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Latest news and reports
Exceptions to Colombia’s child sterilisation ban cause uproar
This month Colombia’s Constitutional Court upheld the national prohibition on performing surgical sterilisation on children. But the decision sets out two exceptions to this rule concerning children with mental disabilities, which rights advocates say legalises forced sterilisation. The first is when a pregnancy endangers the child’s health, and the second where the child has a severe and permanent mental disability and lacks capacity to give consent and understanding of the responsibilities of being a parent.
Rejecting the decision, Andrea Parra, Director of the Action Program for Equality and Social Inclusion (PAIIS) of the Universidad de los Andes in Colombia said the court disregarded its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. "The Convention specifically protects people with disabilities' right to maintain their fertility, which historically has been controlled and denied. … Validating a third party signature of the consent form to the procedure is forced sterilisation".
Meanwhile sociologist Claudia Malacrida at the University of Lethbridge in Canada argued against the claim that sterilisation will protect children with disabilities from sexual abuse - a concern parents often bring up. “Involuntary sterilisation can ... often have the effect of hiding the outcomes of sexual abuse; it is not a way of protecting disabled people from abuse or unwanted sexual contact, but in fact can make them more vulnerable". The solution, Malacrida says, is in “education, support and opportunities to engage and learn, facilitate disabled people's emotional, sexual and reproductive lives.
Reports of ethnic cleansing in the Central African Republic
Tens of thousands of Muslims have fled the Central African Republic (CAR) as Christian militias known as anti-Balaka (anti-machete) have stepped up attacks since the forced resignation of CAR's first Muslim ruler, Michel Djotodia, in January. The anti-Balaka claim to be taking revenge for atrocities committed by mainly Muslim Seleka rebels after Mr Djotodia seized power in March 2013.
Human Rights Watch reported that entire Muslim communities have disappeared. The town of Baoro was once home to at least 4,000 Muslims and more than a dozen mosques. Now there are none. Meanwhile the last Muslims of towns such as Boali and Yaloke left for Cameroon and Chad, respectively.
A new War Child report looks at the effects of the CAR conflict and the humanitarian situation on children. According to the report, women and girls as young as three years old have been raped, 42 per cent of displaced children have lost their fathers while 11 per cent have lost both parents, and 95 per cent of girls and 75 per cent of boys need support to cope with psychological trauma including from having witnessed the killing and rape of family members. War Child also warns that donor countries need to respond to the 80 per cent funding gap in urgent humanitarian aid to the CAR.
Read more about children and armed conflict in the latest edition of CRIN's newsletter on the issue.
Turkish police criticised following violent incidents
A 10-year-old boy has been seriously injured in Turkey’s southeastern city of Diyarbakır after being hit in the head by a tear gas canister during an electoral rally that was dispersed by security forces. The incident follows the death earlier this month of another 15-year-old boy after spending 269 days in a coma after also being shot in the head with a tear gas canister fired by riot police during last year’s protests in Istanbul’s Gezi Park.
These are not the only cases of police violence against children in Turkey. In February the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) fined the Turkish State for the 2004 killing of a father and son in the context of an anti-terrorist operation in which 12-year-old Uğur Kaymaz was shot a total of 13 times by police.
First FGM prosecutions in Egypt and UK
For the first time a doctor is set to be prosecuted in Egypt for carrying out female genital mutilation. Dr Raslan Fadl will face charges in relation to the death of a 13-year-old girl on whom he allegedly performed the operation. The girl’s father, who requested the procedure, is also facing prosecution. FGM has been illegal in Egypt since 2008, but is still widely accepted and carried out by many doctors in private. Speaking about the case, Hala Youssef, head of the National Population Council said, “It’s the first time that somebody in Egypt will be prosecuted for this crime, and it should be a lesson for every clinician. The law is there, and it will be implemented.”
In the United Kingdom the Crown Prosecution Service also launched its first prosecution in relation to FGM. In April a doctor will face charges of carrying out the mutilation, while another man is to be charged with intentionally encouraging an offence of FGM. The practice has been illegal in the UK since 1985, and in 2003 legislation was extended to cover British citizens and permanent residents involved in the practice overseas. But until this month no prosecution had been brought despite.
For more information on recent children’s rights rulings, see the latest edition of our Children in Court CRINmail.
Vatican appoints new advisory commission on sex abuse
The Holy See has named the members of a new commission that will advise the Pope on how to tackle sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, including one woman who was abused by a priest when she was a child. The move appears to reflect UN recommendations to involve victims organisations to join the commission (which the Pope announced in December 2013). But whether civil society groups will be invited to take part has yet to be seen.
Among a long list of recommendations made to the Holy See earlier this year, the Committee on the Rights of the Child said that the commission should investigate independently all cases of child sexual abuse in the Church as well as Church officials’ conduct in dealing with them, and that the outcome of the investigation be made public. It is unclear at this stage whether the commission will have the power to investigate the critical issue of cover ups by Church officials.
Further information:
Egyptian court issues mass death sentence to opposition
A court in Egypt has sentenced 529 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, including senior members, to death on charges of murder and other offences allegedly carried out during clashes with security forces in August 2013 following the forced dispersal of two Muslim Brotherhood protest camps in Cairo. It is thought to be the biggest mass death sentence handed down in the country’s modern history, representing a sharp escalation of a crackdown on the group. More than 680 others supporters are currently standing trial charged with violence, inciting murder, storming a police station, or attacking persons and damaging public and private property.
Commentators have criticised the convictions, saying the trial was rife with procedural irregularities. Defence lawyers have reportedly filed a case challenging the trial on the basis of procedural flaws. Among concerns raised are that many of the defendants were tried in absentia, relevant evidence was dismissed in court, and the exact charges against each defendant were not read out. Meanwhile the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Rupert Colville, said: “A mass trial of 529 people conducted over just two days cannot possibly have met even the most basic requirements for a fair trial”.
Since Egypt’s army overthrew the country’s first freely elected president, Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, in July, security forces have killed hundreds of Brotherhood supporters in the streets and arrested thousands.
Advocates welcome French ruling on children’s access to justice
This month the Conseil d'Etat - France's highest administrative court - ruled that a child can take legal action when his or her fundamental freedoms are at stake, a move that has been welcomed by advocates as an important step to provide children with access to justice.
Previously children only had standing before the courts if they were emancipated. But now in cases where a child does not have the capacity to initiate legal proceedings, he or she can still have standing before a judge when emergency measures are necessary to protect a fundamental freedom. The ruling came in relation to a case involving an unaccompanied refugee child who was placed in care under a judge’s order, yet the local authority refused to support the child, which left the child homeless and unable to seek protection from the courts. In this case the child was seeking an emergency court order to force the local authority to comply with the judge’s decision.
Millions without birth certificates in Indonesia
Fifty million children under the age of 18 are unaccounted for in Indonesia because they lack a legal identity, according to a new collaborative study. The reasons cited are the costs involved, the distance to get to administrative offices, complex processes with courts and government agencies, or parents simply do not know how to go about registering their child. Contributing to the situation is that over half of couples in the poorest 30 per cent of households do not have a marriage certificate, which is needed for a child to have a birth certificate with both their mother and father’s name on it.
Why is birth registration important? Birth registration may seem like mere paperwork, but it is vital for children to gain access to basic services. Birth certificates give people the ability to prove who they are so they can get a passport, a driving licences and other documents that open doors to schooling, access to healthcare, employment and the enjoyment of other human rights. Without it, people can be effectively shut out and denied these services because they cannot prove their age and identity. Countries that have a systemic lack of birth registration also tend to have severe problems in the criminal justice context, whereby children accused of a crime can be wrongly tried and sentenced as adults.
Funding opportunity and calls for information
The Human Dignity Foundation (HDF) has announced a call for proposals on child protection for NGOs in India and South Africa to apply for financial support for projects on preventing violence against children. The primary target group of the call is children between 10 and 18 years, and the key areas of focus are: effective support to children who experience violence, prevention of violence against children, and prevention of unnecessary separation of children. HDF is particularly interested in projects that: address underlying causes of violence against children, support functioning of integrated protection systems, support families and communities to better care for children, and support the removal of drivers of institutional care. Applicants are invited to submit Concept Notes by 5pm GMT on 18th April 2014.
The Office of the Special Representative on Violence against Children is inviting children to fill in an online survey on how children currently use and access resources and what kind of online tool could be most useful to them. The findings will contribute to the design of a web tool for children to share and access resources for/by children about ending and preventing violence (a sort of ‘clearinghouse’ of resources). The survey is available in English, French, Arabic and Spanish and should take 15-20 minutes to complete. PDF versions of the survey are also available in case this is easier for children to fill out. Adult partners are also invited to complete the adult survey and share their ideas about this resource.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is inviting comments on a study on the effectiveness of domestic judicial mechanisms in relation to business involvement in gross human rights abuses. This study identifies barriers to accessing justice at domestic level, and the effects of differences in domestic approaches on the way that domestic remedial systems are used in practice. The OHCHR is now inviting interested stakeholders to make submissions in writing on the issues identified in the study which they think require further clarification. The deadline for submissions is 1 June 2014. For more details click here.
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Access to justice for children in the Czech Republic
In the second installment of our access to justice report series, we assess children’s access to justice in the Czech Republic.
The Czech Republic has largely incorporated the Convention on the Rights of the Child into its legal framework, and all courts and complaints mechanisms are available to challenge children's rights violations. However, children lack full legal capacity, and are required to have a legal representative to act on their behalf if a court considers that they do not have the sufficient "mental maturity" to bring a case. Special procedures exist in this regard, including cases brought by an "OSPOD", a public authority that protects children’s rights and ensures that the matter is dealt with in the best interests of the child, and by the prosecution in the public interest in certain matters involving children.
Read the full report on access to justice for children in the Czech Republic.
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Upcoming events
Civil & political rights: 110th Session of the Human Rights Committee
Organisation: OHCHR
Date: 10-28 March 2014
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Americas: 150th Session of the IACHR
Organisation: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Date: 20 March - 4 April 2014
Location: Washington DC, United States
Human rights: Engaging non-traditional allies
Organisation: New Tactics
Date: 24- 28 March 2014
Location: On-line
Course: Child protection in development practice
Organisation: Kimmage Development Studies Centre, Dublin
Date: N/A
Location: On-line
Course: Understanding & addressing gender-based violence in development contexts
Organisation: Kimmage Development Studies Centre, Dublin
Date: N/A
Location: On-line
Migration: 20th Session of the UN Committee on Migrant Workers
Organisation: OHCHR
Date: 31 March - 11 April 2014
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Disability: 11th Session of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Organisation: OHCHR
Date: 31 March - 11 April 2014
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Youth justice: Re-imagining youth justice
Organisation: Howard League for Penal Reform
Date: 2 April 2014
Location: London, United Kingdom
Children's rights: Summer school on international children's rights
Organisation: Leiden University
Application deadline: 1 May 2014
Course dates: 7-11 July 2014
Location: Leiden and The Hague, Netherlands
Gender: 2014 European Transgender Council
Organisation: TGEU
Date: 1-4 May 2014
Location: Budapest, Hungary
Corporal punishment: Children's Rights and Advances in Protection from Corporal Punishment
Organisation: Center for the Human Rights of Children, Loyola University Chicago
Date: 23-24 May 2014
Location: Chicago, United States
Justice: International conference on child-friendly justice
Organisation: Stockholm Centre for the Rights of the Child
Date: 16-18 May 2014
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Course: Summer school on the rights of the child
Organisation: University of Nottingham
Date: 23-27 June 2014
Location: Nottingham, United Kingdom
Bodily integrity: Whole bodies, whole selves - Activating social change
Organisation: Genital Autonomy et al.
Event date: 24-27 July 2014
Location: Colorado, United States
Participation: Children as Actors for Transforming Society - Young Advocates for Change
Organisation: Initiatives of Change et al.
Date: 26 July - 2 August 2014
Location: Caux, Switzerland
Africa: Keeping Children Safe in Africa - Identifying and addressing the challenges
Organisation: Keeping Children Safe et al.
Date: 3-5 September 2014
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Statelessness: Global Forum on Statelessness
Organisation: Tilburg University
Date: 15-17 September 2014
Location: The Hague, Netherlands
Violence: 7th African Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect
Organisation: African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect
Date: 13-15 October 2014
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Child rights: International Conference celebrating the CRC's 25th year anniversary
Organisation: Department of Child Law of Leiden University
Date: 17-19 November 2014
Call for papers deadline: 1 April 2014
Location: Leiden, Netherlands
Children: Honouring the child, honouring equity
Organisation: University of Melbourne
Date: 21-22 November 2014
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Juvenile justice: World Congress on Juvenile Justice
Organisation: Terre des hommes et al.
Date: 26-30 January 2015
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
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Employment
CRIN: Junior Communications Officer
Application deadline: 2 April 2014
Location: London, United Kingdom
ECPAT UK: Trust Grants Officer
Application deadline: 31 March 2014
Location: London, United Kingdom
ECPAT UK: Training Coordinator
Application deadline: 31 March 2014
Location: London, United Kingdom
European Roma Rights Centre: Human Rights Trainer
Application deadline: 31 March 2014
Location: Budapest, Hungary
International Citizen Service: Volunteerships
Application deadline: N/A
Location: London, United Kingdom
Leak of the Week
New guidelines in North Korea are reportedly being rolled out across the country literally onto the heads of men, who are now required to sport the same haircut as their leader Kim Jong-un.
The fixation with haircuts has been ongoing for some time, with the State only approving 18 styles until now, not to mention a 2005 media campaign against “long” hair called 'Let us trim our hair in accordance with the Socialist lifestyle'.
A big downside of the so-called “Dear Leader Kim Jong-un” haircut is that it isn’t actually popular among North Koreans. Until the mid-2000s, it was known as the 'Chinese smuggler haircut'.
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