CRINMAIL 1315

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Launch of child policy data

This week's CRINMAIL starts with the launch of research by the Changing Children’s Chances Initiative, which aims to assist advocates and governments in determining whether child-related policies worldwide adhere to the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Several of the areas addressed include children's right to education, child labour and child marriage.

Our guest editors are Jody Heymann and Amy Raub who work at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, and Kristen McNeill of the Maternal and Child Health Equity Project at the Institute for Health and Social Policy.

Introduction

Assessing nations’ compliance with their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) – and holding them accountable for their promises to children – requires information that allows us to evaluate their actions, or lack thereof. Where are individual countries, and the world as a whole, doing well, and where are they falling short of their commitments? While this information is critical for civil society to advocate for adherence to agreements, for policymakers to focus on next steps, and for the global community to know the greatest gaps, it has not been readily accessible.

Ensuring this information becomes widely and easily available inspired the Changing Children’s Chances Initiative, a several-year-long effort to make comparative information publicly available on what countries around the world are doing to give children a real chance to realise their rights and reach their full potential. Drawing on data from the World Policy Analysis Center, the website, report, and book (Children’s Chances: Harvard University Press, 2013) coming out of this initiative present key findings on child-related laws and policies in place worldwide.

The action of civil society groups globally is more crucial than ever for the world to make equal rights for children a reality. We hope that these data and more, available at http://childrenschances.org, will be a tool to support such vital work. The following is just a snippet of the research findings. 

Right to Education

How are countries doing on making education rights a reality? The CRC highlights the importance of free and compulsory primary education, and free secondary education. However, eight countries continue to charge tuition for primary school, and 14 countries do not make education compulsory for the duration of primary school. Thirty-eight countries charge tuition for some or all of secondary education, erecting often insurmountable barriers to the poorest children.

A group that is overwhelmingly marginalised in education, and explicitly recognised in the CRC, are children with disabilities. Global consensus also clearly supports the importance of inclusive education – to promote the best educational outcomes for all children and to foster social equity both in childhood and adulthood. However, 20 countries provide special education for children with disabilities only in separate schools from their peers; eight countries do not provide special education at all.

Child Labour

What about child labour, which can harm children’s healthy development, erode any possibility of success in school, and erase the chance of a childhood free of adult responsibilities? Here, the gap between rhetoric and reality is even greater. Forty-six countries permit hazardous work for children under the age of 18. In six countries, children of any age can work full-time, and 97 countries have set this age at 15 or younger, not old enough for children to be able to finish secondary school. In 118 countries, 15-year-old children are not protected from working six hours or more on school days.

Child Marriage 

All children deserve the right to a childhood without shouldering the burden of a family of their own. Early marriage predominantly affects girls, and commonly entails school drop-out, limited independence and decision-making power, and harm to health. Our findings show that nations are not yet doing enough to protect children, especially girls, from early marriage. In seven countries, there is no nationally set minimum legal age of marriage for girls, and six set no minimum for boys; five countries permit girls to be married at age 13 or younger. Thirty countries permit marriage for girls at 14 or 15, while 15 countries permit marriage at this age for boys.

In fact, many countries set a younger minimum age of marriage for girls than for boys, reinforcing the gender inequities inherent in this practice. In 54 countries, girls are permitted to marry at an age one to three years younger than boys. In no country can boys be married at a younger minimum age than girls.

Parents and Children

The equal responsibility of both parents for children’s development is recognised in the CRC. The world is doing well on providing paid maternity leave – just eight countries do not guarantee paid leave for mothers of infants. However, we are failing fathers and falling behind on gender equity. Even when both paternity and parental leave are included, just 81 countries provide any paid leave that fathers can take around the birth or adoption of a child, and 40 of these provide less than three weeks. After early childhood, children still need parental care during critical times, such as when they are ill or injured. Seventy countries worldwide provide either paid or unpaid leave specifically to meet children’s health needs; even when other types of leave that could be used for this purpose are included, such as leave for emergencies or for family needs, only half of the world – 97 countries – provide paid or unpaid leave for this purpose.

These are just some of the issues the Changing Children’s Chances research addresses. To read more on the issues above and on other ones, visit: http://childrenschances.org

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LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS

Corporal punishment laws under scrutiny

Seven states are in violation of the European Social Charter for failing to ban the use of corporal punishment against children in the home, in schools and in alternative care institutions. This is what the Association for the Protection of All Children (APPROACH), which administers the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children, has argued in seven collective complaints that have been registered at the Council of Europe. The states, which are accused of having violated the Charter’s provision on the protection of children for not having "acted with due diligence to eliminate such violent punishment of children in practice", are Belgium, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Italy, Ireland and France.

Ireland apologises for locking away women and girls

The Irish Prime Minister (Taoiseach), Enda Kenny, has publicly apologised on behalf of the state for its role in sending women and girls to the Magdalene laundries run by Roman Catholic nuns, where they were forced to do unpaid manual labour in slave-like conditions. Many Irish institutions had contracts with the laundries, to which around 10,000 women and girls considered to be “fallen women” were sent between 1922 and 1996. Many of those made to go there were unmarried mothers, women with learning difficulties and girls who had been abused. Even a crime as minor as not paying for a train ticket could warrant being sent to the Magdalene laundries. Organisations representing the survivors welcomed the apology, as well as the Irish Government’s proposal to offer support and compensation to survivors. Full story.

Syrian hospitals and breadlines targeted by aerial strikes

As the conflict in Syria draws to the close of its second year, pro- and anti-Government forces have become increasingly reckless with civilian lives, the UN commission of enquiry on Syria has said in its latest report. The report documents how all parties in the conflict have violated the rights of children, including pro-Government forces and affiliated militias who have killed, tortured and raped many children, and anti-Government armed groups that have recruited children to fight in hostilities.

About 70,000 people are believed to have died as a result of the conflict, and more than 820,000 Syrians have sought refuge in neighbouring countries because of the violence and the humanitarian crisis. To add to the dire situation, the commission notes that a disturbing pattern has emerged of aerial attacks on the part of the Syrian army against hospitals, bakeries and bread lines. Meanwhile, defectors admit that no distinction is made between civilians and fighters. Full story. 

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, has renewed her call to the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court.

Protests continue amid empty promises

It is also almost two years since Bahrain’s uprising, and while dialogue efforts have once again begun, protests continue and are still marked by state violence. In a recent incident, a 16-year-old boy was shot dead during a protest in a village west of Manama. Campaigners say the country's rulers, more concerned about repairing Bahrain’s international reputation, have only made empty promises for reform, including establishing a commission to investigate human rights violations since the start of the rest in 2011. More on the story.

Meanwhile in Egypt, the military has apologised for the shooting and killing of a 12-year-old street vendor in Cairo, after activists accused the Government of trying to cover up the death. In admitting the child’s death, the military appears to be trying to distance itself from the allegations of covering up abuse, but advocates remain sceptical. More on the story.

Pope takes refuge in immunity

Pope Benedict's decision to live in the Vatican after he resigns at the end of the month will provide him with legal protection from attempts to prosecute him in connection with the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse scandals around the world, legal experts say. Getting immunity was one of the main considerations in deciding that Benedict should remain in a convent in the Vatican, insiders have revealed, as provisions of the 1929 Lateran Pacts between Italy and the Vatican establish the city as a "neutral and inviolable territory". 

While there have been repeated calls for Benedict's arrest, Vatican officials have said that a Pope cannot be held responsible for abuse committed by priests who are employees of individual dioceses and not of the Vatican. Victims groups, however, say that in his previous role as Cardinal overseeing abuse cases, Benedict turned a blind eye to the policies of local churches, which transferred abusive priests from one parish to another, rather than defrocking them and handing them over to the authorities. Full story.

Clamping down on female genital mutilation

In the United Kingdom, parents and relatives who send girls abroad for genital mutilation operations and those who arrange transport and the surgery will face prosecution, as part of new police efforts to combat the illegal practice. They will be targeted for criminal action as child abusers, police chiefs have said. "The people that commit the crimes are people that perform the act and the people that arrange for that to take place," said the head of Scotland Yard's child abuse command. The move comes as London's Metropolitan police received nearly 150 reports involving girls who had already been "cut" or were at risk of surgery. Full story. 

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CHILDREN'S RIGHTS WIKI: Spotlight on Guyana

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

• Corporal punishment; 
• Violence against children; 
• Use of, and conditions in, detention for children, including pre-trial detention and detention of children with adults; 
• Low minimum age of criminal responsibility; 
• Discrimination against children from indigenous backgrounds, particularly with regards to education; 
• Sexual abuse and exploitation of children; 
• Inadequate protection of child victims of trafficking. 

For more information on these persistent violations, visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=30316&flag=report

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Media: Moving targets - Children and the media 
Organisation: Webster University 
Date: 22–24 April 2013 
Location: Geneva, Switzerland 
More details here. 

Participation: World Youth Summit 2013 
Organisation: Child and Youth Finance International 
Date: 6–9 May 2013 
Location: Istanbul, Turkey 
More details here. 

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EMPLOYMENT

African Child Policy Forum: Director of Programmes 
Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 
Application deadline: 25 February 2013 
More details here.

European Roma Rights Centre: Legal Director
Location: Budapest, Hungary 
Application deadline: 28 February 2013 
More details here.  

European Roma Rights Centre: Staff Lawyer
Location: Budapest, Hungary 
Application deadline: 25 February 2013 
More details here.

War Child: Programme Advisor Institutional Funding
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands 
Application deadline: 3 March 2013 
More details here.

Dalhousie University: Canada Research Chair in Children, Youth and Global Development) 
Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada 
Application deadline: 1 April 2013 
More details here.

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