaign for universal ratification of the UN Optional Protocols on children's rights on 25 May 2010. The two-year campaign will strive to achieve universal ratification of the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (OPSC) and the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict (OPAC) by 2012 to mark the 10th anniversary of their entry into force.
The campaign will be led by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children (SRSG-VAC) and the Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict (SRSG-CAAC), in cooperation with others. See a global progress table on ratification here. Read the full story.
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On Monday, the United States Supreme Court declared life sentences without parole for non-homicide juvenile offenders to be unconstitutional. The decision, Graham v. Florida, will force state and federal governments to offer the 129 non-homicide 'juvenile lifers' across the country a "meaningful opportunity" to be released back into the community at some point during their prison tenure. While the Court does give a nod to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, it also highlights the extraordinarily harsh sentencing practices in the United States, where it is estimated that over 7,500 persons are serving life sentences for offences committed when they were under the age of 18. Download a report about persons serving sentences of juvenile life without parole in the United States here, or click here for a more global perspective on international children's rights and sentencing children to die in prison. Read the full story.
Meanwhile, a group of young people have launched a monthly newsletter pressing for US ratification of the CRC. They explain what the CRC means to them and recommend actions in support of their efforts. Download the newsletter.
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The UN Committee Against Torture has issued its latest recommendations to Austria, Cameroon, France, Jordan, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Syria and Yemen. In some good news, Vanuatu is forging ahead of its neighbours in signalling its intention to become the first country in Asia Pacific to ratify the UN's torture Convention. Read the full story.
DCI-Palestine has submitted 14 cases to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture on the sexual assault, or threat of sexual assault, of Palestinian children at the hands of Israeli soldiers, interrogators and police between January 2009 and April 2010. Read the full story.
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The Thai army has accused anti-government protesters of using children as human shields to keep troops from marching on their protest camp in the centre of the Bangkok. The 'red-shirt protesters' comprise left-wing activists and supporters of ousted leader Thaksin Shinawatra, who left the country when he was convicted of a conflict of interests. They reject the government which they say came to power illegitimately through a parliamentary deal rather than an election.
One child was killed in violence resulting from five days of clashes between troops and protesters. The protesters surrendered earlier today. Read the full story.
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This month, 14 countries were elected to serve on the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC). Successful countries included Angola, Libya, Mauritania, Uganda, Ecuador, Guatemala, Poland, the Republic of Moldova, Spain, Switzerland, Malaysia, Qatar, Maldives and Thailand. The 14th Session of the Human Rights Council commences on May 31st in Geneva, running through to June 18th. Read more here.
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Children in Vietnam have made a call to action on climate change in a new publication by Save the Children and Oxfam which includes 20,000 entries from a nationwide competition. Download the publication.
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Eye on advocates
NGOs called on the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights last week to prepare resolutions to protect human rights defenders in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. Meanwhile, restrictions on human rights defenders in Israel and Tunisia have been reported by Article 19 this week. On a positive note, a meeting to strengthen freedom of expression in Central America was held with the participation of UN and regional experts. Read more about children's rights and freedom of expression.
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Coming up
The Committee on the Rights of the Child will be busy next week. The children's rights record of the following countries is up for review: Argentina, Belgium, Colombia, Grenada, Guatemala, Japan, Macedonia, Nigeria, Serbia and Tunisia. As ever, alternative reports and updates are available on the websites of CRIN and the NGO Group.
The Council of Europe will stage a meeting on violence against children this week in Vienna. The event, inspired by the recommendations contained in the 2006 UN Study, will focus on how to develop national strategies to combat violence. Read more.
Violence against children will also take the spotlight at the Caribbean Studies Association Annual Conference 2010: Understanding the everyday occurrence of violence in the cultural life of the Caribbean: Where do we go from here?. The conference will take place in Barbados next week.
If you work on children and violence, look out for a surprise in next week's CRINMAIL!
JARGON OF THE WEEK
Promoting the use of clear language among child rights advocates.
Are you 'engineering visionary architecture for children's rights' or 'engaged in cross-media mindsharing'?
If you, like us, have no idea what this means, and often find yourself baffled by the impenetrable expressions of NGO speak, then check out CRIN's jargon of the week - our new regular feature.
Send your favourite jargon to [email protected]
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