CRINMAIL 54:
In this issue:
To view this CRINMAIL online, click here.
News and report roundup
Clampdown on civil society
Egypt continues to feature on the front pages of newspapers around the world, as mass civilian protests persist in calling for an end to President Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year regime. Unfortunately, violence and civilian casualties have marked the protests, especially at their start when civilians reported that police officers had gone from using tear gas and rubber bullets to using live rounds against protesters. Watch a video detailing the incidents here. The Attorney General in Egypt was urged to open an immediate investigation into the killing of 119 civilians, including 18 children, by special security forces. Subsequently, thousands more have been wounded and over 400 remain “disappeared”. More on the story (in Arabic).
More recently in Cairo, violent clashes erupted between Mubarak supporters and anti-government protesters, which left eight people dead and more than 800 injured. The UN estimates that since the protests began on 25 January, more than 300 people have been killed across the country, with over 3,000 hurt. Full story.
There was also a strict clampdown on civil liberties as Internet services were shut down for five days, despite calls by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, to protect Egyptian citizens’ rights to freedom of expression, information and assembly. Read the full statement here.
Inhuman sentencing of children
Following an urgent appeal from Yemeni civil society organisations to the country’s President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, which highlighted how the execution of a minor is unconstitutional, the imminent execution of Mohammad Tahir Smoom, who was sentenced to death for murder while he was still a minor, and ten other minors was halted.
To read CRIN’s report on the legality of inhuman sentencing of children in Yemen, which details how child offenders can lawfully be sentenced to corporal punishment, including flogging and amputation, click here.
CRIN has published its report on inhuman sentencing in Nigeria, which highlights that there is a lack of consistency in national laws in relation to the definition of a child, the minimum age of criminal responsibility, and the eligibility of child offenders for capital punishment, corporal punishment and life imprisonment. Download the report.
Another case of inhuman sentencing has occurred in the United States, where a 13-year-old boy is appealing against being tried for murder as an adult. If found guilty, Jordan Brown, who was 11 when he allegedly shot dead his father's pregnant fiancée, will serve an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole. Full story.
To read CRIN's editorial on inhuman sentencing in the United States, click here.
To read CRIN’s report on the legality of inhuman sentencing of children in the United States, click here.
Meanwhile in Pakistan, 17-year-old Sami Ullah has been charged under the country’s blasphemy law for allegedly writing derogatory comments about the Prophet Muhammad in a school exam in April 2010, reports Human Rights Watch (HRW). The case has underscored the urgent need to repeal section 295-C of the penal code, under which people accused of blasphemy can face life imprisonment and even the death penalty. Bede Sheppard, senior children’s rights researcher at HRW, has stated that “for police and judicial authorities to go ahead and lock up a teenager under these circumstances is mind boggling.” Full story.
According to Pakistani press, when Ullah was arrested on 28th January 2011 he was thrashed and beaten up at the police station were he was being held, before being taken to juvenile jail. Read more details here.
According to sources on the ground, a representative from the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (Sparc) and Defence for Children International (DCI) met with the boy, who is currently detained at the Youth Offender Industrial School in Karachi and is receiving legal assistance.
To read CRIN’s report on the legality of inhuman sentencing of children in Pakistan, which highlights how despite progress made through law reform, child offenders can still be sentenced to corporal punishment, life imprisonment and the death penalty, click here.
This time in a horrific case of violence in Bangladesh, a 14-year-old girl died in hospital after being publicly lashed 80 times for alleged adultery under Islamic Sharia law. Four people have been arrested in relation to the incident, including a Muslim cleric, while police are still looking for 14 others. This is the second reported fatality related to a Sharia law punishment since the practice was made illegal last year by the High Court – the first involving a 40-year-old woman who was publicly caned for allegedly having an affair with her stepson. Full story.
To read CRIN’s report on the legality of inhuman sentencing of children in Bangladesh, click here.
Finally, Turkish lawyer and rights defender, Seda Akço, has drawn attention to the persisting problem of children facing prison sentences in Turkey under the Anti-Terror Law for attending demonstrations. Akço raises the question of whether children should be punished for expressing their opinions. In order to correct the situation, she urges that Article 31 of the TCK be amended. Read the full interview.
Read Article 13 of the CRC: the child's right to Freedom of Expression
Corporal punishment
The Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children has released the 15th issue of its newsletter which includes updates on the state of achieving a full prohibition across the world, a new Campaigns Manual, and much more. Download the report here.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education in Belize is set to institute a new bill banning corporal punishment in schools, which is expected to take effect in September 2011. More on the story.
The Children's Research Centre at Trinity College Dublin and the Centre for Social and Educational Research at the Dublin Institute of Technology have jointly published a report on children’s perspectives on parenting styles and discipline in Ireland. The topics discussed include parenting strategies of discipline and use of physical punishment. Download the report.
Unnecessary restraint
A video showing an 18-year-old youth tied to a wall bracket in a psychiatric institution in the Netherlands has sparked public and political condemnation, and called into question existing methods of dealing with violent psychiatric patients. Full story.
The Children Are Unbeatable Alliance has reported that the Children's Rights Alliance for England (CRAE) continues to challenge the deliberate use of pain as a means of restraint in secure training centres (STCs) in the United Kingdom, including threatening legal proceedings. Answers to parliamentary questions revealed that during 2009-2010, 111 children suffered injuries following restraint, including three incidents where it was stopped because a child complained of difficulty in breathing; and that 28 members of staff were disciplined, suspended or dismissed between 2006 and 2010 following a restraint incident in STCs.
Child trafficking
Child rights activists and law enforcement officials in the United States report that the Super Bowl is one of the largest child trafficking events in the country, as pimps take advantage of the influx of male American football fans eager to spend money. According to a report on the issue, over 300,000 girls between the ages of 11 and 17 are lured into the trade where they are often beaten, drugged, raped or imprisoned into compliance. Full story.
Meanwhile in Pakistan, the Federal Cabinet has approved and ratified the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography. Full story.
Sexual violence
A study of sexual violence against children in India has revealed that its incidence is highest in the country’s capital, Delhi, with 16 victims for every 100,000 people compared to the national average of two. Also, 296 rapes of minors were reported in the city in the 2008-2009 period. Child rights activists, however, point out that the figure does not reflect the true scale of the problem, as many cases go unreported due to fear of social condemnation of the victim. Full story.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, 2,000 cases of sexual violence against women and children were recorded between April and August 2010 in the southeastern city of Lubumbashi. Every two days someone is arrested for raping a young girl or their own daughter, reports a local police commander. However, despite progress made to tackle sexual violence in the city, only a small number of reported cases result in convictions. Additionally, the police force has been criticised for the heavy-handed and indiscreet way it conducts investigations, especially in view of the social stigma that surrounds rape. Full story.
Petition: Cyprus to sign the Lanzarote Convention
The HFC “Hope For Children” UNCRC Policy Center is encouraging the citizens of Cyprus to sign their petition urging the government to ratify the Council of Europe's Convention on the Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote Convention), which was signed on 25th October 2007 by the Republic of Cyprus. To sign the petition, click here.
The gender question in child labour
Although cases of child labour in Nepal have decreased by a million in the past ten years, girls are proportionally at higher risk of being exploited, according to a recent report by the International Labour Organisation. It reveals that girls are 50 per cent more likely to be child labourers than boys, with 373,000 girls involved in hazardous work compared to 248,000 boys. Aggravating the problem is the declining practice of ‘kamlari’, made illegal in 2006, where parents loan their children, usually girls form the Tharu caste, as indentured workers to pay off family debt. Read more on the story.
To read references on child labour in Nepal in the Universal Periodic Review, click here.
Domestic violence
In a country where cases of domestic abuse against children now top more than 35,000 annually and related deaths around 120, the government of Japan is seeking to prioritise children’s welfare by revising the country’s Child Abuse Prevention Law, which currently gives parents sole authority over their children, even in cases of domestic violence. The revised law, which will be passed in April 2011, will suspend parental authority for a period of two years in cases of child abuse in order to restrict contact with the child and allow more time for it to be protected. Full story.
Meanwhile in the United Kingdom, it has been revealed that almost 90 per cent of men guilty of domestic violence remain in close contact with their children without supervision, exposing them to further physical and emotional harm. The alarming figure has been attributed to the failure of local social services to conduct adequate assessment into the risk that fathers pose for their children. Equally worrying is the failure of authorities to recognise potentially violent stepparents and new partners, as occurred in the Peter Connelly case, in which a 17-month-old boy died after suffering over 50 injuries during an 8-month period. Full story.
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