CRINMAIL 61:

In this issue:

To view this CRINMAIL online, click here. 

UN Study on Violence against Children 

Five years on from the UN Study on Violence against Children, millions of children continue to be humiliated, beaten, sexually abused and even killed at the hands of adults in their lives, their parents, teachers, care givers and employers, with the violence often perpetrated in environments where it is socially condoned and in many cases a lawful practice either as a form of discipline or judicial sentence. 

The report, Five Years On: a global update on violence against children, exposes these trends, and worryingly, even an increase in certain forms of violence. Recent findings include: 

• 78 countries still authorise corporal punishment by teachers;
• the known number of juvenile offenders executed worldwide rose by more than 50 per cent in the last five years;
• 22,000 children are killed at work each year, with 68 per cent of domestic workers experiencing physical abuse, including rape;  
• children with disabilities are four to five times more likely to experience violence and sexual abuse than non-disabled children; 
• in the United States, 12 per cent of young offenders in juvenile detention facilities reported experiencing sexual abuse at the hands of facility staff;
• in Swaziland, one third of girls aged 13 to 17 report that their first sexual experience was forced, and that it took place in their own homes; 
• 43 per cent of street children in Guatemala left home to escape violence in their family;   
• Violent crimes against children are three times less likely to be reported than those against adults. 

What can be done?

Some progress has been made, with the number of countries prohibiting all corporal punishment against children nearly doubling since 2006, from 16 to 31. Among them are Kenya, Poland, Tunisia (2010), South Sudan and Togo (2011). 

To maintain this momentum - and to speed it up -  governments should be urged to enact legal reform and develop strategies to address violence against children in their countries. To this end, the role of NGOs, with their lobbying and advocacy powers, is crucial. 

As the Five Years On report highlights: “The acceptance of violence against children is reflected in three areas: laws that still allow for its justification, inadequate child protection mechanisms, and frequent impunity for perpetrators.” NGOs should therefore urge their governments to: 

• enact legal reform to prohibit all forms of violence against children in all settings;
• bring perpetrators to justice to ensure accountability and end impunity;
• develop national strategies to address violence against children, allocated with adequate resources, and ensure their implementation; 
• promote non-violence values and awareness raising through, for example, public education campaigns; 
• improve data collection to effectively measure the extent of violence against children and as well as the effect of actions to end it.

Global Progress Survey on Violence against Children

One such move NGOs can begin straight away is to encourage governments to renew their commitment to violence against children by completing the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Violence against Children's global survey to help map and assess progress in the implementation of the recommendations of the UN Study on Violence against Children, and set future priorities. 

The survey builds upon the 2004 questionnaire sent to Governments for the preparation of the UN Study on Violence against Children. To find out if your government responded to the 2004 version, go to the drop down list of official responses here.  

Governments are encouraged in their replies to share information on developments that have taken place since then. Other interested parties, including UN agencies and NGOs, are also encouraged to provide information on relevant parts of the questionnaire.

The survey outcomes will be presented to the General Assembly in 2012 and are expected to inform further progress in the implementation of the recommendations of the Study, and sustain the momentum of work already under way.

Click on the following language options to complete the survey:

English / French / Spanish

And for the child-friendly version of the survey, click here. 

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NEWS AND REPORT ROUND UP

Violence against women and girls 

The 25^th November of each year marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. This date came from the brutal assassination in 1960, of the three Mirabal sisters, political activists in the Dominican Republic, on orders of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo. On this international observance day, governments, international organisations and NGOs are invited to organise activities to raise public awareness of the problem in all its forms and settings. This is CRIN’s contribution. 

Recent reports on domestic and sexual violence in Pacific countries have revealed staggering rates of abuse against women and girls. In Papua New Guinea, for example, 67 per cent of wives are beaten by their husbands - 100 per cent in the highlands - with gang rape and pay-back rape also common; while in Tuvalu, half of women lost their virginity through rape. In Fiji, 66 per cent of women have been physically abused by their partners; 26 per cent of which were beaten while pregnant. Meanwhile in Samoa, 46 per cent of women are physically abused, and eight per cent are beaten unconscious by their spouse. In Kiribati, 68 per cent of women have been either physically or sexually abused. Although in Vanuatu this figure is lower at 60 per cent, one in five of these victims ended up with a permanent disability as a result of “severe violence”, while other statistics find that nearly one in three girls are sexually abused before they are 15 years old - one of the highest rates in the world.

Combating domestic violence, however, is more difficult when considered socially acceptable, even by the victims themselves, as a police woman in Timor-Leste highlighted. While listing the common forms of domestic violence as ''beating, choking, whipping with rope, breaking bones, burning with fire, and banging heads on the floor'', she lamented that many of the victims fail to see these acts as a crime. ''They think of it as a normal, acceptable event because it happens daily.''

CRIN’s Forms of Violence page on domestic violence here. 

Meanwhile in Colombia, the multitude of cases of sexual violence against women and girls during the country's long-running armed conflict largely remains in impunity, not because of a lack of denouncement on the part of victims, but due to the authorities' innaction. A report by Amnesty International exposes how Colombian security forces, paramilitaries and guerrilla groups are all responsible for the sexual abuse of women and girls from indigenous, afro-descendent, and peasant communities. Yet the report highlights that these victims’ right to truth, justice and reparation continue to be denied by the authorities. Download the report. 

The problem of impunity in relation to violence against women and girls also persists in other countries of Latin America, where a coalition of NGOs has urged the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to act on the issue of sexual violence in schools, which the coalition says States are not paying enough attention to. Activists highlight that 50 per cent of cases are perpetrated against girl students under 16, yet for every reported case, four others remain unreported. Worryingly, a staggering 98 per cent of cases do not proceed to trial because judges do not consider them to be "serious enough", while "often the acts are blamed on [the victims] with the aim of discrediting investigations". More on the story (in Spanish). 

The situation for girls in Kyrgyzstan is also worrying, as another study finds that 16,000 young women and girls are annually abducted, raped, and forced to marry their captor, as part of the macabre practice of abduction of virgin brides. The abductions usually take place at night, when, according to one activist, the girls' cries are not heard. The same activist informs that if the raptor then rejects the victim as his bride, "nobody will want to marry her, because she is not a virgin." This means parents often do not dare denounce abductions. Full story. 

On the issue of harmful practices and female genital mutilation (FGM), we have good news and bad news. The good comes from Kenya, which has become the latest African country to make FGM illegal. In Somalia, however, activists in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland denounce that the incidence of FGM is growing within camps for internally displaced people, which they say seems to correspond to an increase in the incidence of rape, as parents believe if a girl is cut, it will decrease her chances of being raped. The World Health Organization estimates that 91,5 million girls and women above 9 years old in Africa are currently living with the consequences of FGM, while a further three million are at risk of undergoing the procedure every year.

On a related note, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) are in the process of elaborating a joint General Recommendation/Comment on harmful practices. Its aim is to provide an authoritative interpretation of the actions required by States with respect to the elimination of harmful practices. More details here. 

The UN Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women is accepting applications for its 16th grant cycle from government authorities at the national and local levels, civil society organisations and networks — including non-governmental, women’s and community-based organisations and coalitions and operational research institutions — and UN Country Teams in partnership with governments and civil society organisations. The deadline for submissions of applications is 19 January 2012. For more information, click here. 

Sexual abuse

Save the Children and Handicap International jointly released a report that aims to bring sexual violence against children with disabilities out of the shadows. The report highlights that this vulnerable group of children suffer sexual abuse at the hands of perpetrators who operate with almost total impunity, and that almost as shocking as the abuse itself is the fact that so little is known about it. The report seeks to make this issue more visible and to challenge governments and communities, including the international community, to tackle it head-on. Download the report. 

The Vatican has said it will conduct its own investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse at Ealing Abbey in London, United Kingdom, where monks and teachers are accused of abusing children at the neighbouring St Benedict’s school for decades. Activists, however, have questioned the effectiveness and integrity of an internal inquiry, especially given that its findings will remain secret, with one campaigner saying the announcement was a public relations exercise akin to 'putting Dracula in charge of a blood bank'. Full story. 

Amnesty International Ireland also released a new report detailing the abuse of children in State and church run institutions in Ireland, which it says amounts to torture. Among its conclusions, the report says that a lack of effective monitoring by State authorities in the case of residential institutions allowed the abuse of children to continue unchecked. Download the report.  

Previously in July, Ireland's Prime Minister, Enda Kenny hit out at the Vatican for downplaying and attempting to cover up the sexual abuse of children in the diocese of Cloyne, saying that it only sought to protect its reputation. Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Diarmuid Martin also called for the Catholic Church’s child abuse watchdog to be given powers to compel bishops to co-operate with audits into dioceses. Full story. 

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) has expressed its outrage that no high-ranking Roman Catholic figures have been prosecuted for sheltering priests suspected of child abuse and for covering up such cases. SNAP has brought claims to the International Criminal Court alleging possible crimes against humanity have taken place. The Center for Constitutional Rights, a New York-based non-profit legal group representing SNAP argued that the church has maintained a "long-standing and pervasive system of sexual violence" that has resulted in widespread rape and torture, which are considered crimes against humanity as described in the international treaty that spells out the court's mandate. Read more here. 

Yet there is good news from Malta, where the National Children’s Policy, which is currently open for consultation, recommends that bringing legal action against perpetrators of sexual abuse of children must not be time-barred, and the law should be changed to guarantee such crimes never go unpunished. The injustice of time-barring came to light during a court case in which 11 adults claimed to have been abused as children by two priests in a residential home. Yet criminal proceedings were never taken against a third priest, as the case was time-barred because the alleged abuse had taken place 10 years before the start of police investigations. Full story. 

Also read about the CoE’s campaign to spot sexual violence against children, which aims to get Member States – and beyond – to ratify the Lanzarote Convention. It also seeks to raise awareness among European children, parents, and the public at large about sexual violence in a child-friendly manner with the Underwear Rule.
Read more about the campaign here. 

Also check out CRIN’s Forms of Violence page on physical abuse here. 

Inhuman sentencing 

In Iran, a 17-year-old boy accused of murder was publicly hanged on 21 September in the city of Karaj, near Tehran. Two of the boy’s friends who were with him at the time of the alleged crime took place have reportedly been sentenced to receive 80 lashings each. Full story.

In response to the execution, the UN Special Rapporteurs on Iran, on summary executions, on independence of the judiciary and on torture condemned the act, stressing that “any judgement imposing the death penalty upon juveniles below the age of 18, and their execution, are incompatible with Iran’s international obligations.” 

Also in September, the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution regarding the report by the Secretary-General on the issue of the death penalty, in which it requests the Secretary-General to continue to submit a yearly supplement to his quinquennial report on capital punishment and the implementation of the safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty, paying special attention to the imposition of the death penalty on persons younger than 18 years of age at the time of the offence, on pregnant women and on persons with mental or intellectual disabilities. Read the full resolution here.

Check out CRIN’s Forms of Violence page on the death penalty here. 

For the upcoming 13^th session of the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR), CRIN has submitted two reports in relation to the inhuman sentencing of child offenders in Antigua and Barbuda, where although capital punishment is prohibited, children may lawfully be sentenced to life imprisonment and corporal punishment; and in India, where capital punishment and life imprisonment of child offenders is prohibited, except possibly in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, and where the judicial use of corporal punishment is unlawful under criminal law, but it is used, possibly lawfully, in traditional justice systems. 

Read more about the campaign to end the inhuman sentencing of children here. 

State violence 

Since our last Violence CRINMAIL, the death toll in Syria has increased by almost 1,000, while the number of children killed has doubled to almost 200. The UN estimates that the number of people killed in protests since March stands at 3,500, while the human rights organisation Avaaz says the unofficial number of people killed is feared to be higher than 5,000. In response to President Bashar Al-Assad’s failure to follow through with his commitments, as part of a peace plan, to end its brutal clampdown on pro-democracy protesters, Arab ministers have agreed to suspend Syria from the League of Arab States, which also intends to impose political and economic sanctions on the country. 

In Yemen, at least 75 children have been killed as a result of the State-sponsored onslaught against anti-government protesters. The country’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in power for 33 years, has signed an agreement to stand down. Yet thousands of protesters took to the streets to denounce that as part of the deal Saleh will be granted immunity from prosecution for alleged crimes against humanity. Five of these protesters were shot dead by militiamen. During the 10-month clampdown on protesters, some 1,500 people have been killed. Read the latest developments here. 

Meanwhile in Bahrain, the State’s brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters has claimed the lives of more than 40 people, including five children whose deaths still remain in impunity. Over 1,500 others are currently detained, including 188 children, according to figures by the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights. 

Check out CRIN’s Forms of Violence page on state violence here. 

Corporal punishment

Wales has come one step closer to banning corporal punishment in all settings! On 19 October, the National Assembly of Wales voted to urge the Welsh Government to bring forward legislation to remove the defence of "lawful chastisement" in cases of child assault, and give children in Wales the same protection as adults under the law on assault.

Commenting prior to the vote, Coordinator of the Children Are Unbeatable! Alliance Peter Newell said: “Welsh political leaders are to be congratulated for trailblazing this long-overdue protection for children. Hopefully, protection from violent punishment will quickly be extended beyond the Welsh border to all UK children and our society will join the growing number of states which accept fully that hitting people is wrong - and children are people too”.

Read more about the vote and next steps here and a background paper here.

Things are not progressing so well in the United States, where an 11-year-old girl, whose adoptive parents often "disciplined" her by whipping her and forced her to sleep in the barn and shower outside with a hose, died from hyperthermia and malnutrition. Withholding food and putting children under a cold garden hose are disciplinary methods prescribed in the controversial book ‘To Train Up a Child’. This is the third case of domestic child abuse to result in death in the US where the parents were known to have used the book’s methodology, which also recommends using a 15-inch plastic tube to discipline children because "[i]t's a good spanking instrument," the author of the book says, as it inflicts pain yet is “too light to cause damage to the muscle or the bone.” 

A previous case in 2011, where parents reportedly followed the book’s child training advice, involved a seven-year-old girl who was "whipped" to death with rubber tubing for mispronouncing a word during a home-schooling lesson. She died from severe tissue damage, while her sister had to be hospitalised. 

And in 2006, a four-year-old boy died from suffocation after being tightly wrapped in a blanket, while his five other siblings testified they were beaten daily with plastic tubing. More on these stories. 

A petition has been launched urging Amazon, the world's biggest bookseller, to cease selling any book or other product, including To Train Up a Child, which advises the physical abuse of children. There are currently several “parenting manuals” available to buy on Amazon that advise parents to train and condition their children into obedience using rods, paddles, or other similar implements. The books advise using these methods on small children and even babies under the age of one. To sign and read more about the petition, click here.

Moving on, Togo has become the latest African country to ban corporal punishment of children in all settings! The Global Initiative to End the Corporal Punishment of Children discusses the new ban in the 18th issue of its e-newsletter, which also looks at the prohibition of corporal punishment in schools in Zambia, and includes news of bills and draft legislation being discussed in many more countries, a new regional campaign to be launched in South Asia, an update on the work of the UN human rights treaty monitoring bodies, links to new research and reports and much more. Download it here. 

Also check out CRIN’s Forms of Violence page on corporal punishment here. 

In other news 

The Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) in Pakistan has launched its flagship publication on the State of Pakistan’s Children in 2010. The launch took place at the end of September in Geneva, and the report aims to give a candid picture on the current state of child rights in the country, covering vital issues such as health, education, child labour, juvenile justice, violence against children and child suicide. Download the report. 

The Safe Families, Safe Children coalition has launched its Breaking the Cycle of Violence report, which highlights how States are failing to respond appropriately to the repeated exposure of children to severe violence in their families. The problem, the report says, is leading children to live on the streets, and become the victims of trafficking and prostitution. Download the report. 

The UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre and the Child Protection Monitoring and Evaluation Group (CP-MERG) Technical Working Group on Violence against Children is requesting assistance in identifying and accessing literature and documentation relevant to research with children and young people, particularly on ethical guidelines, procedures and protocols, to conduct a review of such literature. For more details on this call for information, click here. 

The Last Words: on impunity  

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