CRINmail 1427

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LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS

UN judge says whistleblower suspension unlawful

The UN's dispute tribunal has ruled that the decision to suspend a whistleblower who exposed the sexual abuse of children by French, Chadian and Equatorial Guinea troops in the Central African Republic was “prima facie unlawful”, and has ordered his immediate reinstatement. Anders Kompass, Director of Field Operations at the the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), was suspended for leaking an internal report containing evidence of rape and sodomy of young boys by foreign troops at a centre for internally displaced people in Bangui, the country’s capital, between December 2013 and June 2014, and for breaching protocol. Children interviewed for the report disclosed that they were sexually exploited in exchange for food and money.

The UN has come under fire for appearing to be more concerned with finding out how the information was leaked than ensuring access to justice and support for the victims. Consequently, a group of civil society organisations is calling on the UN Secretary-­General to clarify measures the UN has taken in response to the reports of sexual abuse. On the repercussions for future reporting, Mr Ian Richards, head of staff union at the UN, said: "Some colleagues are worried now of passing on any information to the authorities in case the UN suspends them too." The French authorities have thanked Kompass for the disclosure and reported that they had begun an investigation in August last year after receiving the report. Kompass is due to return to his post in Geneva today, and an internal management review into the handling of the case is under way.

See CRIN's transparency campaign for further information. 

Sexual violence and reproductive rights

A 10-year-old girl has been denied access to an abortion in Paraguay after being raped by her stepfather. The girl only discovered she was 21 weeks pregnant after presenting with stomach pains at a hospital, where she was taken by her mother. Abortion is illegal in Paraguay, except where the mother's life is in danger, with penalties reaching up to 30 months in prison. But the director of the hospital where the girl was taken has publicly acknowledged the risk to her health of going through with the pregnancy. Information from the World Health Organisation confirms that pregnancy carries particular risks for girls whose bodies are not yet fully developed. Guadalupe Marengo, Deputy Director for the Americas at Amnesty International, asserted: "The physical and psychological impact of forcing this young girl to continue with an unwanted pregnancy is tantamount to torture." Join Amnesty's urgent action on the case. View a map of abortion laws worldwide by the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Meanwhile in Kenya, three men have been sentenced to 15 years in prison for the rape of a 16-year-old girl in June 2013. ‘Liz’ had been on her way home from her grandfather's funeral when she was attacked and left for dead in a pit latrine by six men. The case hit headlines around the world when three of the perpetrators were initially told to cut the grass outside the local police station as punishment. Two million people signed a petition demanding justice for the girl, which was delivered to the Kenyan police headquarters in October 2013. Eventual justice however has come at a high price as Liz and her family have been forced to leave their village, Busia, after receiving threats from the families of the men involved. Arrest warrants are still in place for the remaining three suspects.

Finally in India, a petition before the Delhi High Court could change how male victims of sexual assault are viewed and treated by the law. The development comes in relation to the case of a 13-year-old boy who was sexually assaulted by three seniors at his school two years ago. The perpetrators were convicted of 'unnatural offences', but the Delhi Compensation Scheme classified the crime as 'child abuse' instead of rape, and provided compensation of just Rs. 50,000 (approximately $786), a lesser amount than that received by female victims, who receive Rs. 3 lahk (approximately $4,713). The petition, filed by the boy's family through iProBono, states that the scheme "effectively discriminated" against male victims by failing to recognise penetrative assault on them as rape.

Family reunification & multi-parent families

Child protection organisations in Nepal are working to ensure that children who have been separated from their families following last week’s earthquake are reunited with them, and not placed in orphanages unnecessarily. Around 320,000 children have been left homeless following a deadly earthquake, according to Save the Children, as the growing death toll now surpasses 7,500. In past emergency situations, the “rescue” mentality has led to the mass placement of children in orphanages and an increase in intercountry adoptions, all on the assumption that unaccompanied children had been orphaned. Shortly after Nepal’s earthquake, children’s charity SOS Children’s Villages posted a notice on their website explaining why intercountry adoption is not an appropriate option at this stage. The organisation warns that it cannot be assumed that unaccompanied children have no living parents or relatives, that premature intercountry adoptions prevent children from being reunited with their families, and that separating children from their families and communities heightens the trauma.

Argentina has allowed three parents to be included on a child’s birth certificate, in a decision hailed by sexual minority advocates as guaranteeing the rights of diverse families. The government of the province of Buenos Aires granted legal recognition of the three-parent family to a lesbian couple and their son's biological father, who donated sperm for their pregnancy. Including the name of the biological father - who the two mothers say was never seen “merely [as] a sperm donor” - on the child’s birth certificate means that he has not relinquished his parenting rights or responsibilities, and that the child's best interests are best served by all three parents being recognised, said Claudia Corrado, director of the provincial government's Registrar of Persons.

The country follows in Brazil’s footsteps, which in September 2014 became the first Latin American nation to allow three parents to be included on a child’s birth certificate. In the words of the presiding judge, “it is important to note that this girl will have, from birth, the unusual record of a multi-parental family… the decision is entirely natural and was taken without controversy”. 

NGOs lose status over funding & politics

A prominent human rights organisation in Jamaica has lost its longstanding charitable status over concerns about the group’s objective of pushing for legislative reform, a reason it said is "puzzling." "In the Government's opinion,” said Jamaicans for Justice chairman, Barry Wade,  “this was a political [not charitable] objective and, therefore, disqualified us as a charitable group." Commentators have suggested that the decision not to renew the organisation’s charitable status is politically-motivated, as politicians have accused the NGO of “making the country look bad”. For instance, after launching its campaign for reform of the treatment of children in state care, including in the juvenile justice system, the Youth Minister, Lisa Hanna, called the campaign “dangerous and clearly designed to damage the reputation of the country.” The organisation has also faced criticism after it introduced a sex education programme in children's homes that included information on anal sex, which is currently illegal in Jamaica. The organisation is now facing back taxes totalling $11 million, which as a charity it would be exempt from paying.

Almost 9,000 charities in India have had their registration cancelled for not declaring details of funding received from abroad, in what is the latest move by the government to tighten surveillance on foreign-funded NGOs, especially those critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's economic agenda. Days prior to the announcement, the government suspended the licence of Greenpeace India, whose lobbying activities were criticised last year by the country’s intelligence service for damaging the country's economy by campaigning against power projects, mining and genetically modified food. The United States-based Ford Foundation, one of the world’s largest charitable funds, has also been placed on a security watch list pending an investigation on funding to a local group run by a prominent activist and critic of Modi.

Sexting teens criminalised as sex offenders

Laws to combat cyberbullying are seeing teenagers facing child pornography charges for receiving and sending sexually explicit pictures, even if the photos are of themselves or shared consensually. In the United States, countless youth have been charged and convicted of child porn in sexting cases. In Australia, 32 teens similarly faced child porn charges in 2007. And in Canada, since around 2009 dozens of teenagers have faced such charges, with commentators highlighting the automatic stigma the comes with being labelled as a child pornographer. The situation underscores the tension between laws aimed at preventing child exploitation and the new realities of teen sexual expression. Indeed, campaigners in the United Kingdom say criminalising children for sexting one another shows how disconnected the political establishment is from changes to technology and social values.

But a new anti-cyberbullying law (Bill C-13) in Canada seeks to realign the policy discussions, by placing the emphasis on the question of consent, namely the non-consensual sharing of intimate images. "When a teen forwards an image of another teen non-consensually, it's wrong to say it's child pornography,” said Mary Anne Franks, a law professor at the University of Miami who specializes in cyberbullying. “That's not what's wrong with it — what's wrong with it is that it's non-consensual behaviour". Franks makes it clear, however, that by the time law enforcement gets involved, it is a sign that parents and teachers have not done their jobs to educate youth about healthy relationships, “that sexual activity in particular is the kind of thing where you always need unambiguous consent." 

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ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN IN AZERBAIJAN

The Convention on the Rights of the Child forms part of national law, making it directly enforceable in the courts, however courts are reluctant to apply it and in some cases have even refused to do so. Children can only file a case themselves in limited areas of law, otherwise their legal representative (parents or guardian) do it on their behalf, and can do so without the child's consent. Access to legal aid is limited to criminal cases, and access to a lawyer can be problematic. State-funded compensation for victims of crime is available under law, but the provision is not yet enforced. In addition to the national courts, children can turn to the Ombudsman who can in turn apply to a Court on their behalf.

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

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Bodily integrity: 2015 Genital Autonomy conference
Organisation: Genital Autonomy
Dates: 8-9 May 2015
Location: Frankfurt, Germany

Budgeting: Webinar on ‘Making the budget work for and with children’
Organisation: Plan Academy
Date: 12 May 2015
Location: Online

Gender development: Girls' and women's rights - progress under threat in a fragile world?
Organisation: Overseas Development Institution
Date: 15 May 2015
Location: London, United Kingdom

LGBT rights: Int'l Day against Homophobia, Transphobia & Biphobia (IDAHO)
Organisation: IDAHO Committee
Dates: 17 May 2015
Location: N/A

HTPs: Training course - Child abuse linked to belief in witchcraft and juju
Organisation: Africans Unite Against Child Abuse (AFRUCA)
Date: 29 May 2015
Location: London, United Kingdom

Call for papers: Institutionalised children - explorations and beyond
Organisation: Udayan Care
Submission deadline: 31 May 2015 (abstract), 31 July 2015 (final paper)
Location: N/A

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

Justice sector reform: Training programme on applying human rights based approaches to justice sector reform
Organisation: International Human Rights Network
Dates: 22-26 June 2015
Location: Maynooth, Ireland

FGM: Female genital mutilation as a child safeguarding Issue
Organisation: Africans Unite Against Child Abuse (AFRUCA)
Date: 26 June 2015
Location: London, United Kingdom

Participation: Children as actors for transforming society
Organisation: Child to Child et al.
Dates: 27 July - 2 August 2015
Location: Caux, Switzerland

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EMPLOYMENT

ECPAT: Campaigns Officer
Application deadline: 15 May
Location: London, United Kingdom

Open Society Foundations: Youth Fellowship Programme
Application deadline: 15 May 2015
Location: N/A

All We Can: Senior Partnership Manager
Application deadline: N/A
Location: London, United Kingdom

Mary’s Meals: Director of Programmes
Application deadline: N/A
Location: Glasgow, United Kingdom

THE LAST WORD

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