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LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS
Bolivia bans corporal punishment of children
Bolivia has become the 39th State worldwide to ban all corporal punishment of children in all settings, including in the home. Article 146 of the new Children and Adolescents Code provides for the “right to good treatment”, stating that this comprises “a non-violent upbringing and education, based on mutual respect and solidarity.” Bolivia is the sixth Latin American State to prohibit corporal punishment outright. Brazil also enacted a ban in June this year.
Meanwhile a draft law in Chile could also see the State banning corporal punishment. The bill seeks to amend article 234 of the Civil Code to prohibit corporal punishment and any humiliating or degrading treatment of children. Currently, article 234 allows parents to “discipline” their children so long as it does not leave a mark or psychological impact, which advocates say legalises minor assault against children.
Children beheaded & dying of thirst in Iraq
In Iraq, reports have emerged that the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) - formerly known as ISIS - is killing religious minorities if they refuse to convert to their brand of Islam, including by burying children alive and beheading them. In the town of Sinjar in the north of the country, at least 500 Kurdish-speaking Yazidis are thought to have been executed by IS militants and associated armed groups as they take control of new areas. The Iraqi Human Rights Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said that around 300 Yazidi women and girls had been abducted by IS fighters, presumably to be forced into marriage and sexual slavery. Around 40,000 Yazidis in northern Iraq have fled to the mountains, where people have begun to die of thirst, including 40 children last week, according to UNICEF. “There is no water, there is no vegetation, they are completely cut off and surrounded by Islamic State. It’s a disaster, a total disaster,” said Marzio Babille, the Iraq representative for UNICEF.
Humanitarian crises in conflict areas
Negotiations are taking place between Hamas and Israeli officials on possibly extending the current 72-hour ceasefire to the month-long conflict that has left almost 2,000 people dead. Among the more than 1,900 Palestinians killed, are at least 447 children. Over 2,740 other children have been injured, while thousands more are suffering post-traumatic stress disorder. A quarter of Gaza’s 1.8 million population has been displaced as a result of Israeli fire, while tens of thousands of people have been made homeless.
In South Sudan, thousands of children have been deliberately killed or abducted to fight in the nearly eight month-long conflict, an African Union committee said last week following a visit to the country. The committee found that boys and girls have been victims of sexual violence perpetrated by fighters, more than 900 children have been abducted in the eastern war zone state of Jonglei, and 490 children were found in mass graves after fighting in the eastern town of Bor. Some seven million civilians are facing alarming levels of food insecurity and disease, amidst growing concerns of a famine. Up to 50,000 children are at risk of dying as a consequence of acute malnutrition this year alone. Among the more than one million people who have been internally displaced by violence, some 434,000 have fled across borders. And the cholera epidemic continues to grow with more than 5,300 cases and 115 deaths. This week the UN Security Council said it will impose sanctions against anyone who undermines the ongoing peace talks.
Also read our latest CRINmail on Children in Armed Conflict.
Bill to treat juveniles as adults in India
In India, a draft juvenile justice bill that proposes treating children aged 16 and over as adults if charged with a serious crime has been introduced into the lower house of parliament this week. Under the current Juvenile Justice Act, all under-18s charged with an offence must be tried by a juvenile court and detained in a juvenile detention centre. But the new bill, drafted by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, seeks to repeal and re-enact the current law and give the Juvenile Justice Board discretion to transfer children to adult courts. Under clauses 14 and 17(3) of the bill, children aged 16 and 17 who are alleged or found to have committed offences punishable with more than seven years’ imprisonment can be transferred to the adult system. The bill could potentially contradict the judgment by India's Supreme Court in March this year which upheld the constitutionality of the existing Juvenile Justice Act and rejected a petition that called for an interpretation of the law to allow juveniles to be treated as adults.
Cambodian NGOs blast round-up of street children
Organisations in Cambodia have criticised Phnom Penh’s municipal government for rounding-up street children, which involves arresting, detaining and then sending the children back to their families. In June, City Hall partnered up with two local NGOs in a campaign to get children off the streets of Phnom Penh. But the scheme was stalled after the organisations disagreed with it. “They should not have been rounded up at all,” said Pin Sarapich, programme director at Pour un Sourire d’Enfant (PSE), who says street children suffer psychological damage when anti-trafficking police round them up arbitrarily. A City Hall spokesman defended the government’s catch-and-release scheme, saying “It improves the situation of beauty in the city and protects the security of children from labour exploitation.” But Mr Sarapich says the children will likely return to the streets if their specific needs for being on the street in the first place are not understood.
Spotlight back on Thailand’s domestic work
The case of Air, a Burmese girl who was abducted in Thailand and forced to work as a housemaid without pay and suffering daily beatings and torture, has put a renewed spotlight on domestic labour in the country. It was not until five years after her abduction that Air - who has severe scars on her body and the entire length of her left arm - was able to finally escape. A previous attempt went awry after police sent her back to her abductors. Activists say the girl’s enslavement in not uncommon in Thailand, where domestic workers are routinely exploited, abused and even killed. Ninety per cent of the over 250,000 domestic workers are from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. Experts say domestic workers are extremely vulnerable because their work takes place hidden from public view and they have limited contact with the outside world. While official statistics on the number of underage workers is hard to find, anecdotal evidence suggests they make up a significant portion of the domestic labour force in Thailand.
Meanwhile the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has condemned police in Myanmar for failing to arrest a couple who tortured and denied medical treatment to a 14-year-old girl who worked in their home. At the hands of her employers, the girl was beaten with a stick, stabbed with scissors, cut with pliers and her hands were put in hot oil. When the girl was eventually taken to hospital, medical staff did not contact the police despite the seriousness of her injuries. More than five months have passed since a police complaint was made, yet the perpetrators have not been arrested or prosecuted. In a similar case, the wife of a local judge who tortured a 15-year-old domestic worker with a hot iron has never faced trial because of a lack of police investigation. The AHRC is urging authorities to investigate both cases and prosecute the perpetrators.
Neither Thailand nor Myanmar have ratified the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Domestic Workers Convention, which provides the first global standards enshrining the rights of all domestic workers, including children, in international law. Among its provisions, the convention requires ratifying States to take specific steps to eliminate child labour in domestic work; protect domestic workers from abuse, harassment and violence; set a minimum age for domestic work in line with international standards, and ensure that work by children above that age does not deprive them of schooling; and ensure that domestic workers above the legal age to work are entitled to the same rights as other workers, including daily rest and weekly days off, limits to hours of work, minimum wage coverage and overtime compensation.
Read more about the “12 by 12” campaign, launched by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), to encourage States to ratify the convention.
Austerity cuts affecting children’s health rights
Cuts in health services in countries across Europe are affecting citizens’ universal access to health care, including children, said Nils Muižnieks, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights. In his latest “Human Rights Comment”, Mr Muižnieks defined children as a vulnerable group, pointing out that austerity measures are giving rise to increasing poverty, homelessness and malnutrition. He reiterated the World Health Organization’s warning regarding the long term impact of extreme poverty on children’s health, which includes deficits in cognitive, emotional and physical development. In Spain, Mr Muižnieks notes, children belonging to disadvantaged social groups are six times more likely to develop mental health problems compared to other groups. He also expressed his concern over the lack of psychological and psychiatric care available for children in Estonia. Meanwhile Roma families across Europe living in remote areas with limited transportation options face problems in accessing health care.
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ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN IN CROATIA
In this week’s instalment of our access to justice report series, we look at children’s access to justice in Croatia.
As a ratified international instrument, the Convention on the Rights of the Child forms part of domestic law and can be directly enforced in the courts. Furthermore, its provisions are given precedence over conflicting provisions of national law. In the context of civil proceedings, children are able to bring proceedings alone, if they are deemed to have the capacity to do so, or through a representative acting on their behalf, where such capacity is lacking. In criminal law matters, the law permits children of 16 years of age or above to submit a private criminal charge without assistance, whereas children below that age can do the same only with the assistance of their legal guardian. Croatia adopted a new law in 2009 which makes provision for full or partial legal aid, allocated depending on the applicant’s financial status, in matters concerning the protection of children and young adults. Such financial assistance is available to children who hold Croatian citizenship as well as foreign children without a parent or legal guardian, however, the procedural requirements make it difficult for unassisted children to apply.
Read the full report on access to justice for children in Croatia.
This report is part of CRIN’s access to justice for children project, looking at the status of the CRC in national law, the status of children involved in legal proceedings, the legal means to challenge violations of children’s rights and the practical considerations involved in challenging violations.
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UPCOMING EVENTS
Europe: Ensuring the Rights of the Child, and Family-based Services
Organisation: International Foster Care Organisation
Date: 26-29 August 2014
Location: Waterford, Ireland
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
Mental health: Third European Conference on mental health
Organisation: Various
Date: 10-12 September 2014
Location: Tallinn, Estonia
Justice: Access to justice for children - Legal clinics & other instruments for the promotion of children's rights
Organisation: Save the Children - Italy
Date: 11-13 September 2014
Location: Pisa, Italy
Child rights: European responses to global children’s rights issues - Key findings and future directions
Organisation: UK Economic and Social Research Council
Date: 14 September 2014
Location: Brussels, Belgium
Juvenile justice: ‘Making deprivation of children’s liberty a last resort - Towards evidence-based policies & alternatives’
Organisation: International Juvenile Justice Observatory
Call for papers deadline: 15 September 2014
Event date: 3-4 December 2014
Location: Brussels, Belgium
Consumerism: 'Protecting and Valuing Children as Consumers – European Perspective'
Organisation: Eurochild et al.
Location: Brussels, Belgium
Date: 15 September 2014
Statelessness: Global Forum on Statelessness
Organisation: Tilburg University
Date: 15-17 September 2014
Location: The Hague, Netherlands
Child-friendly cities: 7th Child in the City conference
Organisation: Child in the City Foundation
Location: Odense, Denmark
Date: 29 September - 1 October 2014
Best interests: Developing Child-Centred Practice in Law, Social Work and Policy for Cross-Border Families
Organisation: International Social Service – USA Branch
Date: 2 October 2014
Location: Baltimore, United States
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
Digital media: Institutionalisation of child rights in the digital future
Organisation: UNICEF Turkey et al.
Date: 16-17 October 2014
Location: Istanbul, Turkey
LGBT: Rights on the move - Rainbow families in Europe
Organisation: University of Trento et al.
Date: 16-17 October 2014
Location: Trento, Italy
Social protection: Sixth International Policy Conference on the African Child
Organisation: African Child Policy Forum
Date: 27-28 October 2014
Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Child protection: The role of child helplines in protecting children and young people online
Organisation: Child Helpline International
Date: 30-31 October 2014
Location: London, United Kingdom
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EMPLOYMENT
European Roma Rights Centre: Human Rights Monitor in Moldova
Application deadline: 31 August 2014
Location: N/A
Leak of the Week
Do you own a firearm and openly carry it with you to generally safe places like the supermarket, restaurants or public toilets, but are struggling to rationally explain to your children why you engage in this disproportionate behaviour? Then you may be in luck, because a new children’s picture book does this for you!
The authors of “My Parents Open Carry”, which describes a "typical Saturday running errands and having fun together" of a family that “open carries”, say they wrote the book because when they "looked for pro-gun children's books [they] couldn't find any". They say it’s a “wholesome family book” which paints firearms as a “natural right” to self-defence and as the “most efficient means for that defence.”
The book has received its fair share of pro-gun reviews. But the following online reviewer efficiently sums up the anti-gun sentiment: “Can't wait for the sequel: ‘My Mommy Lives With Jesus, My Daddy Is In The Big House & My Special Chair Has Wheels.’”
But let's not blow (excuse the pun) this book out of proportion. After all, how seriously can you take a book that makes up its own verbs: "to open carry".
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