CRINMAIL 809 - Special Edition on Violence in Schools and Educational Settings

24 August 2006 - CRINMAIL 809
Special Edition on Violence in Schools and Educational Settings

 

___________________________________________________________

- VIOLENCE STUDY: Recommendations

- SOUTH AFRICA: Responding to the Sexual Abuse of Children in Schools [article]

- TANZANIA: Culture Plays a Key Role in Perpetuating Sexual Abuse [publication]

- DISCIPLINE: School Discipline in Accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child [publication extract]

- ARMED CONFLICT: Education in a Context of Armed Conflict [news]

- MILITARY SCHOOLS: Submission for the Violence Study [publication]

- RELIGIOUS EDUCATION: A Call to Protect Madrasa-Goers from Abuse in the United Kingdom [guidelines]

- BULLYING: Resources for Children, Parents and Schools [resource]

___________________________________________________________

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.

___________________________________________________________

VIOLENCE STUDY: Recommendations from Regional Consultations  

The UN Study on Violence Against Children is to be presented in October 2006 at the 61st session of the General Assembly. The report is divided into five settings, or subsections, each referring to areas of study in which violence occurs. These settings are: violence in the home and family, violence in schools and educational settings, violence in the community and on the streets, violence in institutions and violence in the workplace.

This edition of CRINMAIL is dedicated to violence in schools and other educational settings. Some 'forms' of violence within this setting include: violent and humiliating discipline, physical, emotional, and sexual violence and harassment, and bullying in special schools (including military schools) and mainstream schools. Children also experience other types of violence on their way to school such as gang violence, as well as in the content of their education which may promote violence or discrimination. All these types of violence can affect children's ability to learn and even attend school.   

Based on outcomes of the nine regional consultations and statements made by the Independent Expert leading the Study, Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the Study is expected to recommend that:

  • All children must be free from violence in their schools
  • Schools should promote non-violence, gender equality, non-discrimination and participation in and beyond the school as a specific educational goal
  • Corporal punishment must be prohibited
  • Promote the meaningful participation on children in school decision-making processes
  • Train teachers in non-violent disciplinary strategies
  • Forge closer school-community links to address violence against children

 

Read a compilation of the recommendations from each regional consultation for the UN Study on Violence Against Children related to violence in schools and educational settings.


Further information

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

SOUTH AFRICA: Responding to the Sexual Abuse of Children in Schools [article]

[CAPE TOWN, 21 August 2006] - The problem of sexual abuse in South African schools was placed under the spotlight in 2001 when a Human Rights Watch report documented high levels of rape, sexual abuse, and sexual harassment against girls in schools, perpetrated primarily by male teachers and classmates. A more recent study exploring the victimisation of youth aged between the ages of 12 and 22 found that this age group was twice as likely to be victimised as adults, and that 41.5 per cent of this group reported victimisation in the previous year. This study also highlighted the problem of the use of corporal punishment in schools notwithstanding this form of punishment having been declared illegal. Other researchers have observed that schools are ill-prepared to respond to crime related problems and have noted that very few schools have policies and procedures in place to deal with crises. With around 27 600 schools in South Africa serving around 12 million children, there is a critical need to address these and other problems as a matter of urgency.

In the face of these concerning trends, and the vast numbers of children that the education system must serve, there is no question that finding solutions to address these problems is a significantly tall order. Yet, it is also true that addressing these problems at the school level will go a long way to promoting and protecting the overall health and well-being of children. Unfortunately, efforts to address these problems at a national level come up against a range of difficulties. The most significant of these is the fact that education and other social services such as health and social welfare are constitutionally mandated as “concurrent functions”, placing the primary locus of control for these services at the provincial level of government. This means that agents of change seem most likely to achieve change if efforts are directed at the nine provincial governments rather than at the national government. 

RAPCAN (Resources Aimed at the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect) has adopted a number of different approaches to addressing abuse in its work in schools in the Western Cape province in South Africa. It has specifically invested in approaches that build the capacity of educators and other service providers that work directly with children. Over the years, educators have been trained to understand and identify different kinds of child abuse, and to follow established procedures to ensure that children who have been identified as victims are responded to immediately. Providing alternatives to corporal punishment and the skills for positive discipline has also been a focus of RAPCAN’s attention, seeking to change the culture of how teachers relate to children, and the culture of schools as places of learning. Social workers in the education system have also been recipients of skills development. In particular, those social workers assisting children in disciplinary procedures against educators have been trained to reduce the harm that children may experience when testifying in these proceedings. This work is informed by RAPCAN’s extensive experience in supporting children and their families in Sexual Offence Court proceedings.   

Over the years, it has become clear that a great many of the problems relating to children are possible to reduce where there is good school management, clear policies and procedures for responding to these problems, and structures that hold educators and other service providers accountable for their actions. The attitudes of educators are also critical. Where they see their role as ensuring the overall health and well-being of children, rather than just in relation to education, schools are more likely to become places where the health and safety of children is promoted.

Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=9948&flag=news

For more information, contact:
Cheryl Frank
Executive Director 
Resources Aimed at the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (RAPCAN)
Suite 87, Private Bag x12, Tokai 7966, Cape Town, South Africa
Tel: +27 (0)21 712 2330; Fax: +27 (0)21 712 2365
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.rapcan.org.za

Further information

----------------------------------------------------------------------

TANZANIA: Culture Plays a Key Role in Perpetuating Sexual Abuse [publication]

The Mkombozi Centre for Street Children works with children and youth who live or spend time on the streets without adult care. During the course of its work over the past 10 years, Mkombozi has encountered hundreds of children who are being sexual abused on the streets, and/or who claim to have run away from home to escape (sexual, physical and emotional) abuse. Despite this reality, the fact is that school authorities, local government and parents continue to deny both the scale of the problem and its implications for individual children’s psychosocial and educational development.

Recently, Mkombozi conducted Participatory Action Research (PAR) in 10 schools in Kilimanjaro Region to determine the causation of primary school dropouts and truancy. A key finding has been that the sexual abuse of children is occurring both within and outside the school environment and that this abuse plays a role in migration to the streets. In Majengo suburb, for instance, where children are often abused by secondary school students, local workers and male parents, there was a massive (472 per cent) increase in the number of children migrating to the streets from this community between 2003 and 2005.

Although many authors advance the argument that child sexual abuse is a recent phenomenon and have blamed the apparent rise in its occurrence to the proliferation of modern, Western values, there is little empirical evidence for or against this view. As such, consideration must be given to the important, alternative standpoint that the apparent rise in child sexual abuse has more to do with a lack of knowledge among child protection professionals and society in general and the lack of child protection structures to detect, record and treat child abuse victims.

In keeping with this alternative perspective, Mkombozi believes that it is necessary to understand the social and cultural factors that contribute to and propagate child sexual abuse in Tanzania in order to construct and implement the most appropriate measures for intervention and prevention. This further concurs with the arguments of Pierce and Bozalek (2004) and Lalor (2004), who argue for the development of a clear understanding of popular and professional definitions of child abuse in Sub-Saharan Africa. Mkombozi agrees that inconsistencies in the definitions of child abuse may be inhibiting the development of child protection initiatives in Tanzania. Additionally, on the basis of its own research and experience, Mkombozi suggests that culture plays an important role in attitudes and practices towards children.

To date, Mkombozi has learned that abuse and neglect are more likely in cultures that: (1) resist family planning and thus have an abundance of unwanted children; (2) focus on the child’s biological parents as the only available caretakers; (3) minimise the fathers’ involvement in child rearing; and (4) disconnect families from the community.

Overall, Mkombozi believes it is critically important at this point to understand the extent to which Tanzanian thinking and actions are serving to compromise interventions in, and prevention of, cases of child sexual abuse in Tanzania. To date, there is no empirical evidence to document Tanzanian attitudes, perceptions, practices and intervention measures regarding child sexual abuse and how these factors differ from internationally constructed child protection policies regarding child sexual abuse. In fact, Mkombozi is currently seeking funds for a research project that will examine the cultural implications that impact child abuse prevention. Research into the nature of and attitudes towards child sexual abuse in Tanzania is needed to kick-start a process of breaking down the particularly tough cultural taboos and associated unwillingness to openly discuss child abuse. The current reluctance to address the issues is inhibiting access to information, education and transparency of the issue of child sexual abuse -- in turn, appropriate interventions (if any) in cases of child sexual abuse are being prevented.

Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=8679&flag=report

For more information, contact
Mkombozi Centre for Street Children
P.O. Box 9601, United Republic of Tanzania 
Tel: +255 27 2754793; Fax: +255 27 2753410
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.mkombozi.org

Further information

----------------------------------------------------------------------

DISCIPLINE: School Discipline in Accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child [publication extract]

As of May 2006, ninety-four countries still permitted corporal punishment of children in schools despite the fact that the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has made it clear that physical punishment is unacceptable in schools as elsewhere. The following is an extract from the Implementation Handbook of the Convention on the Rights of the Child which interprets what the Convention has to say about disciplining children in schools:

The phrase in article 28 that discipline must be “in conformity with the present Convention” underlines the fact that the obligation in article 19 to protect the child from “all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse” applies to schools and other educational establishments as well as the family home and child care institutions.

In addition, among the agreed aims of education under article 29 are respect for others and education “in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, and friendship among all peoples” (article 29(1)(d)). The Committee’s first General Comment, on the aims of education, provides:

“…education must be provided in a way that respects the inherent dignity of the child and enables the child to express his or her views freely in accordance with article 12 (1) and to participate in school life. Education must also be provided in a way that respects the strict
limits on discipline reflected in article 28 (2) and promotes non-violence in school.

The Committee has repeatedly made clear in its concluding observations that the use of corporal punishment does not respect the inherent dignity of the child nor the strict limits on school discipline. Compliance with the values recognized in article 29 (1) clearly requires that schools be child-friendly in the fullest sense of the term and that they be consistent in all respects with the dignity of the child. The participation of children in school life, the creation of school communities and student councils, peer education and peer counselling, and the involvement of children in school disciplinary proceedings should be promoted as part of the process of learning and experiencing the realization of rights.”
(Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment 1, 2001, HRI/GEN/1/Rev.5, pp. 256 and 257)

Corporal punishment
In its 1999 General Comment on the right to education, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights also confirmed: “In the Committee’s view, corporal punishment is inconsistent with the fundamental guiding principle of international human rights law… A State Party is required to take measures to ensure that discipline which is inconsistent with the Covenant does not occur in any public or private educational institution within its jurisdiction.

The Committee welcomes initiatives taken by some State Parties which actively encourage
schools to introduce ‘positive’, non-violent approaches to school discipline.” (Committee on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 13, 1999, HRI/GEN/1/Rev.5, p. 83)
The Human Rights Committee also states in a General Comment: “The prohibition in article 7
relates not only to acts that cause physical pain but also to acts that cause mental suffering to the victim. In the Committee’s view, moreover, the prohibition must extend to corporal punishment, including excessive chastisement ordered as punishment for a crime or as an educative or disciplinary measure. It is appropriate to emphasize in this regard that article 7 protects, in particular, children, pupils and patients in teaching and medical institutions.”
(Human Rights Committee, General Comment 20, 1992, HRI/GEN/ 1/Rev.5, p. 139)

In July 1995, for example, in comments on the fourth periodic report from the United Kingdom, the Human Rights Committee expressed concern at the continued legality of corporal punishment for some pupils in United Kingdom private schools, and formally  recommended that abolition should be extended to cover all pupils (CCPR/C/79/Add.55, 27 July 1995)...

Public humiliation
Other aspects of school discipline may not be consistent with the child’s human dignity, such as their public humiliation. Nor should any form of discipline breach other rights under the Convention. For example, punishments that stop children’s access to their parents or friends, that deny children rest or leisure or that interfere with their right to enjoy their language or
culture would be in breach of rights under the Convention and of article 28(2). The Committee reminded the Holy See that: 

“... teaching methods used in schools should reflect the spirit and philosophy of the
Convention.“ (Holy See IRCO, Add.46, para. 12)

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights confirms this in its General Comment on the right to education after condemning corporal punishment: “Other aspects of school discipline may also be inconsistent with human dignity, such as public humiliation. Nor should any form of discipline breach other rights under the Covenant, such as the right to food.”
(Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment
11, 1999, HRI/GEN/1/Rev.5, p. 83)...

Article 12 - the right to be heard
Discipline should also reflect the principles of article 12, including the child’s right to complaints procedures:

“The Committee also wishes to recommend that greater priority be accorded to the participation of children in school life, in the spirit of article 12 of the Convention, including in discussions about disciplinary measures ...“
(United Kingdom dependent territory: Hong Kong IRCO, Add.63, para. 32)...

Some countries have reported on positive rights in discipline systems, which respect children’s other rights under the Convention – for example Belarus, which gives boarding pupils explicit rights to humane treatment, contact with families and their own privacy (Belarus IR, paras. 50 and 52); and Costa Rica, which provides school children with opportunities for participating in decisions relating to discipline, in line with article 12 (Costa Rica IR, para. 90). Perhaps none has been as active on this issue as Namibia, which was congratulated by a Committee member for its approach p. 424 - 426

[source: UNICEF: Implementation Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child pp. 383-84]

Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=9949&flag=report

Further Information

----------------------------------------------------------------------

ARMED CONFLICT: Education in a Context of Armed Conflict

Schools are increasingly targeted in contexts of armed conflict as a way of decimating entire communities. Threatening or perpetrating violent acts against children in an environment which is supposed to keep children safe, holds communities hostage to fear and impedes children’s ability to learn. Below are some extracts from reports and news articles from recent months which document how children are being exposed to a climate of violence in schools as a result of armed conflict in their country.

Afghanistan:
Human Rights Watch: Lessons in Terror – Attacks on Education in Afghanistan (11 July 2006)
Escalating attacks by the Taliban and other armed groups on teachers, students and schools in Afghanistan are shutting down schools and depriving another generation of an education, Human Rights Watch said in a report released last month. Schools for girls have been hit particularly hard, threatening to undo advances in education since the Taliban’s ouster in 2001.
Read the report

Related links

Sri Lanka
AlertNet: Sri Lanka schools close after blast in capital (15 August 2006)
School holidays began early in Sri Lanka on Tuesday as a security precaution, a day after the first attack on a diplomat since a two-decade civil war began and a suspected Tamil Tiger front threatened to attack civilians.
Read the full article

Related links

Nepal
IRIN: Army still using schools as barracks (27 June 2006)
Local activists have severely criticised the government and army for continuing to billet soldiers and security force personnel in school premises around the country, despite the current ceasefire.

According to the report, “Ongoing presence of security force and activities in schools”, pupils are routinely punished by soldiers on guard at the main gates if they fail to show identification.
Read the full article

Related links

----------------------------------------------------------------------

MILITARY SCHOOLS: Submission for the Violence Study [publication]

The following is an extract from a submission to the UN Study on Violence against Children by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, with specific reference to children in military schools and to children in peacetime government forces:

The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers does not have a position on the existence of military schools per se. It opposes the existence of military schools in which pupils under 18 years are members of the armed forces or could be used or targeted in hostilities. It has concerns about the treatment of children in military schools, about the appropriateness of the military environment and militarised education in relation to its compatibility with aims of education as stated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, and whether it removes or reduces the ability of children to make a genuine voluntary choice about joining the armed forces on reaching the age of 18 years.

The key issues of concern in relation to children in military schools are:

  • degree of violence and abuse to which they are subjected.
  • their status: whether or not they are members of the armed forces.
  • their ability to decide on reaching 18 years whether or not to join the armed forces.
  • whether they receive military/weapons training.
  • whether they are subject to military discipline and punishment.
  • the nature of the education and whether it is compatible with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocol.
  • the degree of supervision of both the quality and nature of the education and of the ambience and discipline of the school by civilian authorities.
  • the ability of children to complain about ill-treatment or bullying, and to leave if they wish.

Recommendations
At a minimum, the Study should ensure that the existence of military schools is referred to in the section of the Study dealing with violence against children in the school, and that any proposals for supervision, types of discipline which are permissible or prohibited, external complaints mechanisms, etc, for civilian schools are explicitly extended to military schools as well.

Case Study - Russian Federation 
A project for the military to “adopt” or sponsor orphans, homeless children and children from single-parent families was implemented from 1997 and formalised by presidential decree in 2000. The regulation, entitled “On enrolling underage citizens of the Russian Federation as wards of military units and providing them with essential allowances”, permits boys between the ages of 14 and 16 to be voluntarily enrolled and attached to military units.

The government has argued that army sponsorship provides accommodation and education in a country where an estimated three million children are orphaned – the term being used to include fatherless or abandoned children – and where social services face grave financial constraints.

The programme has been criticised for inflicting harsh conditions on children and exposing them to the risks of bullying, other abuse and the hazards of military training. Recent figures were unavailable, but the Defence Minister said in 1999 that Russian military institutions were accommodating 35,000 orphans and homeless children, and that 12,000 were receiving “full room and board and [were] enlisted in logistics units, military orchestras and cadet schools housed in … disbanded military academies”. This figure appeared to include an estimated 5,000 students enrolled at official military training establishments, not all of whom were orphans.

Under the Law on Military Duty and Military Service, boys aged 16 may obtain vocational training at military educational establishments, where they “acquire the status of military persons, doing military service under the draft”, and may voluntarily sign up for service once they reach 18 (Article 35). From the age of 17, they may enrol for military training programmes at vocational schools, and members of the Cadet Corps and other such bodies may begin training, so that once the draft begins they may choose a branch of the armed services on the basis of an acquired level of competence (Article 15). There are numerous dedicated military secondary schools for the “military training of minor citizens” (Article 19). They include eight Suvorov schools, which admit orphans and other students from the age of 11, and whose motto is “Give your life to the motherland, but your honour to no-one”. Students usually go on to further military education.

A Basic Military Training programme, introduced in secondary schools in September 1999, was only partially implemented, and legislation to introduce combat training and military history in schools for 15-year-old boys was reportedly introduced shortly after Vladimir Putin assumed the presidency in December 1999.

In October 2003 the parliament (Duma) passed the first reading of an amended education law that would harmonize education and military service laws and establish the legal basis for compulsory military training in schools. It was unclear whether the amendment had passed its third reading by March 2004.

Despite these legal measures, it seemed likely that military training in schools would not be consistently applied throughout the country and would remain voluntary.

In September 2003, 16-year-old Alexander Bochanov reportedly died in the Khanty- Mansiisk region after he was allegedly not allowed to remove his gas mask following a late-night 10 km run. A military instructor was cleared of any criminal offence and the activity was deemed a legitimate element of the school curriculum.  In early  2004 schoolboys were observed assembling Kalashnikov rifles.

The submission also includes case studies about Paraguay and the United Kingdom as well as a global summary of children in military schools.

Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=9947&flag=report

For more information, contact:
Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
2nd Floor, 2-12 Pentonville Road, London, N1 9FP, United Kingdom
Tel: + 44 (0)20 7713 2761; Fax: + 44 (0)20 7713 2794
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.child-soldiers.org

Further information

----------------------------------------------------------------------

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION: A Call to Protect Madrasa-Goers from Abuse in the United Kingdom [report]

A report released in March by The Muslim Parliament suggests that child abuse does exist in UK madrasas and urges the Government to establish a national registration scheme for madrasas to meet their legal obligations under The Children Act 1989.

The report highlights that protecting children from harm is a legal obligation for all those who deal with children in any capacity - in schools or mosques - and that it is their responsibility to promote children’s welfare and protect them from harm. It suggests ways in which mosque committees can achieve this and makes recommendations on how to develop guidance on formulating child protection procedures for madrasas.

In Britain, there are about 700 madrasas and some have over 500 children attending them. The report states that 100,000 children do not have appropriate legal protection and that in madrasas, up to 40 per cent hit or scold their pupils and that 15 to 20 cases of sex abuse are recorded per year.

Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, co-author of the report and head of the Muslim Parliament , said that child abuse existed in all societies - and that it would be naïve of Muslim communities to think it did not affect them. The Muslim Parliament believes that this in faith-based environments report ‘breaks the taboo in order to make all concerned in the community realize that sweeping the subject under the carpet is not the solution.’

But Imam Abdul-Qayyum of East London mosque said: "If some particular case happens, we must deal with this straight away before making any kind of statement which will give a negative impact to that mosque and the Muslim community since it could be unfair because to our knowledge this does not take place in general in any mosque and the Muslim community and it could be unfair."

He suggests that if any case of child abuse takes place, it should be reported in two ways, either through the mosque committee or the scholars. He explains that the UK law protects everyone.

In response to the report released on Wednesday 22 March 2006, NSPCC, National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, welcomes the call from the Muslim Parliament to have a debate which helps faith-based communities "keep children safe from cruelty".

Diana Sutton, head of policy and public affairs, said: "We are concerned that madrasas are not required to follow the same child protection procedures as schools and other statutory bodies. The Government must require them and other faith groups to put safeguarding policies in place and ensure that these are rigorously enforced."

Anne Cryer Member of Parliament for Keighley says: "Madrasas are no different to any other organisation that works with children - CRB checks and child protection procedures must be in place."

She adds: "Failing to protect the children in madrasas because of 'cultural sensitivities' is nonsense. Are we saying that British Asian children are not entitled to the protection of the law? It is racist to differentiate between children and to fail to offer that protection."

Imam Abdul-Qayyum explains that the child abuse in madrasas debate is "created to divide the Muslim community and humiliate the Muslim community unnecessarily."

The report is a result of a seminar held on 8 January, 2005, at the Ilford Islamic Day Care and Community Centre, Essex, on ‘Child Protection in a Faith-based Environment,’ in which several speakers participated. The discussion following the debate made clear that most Madrasa teachers were not aware of their legal obligations for a need of a policy document.

Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=9946&flag=report

For more information, contact:
Muslim Parliament of Great Britain
109 Fulham Palace Road, London, W6 8JA, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)20 8563 1995; Fax: +44 (0)20 8563 1993
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.muslimparliament.org.uk

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BULLYING: Resources for Children, Parents and Schools [resource]

Bullying is when someone repeatedly says or does things to have power over another person. This can include taunting, ignoring or excluding, or threatening someone, it can also be phyiscal and involve hitting, pushing, or taking someone's belongings. The Child Rights Information Network (CRIN) has compiled a list of resources about bullying. These resources are for child victims of bullying and for those caring or working with them. The resources include:

General Resources


Resources for parents


Resources for schools


Resources for children


Helplines for Children

Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=9848&flag=report

___________________________________________________________

The CRINMAIL is an electronic mailing list of the Child Rights Information Network (CRIN). CRIN does not accredit, validate or substantiate any information posted by members to the CRINMAIL. The validity and accuracy of any information is the responsibility of the originator.

To subscribe, unsubscribe or view list archives, visit http://www.crin.org/email.

___________________________________________________________