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LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS

Twenty years in prison for throwing a stone

Israeli lawmakers have passed a bill allowing for Palestinian children living in Israel and convicted of throwing stones at occupation forces to be sentenced to 20 years in prison. According to local media sources, while the maximum sentence will only apply to cases where it can be proven that a child intended to inflict harm, the bill also states that children who throw stones at Israeli army vehicles can be imprisoned for up to 10 years even if there is no proof of harmful intent in their actions. Such charges already existed under Israeli military law in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The newly passed bill will incorporate the sentencing into Israeli law so that the charges can be applied to Palestinians inside Israel under civilian legal jurisdiction. Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said: "A stone thrower is a terrorist, and only an appropriate punishment can be deterrent, punitive and just." But Israeli Arab member of the Knesset Jamal Zahalka, among other critics of the bill, slammed it as hypocritical and unjust. "You are picking on the person who responded to the major injustices, such hypocrisy. Those who demolish homes receive medals, but the boy whose anger is justified is imposed with punishments," he said, "there is no justice in this law." 

An Iranian juvenile offender whose fate and whereabouts had been unknown since he was scheduled to be executed in February is alive, Amnesty International has confirmed. Saman Naseem, 21, was sentenced to death in April 2013 for alleged armed activities against the Revolutionary Guards when he was 17 years old. The day before he was due to be executed, he was transferred to an unknown location, which has now been confirmed to be Zanjan Prison, north-west of Tehran, after Nassem made contact with his family over the weekend. However, no accurate information about his whereabouts or why he was held in secret has been provided to his lawyers or family. Advocates say Naseem’s trial and sentence were based on self-incriminating evidence extracted under torture. On account of these claims, the Supreme Court has also granted Naseem’s application for judicial review, which means that his conviction and death sentence are quashed and that he is entitled to a full retrial. 

Corporal punishment & crimes against humanity

In a controversial decision in the United States, Massachusetts’ highest court has defended parents’ use of corporal punishment on their children because the practice “remains firmly woven into the nation’s social fabric”. The ruling came in relation to a case in which a man had been convicted of assault by a lower court for kicking his 3-year-old child in the backside and spanking her. But the state Supreme Judicial Court ruled that there was a “parental privilege defence” allowing parents to use force in disciplining a child so long as it does not cause any physical harm beyond fleeting pain or temporary marks or mental distress. According to the unanimous decision, criminal sanctions should not be imposed for “the use of parenting techniques still widely regarded as permissible and warranted.”

Several NGOs criticised the ruling, saying it sent the message that it is acceptable to use aggression on a child. Noting that the Court held that spanking is permissible if “reasonably related to the purpose of safeguarding or promoting the welfare of the minor,” Jetta Bernier of the Massachusetts Citizens for Children, said it wrongly implies that the use of force supports the welfare of children. Meanwhile Mary McGeown, president of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, said “We should be working with parents to have the skills to raise their children without resorting to physical force.”

The trial of Chad's former dictator, Hissene Habre, for war crimes, crimes against humanity and torture has opened in Senegal, in what marks the first time an African leader has been tried on the continent for such crimes. Habre, who led Chad between 1982 and 1990, is accused of running a network of secret police responsible for thousands of executions, forced disappearances, torture and arrests, including of many children. In 1992, the Chadian Truth Commission accused Habre of ordering some 40,000 politically motivated murders and 200,000 cases of torture. The case is being tried in the Extraordinary African Chambers, a body set up by the African Union. It is also the first time an African court has dealt with a case under the principle of universal jurisdiction in which a country's national courts can prosecute the most serious crimes committed by a foreigner and against foreign victims abroad.

Discrimination in religion and disability

In Sudan, nine Christian women aged 17 to 23 are facing criminal charges for “indecent dress” after they were arrested in June for wearing trousers and skirts. Activists say their case is an example of the ongoing prejudice against Christians by a Muslim government intent on enacting Islamic law. The women were arrested in front of a church in Khartoum by the so-called morality police, who enforce the government’s strict codes. A tenth woman escaped a sentence of 40 lashes after the judge freed her following a public outcry, despite still handing down a guilty verdict. The threat of flogging still hangs over the other nine women, who are being charged under article 152 of the criminal code which, based on Sharia law, bans “indecent dress”. Between 40,000–50,000 women are arrested and flogged every year by the public order police because of their clothing, according to Amal Habbani, a rights activist with the group No to Women’s Oppression. While not all cases receive media attention, Habbani said this particular one has drawn widespread attention because of the activism of the women themselves, and thanks to social media support.

Immigration authorities in Australia have denied a 4-year-old boy of Bangladeshi parents a visa because he has autism and he would be too burdensome to the taxpayer. Sydney-born Fayyed Hoque’s application for a visa was rejected “because the individual did not meet the health requirement," according to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. While the department estimated costs for Fayyed’s education to be $456,811, the family’s lawyer said the amount is “grossly inflated”, with a more accurate amount being under $31,000. Not only this, Fayyed’s parents believe that he will have a seriously diminished quality of life if the family is deported, as he will receive no developmental assistance in school. The family will also face discrimination, as in some parts of Bangladesh children with disabilities are viewed as a divine punishment for a mother’s alleged wrongdoing. The family has created a Change.org petition, calling on Immigration Minister Peter Dutton to intervene in the case. In a similar case in May, Mr Dutton intervened to allow Maria Sevilla and her son Tyrone to remain in Australia when facing deportation due to Tyrone's autism.

Unapproved drugs and HIV remission

More and more teenagers are being prescribed antipsychotic drugs used to treat bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, even though most have not been diagnosed with a mental disorder, a new medical study shows. “This raises concerns about whether the right caution is taken [by doctors]," said Mark Olfson, lead author of the study published in JAMA Psychiatry, and a professor at Columbia University Medical Center. Researchers also suggested that in cases where there are diagnosed mental disorders, the drugs are being used to treat unapproved conditions, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and depression, although doctors are known to prescribe them in those cases. Olfson said this is because the drugs provide a "fast relief" for behaviours in children that are difficult to manage. The authors of the study also expressed concern that less than a quarter of the patients undergo any form of therapy alongside their drug treatment. "We need to do more to increase access to non-pharmacological options," Olfson said. Read more about the overmedication of children diagnosed with ADHD.

An 18-year-old woman in France is in remission from HIV, despite not having taken any drugs against the virus since she was 6 years old, in what is the world's first report of long-term remission from HIV in a child. It is thought the woman contracted HIV from her mother towards the end of the pregnancy or during childbirth. She was given four antiretroviral drugs aged three months, but her family decided to stop the treatment when she was almost six. Twelve years later, the virus levels in her bloodstream are too low to be measured. Doctors believe the woman has been in remission for so long because she received a combination of antiretrovirals very soon after infection. But doctors have cautioned that such cases are very rare, stressing that her condition could change. Experts say studies are needed to determine why some patients can continue to control the virus after stopping treatment. The French virologist Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, who won the Nobel Prize for identifying HIV, said: "We need to try to find other such cases - and find out their markers, to see whether we can predict remission,” as a single case is unable to do that.  

Capacity in gender, health and voting

The passing of the Gender Recognition Act in Ireland represents a significant victory for transgender rights in the country, however the new law falls short of meeting the needs of children, human rights advocates have warned. The law allows for legal gender recognition, that is, it permits people to make a statutory declaration for their gender to be changed without requiring that they seek medical treatment. However, transgender children under the age of 16 are completely excluded from the provisions of the new law and children over the age of 16 are required to undergo a complicated process involving two doctors, parental consent and a court order. The author of an unsuccessful petition to include under-16s in the bill said: “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.” Also read a letter by Human Rights Watch regarding the Act.

In Oregon, United States, teenagers aged 15 years old can now receive state-subsidised sex change operations without requiring parental consent. Oregon currently sets 15 as the age of medical consent and is currently the only US state which allows 15-year-olds to have these operations and have the cost covered by health insurance. The move follows a change in state law that extends health coverage to include such surgeries and other related medical costs. While the policy has been met with criticism, under the assumption that sex reassignment surgeries will be rolled out to any teenager who requests it, gender equality advocates have defended the new measure assuring that "It's not like surgery on demand," according to Danny Askini of Gender Justice League. He also stressed "how extraordinarily difficult it is for young people to transition." So far, no child has undergone sex reassignment surgery under the new policy.

Young people in Wales, United Kingdom, overwhelming support a lowering of the voting age to 16, a new study has found. The consultation of over 10,000 young people aged under 26 found that 53 percent of respondents supported a lowering of the voting age, 29 percent said they opposed a reduction, while 18 percent responded that they were unsure. Dame Rosemary Butler, who carried out the research for the Welsh Assembly, said it provided a "crucial insight" into young people's views and that she was "inspired" by many of the comments provided by young people in the survey. "Young people are integral to the process of shaping the future of our nation - we must give them the right support so that we optimise their contribution," she said. Several countries around the world have already lowered the voting age to 16 in national elections, including Brazil, Austria, Cuba, Nicaragua and Bosnia-Herzegovina, while other countries including Germany and Israel have lowered it for regional elections.

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ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN IN BELGIUM

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) forms part of Belgium’s domestic law and is frequently invoked in courts, though whether a provision has direct effect in the national legal order depends on whether it is “self-executing”. Children’s rights violations can be challenged in civil, criminal, administrative or constitutional proceedings, or through an ombudsman. In general, children must be represented by their parent/guardian in order to initiate legal proceedings, though some exceptions apply. Furthermore, children who are capable of forming their own views can request to be heard by a court in any proceedings concerning them. Children are entitled to legal aid and are automatically exempted from paying all costs related to judicial or administrative proceedings. Belgium has various child-friendly procedures to assist and protect child victims and witnesses in legal proceedings. As Belgium has also ratified the third Optional Protocol to the CRC, children can submit complaints about violations of their rights to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child once domestic remedies have been exhausted.

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

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Americas: Request for hearings for the 156th IACHR session
Organisation: Inter-American Human Rights Commission
Deadline for requests: 29 July 2015
Session date: 17-28 October 2015
Location: Washington DC, United States 

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

Call for papers: Sixth Int'l Human Rights Education Conference - 'Translating Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms to Today’s World'
Organisations: HREA and University College Roosevelt 
Submission deadline: 6 September 2015
Dates: 17-19 December 2015
Location: Middelburg, Netherlands

Africa: Global Child Forum on Southern Africa
Organisation: Global Child Forum et al
Date: 8 September 2015
Location: Pretoria, South Africa

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

Sports: 'Global sport - Reform or revolution?'
Organisation: Play the Game
Dates: 25-29 October 2015
Location: Aarhus, Denmark

Course: Child participation
Organisation: Human Rights Education Associates
Dates: 28 October - 8 December 2015
Location: Online

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EMPLOYMENT

CRIN: Legal Translation Intern
Application deadline: Rolling deadline
Location: Flexible, home-based 

CRIN: Legal research internships (Arabic-speaking)
Application deadline: Rolling deadline
Location: London, United Kingdom

CRIN: Communications Intern (French-speaking)
Application deadline: Rolling deadline
Location: Flexible, home-based 

Plan International: Human Rights Advisor
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Application deadline: 26 July 2015

Coram Children’s Legal Centre: International Research Assistant
Application deadline: 27 July 2015
Location: London, United Kingdom

Eurochild: Communications Intern
Application deadline: 31 July 2015
Location: Brussels, Belgium

European Roma Rights Centre: Legal Trainee
Application deadline: 31 July 2015
Location: Budapest, Hungary

Save the Children Sweden: Area Manager for Darfur - Sudan
Location: El Geneina, Sudan
Application deadline: 7 August 2015

Elevate Children Funders Group: Coordinator
Application deadline: 19 August 2015
Location: Flexible (with travel to US and Europe)

Consortium for Street Children: Advocacy & Research Intern
Application deadline: 21 August 2015
Location: London, United Kingdom 

JARGON OF THE WEEK: **Strategic refresh**

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