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LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS

Child protesters ‘tortured and abused’

Staff at a prison in Egypt have allegedly tortured and sexually abused 52 teenagers who were detained after taking part in protests last year, according to the Geneva-based pan-Arab rights group Alkarama. The organisation made the claim in an open statement to the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment. The 52 children, who have been detained for over eight months at Alexandria's Koum El Dekka prison, were charged with "demonstrating without authorisation," "assaults on police officers," and "affiliation to a prohibited party".

Among the instances of alleged abuse, Alkarama says the children are living in unhygienic conditions, are regularly harassed by prison guards and beaten by military officers in charge of the prison's surveillance, and officers unleash attack dogs on the children. The organisation also says the children have been put in solitary confinement where they were severely tortured, including being burnt with cigarette butts, electrocuted including on their genitals, being hung by their hands for hours, sexually abused, and in some instances also raped. The children’s lawyers raised these concerns at hearings in Alexandria's Court of Misdemeanours, but the judge refused to hear the victims’ statements, instead extending their preventive detention.

Violence against children seen as ‘permissible’

The majority of the world’s children continue to suffer forms of physical, emotional and sexual abuse because violence against children is ingrained in societies and often accepted as the norm, according to findings by a new global report by UNICEF. The report Hidden in Plain Sight, which draws on data from 190 countries, documents violence in places where children should be safe, such as at home or in schools. Among its findings, the report shows that:

• One fifth of homicide victims globally are children and adolescents under the age of 20.  Nigeria has the highest number of child homicides – 13,000 annually, while homicide is the leading cause of death among males aged between ten and 19 in several Central and Latin American countries.
• About 17 percent of children in 58 countries are subject to severe forms of corporal punishment, such as hitting on the head, ears or face or hitting hard and repeatedly.
• Around one in ten girls under the age of 20 worldwide have experienced forced intercourse or other forced sexual acts, and partner violence is 50 percent higher in several African countries than in the rest of the world.
• On child attitudes towards violence, close to half of all adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 believe a husband is justified in hitting his wife under certain circumstances, with the figure rising to 80 percent of in some countries. Many female victims of physical and/or sexual abuse say they have never sought help because they did not consider it abuse or did not see it as a problem.
• More than one in three students between the ages of 13 and 15 worldwide are victims of regular bullying in school.

Mass for-profit detention of migrants criticised

Federal officials in the United States are due to open the country’s largest family detention centre in Texas to house immigrant adults with children while they await deportation, amid concerns from rights groups. The 2,400-bed facility will be run by the nation’s largest for-profit corrections company, the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), which has been mired by controversies, including inmate abuse and aggressive lobbying tactics. Concerns relating to children include, the use of separation from parents as punishment, insufficient schooling, inadequate food standards, and limited recreation time. The Obama administration announced its plans in July to expand immigrant family detention in response to the increasing number of Central American migrants arriving in the country. Advocates criticise the policy of mass for-profit detention of immigrant families, and argue that detention is no place for children.

Children’s rights and the internet

The media’s often sensationalist coverage of online risks for children may be preventing children from effectively learning about e-safety, a new report has claimed. The findings of the report, by the EU Kids Online project based at the London School of Economics and Political Science, reveals that children are heavily influenced by the media's reporting of internet risks, such as the dangers of meeting an online ‘friend’ offline and personal data protection, despite the fact that these are in fact less likely to be experienced by the majority of online users. This can, the authors say, lead to children not focusing enough on the risks they are more likely to encounter, such as exposure to violent or sexual content, which is more common. They recommend that prevention programmes educate children not only about potential online dangers, but also on the drawbacks of some media coverage on the issue.

Seeking to assess and respond to the needs of young internet users are an updated set of guidelines prepared by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Partners of the Child Online Protection initiative also contributed to the development of the guidelines, which were developed based on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the Children’s Rights and Business Principles, to provide advice to the information and communication technologies industry. The guidelines can be accessed online at: www.itu.int/en/cop/Pages/guidelines.aspx

Still on the issue, this Friday the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is holding its 2014 Day of General Discussion 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.  

CRIN made a submission on the issue in which we discuss the need to address all children’s rights in the digital context, not just protection; how claims of protection are often a front for internet censorship; and the importance of giving more prominence to children’s own capacities to exercise caution online.

Further information:

• Day of General Discussion 2014 webpage
• CRIN campaign on children’s right to access information

Missing children never found in Nepal

Around 40 percent of all missing children in Nepal are never found, while the number rises to almost 50 percent among missing girls, according to a report by the country’s National Human Rights Commission. The report suggests that the gender difference in the rate of missing children is linked to trends in trafficking for sexual exploitation. The report notes that cross-border trafficking of children for labour exploitation has been widely reported, especially concerning their use in circus performance, agriculture, manufacturing and construction. Internal trafficking of children is also a problem, with such cases being linked to work in embroidering, the domestic sector, and brick kilns.

Advocates say the issue is complex. Not only is there a lack of tracing mechanisms, but parents of missing children who are found do not always report this to authorities. Nevertheless, while “The number of missing children is alarming […] the concerned authorities are not doing much to trace them,” said Sumnima Tuladhar, executive coordinator of the NGO Child Workers in Nepal (CWIN).

Criminalising human rights defenders

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has launched a questionnaire for States and civil society in the preparation of a report on the criminalisation of human rights defenders through the misuse of criminal law. The answers must be sent to the Commission’s Rapporteurship on Human Rights Defenders either by email or post. The deadline to respond is 16 September 2014. The questionnaire is available in: Spanish, English, Portuguese and French. More details here.

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ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN IN SINGAPORE

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

The CRC has not been fully incorporated into Singapore law and cannot be directly enforced in courts, though it has been referred to in some decisions. Children through their representatives can bring civil cases, initiate judicial review proceedings to challenge violations of their constitutional rights and administrative actions, as well as commence private prosecution. There are, however, limitations on children's access to justice. In particular, state-funded legal aid is only available in certain civil and family law cases, NGOs do not have legal standing to bring cases to court, and Singapore lacks an independent mechanism to receive and independently investigate complaints on the violations of the rights of children.

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

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

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

Workshop: Monitoring Children’s Rights workshop
Organisation: Human Rights Education Associates
Date: 13-15 October 2014
Location: Brussels, Belgium

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

Poverty: Understanding child and youth poverty - Beyond ‘business as usual’
Organisation: Development Studies Association
Date: 1 November 2014
Location: London, United Kingdom

Juvenile justice: ‘Deprivation of Children’s Liberty a Last Resort - Towards Juvenile Justice Guidelines in Asia Pacific and Beyond’
Organisation: IJJO - International Juvenile Justice Observatory  
Date: 5-6 November 2014
Location: Bangkok, Thailand

Gender: 2nd MenEngage Global Symposium 2014
Organisation: MenEngage
Date: 10-13 November 2014
Location: New Delhi, India

Childhood: 6th World congress on childhood and adolescence
Organisation: Various
Date: 12-14 November 2014
Location: La Puebla, Mexico

Children's rights: International conference - 25 Years CRC
Organisation: Leiden University et al.
Date: 17-19 November 2014
Location: Leiden, Netherlands

Courts: Children’s rights moot court competition
Organisation: Leiden University
Date: 18-20 November 2014
Location: Leiden, Netherlands

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EMPLOYMENT

CRIN: Communications Intern (French-speaking)
Location: N/A
Application deadline: 28 September 2014

UNICEF East Asia & Pacific Regional Office: Consultancy - Ex Ante Child Rights Analysis
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Application deadline: 15 September 2014

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

Plan International: Research Co-ordinator (Maternity Cover)  
Location: Woking, United Kingdom
Application deadline: 18 September 2014

UNICEF UK: Head of Policy and Advocacy
Location: London, United Kingdom
Application deadline: 19 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

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