CRINmail 1406

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LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS

Death penalty and freedom of expression

In Nigeria a 14-year-old child bride who allegedly killed her 35-year-old husband could be sentenced to death by a court later this month. The girl is accused of lacing food prepared for a post-wedding celebration in April this year with rat poison, which resulted in the death of her partner and three other guests. The presiding judge at the Gezawa High Court in northern Nigeria rejected the girl's lawyer's request for her to be tried in a juvenile court, with prosecutors in the case seeking the death penalty against her. In a country where 39 percent of girls are married before they turn 18, the case is not an isolated one. Another child bride was sentenced to death in 2012 for allegedly killing her husband at the age of 13. But a court later overturned the judgement, ruling that the death sentence handed down for a crime committed while she was a minor was a violation of her fundamental rights. Advocates say the latest case, which has been adjourned until 22 December, highlights the need to treat victims of early and forced marriage as victims, not criminals. 

In Egypt, 78 children have been sentenced to between two and five years imprisonment for taking part in demonstrations calling for ousted president Mohamed Morsi to be reinstated. The juvenile court in Alexandria sentenced the boys, aged between 13 to 17 years, for joining rallies organised by members of the Muslim Brotherhood during the past three months. Egyptian authorities’ response to Morsi supporters has been marked with brutal violence since the army overthrew him last year, with at least 1,400 people dead, more than 15,000 jailed, and some 385 sentenced to death, in a crackdown that the UN described as “unprecedented in recent history”.

Corporal punishment in Europe

Estonia has banned all corporal punishment of children, including in the home, becoming the sixth State to do so this year. The Child Welfare Act 2014, which was passed by the Estonian Parliament last week, explicitly prohibits the “use of physical force for the purpose of punishment” in all settings. The total number of States worldwide to have enacted a ban now stands at 43. 

Meanwhile the European Parliament recently adopted a resolution on the rights of the child which, among other features, address corporal punishment of children. In particular, paragraph 26 “calls on the Member States to uphold their obligations and combat any form of violence against children, including by formally prohibiting and sanctioning corporal punishment against children”. More generally, the paragraph also “[c]ondemns any form of violence against children... [and] considers that tradition, culture and religion should never be used to justify violence against children.”

Calls for accountability & transparency

The United Kingdom’s foreign aid department continued to finance police in the Democratic Republic of Congo for nearly 12 months after first reports of summary executions emerged, including of children. At the end of November last year, the UN voiced alarm over “reports of disappearance and assassination of young men and children in some communes of Kinshasa” following the launch of an anti-gang operation. According to the UN, the youngest victim of summary execution was a 17-year-old boy, who was shot in the back outside his home by hooded men in police uniforms, while at least one other boy is still missing. It was only last month that the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) suspended its programme on improving the capacity and accountability of the Congolese National Police, following an October UN report which confirmed nine killings and 32 disappearances during the so-called Operation Punch. Reports in June also found that security personnel are systematically raping female political opponents. Critics say DFID is under pressure to spend its increasing budget, which makes it harder for the department to suspend questionable aid programmes. 

A number of the world’s biggest conservation organisations are implicated in the eviction of tribal communities from their ancestral land, according to a new report by Survival International. Due to a strict conservation model that sees any use of protected land and resources as incompatible with conservation, tribal peoples are accused of “poaching” even though they hunt their food for survival, and often face arrest, torture and death at the hands of anti-poaching squads and paramilitary police, including against children. Conversely in some “protected” areas, tourists and fee-paying hunters are welcomed. The World Wildlife Fund and The Nature Conservancy are among the organisations that fund these anti-poaching campaigns, according to the report. But research shows that forcing tribespeople off their land can have tragic consequences, given the strong spiritual connection the have to it. Notably, indigenous youth suicide is the highest in the world, with experts blaming this on the effects of the loss of land, including social breakdown, lack of life prospects and forced cultural transformation. Survival International is calling for “a radically different approach” to conservation “based on recognising tribal peoples as the rightful owners of their land”.

Meanwhile an internal letter at Save the Children has described the decision to give Tony Blair the organisation’s Global Legacy Award as “morally reprehensible,” with employees calling for a review of the charity’s decision-making process. Many staff say that the organisation has been discredited by the choice taken by the US arm of the organisation to celebrate the former British prime minister’s efforts in increasing international aid, in spite of his role in instigating the Iraq war in 2003. The internal letter, which has so far been signed by more than 500 Save the Children employees around the world, is calling for the award to be withdrawn and those responsible for the decision to be held accountable. Save the Children’s chief executive, Jasmine Whitbread, has publicly distanced herself from the decision, saying she was not made aware of it until it was made public. 

Child recruits, school attacks, and blood donors

This week the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) upheld the conviction and 14-year prison sentence of Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga Dyilo for the recruitment of children and their use in hostilities. Mr Lubanga – leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots and commander of its military wing – was convicted in March 2012 by Trial Chamber I of the ICC after being found guilty of the war crimes of conscripting and enlisting children under the age of 15, and using them to participate actively in hostilities in the Democratic Republic of Congo between 2002 and 2003. The organisation Child Soldiers International says the decision shows that such acts will not go unpunished around the world, even if national authorities fail to take action. But it warns that many perpetrators are still evading accountability. To help challenge this, the organisation is urging the international community “to provide the ICC with the resources it needs to promptly and effectively investigate and prosecute allegations of child recruitment and use in hostilities.” 

A classroom in Israel’s largest Arab-Jewish school was set on fire last week by suspected Jewish extremists. The school in Jerusalem, which is attended by more than 600 pupils who study together in Hebrew and Arabic, is one of several schools in the country seen by many as a symbol of co-existence. The schools are part of the Hand in Hand network, which works to build tolerance, social inclusion and equality in Israel, and aims to create up to 15 bilingual schools in the next ten years. Commenting on the attack, the father of a child whose class was burnt said the Israeli government is to blame for the incident, for "encouraging, inciting and legitimising this behaviour through populist, racist legislation", including a new bill that would decree Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people only. A previous study also found that textbooks used in Israeli schools contain anti-Palestinian ideology by depicting Palestinians as terrorists, refugees and primitive farmers, with experts saying that this bias conditions Israelis to hold prejudices against Palestinians from a young age.

The Islamic State group is training children as young as six years old as suicide bombers, and used as human shileds and blood donors on the front line for wounded fighters. While children in the group take part directly in hostilities - having been trained to fire and load weapons and on beheading techniques - they are also being used as human shields and to provide blood transfusions for militants, according to Shelly Whitman, the executive director of the Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative. According to the UN, some of these boys reported being forced to form the front line to shield fighters during hostilities. Although there are no official figures for the number of children being recruited, human rights groups and journalists say that the military training of youngsters is rapidly growing. Meanwhile the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram is also believed to be using teenage girls in a recent series of suicide attacks.

UNICEF is investigating anecdotal evidence that children in eastern Ukraine are being recruited on both sides of the conflict. Media providers in both Russia and Ukraine have shown reports of children as young as 14 occupying roles as spies and training others to use weapons among both Ukrainian troops and separatist fighters. But while Ukrainian media criticised the upbeat tone of the Russian reports, other Ukrainian TV channels have featured a pro-Kiev child soldier without questioning whether it was right for him to be involved in the conflict.

For more coverage of children and armed conflict, read a special edition of our CRINmail on the issue which draws attention to conflicts and issues affecting children in conflict that have slipped out of our consciousness or which never made it there in the first place.

Children’s privacy online and in the media

Television and newspaper coverage of children in Thailand continues to violate children’s rights, according to a national study. The research, conducted by Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Communication Arts and supported by UNICEF, reveals that most media violations relate to children’s right to privacy, including the regular disclosure of the names and faces of victims of abuse and those suspected of being in conflict with the law. The second most frequent violation was the use of sensational or defamatory language referring to child victims of crimes or the behaviour of children, while the third was the practice by authorities of bringing child offenders or victims of crime to press conferences. News reports on child abuse, including sexual abuse, violence and children in conflict with the law showed the highest number of right violations, often without providing in-depth analysis or exploring possible solutions to the challenges faced by Thai children.

Parents who are worried about their children being bullied or self-harming should not secretly monitor their use of mobile phones or the internet because it could make things worse, according to new advice by the UK’s Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCP). “If you get into surveillance mode, you are creating more tensions and stresses,” said Dr Andrew Hill-Smith, member of the RCP, as it can leave children feeling they are not trusted. For this reason, parents are encouraged to build trust and communication with their children as early as possible in their lives, as “it is better to try and have the conversations and untangle what is going on than to get into autocratic mode.” The advice also suggests that parents should be positive about the benefits of the internet, as it can help a child feel more comfortable talking about difficult or troubling online experiences.

Anti-gay laws to aggravate LGBT rights abuses

The President of Gambia has approved a bill criminalising “aggravated homosexuality”, imposing life imprisonment as the punishment. The new law comes as an amendment to the Criminal Code Act, which outlines that “aggravated homosexuality” occurs, amongst other things, when the “person against whom the offence is committed is below the age of eighteen years”. The bill, however, does not address the issue of consent or what should be done if the people involved are both under 18. The offence of “aggravated homosexuality” also applies if the “offender is a parent or guardian of the person against whom the offence is committed”. However, exactly what constitutes “homosexuality” is not defined in Gambian law. According to Amnesty International, a 17-year-old boy was one of several people to be arrested and tortured by Gambian security forces in recent weeks for allegedly engaging in homosexual acts. 

Meanwhile in Uganda, a new anti-gay bill has been proposed, which drafters want parliament to pass in time to be a “Christmas gift” for Ugandans. Under the ‘Prohibition of the Promotion of Unnatural Sexual Practices Bill’, anyone who promotes, aids or abets, or funds the promotion of homosexual acts, can face a prison term of up to seven years. The bill also seeks to criminalise NGO workers, journalists, filmmakers and others working on LGBT rights, as it targets those who advertise, publish, broadcast or distribute materials that promote homosexuality, including through the internet, film, or mobile phones. One of the chief supporters of the bill, Parliament Speaker Rebecca Kadaga, recently warned that gay rights activists “adopt our children and confine them in gay communities abroad to train them on gay practices. By the time they come back home, they are already influenced by homosexuality and are used to influence others in the community.” The proposed law will also exacerbate the problem of homelessness among gay and lesbian people in Uganda, as it aims to criminalise renting property where an “unnatural act” takes place. While a previous Anti-Homosexuality Act was struck down by the Constitutional Court of Uganda in August due to a legal technicality, activists say homosexuality remains a crime under colonial-era laws. 

Russia's media watchdog says it will press charges against the online LGBT children's support group ‘Deti-404’, which it accuses of promoting homosexuality to children. Despite a previous court ruling which found the site’s coordinator Yelena Klimova not guilty of "gay propaganda," the government media watchdog Roskomnadzor now says that if banned material is found on the site, it will be blocked. Roskomnadzor further stated that teenagers' sexual identity issues should be dealt with “by professionals — diploma-holding instructors, psychologists, doctors and lawyers,” rather than a group of journalists and volunteer psychologists. But Ms Klimova emphasised that state support for LGBT children is non-existent in Russia, where anti-gay sentiment is widespread. To fill this gap, ‘Deti-404’ offers teens a chance to share their experiences as LGBT people living in Russia. 

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ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN IN ICELAND 

Iceland has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child and incorporated it into its national laws in February 2013, making it directly enforceable in the courts. Children aged 15 years and older are regarded as legal parties in child protection cases and can appeal decisions by local child protection committees to a district court judge. Iceland has a publicly funded legal aid system and cases concerning children’s rights are eligible for legal aid grants. Special provisions exist to protect child victims and witnesses giving evidence and non-governmental organisations can bring judicial review proceedings on behalf of child victims. In addition to the national courts, children can turn to local child protection committees, as well as the European Court on Human Rights. 

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

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. 

UPCOMING EVENTS

Discrimination: ‘Children’s right to non-discrimination’
Organisation: CREAN - Children’s Rights Erasmus Academic Network
Date: 4-5 December 2014
Location: Vilnius, Lithuania

Best interests: European Conference on the Best Interests of the Child
Organisation: Various
Date: 9-10 December 2014
Location: Brussels, Belgium

Institutionalisation: Call for papers on institutionalised children in South Asia
Organisation: Udayan Care
Submission deadline: 31 December 2014
Location: N/A

Course: Education in Emergencies e-learning course
Organisation: Human Rights Education Associates
Dates: 14 January-24 February 2015
Location: Online

Course: Child Safeguarding e-learning course
Organisation: Human Rights Education Associates
Dates: 14 January-24 February 2015
Location: Online

Juvenile Justice: Interrogations of Young Suspects in the EU
Organisation: Maastricht University
Date: 16 January 2015
Location: Maastricht, the Netherlands

Child rights: 25th anniversary of the UK's ratification of the CRC
Organisation: Oxford Brookes University
Dates: 21 January 2015
Location: Oxford, United Kindom 

Juvenile justice: World Congress on Juvenile Justice - Towards restorative justice?
Organisation: Terre des hommes et al.
Date: 26-30 January 2015
Location: Geneva, Switzerland 

Online safety: Protecting children on the internet
Organisation: Policy Knowledge
Date: 4 March 2014
Location: London, United Kingdom

Health & well-being: Eradicating Child Poverty in the UK
Organisation: Public Policy Exchange
Date: 18 March 2015
Location: London, United Kingdom

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EMPLOYMENT

War Child: Child Protection Specialist
Location: Beirut, Lebanon
Application Deadline: 4 December 2014

IAP World Services Inc.: Senior Youth and HIV Advisor
Location: Washington DC, United States
Application deadline: 4 December 2014

The Williams Institute: Development & Events Coordinator
Location: Los Angeles, United States
Application deadline: 5 December 2014

Children’s Rights Alliance: Fellowship on Children’s Rights and Child Law
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Application deadline: 9 December 2014

Save the Children Sweden: Country Director for Sudan
Location: Khartoum, Sudan
Application deadline: 12 December 2014

War Child Holland: Manager of Programmes
Location: Juba, South Sudan
Application Deadline: 15 December 2014

The Williams Institute: Communications Officer
Location: Los Angeles, United States
Application deadline: 16 December 2014 

Children of the Andes: Consultancy on Monitoring and Evaluation
Location: London, UK
Application Deadline: 22 December 2014

International Rescue Committee: Reading Advisor
Location: Islamabad, Pakistan
Application Deadline: N/A

LEAK OF THE WEEK

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