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LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS

Ireland bans all corporal punishment

Ireland has become the 47th State worldwide to ban corporal punishment of children in all settings, including in the home. This was achieved after Parliament abolished the “reasonable chastisement” defence for corporal punishment, which allowed for parents, guardians or childminders charged with assault or cruelty against a child to claim in their defence that they used “reasonable chastisement” to discipline the child. Several UN bodies had criticised Ireland for its position on corporal punishment, and in 2015 the State was found to be in violation of the European Social Charter for not explicitly banning corporal punishment of children in all settings. The new law will enter into force once it is signed by the President.

Further information:

• A list of States worldwide with a similar “reasonable chastisement” defence
• The updated country report for Ireland
• Countdown to universal prohibition – some overall facts and figures

Equality and discrimination

Colombia's highest court has ruled that same-sex couples can adopt children, affirming that parents’ sexual orientation in no way affects a child’s upbringing. Previously, such adoptions were allowed only if one of the partners in the couple was the child’s biological parent. But the Constitutional Court decided that, so long as they meet all the legal requirements, gay couples can adopt children just as heterosexual couples can. "A person's sexual orientation or gender are not in and of themselves indicative of a lack of moral, physical or mental suitability to adopt," chief justice Maria Victoria Calle Correa said at a news conference following the Court’s decision.

The Mormon church in the United States has officially banned the children of same-sex Mormon couples from being baptised and from joining the church unless they denounce their parents once they turn 18. The move comes after the Church of Latter-Day Saints took formal steps to define marriage equality as a form of apostasy in its “Handbook of Instructions”, a guide for Mormon leaders. According to the handbook, the relationships of Mormons in same-sex couples are now characterised as “Serious Transgressions”, putting lesbian and gay people on a par with those who commit murder, rape or abuse. The new policy marks the first time a Christian church has enshrined a baptismal ban on children of same-sex couples. Diane Oviatt, a board member of Mama Dragons, a group of devoted Mormon mothers of LGBT children, said: “It feels positively medieval, unequivocally wrong, and in our estimation stands to push more people out of the church and tear apart families.”

A draft law in Russia seeks to criminalise people who engage in public displays that would suggest they are gay. In an explanatory note, the authors argue that homosexuality is “socially infectious”, especially for children exposed to public manifestations of “non-traditional sexual relations”. The bill proposes fines for “public demonstration[s] of personal perverted sexual preferences in public places.” And if such public displays occur “on territories and in institutions, providing educational, cultural or youth services”, offenders could also be placed under an administrative arrest of up to 15 days. The authors of the bill have been criticised for using false and homophobic rhetoric in interviews, as they have conflated homosexuality with paedophilia, and referred to gay people as “mentally abnormal” and as “cattle”. In response, Tanya Cooper, Russia researcher at Human Rights Watch, said: “As public officials, they should at a bare minimum respect the rights enshrined in the constitution and international law, and not engage in rhetoric that borders on hate speech.”

Child labour and sexual exploitation

Last week a bill was introduced in Washington DC, US to create the first federal protections for children who work as actors and models in the film, TV and modeling industries. The Child Performer Protection Act of 2015 includes a maximum number of hours child models and actors can continuously work, a mandate that workers be compensated in cash wages, a requirement that 15 percent of a child’s earnings be placed in a trust until that child turns 18 or demonstrates urgent financial need, a “private right of action” for children who experience sexual harassment and a means for suing their employers for harassment at work. Currently, child performers are not protected by federal law; their protections vary from state to state. Member of the House of Representatives Grace Meng who introduced the bill explained the unique risks faced by child performers: “Sometimes kids are asked to undress in front of others or are put in compromising positions at a young age. Some reality shows have children being filmed while changing clothes or going to the bathroom. Young performers can also have their earnings taken by their parents, leaving them with nothing when they turn 18.”

NGOs have challenged the latest amendment to a law on child pornography and prostitution in Japan which they say provides insufficient protection. The law fails to protect children under the age of 15 performing acrobatics in revealing costumes to paying customers; photo sessions with pre-teen children who are nude or nearly nude; and sexually abusive images of children in manga comics, animated films and video games. During a recent visit to the country, UN Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child pornography and prostitution Maud de Boer-Buquicchio responded to claims that a ban on manga would violate freedom of expression, acknowledging that artists and publishers faced difficulty in “finding the right balance” between artistic freedoms and the need to protect children, but that “materials which depicts children as sexual objects and is created for the purpose of fulfilling sexual gratification must be considered as child pornography.” Until last year, Japan was the only G7 country where it was legal to own videos, photographs and other imagery depicting sexual crimes against children, provided there was no intention to sell them or post them online.

Refugees, overseas adoption & statelessness

The number of children seeking asylum in Europe has almost doubled since last year according to UNICEF UK. Data collected by the agency shows that 190,000 children sought asylum in Europe between January and September this year, compared to 98,000 in the same period last year. The statistics also reveal that one in 10, roughly 230 million children around the world, are now growing up in a conflict zone. Research from Human Rights Watch recently shined a light on 400,000 Syrian children who are out of education despite having left their home for asylum in Turkey. In the same week a British Lord insisted that it “makes little sense” to have exceptions for unaccompanied child refugees despite the continued violations of their rights, education not least among them.

A moratorium on exit visas in Congo is set to end, allowing 69 children the chance to leave for new adoptive homes overseas. The ban came into force in September 2013 over fears that adopted children could be abused, trafficked or adopted by same-sex couples from outside the country. Despite the ban on leaving the country, some judges continued to grant adoptions, meaning that many children are still waiting to join around 1,000 prospective families.

At least 70,000 stateless children are born every year according to research from the UN’s refugee agency. The new report explains that the problem has been accelerated by conflict and the ongoing refugee crisis, which often sees parents fleeing without identifying documents. Syrians in particular are singled out as being at a disadvantage as Syrian nationality can only be transferred through fathers, and 25 percent of refugee families are fatherless. Even when laws are in place to limit discrimination, children are still denied citizenship in many places, with the report highlighting particular problems for people of Haitian descent trying to get citizenship in the Dominican Republic. The refugee agency previously hoped to eliminate statelessness by 2024 but notes in the new report that the bar for acquiring citizenship is still very high in most countries.

Transparency and privacy

A recent internal UN report has found that four UN staff members have been sacked for distributing and storing child abuse images on work computers and email accounts in the last 18 months, while ten more have been fired for child rape and sex abuse cases in the last decade. The cases are among several hundred cases raised in an internal annual report on disciplinary matters and cases of criminal behaviour in the organisation for the period of July 2014 to June 2015. None of the reports refer to any criminal action being brought against the personnel. A spokesperson from the UN said the organisation has referred all credible reports of criminal conduct to the States of the alleged perpetrators’ nationality. However, the spokesperson also said the UN was “not aware of any criminal convictions relating to cases of sexual exploitation and abuse and child pornography”. He said that the organisation “has not been requested to cooperate in any national proceedings”. Other criminal acts committed by UN officials documented in the report include one staff member using a official vehicle to transport approximately 173 kg of cannabis, while another was reprimanded for stealing $2,200 from the luggage of a passenger travelling on a United Nations flight.

Meanwhile on the right to privacy, a schoolboy from County Antrim in Northern Ireland, arrested following a cyber attack on telecoms company TalkTalk is suing three national newspapers for alleged breach of privacy. Lawyers for the 15-year-old claim that his privacy was compromised by articles in three UK newspapers, the Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and the Sun, as well as by Google and Twitter. The lawsuits centre on publicity surrounding the boy’s questioning last month by police who were investigating the hack into the database of TalkTalk, the phone and broadband provider. The boy was among four people to be detained in connection with the probe.

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ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN IN THAILAND

Thailand ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) with a reservation concerning Article 22 on refugee children. Thailand has also ratified all three Optional Protocols to the CRC. Most provisions of the CRC have been incorporated into national law through the 2003 Child Protection Act, and only treaties which have been incorporated can be directly enforced in court. Although the CRC does not take precedence over national law, the Thai Government ensures that any relevant laws that are drafted are as compatible with it as possible. The Juvenile Court and the Family Court may use the CRC when interpreting the law, but where there is a contradiction, national law prevails. A child may bring claims to a criminal or civil court or the Constitutional or Administrative Court through their representative. Children and their representatives can also petition the National Human Rights Commission or Ombudsman in writing, which would be submitted to the Constitutional or Administrative Court for a decision as to the constitutionality of any legal provision or administrative action.

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

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 bringing a case. 

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Violence: 19 Days campaign on the prevention of violence against children
Organisation: WWSF Women’s World Summit Foundation
Date: 1-19 November 2015
Location: N/A

Reproductive rights: New reproductive technologies and the European fertility market
Organisation: Erasmus University Rotterdam et al. 
Date: 19-20 November 2015
Location: Santander, Spain

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EMPLOYMENT

CRIN: Middle East and North Africa Intern
Application deadline: Rolling deadline
Location: Bethlehem, Palestine

CRIN: Legal Research Intern (Russian-speaking)
Application deadline: 16 November 2015
Location: London, United Kingdom

BICE (International Catholic Child Bureau): Un/e Responsable du Réseau Amérique latine et Caraïbes
Application deadline : 15 November 2015
Location : Geneva, Switzerland

ERRC: Information Officer
Application deadline: 16 November 2015
Location: Budapest, Hungary 

Consortium for Street Children: Resilience Manager
Application deadline: 16 November 2015
Location: London, United Kingdom

Terre des Hommes Netherlands: Programme Officer Tanzania
Application deadline: 17 November 2015
Location: Mwanza, Tanzania

UNICEF: Consultant on children's rights in the palm oil sector in Indonesia and Malaysia
Application deadline: 22 November 2015
Location: Various

LEAK OF THE WEEK

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