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LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS
Legality doubts over mandatory migrant detention
A new ruling by Australia’s High Court has put in doubt the legality of the country’s policy of mandatory detention for people seeking asylum. While the ruling came in relation to a case concerning the practice of granting temporary visas to people seeking asylum which later block them from applying for permanent visas, the High Court also set out the constitutional limits on immigration detention. The ruling makes clear that the detention of a migrant can lawfully take place in only three circumstances: during consideration of whether to let a migrant apply for a visa, while an application for a visa is reviewed, or prior to a migrant’s deportation. The time that is “necessary and incidental” to fulfil these purposes “as soon as [is] reasonably practicable” will determine the length of detention. In recent years, migrants have been detained for increasing periods of time, and the practice of detention has become more routine and more extensive, according to advocates. The ruling has put into question the legality of the detention of thousands of migrants who arrived irregularly, with reports suggesting that the government will either have to release them or at least resume asylum processing.
Meanwhile migrant children from Central America will carry on crossing into the United States as long as political leaders continue to focus on border security rather than addressing the root causes of migration, said José Guadalupe Ruelas, director of the NGO Casa Alianza Honduras. “The question we have to ask ourselves is ‘why do the people leave?’” Ruelas said. “It’s never been as difficult, as expensive or as dangerous to emigrate [to the United States] as now. But as long as we don’t solve the problem of employment, of violence, of crime, people will continue to come.” While poverty and lack of opportunities for children and young people push them to migrate, violence has become a constant problem, as more gangs and criminal groups target children for recruitment. According to figures from last year, some 2,000 students left school over harassment from gangs, including death threats, in the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula alone. Notably, Honduras has the world’s highest homicide rate, while El Salvador and Guatemala also suffer from gang violence. Last month reports emerged that at least five Honduran children who had recently been deported from the US were killed.
Hundreds of children with learning disabilities sterilised
At least 502 girls and 127 boys with learning disabilities, such as autism and Down’s syndrome, were permanently sterilised in Colombia between 2009 and 2011, according to reports by the Ministry of Health. Performing surgical sterilisation on children is banned in Colombia, but in March this year the country’s Constitutional Court set out two exceptions to this rule concerning children with mental disabilities: when a pregnancy endangers the child’s health and 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.
What’s more, Monica Cortes, founder of human rights organisation Asdown argues that the high level of sterilisations in Colombia represents a general ignorance about learning disabilities, with misconceptions that people with learning difficulties are devoid of sexual feelings or the ability to have a relationship or children. According to Cortes, doctors routinely recommend sterilisation to families with children with learning disabilities who worry about unwanted pregnancies and sexual abuse. But advocates stress that sterilisation only hides the outcomes of sexual abuse, which makes these children more vulnerable. Experts say that more attention must be given to education that helps the children to understand their own bodies and the changes that occur when maturing, as well as learn about about sexual health, contraception and the consequences of sterilisation -- instead of passing control to family members.
Russia should make it a priority to support families with children with disabilities rather than encourage them to place a child in state orphanages, where their development is severely stunted, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch. Almost 30 percent of all children with disabilities in the country live in state orphanages, with some claiming to have suffered abuse and neglect on the part of members of staff, such as beatings, being injected with sedatives and sent to psychiatric facilities for days or weeks at a time as a form of control or punishment.
The report also documents how children in orphanages often lack access to needed health care, adequate nutrition, attention, and opportunities for play, with many receiving little to no formal education. Understaffing, as well as lack of adequate support and training for orphanage staff, are also concerns that affect the treatment of children, who, in addition, have few if any opportunities to seek help or report abuse. While the Russian government has made a public commitment to move away from the overuse of institutionalisation of children, there has been insufficient attention to the particular circumstances of institutionalised children with disabilities.
‘Absurd’ obstacles in accessing education
In Bulgaria, more than 400 refugee children will not be attending school this year because of difficulties in meeting overly strict and “absurd” requirements. To be enrolled in school in Bulgaria, the Education Act requires foreign nationals to produce six documents from their home country, including a school transcript, all translated and officially certified as legally valid. But advocates say meeting these requirements is close to impossible in countries in conflict. Language requirements for refugee children are also unrealistic. The children need to have completed a Bulgarian language course and pass an examination on the subject, however such language courses only began last month and so far have only been taught by volunteers. Attempts to change the law in recent months got no further than first reading in parliament.
Undocumented children in Quebec, Canada, are often unable to go to school because they are unable to pay the required fee of $5,000 to $6,000, according to the advocacy group Education Across Borders Collective (EABC). Quebec is the only jurisdiction in North America that systematically prevents non-status children from attending school for free, says Malek Yalaoui, a member of EABC. While Quebec’s Ministry of Education has made administrative changes, including exemptions to the tuition fee, such as for families with moratoriums on their deportation, Yalaoui says most of the children do not fit under the exemptions. Adding to the problem is that, in some cases, migrant parents do not even attempt to enrol their child out of fear of being reported to immigration authorities. The EABC is demanding that the Quebec Ministry of Education change the law to allow free public education for all children.
Meanwhile UNESCO has published guidelines to assist countries in assessing whether their national education laws and policies comply with international standards. The booklet also provides recommendations on how to achieve full compliance.
Children’s rights in Asia
Despite economic growth and social development across South Asia, widespread poverty and disparities stop the fulfilment of children’s rights, according to a new report by UNICEF. The report, published to mark this year’s 25th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), analyses progress made over the past 25 years on key children’s rights issues, including birth registration, health and immunisation, child marriage, education, gender discrimination, and sanitation and hygiene practices. Among its key findings, the report shows that:
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approximately 8 million children below the age of one are not immunised;
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more than 45 percent of girls marry before the age of 18, and 18 percent marry before age 15, with India being the country with the highest rate of child marriage;
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South Asia is home to the largest number of stunted children in the world;
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nearly 700 million people still defecate in the open; and
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approximately 100 million children under five are not registered at birth.
Indonesia’s Constitutional Court is reviewing two challenges to the country’s minimum age for marriage for girls, with plaintiffs arguing it should be raised from 16 to 18, as the low minimum age leads to child marriage and forced marriages. The legal provision in question is Article 7 paragraph 1 of the 1974 Marriage Law. The petitioners are also asking the court to scrap Article 7 paragraph 2 of the same law, which allows children younger than the minimum age for marriage to marry if their parents request permission from a religious court. Indonesia has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world.
Meanwhile Bangladesh approved the Child Marriage Prevention Act of 2014, a law that sets a two year jail term for any person who marries a girl under the age of 18. The law follows the release of a UNICEF report which shows that two-thirds of Bangladeshi girls marry before reaching adulthood.
Empowering girls is critical to the global movement to end child marriage, according to a new report by the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). The report looks at how programmes in Bangladesh, Egypt, Ethiopia and India are working to empower girls at risk of child marriage as well as those who are already married, and how empowerment leads to changes in knowledge, attitudes and practices. Importantly, the programmes also introduce girls to alternatives to marriage, such as school and livelihood opportunities, and help them to influence key ‘gatekeepers’ in their lives, such as parents, husbands or community leaders.
Health concerns in Syria and US
At least 34 children have died in Syria after receiving tainted measles vaccines at UN clinics. Children started feeling ill shortly after they received the vaccinations in clinics in rebel-held towns Jirjanaz and Maaret al-Nouman, in the north-western province of Idlib. Despite rumours of sabotage, health experts believe that it was a bad batch of vaccines. The measles vaccination programme, which has already immunised 60,000 children against a possible outbreak, has since been shut down and blood samples have been sent to Turkey for examination. Last October, the UN announced that millions of Syrian children would receive vaccinations against measles, polio, mumps and rubella. Prior to the country’s civil war, the rate of vaccination was 95 percent, but at least 200,000 have not received vaccinations due to the conflict.
Nearly one out of every four teenagers in California’s foster care system is prescribed psychiatric drugs -- a rate three-and-a-half times higher than that for adolescents across the United States. Juvenile Court judges hold responsibility for authorising the use of psychotropic drugs for foster children. While the current system was intended to reduce the use of medication as a means of controlling behaviour, some say it has led to its increase. Officials from the Los Angeles County’s foster care system say they are trying to improve protocols to minimise overprescribing, such as through partnerships with the Department of Mental Health, which submits recommendations on individual cases. “In the past, the court would have gone ahead and authorised any request,” said Dr. Alpa Patel from the Child and Family Guidance Center in Northridge. “Now they are a bit more stringent. They require more from the prescribing physicians to determine whether or not continuation of this regimen is helpful.”
However, many of the medications are unnecessary, according to Liz Gomez, the executive director for Sober College, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre for teens and young adults. Gomez says that she is not against the use of psychotropic drugs that can help youth with anxiety, depression and other issues, but she believes that there is a dependency on the use of such drugs as opposed to other methods, such as talk therapy. “I was horrified with some of the medications,” Gomez said. “We saw many young people come in on pretty strong drugs they really did not need. They just needed therapy and love.”
Also read CRIN’s paper on the overmedication of children diagnosed with ADHD.
Digital media and children’s rights
Last week the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child held its 2014 day of general discussion (DGD), looking at how children’s rights can be applied in the digital context. During the first part of the day, panellists spoke about how digital media are reconfiguring children’s lives, how to balance protection with empowerment, and concrete projects already under way. During the second part of the day participants were divided into two working groups. One discussed children’s equal and safe access to digital media and information and communications technologies (ICTs); the other addressed children’s empowerment and engagement through digital media and ICTs.
Further information:
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ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN IN MOLDOVA
In this week’s instalment of our access to justice report series, we look at children’s access to justice in Moldova.
The CRC is considered part of Moldova’s national law so it can be directly relied on in court and, due to its status of a ratified international treaty, its provisions will be given precedence over any conflicting national laws. Moldovan law does not permit children to initiate court proceedings themselves, rather they must act through a legal representative. Children, who are capable of understanding and accurately expressing the facts of the case, may testify in court and special measures are in place to protect the child witness. Legal aid is available in both criminal and civil case and is mandatory in cases involving under-aged suspects, accused or defendants. Of grave concern is the slow operation of the justice system (including delays of court proceedings and a backlog of cases) as well as the widespread failure to enforce judicial decisions.
Read the full report on access to justice for children in Moldova.
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
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 labour: Course on eliminating harmful practices in agriculture
Organisation: International Labour Organization
Date: 27-31 October 2014
Location: Turin, Italy
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
Child labour: Course on ‘Laws, policies and reporting tools - supporting the fight against child labour’
Organisation: International Labour Organization
Dates: 3-7 November 2014
Location: Turin, Italy
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
Juvenile justice: ‘Making deprivation of children’s liberty a last resort - Towards evidence-based policies & alternatives’
Organisation: International Juvenile Justice Observatory
Event date: 3-4 December 2014
Location: Brussels, Belgium
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EMPLOYMENT
CRIN: Communications Intern (French-speaking)
Location: N/A
Application deadline: 28 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
What’s the best prevention measure for youth suicide? Corporal punishment, apparently.
The idea that we should be smacking the suicide out of our children is what Edward Saafi, a candidate of New Zealand’s leading Conservative party, proposes. The country banned corporal punishment of children in 2007, but according to Saafi, "Once you pass it [a ban], children, rather than doing what mum and dad say, they go and commit suicide."
Members of the medical and health community quickly challenged Saafi’s claim, explaining that the reasons for suicide are diverse and complex, and affirmed that there is no evidence to support what he said. In fact, contrary to Saafi’s allegation, “exposure to family violence in your early years is a significant [suicide] risk factor,” said Monique Faleafa, a doctor of clinical psychology who is chief executive of Le Va, which delivers a suicide prevention programme.
If this incident teaches us anything, it is that it compels people to carefully scrutinise political party candidates. As political scientist Dr Bryce Edwards says, the general public has "often been surprised at some of the more eccentric people on the list that have been elected to Parliament."
Mr Saafi: consider yourself scrutinised!
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