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THE YEAR IN CHILDREN'S RIGHTS: CRIN annual report 2015

CRIN’s annual report wastes no time regurgitating blurb about who we are and what we do (you can find all that on our website, and we suspect that is the bit you gloss over anyway). Instead, we present a global picture of children’s rights, wrapping up the past year’s new or persisting children’s rights issues with case studies from around the world. This sets the basis for our call to action - a manifesto for children’s rights. To this end, the report underlines the importance of pressing for justice, accountability and redress as the only way of developing lasting reform for children’s rights globally. 

Download the full report.

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LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS

Discrimination on school grounds

The Czech Republic’s Constitutional Court has rejected a complaint from a Romany man who claims he was placed in a school for children with mental disabilities because of his ethnicity, in what the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) called a “disappointing” judgment. The man was brought up in a children’s home from the age of two and took ten years to complete his primary education. After leaving the home at age 18 he completed the regular primary school and secondary school curriculum, claiming that a series of tests plagued by institutional racism were what held him back. The ERRC, however, noted that the case at least overruled an earlier decision from the country’s Supreme Court, which declared that segregation only existed legally if the proportion of Roma in an institution was above 50 percent.

Protests have broken out in Israel over allegations of unequal funding of Christian schools. Protesters gathered in front of the prime minister's office to show their anger that private Christian schools apparently receive less state funding than the equivalent Jewish schools. The country’s 47 Christian schools, teaching some 33,000 children and mostly attended by Arab students, have been on strike since 1 September, as demonstrators claim their funding has been reduced in an effort to make them join the Israeli public school system. The education ministry has been quoted as saying that Christian schools are funded in an equal manner as other “recognised but unofficial institutions”.

Criminalising children for sexting

In the United States a schoolboy, 17, and his girlfriend, 16, have been charged with sexual exploitation of a minor for texting each other sexually explicit images of themselves. They were both also charged with making and possessing such pictures, identifying each of them as both their own victim and offender. Sexting is not uncommon among teens, according to numerous academic studies, but the charges faced by the two teens can result in prison time and the requirement to register as a sex offender. According to a report by Human Rights Watch, “Many people assume that anyone listed on the sex offender registry must be a rapist or a paedophile, but most states spread the net much more widely.” States’ definitions of sex offences can range from heinous crimes such as rape, to consensual sex between children, to relatively innocuous actions like public nudity, and registration laws which can apply for decades or even a lifetime. In 2013 South Africa’s Constitutional Court said criminalising sexual activity between consenting adolescents was unconstitutional, and violated their right to dignity and privacy.

In the United Kingdom, the name of a 14-year-old boy who texted a naked picture of himself to a girl at school could be stored on a police intelligence database for sex offences for ten years. Police recorded the incident as a crime, even though the boy was not arrested or charged. And details of the event may be disclosed to the boy’s future employers conducting background checks. The boy said he felt "embarrassed and a bit intimidated" by the way the incident had been dealt with by police and his school. His mother said her son had been "humiliated", saying he was "at best naive" and at worst just being "a teenager". Police said the boy could appeal against the decision before it was disclosed to future employers.

Access to bathrooms denied

Health watchdogs in Ireland have voiced concern over the increased use of "single separation" detention of children in a home for teenagers with emotional or behavioural difficulties. The Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) raised the issue with Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, after finding out that single separation - meant as a measure of last resort - was used 149 times in the previous six months (compared to 45 times in all of last year) involving nine children who allegedly presented challenging or violent behaviour or were self-harming. One child faced isolation 54 times, and another was locked in a room for five days at the Ballydowd Special Care Unit in west Dublin. Inspectors exposed staff for forcing two children in isolation rooms with no sanitation facilities to urinate on the floor and another had to wash with baby wipes for four days after their access to bathrooms was denied. Tulsa says it is reviewing its use of isolation techniques and facilities.

States leave migrant children unprotected

Venezuela is conducting arbitrary mass deportations of Colombian migrants, which have resulted in almost 300 children being left behind in the country without their parents, according to the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare. Some 154 families are affected, with the remaining children staying with relatives. Colombia’s president, Juan Manuel Santos, is considering taking legal action against Venezuela for what he considers deportations based on nationality.

Children of migrant families in Russia will not be able to attend school if their parents do not have a residence permit, after the country’s Supreme Court upheld a law prohibiting enrolment of children who have no registered place of residence. On August 27 the Court considered a complaint regarding the by-law of the Ministry of Education, which was filed by human rights organisation Civil Assistance in order to protect the interests of children of foreign citizens in Russia, finally ruling that the by-law does not violate children's rights. School admission papers are filed online and applications will not be accepted by the registration system without necessary data. "It is unacceptable that schools are forced to think about such things as the legal status of a foreign citizen, said Anastasia Denisova from Civic Assistance. “This should be dealt with by migration services, and teachers should teach children." According to estimates of the Central Migration Service of Russia, currently 25 percent of migrant children in Russia do not attend school.

Issues neglected by UN committees

Two UN committees that monitor States’ compliance with fundamental human rights are addressing key children’s rights to some extent, yet a number of issues are being neglected, such as protection from all forms of torture and inhumane treatment, access to justice, freedom of assembly, autonomy, labour rights, and discrimination, according to a new CRIN publication released last week. The report looks looks at how children’s rights are addressed in the work of the committees that monitor the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The research marks the first phase of CRIN’s analysis on the extent to which the full range of children’s rights are present in the work of UN human rights mechanisms. This is done with the aim of ensuring children’s rights are addressed with the same consistency and rigour as adults’ rights. The analysis reveals the children’s rights violations most frequently raised by the two UN committees, as well as gaps in their questioning of States, and in the work of the children's rights community in order to strengthen our reporting on children’s rights issues.

UN calls for submissions: investment and exploitation

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is inviting submissions on "information and communications technology and child sexual exploitation" in advance of the Human Rights Council’s 2016 annual day on the rights of the child. The deadline for submissions is 16 October 2015. Read submission details here.

As an outcome of the annual day on the rights of the child of March 2015 on “a better investment in the rights of the child,” the OHCHR is also inviting submissions on this issue. These should provide practical examples, good practices and lessons learnt of sufficient, equitable and efficient public resource mobilisation, budget allocation and spending to realise the rights of the child, including measures to address barriers and bottlenecks, relevant tools, resources and guides. The deadline for submissions is 18 October 2015. Read submission details here.

Contribute to evaluation of CRIN’s work

An evaluation of CRIN’s work from 2010-15 is currently in progress.  Please contribute your views:

• What do you like about CRIN?
• How does CRIN help you in your work? – please give examples!
• What do you think are CRIN’s main achievements?

Please send your feedback to [email protected] by 18 September. 

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ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN IN IRELAND

Ireland ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1992. The CRC has not yet been incorporated into domestic law and it cannot be directly enforced in domestic courts. Despite the fact that national laws are interpreted in a manner consistent with the CRC where possible, many provisions of the Irish Constitution are seen as being at odds with it. Children are permitted to bring civil cases in Irish courts, however they are required to have a 'next friend' to conduct civil proceedings on their behalf. In criminals actions, child victims cannot be party to the actual proceedings, as crimes are prosecuted by the State of Ireland. Judicial review proceedings may be brought on behalf of a child if it can be shown that the child has 'sufficient interest'. Legal aid is available to children in Ireland in certain situations, and is allocated on the basis of a 'means test' and a 'merits test'.

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

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.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Child detention: Preventing Detention of Children from the Northern Triangle
Organisation:  Global Campaign to End Child Detention
Date: 1 - 30 September
Location: Mexico City, Mexico

Child detention: Exhibit at the UN Human Rights Council
Organisation: Global Campaign to End Child Detention
Date: 7- 18 September
Location: Geneva, Switzerland

Deprivation of liberty: Violence against children in detention
Organisation: Defence for Children International et al. 
Date: 16 September 2015
Location: Geneva, Switzerland

Development: Symposium on SDGs - Empowering Mauritius Towards the 2030 Agenda
Organisation: Halley Movement
Date: 21 September 2015
Location: Ebene Cyber City, Mauritius

Child protection: Cross-border child protection - Legal and social perspectives
Organisation: The International Social Service
Registration deadline: 23 September 2015
Event date: 21-23 October 2015
Location: Geneva, Switzerland

Call for submissions: Global Summit on Childhood - 'Creating a Better World for Children & Youth Through Sustainability, Social Innovation & Synergy'
Organisation: Association for Childhood Education International
Submission deadline: 28 September 2015
Event date: 31 March - 3 April 2016
Location: Sand José, Costa Rica

Juvenile justice: Online training course on ‘Alternatives to Detention for Young Offenders’ 
Organisation: International School for Juvenile Justice 
Course dates: 1 October 2015 (lasts three months) 
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

Reporoductive rights: New reproductive technologies and the European fertility market
Organisation: Erasmus University Rotterdam et al. 
Abstract submissions deadline: 1 October 2015
Event date: 19-20 November 2015
Location: Santander, Spain

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

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EMPLOYMENT

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

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

Save the Children Sweden: Field Manager
Application deadline: 13 September 2015
Location: Agok/Abyei, Sudan

Save the Children Sweden: Director of HR and Support Services
Application deadline: 20 September 2015
Location: Khartoum, Sudan

JARGON OF THE WEEK: **Outcome harvesting**

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