CRINmail 1393

In this issue:

View this CRINmail in your browser. 

LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS

Petition to overturn Nigeria death sentence

The lawyer of a young Nigerian man on death row for allegedly committing armed robbery as a child has appealed against the judgement at the Court of Appeal. Moses Akatugba was arrested when he was 16 years old for allegedly stealing three phones. While held in detention, he says he was beaten, hung upside down in interrogation rooms and had his finger and toe nails pulled out to force him to sign two “confessions”. After spending eight years in prison, he was sentenced to death by hanging and is currently on death row. Amnesty International is urging the Governor of the Delta State — where Moses is imprisoned — to overturn his death sentence on Independence Day on 1 October, when death sentences are often repealed. The organisation has set up a petition to this effect. NGOs report that Nigerian police routinely torture suspects to extract information, while confessions obtained through torture are regularly used as evidence in court. Moses says his claims of torture have not been investigated.

In the United States, two men who spent 30 years in prison for rape and murder - one of whom was 15 years old when convicted - have been released after DNA evidence proved their innocence. In 1984, half brothers Henry McCollum, 50, and Leon Brown, 46, both with mental disabilities, were convicted of raping and killing an 11-year-old girl in North Carolina. Both had signed confessions after intense questioning by police, despite the absence of physical evidence implicating them in the crime. They later withdrew their confessions in court, saying they were signed under pressure. Both were given death sentences, while Mr Brown’s sentence was later reduced to life in prison. The new judgement follows an investigation by the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission.

Children forced to watch beheadings in Iraq

The Islamic State (IS) group is recruiting children, converting them to Islam, and training them to use firearms, according to media reports. The children are also being made to witness beheadings, crucifictions and stonings, according to one boy who managed to escape an IS training camp. In Iraq, at least 2,250 Yazidi women and children are reportedly being held hostage by IS fighters. Women and girls are allegedly being used as slaves for cooking and sex and forced into marriage. Children are also being used as informers, checkpoint guards, and suicide bombers, said Leila Zerrougui, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for children and armed conflict at a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on the Islamic State’s actions in Iraq.

Girl heads lawsuit alleging health rights abuses

A six-year-old asylum seeker is the lead plaintiff in a class action against the Australian Federal Government and Immigration Minister Scott Morrison over the treatment of injured detainees held in immigration detention centres. The girl, who has been in detention for over a year and diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, has suffered from an ongoing dental infection, allergies, separation anxiety, bedwetting, has developed a stammer and is refusing food. Law firm Maurice Blackburn filed legal proceedings on behalf of the girl and all asylum seekers who have been detained on Christmas Island in the past three years and suffered an injury or exacerbation of an injury due to the government’s failure to provide adequate health care. “Our claim alleges that the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection has failed in his duty of care to protect the health and wellbeing of asylum seekers held in detention on Christmas Island," said Maurice Blackburn Principal Jacob Varghese. "If that duty has been breached, as we allege, asylum seekers are entitled to compensation for the injuries and illnesses they have suffered as a result.”   

Thousands of migrant asylum-seeking children are detained each year in Thailand in squalid immigration facilities and police lock-ups based on their immigration status or that of their parents, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch. While migrants from neighbouring countries usually spend a few days or weeks in detention after they are detained before being taken to the border to be formally deported or otherwise released, those from non-contiguous countries either remain locked up with their children for months or years in the hope that they are resettled in a third country or end up having to pay to return to their own country where many fear persecution. Migrant families with children are held in unhygienic, overcrowded cells without adequate nutrition, education or exercise space, and are routinely placed in the company of unrelated adults. Human Rights Watch says the Thai government should stop detaining children on immigration grounds because it violates their rights and puts their health and well-being at unnecessary risk.

The extreme vulnerability that migrants in Mexico fall victim to is “one of the worst human tragedies in the region today,” according to a new report by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). The Commission documents how migrants routinely face the risk of becoming victims of homicide, disappearance, kidnapping, acts of sexual violence, human trafficking, migrant smuggling, discrimination, and detention without due process guarantees and judicial protection. Unaccompanied child migrants are especially vulnerable to these risks due to their age and level of physical and mental development, the Commission notes, adding that the State’s response is often to criminalise and incarcerate them. The report also looks at violations of the economic, social, and cultural rights of people in an irregular migration status. In addition, the report addresses authorities’ refusal to register Mexican-born children as Mexican citizens, as well as the difficulty faced by migrant workers in accessing health and education. 

More transparency urged in search of disappeared

Governments should support relatives of disappeared persons by removing all obstacles that hinder their search for loved ones, including by opening all archives, including military files, said two UN groups of experts in the context of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, celebrated on 30 August. The Committee on Enforced Disappearances and the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances blame a lack of political will or insufficient and inadequate investigations for the unjustified barriers many relatives face in their search. Notably, more than 43,000 cases, the majority dating back decades, remain outstanding with the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, often because relatives have no support in finding out what happened. The Committee and Working Group say that governments should not only remove existing barriers, but also actively promote and facilitate the full use of national, regional and international mechanisms aimed at establishing the truth on disappearances.

People prepare for forced labour in cotton fields

Since the International Labour Organization (ILO) demanded that the Uzbek government stop using child labour in cotton-picking, the number of adults being forced to work during the cotton harvest has increased. For instance, 40 percent of all school and kindergarten staff is expected to take part in the next cotton harvest due to start on 5 September -- an increase of 10 percent from the previous year. Some workers say they have already been working in temperatures of 45 degrees in the fields since mid-July, where they have been trimming plants to stimulate cotton flower growth. Many will be housed in barracks, which some workers say are in poor conditions, with no heating or running water. There are still reports, however, that child labour continues to be used.

African Committee issues first general comment

This week, the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child will officially launch its first-ever General Comment under the theme of Children of Incarcerated and Imprisoned Parents and Primary Caregivers. The General Comment provides guidance on implementation of Article 30 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, which addresses States’ obligation to provide special treatment in cases of an incarcerated parent. The organisation Penal Reform International and the Committee have produced a Short Guide to the General Comment, which is available in English and French, with Arabic soon to follow.

CRC session & Day of General Discussion

The 67th Session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child is currently taking place between 1-9 September 2014. States under review on their children’s rights record are Croatia, Fiji, Hungary, Morocco, Singapore and Venezuela. To access the session’s alternative reports, or for further information, click here.

The Committee will also be holding its 2014 Day of General Discussion on Friday, 12 September under the theme: “Digital media and children’s rights”. The purpose of the Day is to better understand the effects of children’s engagement with social media as well as information and communication technologies, in order to understand the impact on and role of children’s rights in this area, and develop rights-based strategies to make the most of online opportunities for children while protecting them from risks and possible harm.  More information can be found on the Day of General Discussion 2014 webpage.   

Back to top

ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN IN MOROCCO

In this week’s instalment of our access to justice report series, we look at children’s access to justice in Morocco.

As a monist country, the Convention on the Rights of the Child was automatically incorporated into the national law of Morocco following its ratification and publication, and takes precedence over conflicting domestic law. Children can only bring civil cases with the assistance of their legal tutor, who is defined by law as their father. Children of any age, however, can lodge criminal complaints, and victims of crime can institute criminal proceedings. Judicial review of laws and administrative acts is available, though review of whether a legal provision violates a constitutional right is only possible if raised by a party during court proceedings. Alternatively, children may complain to the National Human Rights Council or Ombudsperson about violations of their rights. Despite these mechanisms enabling access to justice, Morocco faces obstacles in practice. Although legal aid is guaranteed in a wide range of settings, in practice it is only available to criminal defendants. Furthermore, several NGOs have raised the lack of judicial independence as an area of concern.

Read the full report on access to justice for children in Morocco.

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.

EMPLOYMENT

Save the Children Sweden: Thematic Advisor for Child Protection for MENA
Location: Amman, Jordan
Application deadline: 7 September 2014

Consortium for Street Children: Advocacy & Research Intern
Location: London, United Kingdom
Application deadline: 7 September 2014 

ERRC: Legal Officer for Italy
Location: Budapest, Hungary
Application deadline: 16 September 2014

GHR Foundation - Senior Programme Officer (Children in Families Initiative)
Location: Minneapolis, United States
Application deadline: 22 September 2014

Save the Children Sweden: Deputy Response Team Leader (SHARP programme)
Location: West Africa
Application deadline: 28 September 2014

Leak of the Week

Back to top