CRINMAIL 772

18 April 2006 - CRINMAIL 772

 

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- PORTUGAL: Green Light to Mistreatment of Disabled Children [news]

- RUSSIA: Human Rights Groups Condemn New NGOs Law [news]

- IRAQ: Aid Agencies Focus on Children Detainees [news]

- PALESTINE: Call to Action on Palestinian Prisoners' Day [news]

- HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL: Preparations for the First Session [event]

- CHILD PROTECTION: Safety Online [list of online resources]

- EMPLOYMENT: Save the Children - World Vision International [job postings]

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Your submissions are welcome if you are working in the area of child rights. To contribute, email us at [email protected]. Adobe Acrobat is required for viewing some of the documents, and if required can be downloaded from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html If you do not receive this email in html format, you will not be able to see some hyperlinks in the text. At the end of each item we have therefore provided a full URL linking to a web page where further information is available.

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PORTUGAL: Green Light to Mistreatment of Disabled Children [news]

[LISBON, 12 April 2006] - In a verdict that shocked human rights and child advocacy organisations, the bar association and the country's leading analysts, Portugal's Supreme Court ruled last week that the corporal punishment of children with mental disabilities in a children's institution is not illegal.

The first to raise his voice was Humberto Santos, the president of the Portuguese Association of Disabled Persons (APD), who told the press Wednesday that he found the Supreme Court's defence of physical punishment "disturbing and outrageous." Physical punishment is unacceptable in and of itself, "but is much more alarming and deeply repugnant when it is defended by a court of law," said Santos.

Late last year, a juvenile court in Setúbal, 40 km south of Lisbon, convicted a caregiver in a children's home for mistreating children in her care between 1990 and 2000, and sentenced her to 18 months in prison. The case, which revealed that she regularly slapped mentally disabled children and locked them into a dark pantry, caused a public commotion.

But in the decision it handed down on Tuesday, in response to an appeal filed by the caregiver, the Supreme Court considered slaps and spankings not only "legal" and "acceptable," but stated that failure to use these methods of punishment could even amount to "educational neglect." In addition, the Court said that locking children into dark rooms is a normal form of punishment "by any good parent."

One of the children frequently locked in the pantry was a seven-year-old boy suffering from a severe case of child psychosis. The caregiver also habitually tied another little boy to his bed, so that he would not cause disturbances.

The head of the APD said the Supreme Court decision was reminiscent of "the Middle Ages," and that the Portuguese justice system had committed "a grotesque violation of human rights" by setting a precedent so that "others who act in a similar fashion can continue their mistreatment." Santos added that because of the gravity of the case, it should be considered by the European Court of Human Rights.

Ana Filgueiras, head of the "Cidadãos do Mundo" Association, which works on behalf of vulnerable children, told IPS that "the effect of this outrageous ruling is that citizens will simply be unable to believe in a legal system that does not recognise a child's right not to be hit, even in a case in which there is an aggravating factor - that the child is disabled."

When she lived in Brazil, from 1975 to 1990, Filgueiras was a well-known activist with the Centre for the Defence of the Rights of Children and Adolescents, and won several battles against civilian, judicial and military authorities who were determined to "clean up" Rio de Janeiro of street children.

"That (victory) would be very difficult to repeat in Portugal, where civil society has been heavily influenced by the state," said the activist. "In any civilised country, a disgraceful ruling like this one would trigger such a wave of indignation that the Supreme Court would find it very difficult to justify what is unjustifiable."

Similar views were expressed by the bar association, which described the verdict as "dangerous." Carlos Antunes, a member of the bar association's human rights commission, said the legal decision is unacceptable and "extremely serious, because it sets an appalling precedent and transmits a very dangerous message, which did not come from just any court, but from the high court itself."

Antunes said the commission was awaiting the complete verdict in order to take a formal stance on the "very disturbing" decision that gives people a green light to engage in "criminal mistreatment." When asked whether the ruling set a legal precedent, the expert said he had "no doubt that in the future, this decision could be invoked in other cases, to play down the guilt of those who have mistreated children." The legal decision "is almost incomprehensible, and completely absurd," Antunes added.

Lawyer Pedro Biscaia, a member of the same commission, said "this opens a door to impunity for a series of behaviours that are absolutely avoidable in our society, where these days we have problems with aggression against and abuse of minors in institutions and youngsters from low-income areas."

For his part, Frederico Marques, with the Portuguese Association of Support for Victims (APAV), said the Supreme Court decision that corporal punishment of children with disabilities is legal and acceptable is "foolish."

Marques declined to comment on the ruling in concrete terms, since he was not entirely familiar with the case. But referring to the treatment received by the children at the hands of the caregiver, he said that APAV "repudiates this kind of behaviour." He also said "the verdict would seem quite senseless, in view of the climate of concern surrounding the question of the rights of children."

Government officials have not yet pronounced themselves on the verdict. Cornered by journalists, Minister of Social Welfare José Vieira da Silva merely stated that in the children's institutions that answer to his ministry, "physical punishment is strictly prohibited, with no exceptions."

Manuel Coutinho, of the governmental Children's Support Institute, declined to comment, explaining that he had not yet had access to the documents. He simply pointed out that "any adult who mistreats a child faces a possible prison sentence of one to five years."

The Supreme Court ruling also runs counter to the international legal obligations of Portugal, which ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child - legally binding on signatory countries - in September 1990.

[Source: Inter Press Service News Agency]

Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=7979

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RUSSIA: Human Rights Groups Condemn New NGOs Law [news]

[LONDON, 18 April 2006] - Russian and international rights groups have criticised a new Russian law on non-governmental organisations, which they say will stifle civil society. The law was signed by President Vladimir Putin last week but not made public until Tuesday - prompting claims the government tried to keep it quiet.

Amnesty International and others say it gives the authorities too much power to decide which groups can operate. Russian officials say it is designed to bolster Russia's national security.

The new law was amended after heavy criticism by Western governments and international organisations, but Russian officials regularly accuse the West of using NGOs to try to undermine Russia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said the law would not bring any "dramatic changes" to NGO activities. It gives the authorities wide-ranging powers to monitor the activities and finances of non-governmental organisations. The new powers include the right to suspend NGOs, should they threaten Russia's sovereignty or independence.

Groups such as Amnesty International deny interfering in Russia's internal affairs, saying Russia must respect the various international human rights standards it has committed itself to. But BBC Russian affairs analyst Steven Eke says that is not the sort of language the Kremlin wants to hear.

Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=7991

CRIN is interested to hear what human rights NGOs think about this new law and how it might or has affected their organisation. Send your comments to: [email protected]  

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IRAQ: Aid Agencies Focus on Children Detainees [news]

[BAGHDAD, 18 April 2006] - The Iraqi juvenile justice system has suffered from neglect and disruption caused by 25 years of crises, according to officials at the UN's Children's Agency, UNICEF. In an effort to improve the situation, UNICEF has joined local NGOs to work with vulnerable and marginalised groups in Iraq, with particular emphasis on the children currently in detention for criminal offences.

"While it's critical to address how children in detention are being treated, it's also crucially important to focus on reducing the vulnerabilities and circumstances that push children…into lifestyles which often result in law-breaking and criminality," said Roger Wright, UNICEF's Special Representative for Iraq. Wright was speaking at a three-day conference held in Amman, Jordan, to discuss the matter with senior Iraqi government officials.

Last week, UNICEF held a training session in Amman for Iraqis involved in the issue, including ministry officials. Follow-up training workshops will also be provided to Iraqi social workers and other personnel involved in Iraq's juvenile justice system.

"Children have been arrested for incidents ranging from robbery to involvement in violent acts," said UNICEF Communications Officer Ban Dhayi. "Unicef encourages the Iraqi community and government to address the reasons why children commit these acts, in order to prevent their reoccurrence and help them change their lives for the better."

The organisation has proposed a number of rehabilitation programmes for children. These include programmes aimed at helping children released from detention become reintegrated into society, as well as initiatives aimed at helping local institutions to guarantee the rights of former juvenile detainees.

"We're enhancing knowledge and skills among social service providers to ensure that they know about children's rights," said Dhayi. "We're following international standards which promote the de-institutionalisation of children away from detention centres and into services that promote education and re-integration into the community."

The children's agency, in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, is also working to develop education programmes that would stress international norms regarding child detainees, the assessment of current laws and practices and legal reform.

UNICEF, which will finance a number of the programmes, advocates reintegrating children into communities rather than placing them in institutions. The number of Iraqi children currently in detention is not known, given the prevailing environment of confusion.

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PALESTINE: Call to Action on Palestinian Prisoners' Day [news]

It is a sad irony that Palestinian Prisoners Day - 17 April - comes this year as massive numbers of Palestinian children are being arrested and detained by Israeli forces. In the first quarter of 2006 alone, some 350 children were arrested – compared to around 700 child arrests in the whole of 2005. The vast increase in arrests is in turn leading to overcrowding in prisons as record numbers of juveniles are being held in unsuitable and unhygienic conditions.

Since the beginning of this intifada in September 2000, Israeli forces have arrested around 4,000 Palestinian children, 400 of whom are still in Israeli prisons and detention centres. The process of arrest and detention of Palestinian children is a process of systematic abuse and mistreatment which flouts international legal standards and denies the basic human rights of detainees first as children and secondly as prisoners.

In affidavits and interviews with DCI/PS lawyers, children have told how they are handcuffed and blindfolded, humiliated and threatened and often beaten and kicked from the moment they are arrested up to and often throughout their interrogation and detention. They are deprived of sleep, food and access to the bathroom until so-called confessions are coerced out of them and only then are most children allowed to see their lawyer. Such interrogation is aimed at extracting quick confessions from children to prosecute them and others before military courts, which themselves strive to provide a legal veneer to the illegitimate practices of the Israeli military.

Even after sentencing, the pattern of violence and abuse does not stop. While it is a widely recognised principle that the deprivation of liberty is itself the penalty for perpetrating certain offences, Israel continues to actively punish Palestinian children during their incarceration. The punishments imposed are disproportionate to the alleged offences and seem intended not to reform or rehabilitate prisoners, but to humiliate and intimidate the children and, on as broader level, break the spirit and resistance of the Palestinian community.

Ultimately these Israeli practices against child prisoners contravene a vast array of human rights instruments including those to which Israel is a state party, such as the UN Convention Against Torture and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, article 37 of which requires states parties to ensure that:

(a) No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age;

(b) No child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily. The arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time. 

Given the maltreatment of Palestinian child detainees, the institutionalised discrimination against them, and the absence of appropriate legal guarantees, Defence for Children International/Palestine Section urges the UN, the Secretary General and all the UN bodies, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the High Contracting parties to the IV Geneva Convention to insist that the Israeli government respects and abides by its commitments and obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law.

On the occasion of Palestinian Prisoners' Day, DCI/PS also asks all parties to prioritise the issue of child prisoners and put their immediate and unconditional release at the top of the agenda of any future discussions and to insist that Israeli occupation forces cease at once further arrests of Palestinian juveniles in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=7985

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HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL: Preparations for the First Session [event]

Date: 21 April 2006
Location: Geneva, Switzerland

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) wishes to inform Permanent Missions, UN bodies and departments, specialised agencies, intergovernmental organisations, national human rights institutions, non-governmental organisations and other entities that consultations and exchange of views on the preparations for the first session of the Human Rights Council and related matters will be held in Geneva this Friday. 

This meeting is organised at the initiative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the President of the General Assembly who has requested the former Co-Chair on the negotiations for the establishment of a Human Rights Council, Ambassador Ricardo Alberto Arias (Panama), to attend on his behalf. Other relevant departments of the UN Secretariat in New York and Geneva will also be represented.

Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=7984

For more information, contact:
UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
OHCHR-UNOG, 8-14 Avenue de la Paix, 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 917 9000; Fax: +41 22 917 9016
Website: http://www.ohchr.org

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CHILD PROTECTION: Safety Online [list of online resources]

The Child Rights Information Network (CRIN) has compiled a set of resources designed to protect children from online abuse. The resources are meant for children, parents and guardians, teachers, law-enforcement agencies, Internet Service Providers and all those who work with children.

The list includes:

  • Information on the International Conventions on Cyber Crime
  • Child-friendly resources for online safety
  • Resources for parents on online safety for children
  • Resources for teachers on online safety for children
  • Resources for law enforcement agencies on online safety for children
  • Resources for Internet Service Providers on online safety for children
  • Helplines: who to contact if you see a website promoting child abuse online
  • Background information

Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=7978

For more information, contact:
Child Rights Information Network
1 St John's Lane, London EC1M 4AR, UK
Tel: +44 20 7012 6866; Fax: +44 020 7012 6899
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.crin.org

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EMPLOYMENT: Save the Children - World Vision International [job postings]

 

  • Save the Children: Advocacy Officer on Violence against Children

Duty station: New York
Consultancy contract: May-December 2006 full time

In 2001 the UN General Assembly requested that the Secretary General (SG) conduct an in-depth Study on Violence against Children. The Study should lead to the development of strategies aimed at effectively preventing and combating all forms of violence against children, outlining steps to be taken at the international level and by State Parties. An independent expert was appointed in 2002 to lead the SG’s Study and present its final report to the General Assembly in October 2006.

Save the Children (SC) has been recognised as a key NGO involved in the UN Study process, especially for its knowledge and experiences in involving children, as well as its thematic expertise on issues such as sexual abuse of children, children in conflict with the law, corporal/physical and all other forms of humiliating/degrading punishment, and gender based violence.

The year 2006 is crucial for ensuring that children’s and SC Alliance recommendations are included in the SG’s Study report and in the resulting resolution at the General Assembly in the autumn of 2006. Strategic advocacy work is needed to ensure that sensitive issues, in particular within the home and family, such as the recommendation to explicitly ban all corporal/ physical and all other forms of humiliating/degrading punishment is included in the resolution and endorsed by an overwhelming majority of states.

The role of the Advocacy Officer on Violence against Children will be to analyse and identify opportunities and threats, and facilitate the advocacy work in New York with Permanent Missions, UNICEF, OHCHR, WHO and other relevant UN agencies, INGOs and NGOs, the NGO Advisory Panel for the SG’s Study, in close collaboration with the International Save the Children Task Group on Violence against Children.

Application deadline: 21 April 2006

For more information, contact:
Mali Nilsson
Advocacy Coordinator
International Save the Children Task Group on Violence against Children
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +46 733 55 34 94

 

  • World Vision International: Child Protection Officer

World Vision International - Asia Pacific Regional Office (APRO) are seeking to recruit a Child Protection Officer to strengthen children’s well-being and rights within World Vision’s holistic, transformational framework in the APRO region. The Regional Child protection Officer will provide leadership to integrate child protection in programmes and support World Vision as a child safe organisation.

Application deadline: 10 May 2006

For more information, contact:
Kwee Yi Tse, International Recruiter
World Vision International - Asia Pacific Regional Office (APRO)
555, SSP Towers, 19th Floor Sukhumvit Soi 63 (Ekamai) Klongton-Nua
Watana, BANGKOK 10110, Thailand
Tel: +65 6511 7100; Fax: +65 6243 5826
Email: [email protected]
Wesbite: http://www.wvasiapacific.org

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