CRINMAIL 1307

In this issue:

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New members elected for Committee on the Rights of the Child

On 18 December, States met at the UN General Assembly in New York to elect nine members to serve on the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Elections to the Committee take place every two years, and members are elected for a term of four years. This year's successful candidates will replace those whose term will expire on 28 February 2013. 

The following are the new and re-elected members of the Committee. You can view their CV and, where applicable, CRIN's interview with them in the lead up to the election: 

• Ms. Renate Winter (Austria) - 153 votes: 
  CV / Interview
• Mr. Benyam Dawit Mezmur (Ethiopia) - 136 votes: 
  CV / Interview
• Ms Sara de Jesús Oviedo Fierro (Ecuador) - 125 votes:
  CV / Interview [en español]
• Mr. Peter Guran (Slovakia) - 104 votes: 
  CV / Interview
• Ms. Amal Aldoseri (Bahrain) - 100 votes: CV
• Mr. Wanderlino Nogueira Neto (Brazil) - 161 votes: CV
• Ms. Maria Rita Parsi (Italy) - 146 votes: CV
• Ms. Yasmeen Muhamad Shariff (Malaysia) - 150 votes: CV
• Ms. Olga A. Khazova (Russia) - 129 votes: CV

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LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS

Calls to halt execution of juveniles

Iraq has suspended the execution of a Yemeni prisoner whose family says he was a minor when he was taken into custody. Iraqi officials dispute the age of Saleh Moussa Ahmed al-Baidany at the time of his arrest, as he was not carrying identity documents. A subsequent age assessment exam concluded he was 22 years old, despite his family presenting a birth certificate proving he was 16. There are also serious doubts as to whether al-Baidany received a fair trial, and there are reports that he was tortured in detention. Despite his execution being postponed, the young man remains on death row. Full story.

Meanwhile the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed its shock upon learning of the execution of a 15-year-old girl in Sana'a, Yemen, on 3 December 22. In the past six years, 15 juveniles were reportedly executed. There are currently 21 juvenile offenders condemned to death in Yemen, with 186 others facing possible execution, including two boys whose death sentences have been confirmed by the Supreme Court and signed by the President. The Yemeni government had previously committed in 2005 to abolishing the death penalty for juveniles.

"We are not only outraged that child offenders continue to be executed in Yemen, in flagrant contravention of international law, but we are also deeply concerned over the increased number of sentences of capital punishments pronounced against children," said Jean Zermatten, Chairperson of the Committee. "We urgently appeal to the government of Yemen to immediately stop executions of juvenile offenders and to take effective measures to remove juvenile prisoners from death row." Full story.

Latest shooting ignites debate on arms control

Twenty-six people, including 20 children, were killed in a primary school shooting in Connecticut, United States last week. Officials say the killer, who was an ex-student of Sandy Hook Elementary School where the events took place, used a semi-automatic rifle and was carrying two handguns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. The weapons were allegedly registered in his mother’s name. 

The massacre is the latest in a series of spree shootings in recent years, with several taking place at schools, and has reignited the debate over the country’s gun laws, with supporters of reform calling for tighter controls. 

The US ranks first in the world for firearm ownership, and has the highest rates of firearm-related deaths among industrialised countries, with young people often the victims. Over 3,000 children are killed by gun violence every year in the US, and over 15,000 more are injured. Moreover, the rate of firearm-related homicides for US children younger than 15 is nearly 16 times greater than the rates in 25 other industrialised countries combined. More on the story. 

Mass rape, amputations and killings abound

The situation in northern Mali is deteriorating fast, as reports of child recruitment, mass rape, amputations and killings at the hands of Islamist militants increase. There are reports that families are being forced to hand over children to the militia, with some witnesses alleging that child soldiers are even being forced to rape women. Almost 350,000 Malians have fled from their homes, almost half to neighbouring countries. More on the situation. 

Rebels escalate attacks on schools

In the southern provinces of Thailand, separatist insurgents have escalated their attacks on schools, including the killing of teachers. In the past six weeks, ethnic Malay Muslim rebels have killed five Thai Buddhist teachers, wounded three others, and allegedly set at least one school on fire. Over 1,300 state-run schools in the region have been closed as a result of these and other attacks.

The Malay Muslim Patani Freedom Fighters consider teachers and state schools as symbols of government authority and Thai Buddhist culture, and have been involved in the deaths of 157 teachers and school personnel from state-run schools since 2004. They also claim to have killed teachers in retaliation for the alleged assassinations of Muslim religious leaders by Thai security forces. More on the story.

Nine girls killed by landmine

At least nine girls died in Afghanistan after a suspected landmine exploded while they were out collecting firewood. Another three children were injured in the blast. It is unclear if the mine was planted recently or left from a previous conflict, such as the country's civil war of the 1990s or the Soviet occupation in the 1980s. As a result of three decades of conflict, Afghanistan has become one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. Full story.

Status of children's rights in Malaysia

The Child Rights Coalition Malaysia has published the report 'Status of Children's Rights in Malaysia', the first of this scale and depth by civil society in the country. The issues covered in the report are birth registration; freedom of religion, expression and peaceful assembly; family support and alternative care; violence, abuse, neglect, maltreatment and exploitation; health; education; children with disabilities; refugee, asylum-seeking and irregular migrant children; stateless children; children living in poverty; indigenous children; street children; LGBTQI children; and children in conflict with the law. Download the report. 

Taking off the adjectives at birth

Italy has overturned legal distinctions between "natural", "legitimate" and "adopted" children, so that now all children have equal rights under the law, irrespective of whether they are adopted or born to married or unmarried parents. Until now, children's rights were affected by these legal distinctions, including in the area of inheritance and the right to family life and to know one's parents. Full story (in Spanish).

Global review of corporal punishment laws

There are 26 countries that still legalise corporal punishment in the home, schools and the penal system, according to the 2012 Global Report on Ending Legalised Violence against Children, jointly published by the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children and Save the Children. The report also lists the 33 states that have achieved prohibition in all settings, the 75 which have accepted recommendations on corporal punishment made during the Universal Periodic Review, the 28 that have rejected such recommendations, and the more than 80 states with immediate opportunities to enact prohibition. Download the report.

Funding opportunity 

The European Commission's Daphne III Funding Programme is accepting applications for its 2013 operating grants, which are aimed at supporting organisations working in the protection of children, young people and women against all forms of violence. The following areas are funding priorities: 

• Support for victims of violence;
• Violence linked to harmful practices;
• Children as victims and/or witnesses of violence in close or intimate relationships;
• Children as victims of bullying at school;
• Perpetrator interventions and victim protection measures;
• Prevention of violence against children, young people and women through projects;
• targeting attitudinal and behavioural changes in the context of sexualisation; and
• Awareness raising on violence against women. 

Application deadline: 23 January 2012. To apply, or read more about the grants, click here.  

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CHILDREN'S RIGHTS WIKI: Spotlight on Lebanon

In this week's Children's Rights Wiki, we look at the persistent violations of children's rights in Lebanon: http://wiki.crin.org/mediawiki/index.php?title=Lebanon

• Discrimination against children with Lebanese mothers in relation to the inheritance of nationality, including the risk of statelessness; 
• Discrimination against groups of children with regards to education, particularly girls, children with disabilities and refugee children; 
• Violence against children, particularly domestic violence; 
• Trafficking of children; 
• Unequal health-care provision for children; 
• Internal displacement of children; 
• Child labour;
• Children living and working on the streets;
• Sexual exploitation of children, including for prostitution;
• Early and forced marriage;
• Children affected by armed conflict;
• Lack of access to water and sanitation, including regional disparities;
• Low minimum age of criminal responsibility;
• Inadequate national mechanisms to protect and promote children's rights. 

For more information on these persistent violations, visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=29963&flag=report 

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Call for submissions: 13th ISPCAN European Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect
Organisation: International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect
Event date: 15-18 September 2013  
Submission deadline: 18 January 2013
Location: Dublin, Ireland
More details here.

Workshop: Collaborative leadership for social impact
Organisation: People in Aid
Event date: 7 February 2013  
Location: Brussels, Belgium
More details here.  

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EMPLOYMENT

NGO Group for the CRC: New Technologies Communications Consultant
Application deadline: 3 January 2013
More details here.

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre: Executive Director
Location: London, United Kingdom
Application deadline: 8 January 2013
More details here.

UNICEF Office of Research: Chief Social Policy & Economic Analysis
Location: Florence, Italy
Application deadline: 15 January 2013
More details here.  

Leak of the Week

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