CRINmail 1416
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LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS
Child detention ‘harmful’ and ‘stifling’
Children held in Australia’s immigration detention centres committed self-harm, were sexually assaulted, and went on hunger strike, according to a damning report by the Australian Human Rights Commission on the effects of detention on children. The report shows evidence of how immigration detention is harming children's mental and physical health, drawing its conclusions from the fact that in the 15-month period between January 2013 and March 2014, children in immigration detention were involved in 128 incidents of actual self-harm, 171 incidents of threatened self-harm, 33 reports of being sexual assaulted, more than 200 reports of being involved in assaults, and 27 cases of voluntary starvation or hunger strike.
There are around 800 children currently held in mandatory closed immigration detention for indefinite periods, with over 167 babies having been born in detention within the last 24 months. The Commission’s President, Professor Gillian Triggs, said that most of the 1,138 children detained when the inquiry began in February 2014 are now in the community or in community detention. But she lamented that government statistics show that 211 children remain in detention on the mainland, and a further 119 are held offshore in Nauru. Prof Triggs highlighted that 34 percent of detained migrant children have a severe mental health disorder, compared with fewer than two percent of those in the general community. While under international and Australian law children are supposed to be detained only as a measure of last resort, Australia is the only country in the world that mandatorily detains all unlawful non-citizens, including children.
Further information:
Child offenders who serve prison sentences are likely to display sexual aggression later in life, and sometimes find themselves back in prison for rape and child abuse, a study in the United Kingdom has found. The research, which is part of the Commission on Sex in Prison being carried out by the Howard League for Penal Reform, found that a custody environment restricts children’s ability to engage in normal sexual experimentation during their formative years, as they are unable to model the behaviour of adults in healthy relationships. This means that they find it difficult to know how to behave once released, since they lack awareness about issues such as equality, respect, sexuality, gender identity, and sexual consent. The report concludes that Young Offenders Institutions stifle the healthy sexual development of youngsters, as “[p]risons cannot deliver the familial environment that many of the children have missed out on [...] Children’s opportunities to practise prosocial behaviour and interpersonal skills are severely restricted and children can be punished for normal sexual behaviour or for developing relationships with other prisoners.”
In Equatorial Guinea, around 600 people, including many children as young as 12 years old, were detained en masse at the beginning of the month following disturbances during the semi-final football match of the 2015 African Cup of Nations, with local advocates saying that the response by security forces was “disproportionate” and did not respect the rule of law. The disturbances, which included damage to private property, occurred during the match between Equatorial Guinea and Ghana on 5 February. Reports claim that those arrested were held in “inhuman conditions”, during which time they were denied access to legal counsel. After being detained for a week, they were released on 13 February following an order by President Teodoro Obiang.
Sperm donations & identity card issues
Children in Ireland whose biological father is a sperm donor will have the legal right to know his identity under the draft Children and Family Relations Bill. To this end, the bill, which has been been welcomed as the biggest change in Irish family law to-date, bans anonymous sperm donations. Similarly in Germany, the Supreme Court ruled two weeks ago that children of all ages have the right to know both of their parents - including if their biological father was an anonymous sperm donor. Most other countries which have banned donor anonymity, however, give children the right to access such information only once they reach the age of 16, as is the case in the Netherlands. In the United Kingdom non-identifying information about the donor can be obtained at 16, and identifying information at 18.
A baby boy in Bosnia and Herzegovina has become the first person in the country whose nationality has been registered as Bosnian, defeating a system that has until now insisted on strict ethnic divisions. When the boy’s parents registered his birth, they wanted his nationality to be registered - a legal requirement since 2012 - as Bosnian. This was declined because the country’s constitution only recognises three ethnic groups under which a baby can be registered: Bosniaks, Croats, Serbs or ‘Other’ – the category often used by ethnic minorities or those who reject being labelled by ethnicity. Following a legal challenge, Sarajevo’s municipal authorities decided that there were no legal restrictions preventing anyone from being registered as a Bosnian. The case has set a precedent which now allows other parents and their newborn children to follow suit, with five more requests for children to be registered as Bosnians having since been submitted in Sarajevo.
Meanwhile in Turkey, if a child’s identity card does not state their religion they will be made to take compulsory Islamic religious education, under new rules proposed by the country’s education ministry. Religious education classes are already compulsory in the country from age nine. But under the new proposal, only Christian and Jewish children, who are registered as such, will be able to opt out of classes. In response, one Christian father whose wife is Muslim commented: “We had left the religion field on our child’s identity card empty to allow him to decide when he turns 18. Now I will be forced to have them write Christian on the card.”
Ritual killings ahead of elections
Ivory Coast is witnessing a series of child killings believed to be related to the presidential election in October. According to government officials, pre-election periods often see a rise in ritualistic killings, with 20 deaths being recorded so far. Defence Minister Paul Koffi Koffi said last week: "We are in an election year and this may generate this kind of ritual crimes [as] sacrifices to be well liked by the bosses, to win approval from a candidate, to keep one's job or make money”. In response, authorities have sent 1,500 soldiers and police officers to schools, public places and forests to offer protection.
Sex abuse in closed institutions
In Northern Ireland a victim of sexual abuse at the Kincora children’s home in Belfast in the 1970s has won a legal bid to bring judicial review proceedings against the government with a view to forcing a full independent inquiry with the power to compel witnesses from the British intelligence agency MI5 to testify. An initial hearing in this first-ever court case to address an alleged cover-up of British state involvement took place on Tuesday this week. MI5 is facing allegations of complicity in the sexual abuse of children at the home after the abuse continued unhindered for years in spite of efforts by whistleblowers to stop it, which gave rise to claims that staff were being protected by the security services who were using the home to blackmail political figures. Children are said to have suffered sustained sexual abuse after being taken from the east Belfast children’s home to be offered to men. The government wants the allegations covered by a different inquiry which lacks the power to compel MI5 witnesses to testify. Three men were convicted over sexual abuse of children at Kincora in 1981, but attempts to establish the truth about British state involvement have been blocked. The judge ruled that the claimant had established an arguable case and ordered for a full hearing to take place in June.
In Australia, the Royal Commission which is investigating institutional responses to child sexual abuse has heard evidence on abuse in the country's Orthodox Jewish Yeshivah centres in the 1980s for the first time. As a result, two top rabbis resigned after offending abuse victims and members of the Jewish community while giving evidence. The most senior rabbi in Australia and president of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia stepped down after the Commission heard on Friday that as the father of several victims was giving evidence, the rabbi sent a text message to the editor of the Australian Jewish News calling the father “a lunatic on the fringe, guilty of neglect of his own children.” The director of the Sydney Yeshivah centre had resigned the previous week, after disclosing to the Commission that he did not know he had to report child abuse under secular laws. Victims said they were bullied by religious leaders after speaking out about abuse and were supported by an independent media investigation which found that community members were pressured to stay silent and not assist police investigations.
The United States Supreme Court decided that it will not hear a petition by the Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge regarding a lawsuit challenging the confidentiality of confessions. The petition seeks to block a woman from testifying against the church about what she said in confession as a child regarding allegations that a fellow parishioner sexually assaulted her. Under challenge is the Louisiana Supreme Court's ruling issued in May 2014, which laid out arguments that priests should be subject to mandatory reporting laws regarding child abuse if the person who makes the confession waives their right to confidentiality. The lawsuit will now move forward in the state District Court.
In Spain, charges have been dropped against nine out of ten Catholic priests accused of sexually abusing an altar boy between 2004 and 2007 because the crimes fell within the statute of limitations. The charges, in what is one of the biggest sexual abuse scandals to emerge under Pope Francis, were also dropped against two laymen accused in the case. Statutes of limitations are a common obstacle to children accessing justice and there is an ongoing debate about whether legal challenges should not be time-barred - especially in relation to complaints of sexual abuse of children - as it is not only insensitive to the reality of survivors who may need an indefinite amount of years to report abuse, but it also denies victims the chance to pursue accountability and redress once they are ready to do so.
Read more about the campaign on ending sexual violence in religious institutions.
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ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN IN RUSSIA
The Convention on the Rights of the Child has been incorporated into the national law of Russia and takes precedence over domestic legislation. Children through their representatives may lodge a complaint in court against any action or decision that violates their rights. They may launch a civil case where they have suffered injuries, seek judicial review of a law or actions or inaction of the state, or initiate a private or “private-public” prosecution in certain circumstances. There are, however, several barriers to access to justice: generally, children must be assisted in bringing cases; the judiciary lacks independence from the executive branch; and juvenile courts have yet to be established.
Read the full report on access to justice for children in Russia.
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
Courses: Research with children and young people
Organisation: Centre for Research on Families and Relationships, University of Edinburgh
Dates: February, March and April 2015
Location: Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Human rights: International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights
Dates: 27 February - 8 March 2015
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Justice Sector Reform: Training programme on applying human rights based approaches to justice sector reform
Organisation: International Human Rights Network
Application deadline: 28 February 2014
Event dates: 22-26 June 2015
Location: Maynooth, Ireland
Emergencies: E-online course on education in emergencies
Organisation: Human Rights Education Associates
Dates: 4 March-14 April 2015
Location: Online
Online safety: Protecting children on the internet
Organisation: Policy Knowledge
Date: 4 March 2014
Location: London, United Kingdom
Migration: ‘Closing a protection gap for European children on the move’
Organisation: Terre des Hommes International Federation
Date: 5 March 2015
Location: Brussels, Belgium
Transnational child protection: Expert meeting on children on the move - children’s participation and discussion of the way forward
Organisation: Council of Baltic Sea States et al.
Date: 10-11 March 2015
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Americas: Request for hearings for the 154th IACHR session
Organisation: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Event dates: 13-27 March 2014
Location: Washington DC, United States
Child labour: Course on ‘Skills & livelihood for older out-of-school children in child labour or children at risk of child labour
Organisation: ILO International Training Centre
Dates: 16-20 March 2014
Location: Turin, Italy
Health & well-being: Eradicating child poverty in the UK
Organisation: Public Policy Exchange
Date: 18 March 2015
Location: London, United Kingdom
Child abuse: 9th Latin American Regional Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect
Organisation: International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect
Dates: 26-29 April 2015
Location: Toluca, Mexico
Bodily integrity: 2015 Genital Autonomy conference
Organisation: Genital Autonomy
Dates: 8-9 May 2015
Location: Frankfurt, Germany
Statelessness: International Conference - “None of Europe's Children Should be Stateless”
Organisation: European Network on Statelessness
Dates: 2-3 June 2015
Location: Budapest, Hungary
Child rights: 9th European Forum on the Rights of the Child
Organisation: European Commission
Date: 3-4 June 2015
Location: Brussels, Belgium
Justice systems: International Congress “Children and the Law”
Organisation: Fernando Pessoa University
Dates: 11-13 June 2015
Location: Porto, Portugal
Street children: International Conference on the Legal Needs of Street Youth
Organisation: American Bar Association et al.
Date: 16-17 June 2015
Location: London, United Kingdom
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EMPLOYMENT
CRIN: Russian-speaking Communications & Research Intern
Location: London, Unted Kingdom
Application deadline: 18 February 2015
Open Society Foundations: Programme Officer / Senior Program Officer (Early Childhood Programme)
Location: London, United Kingdom
Application Deadline: 20 February 2015
Centre for excellence for looked after children in Scotland (CELCIS): International Services Lead
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Application Deadline: 1 March 2015
CELCIS: Throughcare and Aftercare Associate
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Application Deadline: 1 March 2015
CELCIS: Knowledge and Information Lead
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Application Deadline: 1 March 2015
IBFAN-GIFA: Programme Officer
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Application Deadline: 8 March 2015
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: Internships
Location: Washington DC, United States
Application deadline: 8 March 2015
LEAK OF THE WEEK
“Nothing about dinosaurs is suitable for children, from their total lack of family values through to their non-existence from any serious scientific point of view.”
-- A Christian mother taking issue on Mumsnet with the teaching of dinosaurs to children. It followed an incident at her child’s school in which a pupil - “(who had evidently been exposed to dinosaurs)” - “became bestially-minded” and bit three classmates on the face “pretending to be a dinosaur”.
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