CRINmail 1439

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LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS

Juvenile justice and immigration

In the United States, a federal judge has said the government's policy of detaining migrant children and their mothers violates a longstanding ruling which found that such mass detention is against US law. The ruling was based on an 18-year-old court decision, which requires unaccompanied migrant children detained at the border to be released to a parent or close relative, or alternatively be placed in nonsecure facilities run by agencies licensed for child care. But Judge Dolly M Gee of Federal District Court for the Central District of California said the ruling also applies to children detained with their parents, and so officials should release a mother with the child. The ruling came in relation to a lawsuit filed in February by lawyers at the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law in Los Angeles, who sued the government over two detention centres in Texas, which are secure facilities run by private prison contractors. Judge Gee has given the administration until 3 August to devise a plan to release children and mothers “without unnecessary delay”. 

In Myanmar two 17-year-old Chinese nationals who had been sentenced to 10 years in prison for illegal logging have been released, according to officials. They were among 153 other Chinese loggers who were sentenced to life imprisonment after being arrested in January in Kachin state, close to the Chinese border, during a military operation to crack down on illegal logging. On Thursday Burmese officials announced that the 155 prisoners had been freed in an amnesty, after their arrest prompted a diplomatic protest by an "extremely concerned" China. The Burmese government has been trying to rein in illegal logging, which was rife under the military junta, and which depleted much of the country’s forests. Regions along Myanmar's border with China have long been hotbeds for the illegal trade in timber to satisfy Chinese demand, which reporters say has contributed to resentment in the country towards its giant neighbour. Warlords who operate in remote regions of Myanmar close to the borders are said to make deals with illegal loggers. Almost 7,000 prisoners were also pardoned as part of the amnesty aimed at promoting "goodwill". It is the latest in a series of amnesties brought about by the military-backed government of Thein Seinn since his election in 2010. While most political prisoners in Myanmar have already been released as part of the reform process, more than 150 are thought to still be held in detention. 

Children's rights at sea

Indentured child labour abounds in the open seas, where exploitation, slavery and the risk of death on fishing vessels is commonplace, according to a New York Times series called The Outlaw Ocean. The series looks at the weakness of maritime law enforcement, the violence that pervades the entire operation of taking a ship to sea, and follows the longest pursuit of an illegal fishing vessel in history which eventually saw the perpetrators charged with crimes relating to pollution, negligence and forgery. The third part in the series explains the true price of cheap fish, documenting how children as young as 15 on fishing vessels are forced to work days and nights of up to 20 hours in appalling conditions, are expected to treat their own wounds, and are given just one bowl of rice a day to survive on. 

A Guardian investigation has linked Thailand's fishing industry with transnational trafficking syndicates profiting from the misery of Rohingya migrants, including children. After turning to the seas to escape persecution in their native Myanmar, Rohingya migrants board ships navigated by human traffickers promising them a new life. When they are unable to pay the traffickers, they are sold into slavery, beaten and often raped, no matter how old they are. The Guardian’s harrowing report details how children are among those who are abused, imprisoned and enslaved as a result of collusion between ruthless people-smugglers and the Thai authorities. The investigation follows on from the newspaper’s 2014 probe that exposed Thai slave labour in the supply of supermarket prawns across the world.

Marriage and selective abortion

Spain has raised the minimum age for marriage from 14 to 16, having had one of the lowest marrying ages in Europe. Previously, boys and girls could marry at the age of 14 with the permission of a judge. There were 365 marriages involving under-16s in Spain between 2000 and 2014. The figure marks a significant reduction from previous decades, with 2,678 such marriages taking place in the 1990s and 12,867 in the 1980s. While most European countries have set 18 as the minimum age for marriage, concessions are made for younger people if there is parental consent and/or court approval. While couples from Spain’s Roma community traditionally marry younger than other groups, leaders have welcomed the reform, saying it was time to change. The change in Spain comes only months after the government raised the age of sexual consent from 13 to 16. 

Armenia's health ministry has submitted to parliament a draft bill that seeks to ban sex-selective abortions in response to years of population decline, which experts claim has left the country with one of the world’s highest birth discrepancies between boys and girls. While the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) sets the normal birth ratio at 102-106 males for every 100 females, Armenia’s stood at 114 boys for every 100 girls in 2012 - the third biggest gap in the world after Azerbaijan and China. Many observers doubt that the proposed ban on selective abortions will reverse the preference for boys, and fear that it will encourage at-home abortions. Many people see a male child as a sort of insurance policy, according to a report by Eurasianet, with divorce, domestic violence, and the return of a wife to her parents’ home being blamed for not having borne a son. Noting that a ban alone will not change popular mentality, the Armenian Ministry of Health’s Maternity and Reproductive Health Division has emphasised the need for education about gender equality, reproductive health and women’s role in society.

Transparency and human rights defenders

A senior UN human rights official who admitted she had not followed up allegations of child sexual abuse by French soldiers in Central African Republic (CAR) has resigned. Flavia Pansieri, who stepped down from her post as Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, had been under increasing pressure after revelations made in a confidential statement for an internal investigation went public. In the statement obtained by the Associated Press, Pansieri said she had been distracted from the case for several months by other issues, including budget cuts. “I regret to say that in the context of those very hectic days, I failed to follow up on the CAR situation.” The revelations by children as young as nine of trading sex for food with French peacekeepers did not become public until April 2015, almost a year after UN staff first heard the children’s complaints. Pansieri’s comments and other leaked documents led the UN Secretary-General to order an independent investigation into how the UN handled the case.

In China, at least 238 human rights lawyers have been detained or questioned since police launched one of its most sweeping crackdowns on civil society in decades. At least six people remain missing since the clampdown began two weeks ago, and are believed to be in the custody of the security services, according to the China Human Rights Lawyer Concern Group. The offensive against human rights lawyers began on 9 July with the detention of Wang Yu, a lawyer known for defending politically sensitive clients including five Chinese feminists detained earlier this year. The coordinated raid spans 19 Chinese provinces, which authorities have justified as an effort to “smash a major criminal gang” that was “seriously disturbing social order.” Activists, diplomats and academics all describe recent events as one of the most ferocious assaults on civil rights in memory. Of the scores of people so far affected by the crackdown, 20 are still believed to be under some form of detention and are at serious risk of torture or other forms of mistreatment, said Maya Wang from Human Rights Watch. Reports say only one detainee has been given access to a lawyer.

Trafficking and exploitation

African footballers as young as 14 are being trafficked to Asia and forced to sign contracts with football clubs, an investigation has found. Champasak United, one of the top football clubs in Laos, was found to have trafficked 23 underage players from West Africa to an unregistered football academy with the intention of generating profit by selling the players in the future. Regulations by the international football association FIFA prohibit the movement of players to a foreign club or academy until they are 18 years old. One 14-year-old player said he was forced into signing a six-year contract and was promised a salary and accommodation, yet he was never paid and had to sleep on the floor of the club's stadium. Following pressure from FIFA and global players' body FIFPro, Champasak released 17 teenagers from the original group, but six children chose to remain in Laos. The visas of those that stayed have expired; while they hope to receive work permits, these are unlikely to arrive since all are underage. 

Mexico City authorities have a “blacklist” of abusive institutions that house children and adults with disabilities, yet impunity is widespread, Disability Rights International (DRI) has said in the report ‘No Justice: Torture, Trafficking, and Segregation in Mexico’. The report focuses on the survivors of a blacklisted facility, Casa Esperanza, the site of torture, physical, and sexual abuse of individuals detained there against their will. Women and girls were routinely sterilised and people were kept in cages, long-term restraints, and lived in degrading, unhygienic conditions without adequate medical care. “Mexico City authorities knowingly let perpetrators subject children and adults with disabilities to atrocious, life-threatening abuses. Without any safe, community supports available in Mexico City, however, survivors of abuse will remain in segregation in other institutions,” stated DRI’s Eric Rosenthal. Mexican authorities have finally responded to pressure from DRI, the Mexico City Human Rights Commission and the UN, and shut down the institution. Following the report’s launch Mexico City authorities agreed to immediately end the practice of sterilising women with disabilities and ban the use of cages and physical restraints. 

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ACCESSS TO JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN IN LEBANON

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has been ratified by Lebanon, as has the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. International treaties take precedence of national law in Lebanon and, as such, the CRC is directly enforceable in the courts. Children are permitted to bring cases before the juvenile court judges directly, or may do so through a parent or guardian. Legal aid is available through bar associations but this may be dependent upon the claimant’s financial means as resources are currently stretched. Lebanon is currently home to a vast number of refugees from Palestine, Iraq and Syria as conflict rages on in the region; unfortunately, these refugees do not enjoy the same legal status and rights as Lebanese citizens and this leaves refugee children at a detriment whenever they come into contact with the justice system.

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

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

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

Participation: E-course on 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 

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 

LEAK OF THE WEEK

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