CRINmail 1422
In this issue:
Problems viewing this CRINmail? Click here.
LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS
CRIN & ECOSOC
CRIN submitted its application for ECOSOC status in 2010. The Committee on NGOs reviews applications for ECOSOC status twice a year. Since then, we have been deferred every time by what we believe are tactics employed by some States to deny access to NGOs critical of governments. Of course CRIN is not alone in this.
In June 2014, after being deferred for a sixth time, we contacted other NGOs who had faced similar problems in order to write a joint open letter to the ECOSOC Committee to express our frustration and ask them to stop blocking legitimate human rights organisations from getting accreditation.
We did not receive an official response to our letter. Instead we were asked further questions, some of which had already been asked and answered before, some in relation to the actual letter. All, clearly as retribution for our open letter.
We have not responded to the latest questions.
We reported our concerns about the ECOSOC Committee to the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association who included information about our campaign in his report presented to the GA which focused on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association in the context of multilateral institutions [A/69/365].
In his report, the Special Rapporteur said he was “concerned that the Committee has on several occasions acted in a manner contrary to the spirit of resolution 1996/31. He was informed that the Committee has arbitrarily deferred applications for consultative status of NGOs, several for many years.
As a recommendation, the Rapporteur “calls upon the United Nations specifically to: reform the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations to prevent Member States from blocking accreditation applications with perpetual questioning and to unilaterally vetoing applications.”
What now? We will submit information to the Secretary-General for his annual report on reprisals against persons cooperating with UN human rights mechanisms.
Further information
Freedom of expression and association
A 16-year-old student in Singapore has been arrested for producing an online video criticising the country's popular former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew who died on March 23. Amos Lee was detained under the country's strict hate speech laws, following a public outcry over an eight minute video in which he celebrates the former PM's death and criticises his iron-fisted rule of the country, calling him "a horrible person". He also compares the deceased leader to Jesus Christ, saying that they “are both power-hungry and malicious but deceive others into thinking they are both compassionate and kind”. Lee faces charges of harassment, "deliberate intention of wounding the religious or racial feelings of any person", and distributing obscene material. He will be tried as an adult and faces a fine and up to three years in prison if convicted.
Four student activists have been assassinated in Honduras. Soad Nicolle Ham Bustillo (13), Elvin Antonio López (19), and Darwin Josué Martínez (21) had taken part in recent protests demanding that the government improve conditions in schools, according to the National Network of Human Rights Defenders in Honduras. A fourth victim has not been named. The students were assassinated on 24 March after leaving night classes at Jesús Aguilar Paz Institute of Comayaguela. Soad Ham, a 13-year-old student leader of the Central Institute of Tegucigalpa, was found tortured with her body wrapped in a sheet the following morning. Advocates say the attacks are part of a pattern of repression against students by the government following a decision by Education Minister Marlon Escoto to prolong school hours to 7pm. The move would force students to navigate a perilous journey home in a city awash with crime and curfews, with scarce public transport available at this hour. Escoto argued that adding five minutes to each class would improve the quality of education in the country. But students criticised the quality of education, citing the lack of furniture, lack of student financial assistance and teaching materials.
Meanwhile in Turkey a 14-year-old girl was struck on the head by a tear gas canister during protests on March 24 in the Gazi neighbourhood of Istanbul. Protesters were opposing a police raid against alleged members of the banned Revolutionary People's Liberation Party Front (DHKP-C) when police used tear gas to disperse the crowd. The girl, Deniz Genç, is now reported to have regained consciousness. Issues of freedom of expression and association are increasingly being taken up by the country’s courts - with mixed results. In December, five children, aged between 15 and 18, were sentenced to three months’ imprisonment by a children’s court for “participating in illegal demonstrations and resisting dispersal despite warnings and the use of force by public order officials” during the Gezi protests. The sentences of four of the boys have since been converted to monetary fines and judicial control for three years. Last year a local court acquitted 24 children involved in the protests, upholding their right to peaceful assembly. Read more in our Children in Court CRINmail.
Religion and children’s rights
The Constitutional Court of Romania has established an "opt-in" system for parents who want their child to take religious education classes. For the past 20 years, Orthodox teachings have been part of school life in a country where more than four in five people adhere to this religion. Parents who wished to remove their children from these classes had to opt out by submitting a request to the school. President of the Secular Humanist Association, Alexandru Toma Patrascu, welcomed the ruling, saying that all too often children are taught a message of intolerance, citing the example of textbooks containing pictures of a child being hit by a car as a punishment for lying. In bringing the case, Emil Moise, an activist for secular causes, argued that the education law violated the constitutionally guaranteed rights to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. The court found that the constitutional rights of parents to raise and educate their child also grants them the right to enrol their children in religious education classes. It is not clear whether children themselves are allowed to opt-out of religious education in line with their own right to freedom of religion as set out under article 14 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, or if this ruling applies only to parents on their child's behalf.
The Churches’ Network for Non-violence and the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment have published a new handbook, Ending corporal punishment of children – a handbook for worship and gatherings. The new resource offers a range of tools to support a faith-based approach to the prohibition of corporal punishment and to support positive, non-violent adult-child relationships, through Bible study, prayers, vigils, liturgies and reflections on corporal punishment of children. It also promotes activism through key events in the UN human rights calendar and activities with children and youth groups. Many of the materials are suitable for both private and collective use and can be adapted for the local context or used to trigger ideas for further studies or reflections.
Sexual and reproductive rights
A 16-year old boy from the rural district of Mutoko in Zimbabwe has been suspended from school for three months after condoms were discovered in his schoolbag. Tatenda Chivata said: “I’m serving a suspension from school because I was caught with a condom I used during sex with my girlfriend, but the same teachers teach us about use of protection if we get tempted to engage in sex. Now I’m wondering if I was wrong using a condom. Perhaps I could have gone undetected if I had opted to have unprotected sex”. Restrictions on the distribution of condoms in schools and prisons in countries across Africa are commonplace, hampering the continent’s efforts to halt the spread of HIV and AIDS, say health and human rights experts. “It’s indeed disturbing how hard we have worked as Africa to fight against the spread of HIV and Aids yet we have not been so pragmatic in our bid to institute preventive measures in schools and jails, where most of our African governments have vehemently refused to allow condoms to be distributed with the common excuse that they promote homosexuality in jails and sexual immorality in schools,” asserted Elvis Chuma, an LGBT rights activist based in Harare.
In Russia a Bill seeking to introduce a requirement for parental notification in cases of abortion performed on girls aged 15 and above has received the Children’s Ombudsman’s support. Currently, children over that age can seek abortion independently and there is no legal requirement that their parents are in any way involved in the medical treatment. Under the proposed rules however medical staff will be obliged to inform the parent or legal guardian of children aged 15 to 18, unless they are emancipated or married and therefore considered to have full legal capacity. The Ombudsman has used arguments couched in child protecting language to justify the Bill, saying that 15-18 year olds should be viewed as children still in need of parental guidance. The proposal does not specify whether the notification must be made prior to or following the abortion procedure and so could potentially lead to serious interference with girls’ right to make autonomous medical decisions by their parents.
In the United States a challenge to Alabama's law to dispense with parental consent in cases of minors seeking abortion will be heard by a federal court following a complaint lodged by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). They argue that the ‘judicial bypass procedure’ effectively puts children on trial. For example, as part of the proceedings the court may appoint a guardian for the minor’s foetus, it may also allow that the girl applying for the waiver is cross-examined by a district-attorney or the girl’s parents, and in breach of confidentiality allows that the girl’s teachers, employers, friends and other persons are informed of the proceedings and called to testify. Thirty-eight other states have a judicial bypass procedure in their laws, but according to the ACLU Alabama’s is the strictest in the country.
Sexual violence
A court in the United States has allowed victims of child sexual abuse by clergy to protest outside churches expressing support for other victims and calling for reform within the Catholic Church. The suit, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, challenged Missouri’s House of Worship Protection Act, which makes it a crime to disturb or disquiet a house of worship by using profane language or rude or indecent behaviour. The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled that the law is too vague, broad and subjective, and therefore infringes on freedom of speech and peaceful assembly guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution. The judges said there is no question that the protests relate “to matters of pressing public concern since they raise issues of sexual abuse, accountability for these offences, and healing for abuse victims.” It now lies with Missouri’s Attorney General, whose office is currently reviewing the ruling, to decide on the future of the law.
In Australia, an archbishop charged with concealing sexual abuse of children has withdrawn from his role in a supervisory group that deals with the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse. The Archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, has been charged with the alleged cover-up of child sexual abuse by a fellow priest in the 1970s. Wilson had been part of a supervisory group linked to the Truth, Justice and Healing Council which coordinates the church’s dealings with the Commission. He was previously president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and is now the highest-ranking church official in the world ever to be charged with such a crime. While he denies any wrongdoing, he said that he had taken leave from his post as archbishop. Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said that for survivors of abuse the news was “as big as the announcement of the royal commission” and that the treatment of the case by the church showed “just how unimportant they consider survivors and how little relevance they feel that sort of criminal activity has to moral behaviour, that it’s acceptable behaviour”. Read more about CRIN’s campaign on ending sexual violence in religious institutions.
Meanwhile, a hospital in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has reported a rise in rape cases of young girls, some as young as 18 months. In the last two years, 34 young girls were treated in a hospital located in Kavumu, according to Naama Haviv from Panzi Foundation USA. While the reasons behind the increase in attacks remain unclear, parents and doctors criticise the authorities’ lack of response: “The local authorities are all aware of what's happening to us but so far they haven't done anything," says Jeanine Mabunda, presidential adviser on sexual violence in the DRC.
Damming children’s rights
Disputes over the construction of a mega-dam in Guatemala have been linked to grave human rights abuses, including the killing of six indigenous people, two of them children. Both Q’eqchie and Mayan communities have been subjected to kidnappings, evictions, house burnings, physical attacks, the arrest of community leaders for peacefully defending their way of life and territory against the plans, according to reports from civil society groups and local media outlets. The Santa Rita hydroelectric dam, whose carbon credits will be tradable under the European Union’s Emissions trading system, is being financed by several European banks and the World Bank. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) clean development mechanism (CDM) executive board registered the plant. Efforts to reform the CDM were boosted last month, when 18 countries signed a “Geneva declaration” calling for human rights norms to be integrated into UNFCCC climate decisions.
Colombia’s People’s Defender (Ombudsman) has petitioned the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to grant an urgent interim injunction in a case concerning the right to water of the Wayuu tribe. Since a dam was built, the only river to which the tribe has access - the Rancheria River - has completely dried out. At least 5,000 children have died from starvation and many more continue to suffer from malnutrition. The petition is seeking an order from the Commission to open the floodgates that would allow water to reach the Wayuu, instead of redirecting it to large estates and industrial sites in the region.
UN news
The Human Rights Council, has passed a resolution to appoint a Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy. The expert, whose tenure will be for an initial period of three years, will monitor, investigate and report on privacy issues and alleged violations in States across the world. The resolution was instigated by Germany and Brazil, whose representatives have been outspoken about protections of privacy at the UN, especially in the past two years as issues of State surveillance have dominated headlines around the world. The appointment of the individual chosen to take up this post will be made in June 2015.
The Council also established the mandate of an Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights of persons with albinism, also for an initial period of three years.
Finally, the theme of next year’s annual day on the rights of the child at the Human Rights Council has been announced as “Information and communications technology and child sexual exploitation”.
Back to top
ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN IN BANGLADESH
Bangladesh has ratified but not yet fully incorporated the CRC into domestic law, though courts have referred to international instruments to interpret legislation. Children can bring cases to court in their own name via an adult “next friend” or guardian, including civil and constitutional proceedings to protect fundamental rights. Alternatively, children may lodge complaints about rights violations with the National Human Rights Commission. Courts have wide powers to review violations, and may institute proceedings on their own initiative. Public interest litigation is possible, with NGOs able to bring cases in their own name on behalf of children. The Children Act, 2013 provides for child-friendly procedures in the Children’s Court for cases involving children in conflict with the law as well as child victims and witnesses. Despite these positive features, court backlogs and problems with enforcement of court decisions are ongoing issues in Bangladesh.
Read the full report on access to justice for children in Bangladesh.
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.
Back to top
UPCOMING EVENTS
Course: Using digital media in research with children and young people
Organisation: University of Edinburgh
Date: 23-24 April 2015
Location: Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Course: Children at the heart of human rights
Organisation: Geneva Summer Schools
Date: 8-19 June 2015
Location: Geneva
Child abuse: Latin American International Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect
Organisation: International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN)
Date: April 26 – 29 2015
Location: Toluca, Mexico
Child labour: The Nairobi Global Conference on Child Labour
Organisation: African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect
Date: 23-25 August 2015
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Back to top
EMPLOYMENT
Educo: Regional Advisor for child rights in Asia
Location: Phnom Penh, Cambodia or Manila, Philippines
Application deadline: 17 April 2015
**NEW FEATURE**
CRIN has launched a new YouTube channel to challenge perceptions of children and the strategies we use as advocates to bring about change.
Here you can watch videos about:
-
Rights, not charity;
-
CRIN campaigns;
-
Children's rights issues; and
-
Guides to human rights advocacy.
This is not a place to contribute to the hopelessness. The channel eschews gratuitous violence that aims purely to shock and stereotypes of "cute" or starving children. Instead, the content shows the context of a violation, why it is happening, and hints at possible solutions.
Back to top
|
|
