CRINmail 1459

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CIVIL SOCIETY UNDER THREAT: Old and new challenges for human and children's rights advocates in Eurasia

The space afforded to civil society to operate freely has been shrinking dramatically across the world in recent years, presenting a serious threat to democracy and human rights. This is particularly true in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA), where a wave of restrictive laws curtailing civil society activity has negatively affected the way NGOs operate. The situation in the region is crippling for advocates, as attacks on freedom of association have often been coupled with clampdowns on freedom of expression and assembly, including through internet restrictions, laws undermining the right to protest, the closing down of independent media and persecution of human and children’s rights activists.

Within this context, CRIN’s new paper, Civil society under threat: Old and new challenges for human and children’s rights advocates in Eurasia, looks at how this shrinking political space is affecting human and children’s rights and the work of their advocates in the region. Though the paper does not focus exclusively on children, it must be stressed that human rights belong to every human being, including children. This view forms the premise for our analysis of laws and policies in EECA restricting the right of civil society organisations and human rights advocates to freedom of expression, assembly and association.

From face value to root causes

News coverage and analysis of the government crackdowns on NGOs tends to focus on the latest legal restrictions, with scant attention paid to the causes or other internal and external factors that may have contributed to the situation. These include not only the actions of governments and NGOs, but also of foreign donors, UN agencies, regional human rights mechanisms and other actors. CRIN’s report seeks to fill this information gap, as well as noting that coverage of the crackdowns barely recognises the impact on children’s rights.

Funding all children’s rights

The sustainability of independent civil society in the region is also in question. NGOs have been affected by ‘donor fatigue’ in developed nations, the threat of government repression when NGOs accept foreign funds, as well as the lack of a tradition of private funding. What’s more, domestic funding for NGOs remains inadequate, and in most countries the allocation of state funds is not transparent and these are primarily distributed among government-organised “NGOs”.

With regard to children, very few donors in the region concentrate on promoting the full spectrum of children's rights, including their civil and political rights. Currently, child welfare programmes attract more funding; however these are covering the immediate needs of children, rather than the systemic causes of social ills. In the long run, the exclusively paternalistic view of children as needing protection undermines the concept enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child of children as human beings with their own independent rights.

Read the full paper, with includes recommendations to multiple actors.

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LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS

Transparency reforms under way

Major reforms of the woefully deficient UN Security Council procedures for selecting the UN Secretary-General now appear firmly under way. Efforts led by the 1 for 7 billion campaign have resulted in a joint letter which the President of the General Assembly and the President of the Security Council will soon send out to governments to officially begin the search for the next UN Secretary-General. After weeks of negotiations, and despite the obstacles imposed by some of the Council’s members, the UN will finally begin to implement the more transparent and inclusive procedures its members unanimously adopted this year. While campaigners say the final text of the letter could be improved, it marks the first time in UN history that the selection process has a clear and public start date, and the first time that detailed criteria have been suggested for candidates to fulfill. The official version of the letter has not yet been released, however, the President of the General Assembly is expected to make the letter public shortly.

On Wednesday, the United States called for greater transparency into alleged sexual assaults by UN peacekeepers in the Central African Republic, demanding to know the nationalities of the accused. US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power said that the greatest challenge in eliminating sexual exploitation and abuse was probably "the lack of transparency on allegations." She said it was vital for the UN and its Member States to know "the nationality of alleged perpetrators, the status of investigations, and the outcome of disciplinary or prosecutorial action, or of sanctions imposed by the UN."

Meanwhile, four French soldiers are finally being questioned in an investigation into alleged child sexual abuse in Central African Republic. The criminal inquiry into claims that French peacekeepers raped children and demanded sex in exchange for food began earlier this year. The interrogations on Tuesday appear to be the first time anyone has faced judicial questioning in the 19 months since the accusations were first made against French troops sent to protect CAR civilians displaced by sectarian violence. An independent external review into the UN response appointed by the Secretary General to sexual abuse allegations in CAR is now long overdue.

Violence, exploitation & disability

The Congress of Peru has approved by a near unanimous vote (74 in favour, one abstention) a law prohibiting the use of physical and other humiliating punishment against children in all settings, including the home. This reform makes Peru the ninth Latin American state to achieve this fundamental reform for children, and means that now more than half (54 percent) of the Latin American child population lives in countries where it is unlawful for them to be hit and hurt in the guise of “discipline”. The new law will be signed by the President in the coming days. 

In West Africa, reports have shown that young footballers are increasingly being duped and trafficked abroad in huge numbers. Instead of embarking on a career at an elite club - as they are promised - many boys are abandoned by agents after being taken abroad in exchange for thousands of euros - often their family's entire savings. The charity Foot Solidaire estimates that some 15,000 young players are moved out of West Africa each year under false pretences, but other experts fear the number could be far higher. Small, unlicensed academies are sprouting up across the region run by men posing as agents, hoping to cash in on the dreams of boys and families who see football as a chance to escape poverty, said migration expert James Esson. "For governments and [football academies] in the region, the trafficking of young players is not a priority," said Jake Marsh of the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS).  In April FIFA decided to scrap its licensing system, meaning agents no longer need to be qualified, which could fuel more trafficking of young players to foreign clubs seeking cheap talent, Marsh said.

So-called Islamic State (IS) has ordered a fatwa in which children born with Down’s Syndrome and other disabilities are to be killed at birth, according to news reports. Thirty-eight children born with disabilities have already been killed by the IS, says Iraqi monitoring group Mosul Eye, murdered either by lethal injection or suffocation. The oral fatwa was issued by a Saudi man named Abu Said Aljazrawi, a judge on the Shar’i Board. A statement by Mosul Eye explains that IS believes that “most of the children born with Down's Syndrome are those of foreign fighters who married Iraqi, Syrian and Asian women”. This move follows a recent video reportedly released by the terrorist group showing children executing a number of IS prisoners. The boys were understood to be all younger than 14 years of age.

Health, evictions & basic services

In Brazil, the 2016 Summer Olympics have prompted widespread violence and evictions stemming from building projects, including against thousands of children, according to new research by academics and NGOs calling on the International Olympic Committee to pay greater heed to human rights. The report – Exclusion Games – says that at least 4,120 families have lost their homes and another 2,486 are threatened with eviction.  As a result, they say, thousands of children have been displaced and left – at least temporarily – unable to access education, healthcare and other social services. The report also claims other young people have been victims of an uptick in police and army violence as a result of a favela pacification programme that is part of the city’s efforts to prepare for mega-events. The report also covers issues such as child exploitation and social cleansing, which researchers say emerge ahead of major sporting events.

In the United States, the diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children and teenagers has surged by 43 percent since 2003, according to a new analysis published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. Researchers suggested the higher figures could be a true increase in the number of ADHD diagnoses or it could be the result of a tendency to over-diagnose the condition. ADHD is the most commonly diagnosed mental disorder among children in the US and in Canada.

Read a CRIN commentary about children’s rights and the overmedication of children diagnosed with ADHD.

Discrimination and child marriage

A group of HIV-positive children were blockaded from moving to a social home in a residential area in Indonesia as their new neighbours feared they would infect them. This incident come just a week after World AIDS Day and following a national awareness-raising campaign on HIV and AIDS, as dozens of residents voted to block the children’s path and have them sent away. The children are being temporarily cared for at a government-run home but permanent living arrangements have not yet been found for them.

New figures from Turkey have indicated that at least a third of all marriages in the country involve at least one child. A prominent Turkish women's rights advocate, Nuriye Kadan, revealed the statistic at a conference about child marriages in Turkey and claimed that more than 180,000 children were married in the country, of whom 97 percent were girls.

Girls in Bangladesh are reportedly being told to marry before their house is swept away, to help protect them from the effects of global warming. One girl explained that she was married off after her parents’ house collapsed due to river erosion and others are reportedly being orphaned as their parents leave the countryside for work in the cities. These children will often not be able to get to school and can be easy targets for human traffickers, advocates say. 

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ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN IN PAKISTAN

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has not been incorporated into national law and is therefore not directly enforceable in national courts. Children may bring cases in their own name with the assistance of a “next friend”. Children accused of committing offences and child victims of crime have the right to free legal assistance at the expense of the government, though there is no governmental fund dedicated to this. Non-governmental organisations and individual advocates are permitted to initiate public interest litigation in their own names to challenge violations of children’s rights. In criminal cases, children may be permitted to give evidence in closed proceedings, whereas in civil proceedings evidence must be given in open court. Pakistan’s legal system is based on the rule of precedent, meaning that a negative decision for children’s rights from the Supreme Court can have detrimental effects across the country for many years.

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

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

Child protection: Lunch & learn seminars - Exploring the principles of child protection
Organisation: ChildHope and Consortium for Street Children
Date: Monthly
Location: London, United Kingdom

Disability: 32nd Pacific Rim international conference on disability and diversity
Organisation: Center on Disability Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Submissions deadline: 17 December 2015
Event date: 25-26 April 2016
Location: Honolulu, United States

Education: Sixth int'l human rights education conference - 'Translating Roosevelt’s four freedoms to today’s world'
Organisations: HREA and University College Roosevelt
Dates: 17-19 December 2015
Location: Middelburg, Netherlands

Human rights defenders: Shelter City Initiative
Organisation: Justice and Peace
Location: Netherlands
Application deadline: 12 January 2016

Leadership: Future Leaders Programme
Organisation: The Resource Alliance
Application deadline: 31 December 2015
Event date: 4-8 April 2016
Location: Oxford, United Kingdom

Research: Professional development courses in research with children & young people
Organisation: University of Edinburgh
Dates: March and April 2016
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland 

Alternative care: Improving standards of care - systems, policies & practices
Organisation: Udayan Care
Date: 18-19 March 2016
Location: Noida, India

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
Date: 31 March - 3 April 2016
Location: San José, Costa Rica

Child rights: Advanced studies programme in international children’s rights
Organisation: Leiden University
Application deadline: 1 April 2016
Location: Leiden, Netherlands

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EMPLOYMENT

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

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

International Rescue Committee: Education Coordinator
Location: Sierra Leone
Application deadline: 1 January 2016

Save the Children Sweden: Thematic Advisor for Gender Equality & Health
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Application deadline: 8 January 2016

Open Society Foundation: Programme Officer - Early Childhood Programme
Location: London, United Kingdom
Application deadline: 30 January 2016

WE'VE MOVED!

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