CRINMAIL 53:

In this issue:

To view this CRINMAIL online, click here. 

A call for information from the NGO Advisory Council

International NGO Advisory Council following up the UNSG’s Study on violence against children:

Call for any recent (since 2006) research evidence of the scale and extent of violence against children

DEADLINE: 31 March 2011 

Four years after the report of the UN Secretary General’s Study on violence against children, the NGO Advisory Council wants to collect recent evidence of the extent and scale of all forms of violence against children, in the settings identified by the Study: the home and family, schools, care and justice systems, places of work and the community.

Please help us by identifying any relevant studies, published since summer 2006, if possible sending a copy electronically or providing a web link to the report/article and ensuring we have full references (if possible send reports in English, or if in other UN official languages, with an English summary).

Please feel free to pass this request to others, or to suggest others we should send it to.

We are interested in any studies which provide information on the scale and extent of violence against children, in one or more countries. We are particularly interested in studies which involve interviews with children themselves.

The NGO Advisory Council intends to prepare a report summarising the studies it receives and submit it to the General Assembly in autumn 2011, hoping this will underline the urgency of prohibiting and eliminating all forms of violence against children and support follow-up to the Study’s recommendations.

Please send information to: [email protected]

For more details about the International NGO Advisory Council, click here. 

For more information about the UNSG’s Study on violence against children, see: www.unviolencestudy.org

Inhuman sentencing of children persists 

The execution of a juvenile offender in Yemen has been halted for re-examination by the courts, whilst another nine still remain on death row, reports Amnesty International (AI). In two of the cases, there have been disputed claims of the age of the offenders, which has raised questions about the issue of age determination. AI also notes that the application of the death penalty on minors in Yemen is explicitly prohibited under Article 31 of the country’s Penal Code. Full story here. 

The Yemen case is precisely what CRIN seeks to address with its Inhuman Sentencing Campaign. Its ultimate objective is the full prohibition and elimination of the inhuman sentencing of persons under 18, including corporal punishment, life sentences and the death penalty. For details about the Campaign, click here.

As part of the campaign, CRIN is also compiling country reports on States which authorise and hand down the above sentences. The purpose of these reports is to map the legality and application of such forms of inhuman sentencing around the world in order to expose those States that are not complying with the CRC. To access the current list of country reports, click here.

In the case of Yemen, the CRIN country report reveals that it is unlawful to sentence child offenders to capital punishment, though it seems to happen in practice. It is also unlawful to sentence persons under 18 to imprisonment for life. Yet young persons under 18 may lawfully be sentenced to corporal punishment, including flogging and amputation. Read the full report here.

However, in order for CRIN to compile the most accurate and up-to-date information presented in its country reports, we need your help by completing the following questionnaire on inhuman sentencing in your country. Access the questionnaire here.

Violence against children website is now available in Arabic 

As part of its work in following up the UN Study on Violence against Children, CRIN is expanding the reach of its Violence against children website by making its information and resources available in Arabic. 

Access the Arabic site here.

And its pages on: 

- Inhuman Sentencing Campaign
- Campaigns
- NGOs
- Forms of Violence
- About the UN Study
- Get Involved

The following country reports on the Inhuman Sentencing of Children, which were previously only in English, are now also available in Arabic:

- Libya
- Qatar
- Saudi Arabia
- Sudan
- UAE 
- Yemen

The Violence Study site is also available in:

- English
- French
- Russian
- Spanish

News and report round-up

Child sacrifice 

Two recent cases of the human sacrifice of babies in Uganda have highlighted how this practice is still rampant in the country despite police efforts to end it. It is believed that child sacrifices are performed by witchdoctors who claim that such practices make their customers rich. Full story here.

Insufficient efforts against FGM

Meanwhile in Tanzania, over 5,000 girls are expected to become victims of female genital mutilation (FGM) between the November–January “holiday season”. The Nairobi Office Director of the human rights group Equality Now, Faiza Jama Mohamed, has criticised the Tanzanian government for not effectively implementing its 1998 prohibition of FGM, by highlighting that there have been no efforts to prevent expected mass mutilations, no arrests of perpetrators of FMG, and no community awareness-raising campaigns against FGM. Read the full story here. 

Child refugees

Côte d’Ivoire appears to be on the brink of civil war, as clashes between political demonstrators and violence against peacekeepers and civil society by supporters of outgoing president, Laurent Gbagbo, has erupted.  The violence has already claimed the lives of at least 50 people, with 200 more injured, whilst 470 have been arbitrarily arrested and detained, many others have “disappeared”, and over 6,000 more have fled to neighbouring countries, the majority women and children. Read the full story here.

The extent of the violence in the country has prompted a Special Session relative to the human rights situation in Cote d’Ivoire. Read more details here.

Abuse at the Border

Human Rights Watch has revealed that Ukrainian border guards and police officers mistreat and torture those trying to cross into the European Union, including children, in its recently published report, Buffeted in the Borderland - The Treatment of Asylum Seekers and Migrants in Ukraine. It gathers the testimonies of 161 refugees, migrants and asylum seekers who recount how they were subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment such as beatings, electric shocks and food deprivation. 

The legality of violence against children

The new global progress report on the corporal punishment of children, Ending legalised violence against children - Global report 2010, jointly published by the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children and Save the Children Sweden, reviews the progress made worldwide towards achieving a full prohibition of such punishment. The report highlights that although 29 States have instituted an outright ban of all forms of corporal punishment against children in all settings, 168 still allow parents to hit their children in the name of discipline, and in more than 40 States children can be whipped or caned as a sentence of the courts. It includes a major section on what it means to achieve law reform, and how to do it, as well as information on law reform opportunities and active campaigns on the issue in all regions.

{THE LAST WORD}

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