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LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS
Brazil urged to reject law to try children as adults
Lawmakers in Brazil have approved a draft law to try juvenile offenders as adults for certain crimes. Currently, article 228 of the country’s Constitution states that "[m]inors under 18 years of age may not be held criminally liable and shall be subject to the rules of the special [juvenile] legislation". The proposed amendment, however, seeks to make juvenile offenders aged 16 and 17, who commit offences such as robbery, rape, murder or grievous bodily harm, accountable to the adult criminal justice system, rather than the juvenile system. Supporters of the bill say it responds to worsening public security in Brazil, with a previous version of the draft law seeking to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 18 to 16 for all offences.
However, opponents say that locking more people up will not solve the crime problem, as the element of retribution in a sentence does not seek to rehabilitate offenders. In response to the bill, a group of civil society organisations recently said: “In order to respond to children in conflict with the law effectively, States should promote the use of alternative measures such as diversion and restorative justice, serving not only the best interests of these children, but also the short- and long-term interest of society as a whole.” Back in 2012, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, former Brazilian Secretary of State for Human Rights under President Cardoso and author of the UN Study on Violence Against Children, also argued that “The element of retribution in a sentence...is completely inappropriate in juvenile justice systems….We need to start separating the concept of 'responsibility' from 'criminalisation', and stop criminalising children." The bill will now be put to a vote by the House of Representatives on 30 June, after which it will go to the Senate for a final vote.
Further information:
Civil freedoms and detention
In Singapore, a teenage blogger who was convicted of obscenity and insulting Christianity after he posted a video criticising the late leader Lee Kuan Yew will be detained for two weeks in a mental health institute until a psychiatric assessment is performed, a court has decided. Human rights groups have criticised the treatment of 16-year-old Amos Yee, who was been detained for more than a month and faces a possible sentence of 18 months in ‘reformative training’, which, despite not being a prison, is “akin to detention and usually applied to juvenile offenders involved in serious crimes,” according to the UN. The office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Southeast Asia has called for Yew’s immediate release, saying that “the criminal sanctions considered in this case seem disproportionate and inappropriate in terms of the international protections for freedom of expression and opinion.”
Cameroon must immediately release 84 children who have been illegally detained for six months after they were rounded up during a raid on Quranic schools as part of the government’s fight against terrorism, Amnesty International has said. Security forces raided a series of schools in a town called Guirvidig in December last year, arresting the children and 43 adults. Cameroonian authorities claim the schools were being used as fronts for Boko Haram training camps. Despite having been charged with no crimes, the 84 children - all but three of whom are under 15 years old and 47 are under 10 - remain detained in a children’s centre in Maroua. “It is unthinkable to keep children so young away from their parents for so long, and with so little support. [...] They do not deserve to become collateral damage in the war against Boko Haram,” said Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International Deputy Regional Director for West and Central Africa.
UN chief appoints panel to probe UN sex abuse
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed an independent panel to investigate the UN’s response to allegations of sexual abuse of children by peacekeeping troops in the Central African Republic. The UN came under fire for appearing to be more concerned with finding out how the allegations were made public than ensuring access to justice and support for the victims. A group of civil society organisations, including CRIN, called on the UN Secretary-General to clarify measures the UN had taken in response to the reports of sexual abuse. A UN spokesperson said the independent panel will have unrestricted access to all UN records and full access to UN personnel wishing to provide information -- seemingly a response to concerns raised by Ian Richards, head of staff union at the UN, on possible repercussions against UN staff for passing on information. The panel will begin work in July, and aim to submit a report within ten weeks, complete with recommendations on how the UN should respond to similar allegations in the future.
Further information:
War crimes & ‘protection of the family’
There is strong evidence that Israel and Palestinian armed groups committed possible war crimes during the Gaza war last summer, according to research by the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the 2014 Gaza conflict. According to the report, the 2014 war saw a “huge increase” in the firepower used in Gaza, with Israeli forces conducting more than 6,000 airstrikes and firing approximately 50,000 tank and artillery shells at targets within the enclave. The force used by Israel resulted in widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure and the deaths of 1,462 Palestinian civilians, a third of whom were children. At the same time, the report documents that Palestinian militants fired 4,881 rockets and 1,753 mortars towards Israel, which killed six civilians and injured at least 1,600 people. Additionally, the Commission said it is “disturbed” by Israel’s decision to close a criminal investigation into the killing of four children on a beach in Gaza on 16 July, pointing out that international journalists and numerous Palestinian eyewitnesses were not interviewed by the Israeli authorities, which raises doubts about the thoroughness of the investigation. The Commission’s report will be discussed on Monday at the 29th session of the Human Rights Council.
Also at the Council's session, a draft UN resolution on the ‘protection of the family’ is back on the agenda, despite drawing criticism from human rights groups for its attempt to limit the rights of individuals, including women and children, within the family. Of primary concern is that the States behind the resolution - which was first introduced in 2014 to mark the 20th anniversary of the international year of the family - aim to position the family unit as an abstract holder of rights, rather than it being made up of individuals with independent rights. As it stands, the resolution fails to give due consideration to abuses that occur within the family setting, such as child abuse; it institutionalises gender inequality, such as through property or inheritance legislation; it fails to recognise the diversity of families, focusing on a heteronormative conception of family; and lastly, it is undermined by a number of procedural concerns, including its lack of referencing or citations and the fact that States were given little time to make amendments to the draft text. This last point means it has been difficult to ascertain whether approved UN language has been used in the text, and if it has, whether it has been taken out of context.
Reproductive rights and privacy
Activists in Kenya have gone to court to get the government to destroy records containing the names of children who are HIV-positive. The collection of the data was ordered in February to help the provision of health services. Children were asked to list their names, schools, guardians and relatives possibly affected by their condition. But activist groups Kenya Legal and Ethical Issues Network (Kelin) and Children of God Relief Institute (Nyumbani) argue that the method used to collect the data violates the Constitution, which prohibits the recording of details about people living with HIV. The organisations point to the potential impact of the data collection in terms of privacy and confidentiality, saying that the data directly links a person’s name and their HIV status, which could lead to stigmatisation.
In Europe, girls of reproductive age will be able to access emergency contraception after the morning-after pill ellaOne received a change of licence from the European medicines agency. In the United Kingdom, a girl seeking to buy ellaOne will be asked by the pharmacist about her use of contraception, if she is willing to tell her parents, as well as questions to ascertain if she understands the consequences of taking the morning-after pill. She will also have to pay £34.95 for the pill. Family planning services have generally welcomed the move to make emergency contraception more accessible; but say there are factors which will continue to make girls reluctant to go to a pharmacy. “[T]the high cost, lack of access and embarrassment women face when buying emergency contraception deter many from trying to get it at all, and these obstacles can be even more difficult to negotiate for younger women,” said Abigail Fitzgibbon, the head of advocacy and campaigns at British Pregnancy Advisory Service. Notably, there were 24,306 pregnancies in under-18s in the UK in 2014, just over half of which ended in abortion. Ms Fitzgibbon says the morning-after pill should be “regulated in exactly the same way as any other method of contraception: not priced out of reach or a symbol of shame.”
Gender equality in schools and health clinics
State schools in Malta should not impose particular uniforms or facilities on gender variant students, according to a new government policy on gender equality in schools. The new ‘Trans, Gender Variant and Intersex Students in Schools Policy’ instructs schools to allow pupils to wear uniforms, use facilities and take part in activities that match their gender identity. This includes having a choice of which uniform to wear, which bathroom or changing room to use, and which sports activities and physical education classes to take part in. The policy also says students are to be addressed by their preferred name and pronoun once an application for gender transition has been filed in court. The new policy has been developed over the past year after a number of students had experienced difficulties in education settings and had trouble finding employment as a result of their gender identity. The policy is the first of its kind in Europe, as no other country has a comprehensive education policy focusing on the needs of trans, gender variant and intersex children.
A senator in Ireland is seeking to amend a gender equality bill so it gives legal recognition to children younger than 16 who are transgender. The draft Gender Recognition Bill 2014, which is reaching the final stages of the legislative process, allows a person to apply for formal legal recognition of their preferred gender when they are over 16. But the proposed amendment seeks to address the absence of a process for children under 16 to have their gender recognised, and to improve the challenging processes that currently exist for young people aged 16 and 17 who wish to be recognised as their preferred gender. Its author, Senator Jillian van Turnhout, said: “It is fundamentally wrong that this Bill does not provide a mechanism for legal recognition, even on an interim basis, of gender for trans children under 16 who seek it.” She added: “many of these children are living a nightmare from as early as between three and five years of age when their gender identity is likely developed.”
A hospital in Stockholm, Sweden will open the first emergency clinic for victims of male rape and sexual abuse in the country. The South General Hospital will be admitting men and boys from October 2015 in response to an increase in the number of cases of sexual assault and rape being reported. According to the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, there were 370 recorded cases of sexual assault on men or boys in 2014. There is still a prevalent perception that men cannot be raped and that male rape is still “extremely taboo”, said Dr Lotti Helstrom. But she added that the issues are much more common than most people realise. A spokesperson for the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU) said that a clinic focused on men would "contribute to the awareness of experiences of sexual abuse among men [and boys]".
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ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN IN BOLIVIA
Bolivia has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), including all its three Optional Protocols. The CRC, which takes precedence over national laws, can be directly enforced in the courts and has been cited widely in judgments. The courts accept complaints by children which must be brought with the help of a parent or legal representative, and the courts can appoint alternative legal representatives in case there is a conflict of interest between the child’s views and those of his or her parents. Constitutional complaints regarding children’s fundamental rights can be lodged directly with the Plurinational Constitutional Court and challenges do not necessarily have to involve child victims, as collective action can be brought by anyone to enforce collective rights. Yet, the law does not provide for specialised procedures to facilitate children giving evidence, there are no special limitation periods for children bringing complaints and, while legal aid is theoretically available to all children, it is unclear whether this is widely available in practice. Once domestic remedies have been exhausted, children may submit complaints to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child under the third Optional Protocol to the CRC on a complaints procedure. There are widespread issues in Bolivia regarding the enforcement of laws and corruption, and the judiciary is weak and overburdened. These problems are furthered by the distinct cultural traditions which exist in Bolivia’s poor rural communities.
Read the full report on access to justice for children in Bolivia.
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
FGM: Female genital mutilation as a child safeguarding issue
Organisation: Africans Unite Against Child Abuse (AFRUCA)
Date: 26 June 2015
Location: London, United Kingdom
Missing children: Second int'l academic conference on missing children & adults
Organisation: Various
Date: 8-10 July 2015
Location: Brussels, Belgium
Equality: Consultation on the future Welsh Government funding framework for equality and inclusion
Organisation: Welsh Government
Deadline: 10 July 2015
Location: N/A
Participation: Children as actors for transforming society
Organisation: Child to Child et al.
Dates: 27 July - 2 August 2015
Location: Caux, Switzerland
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
Child indicators: ‘From Welfare to Well-being - Child indicators in research, policy & practice’
Organisation: International Society for Child Indicators
Date: 2-4 September 2015
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Education: E-course on on the right to education
Organisations: HREA and the Right to Education Project
Dates: 2 September-13 October 2015
Location: Online
Child abuse: European Regional Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect
Organisation: International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect
Dates: 27-30 September 2015
Location: Bucharest, Romania
Monitoring: Training workshop on monitoring children’s rights
Organisation: Human Rights Education Associates
Dates: 15-17 October 2015
Location: Brussels, Belgium
Health: Conference on child rights and sight
Organisation: Distressed Children & Infants International
Dates: 24 October 2015
Location: New Haven, United States
Asia Pacific: 10th Asian Pacific Regional Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect
Organisation: International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect
Dates: 25-28 October 2015
Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Course: Child participation
Organisation: Human Rights Education Associates
Dates: 28 October - 8 December 2015
Location: Online
Course: Children’s rights (Foundation Course)
Organisation: Human Rights Education Associates
Dates: 28 October-8 December 2015
Location: Online
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EMPLOYMENT
CRIN: Legal research internships (Arabic-speaking)
Application deadline: Rolling deadline
Location: London, United Kingdom
CRIN: Communications Intern (French-speaking)
Application deadline: Rolling deadline
Location: London, United Kingdom
Child Soldiers International: Africa Programme Officer
Application deadline: 7 July 2015
Location: London, United Kingdom
THE LAST WORD
“Every day throughout the world, countless children suffer adverse consequences at the hands of justice systems that disregard or even directly violate their fundamental human rights. Not only do children face the same obstacles as adults to access justice, but they also encounter challenges and barriers linked to their status of minors. For this reason, the importance of child-sensitive justice – justice that respects, protects and fulfils the rights of children – cannot be overemphasised. An administration of justice that fails children ultimately also fails society.”
-- Gabriela Knaul, UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, during the presentation of her annual report to the UN Human Rights Council.
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