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Latest news and reports
Croatian court upholds compulsory vaccinations
Croatia’s Constitutional Court has rejected a proposal that the decision to vaccinate a child should only be taken by his or her parents. In doing so, the court has upheld a contested law that requires all children born in the country to receive vaccinations against a series of diseases, including hepatitis, measles, polio, whooping cough, tetanus, tuberculosis and diphtheria. Mandatory vaccination in Croatia began in 1999 and led to drastic reductions in the occurrence of these diseases. But in recent years an increasing number of children were not vaccinated: 28 in 2012, rising to 143 in 2013. The court took up the case following a petition signed by 10,000 people stating that “the vaccination of healthy children poses a threat to their health.” But the court ruled that private concerns do not take precedence over public safety, and supported the Croatian Ministry of Health’s decision that “the child’s right to health [is more important] over the rights of parents to the (wrong) choice.”
India’s Supreme Court rejects call to redefine ‘juvenile’
The Supreme Court of India has dismissed an appeal seeking fresh interpretation of the term 'juvenile' in the statute books. The petitioners had challenged the constitutionality of the Juvenile Justice Act (JJA) 2000 - under which all offenders under the age of 18 are tried - on the basis that it does not allow criminal courts to try a juvenile for offences committed under the Indian Penal Code, regardless of the nature and gravity of the offence or the maturity of the offender. But the Supreme Court decided that there is no unconstitutionality in setting the minimum age of criminal responsibility at 18. In line with juvenile justice norms, the bench noted that juveniles require differential treatment in the justice system on account of their capacity for rehabilitation and reform to become “useful members” of society later on, and that this is the objective of the JJA.
You can also read CRIN’s paper on juvenile justice, which seeks to separate the concept of responsibility from that of criminalisation, and ultimately stop criminalising children.
Young detainees report torture in Egyptian police custody
Detainees in police custody in Egypt, including teenage children, are being subjected to beatings, sexual abuse and electric shocks, according to victim testimonies. Since the army ousted President Mohammed Morsi last July, an estimated 20,000 people have been rounded up in a sweeping crackdown on dissent. A growing number are now emerging from police custody and prisons with serious allegations of torture - claims the military-backed government denies. A 15-year-old boy, who was arrested in January for filming an Islamist protest on his mobile phone and was released 34 days later, recounts his experience at a local police station: "They electrocuted me in sensitive places like my spine, here and here on my arms, and in sensitive areas like between my legs. … At the same time they were beating me. And sometimes they would throw water to increase the voltage." Additionally, some female former detainees say they were subjected to virginity tests.
Meanwhile in Bahrain, dozens of people aged between 16 to 34 have received lengthy prison sentences for taking part in unsanctioned protests and for allegedly attacking police officers. Since mostly Shi'ite Muslims took to the streets in 2011 to demand greater rights recognition in the Sunni-ruled kingdom, a string of clashes have continued to erupt between protesters and the police.
Finally a new Syrian death toll has been determined, with more than 150,000 people killed since the conflict began in March 2011, including nearly 7,985 children, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. State security forces account for more than 58,000 of the fatalities, nearly 38,000 were members of the armed opposition, while more than 51,200 were civilians.
The status of the juvenile death penalty
People continue to be executed in a number of countries for offences allegedly committed as children, new research has revealed. CRIN’s research indicates that in 14 countries capital punishment for children remains on the statute books or is carried out despite being prohibited. Reports from the past year, including Amnesty International's annual review of the death penalty worldwide, indicate that four men were executed in Iran for offences allegedly committed while under the age of 18, one in Gaza, and three in Saudi Arabia. In May in the Maldives, two people were sentenced to death by the Juvenile Court in relation to a murder committed when they were under 18 years of age. And executions of child offenders are also thought to have taken place in Yemen, where a systemic lack of birth certificates often means that juveniles are tried and executed as adults as the actual age of an offender is not clear.
One a more positive note, Bangladesh abolished the death penalty for children by enacting the Children’s Act 2013; Burkina Faso accepted a UPR recommendation to bring its penal code in conformity with the prohibition of the death penalty for juvenile offenders; and in Mauritania the Court of Appeal overturned the death sentences against three juvenile offenders, albeit commuting them to prison terms.
Further information:
Bushmen families prevented from hunting for food
A nationwide hunting ban has been imposed in Botswana, affecting subsistence hunting for the country’s Bushmen families. This appears to be the latest attempt to get the Bushmen to leave their ancestral land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, which is located in the middle of the richest diamond-producing area in the world. Advocates assert that the ban flouts Botswana’s 2006 high court ruling which upheld the Bushmen’s right to live and hunt on their ancestral land after they were forcibly evicted. While those who continue to hunt for food face the risk of being arrested, beaten and jailed, the ban conversely appears to make exceptions for trophy hunters willing to pay $8,000 to hunt with rifles.
Anti-gay laws and policies provoke criticism
Lawmakers in Kyrgyzstan have drafted a bill that seeks to criminalise “positive” statements about homosexuality in the public sphere, including in the media. While the bill has not yet been officially registered, it has been published online for public debate. According to the bill, anyone found guilty of “creat[ing] a positive attitude toward non-traditional sexual relations” - defined as “sodomy, lesbianism and other forms of non-traditional sexual behaviour” - will face imprisonment and a fine. Although sex between men was decriminalised in Kyrgyzstan in 1998, a recent report revealed that gay and bisexual men are arbitrarily detained and abused, threatened and extorted by police.
In the United States, Mississippi state lawmakers have passed a bill that could allow for discrimination against gay and lesbian people based on religious belief. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act proposes a ban on authorities from placing a “burden” on “a person’s right to the exercise of religion”. In practice this would mean that religious business owners could refuse service to gay or lesbian customers, based on religious belief. Mississippi currently has no anti-discrimination laws to protect LGBT people. State Governor Phil Bryant is being urged to veto the bill.
Meanwhile the US branch of the Christian aid organisation, World Vision, recently reversed an employment policy decision that would have allowed Christians in same-sex marriages to be eligible for employment. The organisation also chose to restore its conduct policy requiring all single employees to remain sexually abstinent on the basis of its “biblical view of marriage”. In response, other World Vision branches voiced their own employment policies. The UK branch says it “does not discriminate on grounds of sexual orientation. Individuals are hired and their performance monitored on job-specific criteria only.” Meanwhile the Canada branch said that “as part of our hiring process, we do not ask questions about sexual orientation, marriage or related issues. While we have a code of conduct on ethical and legal issues, we don’t ask staff to sign a lifestyle code of conduct.” The branches of the organisation, however, have a mandatory statement of faith for its workers.
Thousands leaving Crimea
More than 3,500 people have left Crimea after Russian troops began invading the peninsula a month ago. The new arrivals in reception centres in Ukraine’s capital Kiev say they have let behind properties, belongings and, often, other family members. The authorities in Kiev have opened a centre for the Crimeans to process their registration requests and seek assistance and medical care.
In response to the invasion, a Ukrainian teenager who received a commemorative watch from President Vladimir Putin 10 years ago said he was sending the gift back because of the Russian leader's "huge lie" about supposedly wanting peace. When Putin visited Ukraine in 2004, he told a news conference that Moscow recognised and respected the sovereignty of its former Soviet neighbours.
Appointment of UN independent experts postponed
The appointment of 19 independent human rights experts to UN special procedure roles was postponed last week at the Human Rights Council’s 25th session. The mandate holders are now scheduled to be named in April during the next Universal Periodic Review session. The International Service for Human Rights explained that the appointments were postponed at the request of Peru, which “argued that the [HRC] President had not justified the few instances in which he had chosen to select another candidate than the one recommended by the consultative group based on the interviews they had carried out; and that the final group of selected candidates did not adhere to requirements of gender or regional balance. Peru was specifically unhappy at a lower representation of experts from Latin America amongst the special procedures.”
Online petition: right to information for prisoners
An online petition from the United Kingdom is calling for a review of a new rewards system that has been introduced into prisons, whereby prisoners have been restricted in receiving supplies of books and personal items from family and friends. Some commentators have indicated that the Ministry of Justice could face legal action over the book ban for denying prisoners their right to receive information, which they say could be considered “cruel and unusual punishment” on prisoners who are literate. What’s more, the new restrictions appear to involve religious discrimination because the only books freely available to prisoners are the Bible and other religious texts. The petition states that “Access to books can be crucial for education and rehabilitation. Access to family items are important for continued family connection, and should not additionally punish children of prisoners who need contact.”
Call for papers: poverty & child-friendly cities
The UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia (ROSA) has teamed up with the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) in the UK to explore how issues of urban inclusion can help some of the most marginalised and excluded children in Asia access services and sources of livelihood. On 9-10 June 2014 IDS will be hosting a conference titled 'Rethinking Urbanisation and Equity in Asia: Harnessing the Potential of Urban Living for all Children’ for which a call for papers has been released. The conference will assess the effects – both positive and negative – of urbanisation on children, understand child poverty in urban areas, and develop approaches to make cities more liveable for children and adolescents. The deadline for submissions is 14 April 2014.
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Access to justice for children in Mexico
In the third installment of our access to justice report series, we assess children’s access to justice in Mexico.
The legal status of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is well-recognised in Mexican law. It has been incorporated into national law, and is directly enforceable in the courts through the Amparo Law, which allows children to file petitions for the protection of their rights under the CRC when violated by general provisions, acts or omissions of authorities. Children, however, face several barriers when accessing justice, including their general lack of legal capacity to bring cases to court, the lack of legal aid in non-criminal matters, and reported delays and unpredictability in the justice system. It remains to be seen what impact proposed reforms to the judiciary and justice sector will have on children's access to justice in Mexico.
Read the full report on access to justice for children in Mexico.
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Upcoming events
Exploitation: UN Day of General Discussion on workplace exploitation and protection
Organisation: UN Committee on Migrant Workers
Date: 7 April 2014
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
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
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
Asia: Rethinking urbanisation & equity - the potential of urban living for all children
Organisation: UNICEF & Institute of Development Studies
Date: 9-10 June 2014
Location: Nottingham, United Kingdom
Course: Summer school - Children at the heart of human rights
Organisation: University of Geneva
Date: 16 June - 4 July 2014
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Course: Summer school on the rights of the child
Organisation: University of Nottingham
Date: 23-27 June 2014
Location: Nottingham, United Kingdom
Psychology: Children's Rights and Needs - Challenges to School, Family and Society
Organisation: International School Psychology Association (ISPA)
Event date: 15-18 July 2014
Location: Kaunas, Lithuania
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
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Employment
European Roma Rights Centre: Researcher
Application deadline: 11 April 2014
Location: Budapest, Hungary
International Citizen Service: Volunteerships
Application deadline: N/A
Location: London, United Kingdom
Leak of the Week
In some countries, restrictions on baby names are in place to meet specific gender, grammar and pronunciation rules. Yet the most common reason for restrictions on names is to save a child any potential embarrassment. (This clearly wasn't the case with Number 16 Bus Shelter, as one unfortunate baby was called in New Zealand!)
But last month Saudi Arabia added to the list of reasons following its release of a list of 50 names that are now banned either because they contradict the culture or religion of the kingdom, are foreign, or are simply “inappropriate”. Names related to royalty and those considered to be blasphemous are also banned.
So names such as Amir (prince), Basmala (utterance of the name of God), or Sandy or Linda are a no-go.
But politics also seems to have played a role in the list, as names that do not necessarily fit into any of the above categories are also blacklisted. Binyamin, for example, is not found to be particularly offensive to Muslims; but it happens to be the name of the Israeli prime minister. Similarly, any apparent opposition to the name Abdul Naser is not obvious - except if you consider that it was the name of the famous Arab nationalist ruler of Egypt, who was at odds with Saudi Arabia.
It looks like foreign politicians will have to stay on Saudi Arabia's good side. Because if they don't, they may have their name banned!
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