CRINmail 77
In this issue:
The past year has seen a number of States leading the way towards ending all violence against children, while others have either proposed or continued to impose legalised abuse of their most vulnerable citizens. In November five UN experts called for child protection from violence to be addressed by national governments as a priority in the post-2015 global development agenda, urging them not to ignore violence against children which is all too often tolerated both by society and in law.
In the first Violence against Children CRINmail of 2014, we remind our readers of some of the most pressing concerns regarding violence against children globally, as we look back on some of the past year’s most prominent highlights, low points, and signs of promise.
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CHILDREN'S RIGHTS & VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN IN 2013
Death penalty and inhuman sentencing
Probably the most glaring form of violence against children, the death penalty continued to be used legally on children in some States in 2013. In March, Saudi Arabia executed seven young men convicted of armed robbery allegedly committed while under the age of 18. One of those executed, who was 15 at the time of the alleged offence, said that he had been tortured and threatened into confessing, prompting numerous international organisations and the United Nations to appeal to Saudi authorities to halt the execution and conduct a fair trial, albeit to no avail.
Also in March, partners in Yemen confirmed that a juvenile, Mohammad Abdul-Karim Haza'a, had been executed by firing squad despite evidence that he was under the age of 18 at the time of his offence. Despite numerous calls from local and international organisations calling on the Attorney-General (AG) to stop the execution, it was not until after Haza'a was executed that the AG asked officials to halt the execution. At least 15 juveniles have been executed in the past five years in Yemen, and at least 22 more are awaiting execution, according to a report this year.
In October Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip executed a young man who had been convicted of two killings, including one allegedly committed when he was 14 years old. Hani Abu Aliyan’s lawyer said his client had confessed to the killing he was accused of committing as a teenager following abuse and torture during interrogation.
Other forms of inhuman sentencing of children witnessed in 2013 include disturbing cases of the judicial use of physical punishment. In February in the Maldives, a 15-year-old rape victim was sentenced to receive 100 lashes for having premarital sex. The sentence was to be overturned six months later by the High Court because the girl had been “wrongly convicted”. The revocation followed a visit to the country by Marta Santos Pais, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children, who urged the Maldivian Government to abolish degrading and capital punishment against children, including as a form of criminal sentencing.
In April the international media honed in on reports that a Saudi Arabian court had sentenced a young man to be paralysed from the waist down in retribution for causing the paralysis of a friend when he was 14 years old. The Saudi justice ministry later denied the reports, saying that the presiding judge has dismissed such a sentence which involves the surgical cutting of the spinal cord.
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Physical abuse
Also in April the Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) exposed more than 48,000 cases of rape against children in both state-run and private juvenile detention centres and care homes in India between 2001 and 2011. Perpetrators were found at all staff levels, from cooks, caretakers and security guards, to managers and directors. In its research, the ACHR found several major failures in the institutions, including the absence of gender- and age-specific facilities which increases the risk of abuse for girls and younger children, as well as the lack of regular inspections of centres which allows for abuse to go undetected.
The issue of physical abuse and psychological abuse in juvenile justice systems was the focus of an October report by the International NGO Council on Violence against Children. The report illustrates the violent realities of children in conflict with the law, clarifying the ways in which governments are failing to protect these children at all procedural stages. It does so by looking at juvenile justice laws, policies, practices, reports, studies and anecdotes from around the world. The report also takes the reader through a hypothetical journey which compares the two systems (violent and non-violent) side by side. Ultimately, the NGO Council proposes a model for what a non-violent juvenile justice system would look like.
In an unprecedented move in July, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child asked the Holy See to hand over information on cases of child abuse committed by the Catholic clergy around the world. The global scale of the abuse is vast, and claims of cover-ups, silencing of victims, and moving abusive priests from one parish to another abound. The request for information includes details of any investigations Vatican authorities carried out, what preventative measures it implemented, and how it assisted and compensated victims. Ahead of its long-awaited review by the Committee in January 2014, the Holy See submitted its State report in which it fails to provide the evidence the Committee had asked for, stating instead that it is not responsible for cases of abuse committed outside its territorial borders.
Sexual violence in conflict situations was also a prominent rights concern in 2013. While attacks are committed more often against women and girls, there is increasing attention on the plight of male victims of sexual violence. In a UN forum held in July and led by the Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, experts said that while this issue is not new, boys and men continue to suffer in silence. It was noted that one immediate action should be to address the inadequacies in legal frameworks that ignore or criminalise male victims and allow perpetrators to enjoy impunity.
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State violence
State violence was one of the most prominent concerns on the 2013 human rights agenda. The ongoing conflict in Syria made regular headlines, not least because of a death toll that now exceeds 100,000, including more than 11,000 children. According to a November report, the majority of children killed died in shell fire, aerial bombardment or were killed by improvised explosive devices, but many have also been intentionally targeted. Some 800 children have been executed, almost 400 targeted by snipers, and over 100 child victims – some of infant age – presented signs of having been tortured. The violence has also caused the world’s worst refugee crisis in 20 years, with approximately two million people forced to flee the country, half of whom are children. UNICEF and the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, described the figure as “a shameful milestone”. A further two million children have also been internally displaced.
State violence also followed the military overthrow of Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi, as around 800 people were killed in mid-August alone, the majority pro-Morsi supporters, during clashes with security forces after protest camps were forcibly dispersed. The current death toll exceeds 1,000.
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Corporal punishment and degrading treatment
There was some good news in the area of corporal punishment of children, as Honduras became the 34th State worldwide - and the fourth in Latin America - to ban the practice in all settings, including the home.
Unfortunately in 39 States corporal punishment remains lawful as a sentence of the courts, which includes caning, whipping and flogging; 114 States have no clear commitment to reform; and 24 States do not prohibit corporal punishment of children in any setting. To find out more about the past year's developments, read the 2013 global progress report by the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children here.
Regional mechanisms were used in 2013 to challenge the legality of physical punishment of children. In July the European Committee on Social Rights declared admissible a series of complaints under its collective complaints procedure, which claim that Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Ireland, Italy and Slovenia are not complying with their obligations under the European Social Charter, which requires Member States to protect children from violence in all settings. Several of the countries have since made commitments to abolish all corporal punishment of children.
Yet even in States where corporal punishment is not explicitly prohibited by law, or at least in all settings, some national courts and newly proposed laws are recognising corporal punishment as a form of torture and degrading treatment. In June in Namibia, for example, the Windhoek Magistrate's Court convicted four teachers of a private school of assault for subjecting a 14-year-old pupil to corporal punishment. The presiding judge based his ruling on a 1991 Supreme Court decision that the use of corporal punishment would be in conflict with the Constitution's prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
For the first time in France a court sentenced a parent in October for physically punishing a child, convicting a father of a "violent gesture combined with humiliation” towards his son and fining him €500. While there is currently no legislation banning corporal punishment of children in France, the Limoges Criminal Court judged the case under the penal code relating to violence against vulnerable individuals.
And finally draft law in the Philippines seeks to ban corporal punishment used to “discipline” children, which it defines as "humiliating [and] degrading". Within a comprehensive list of actions defined as such, the bill includes corporal punishment alongside other actions that cover physical, verbal, neglectful, coercive, hazardous, threatening, intimidating, and humiliating treatment when intended as discipline or punishment.
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Slavery, exploitation and violence at work
In February Ireland apologised for its role in sending around 10,000 “fallen” women and girls to the Magdalene laundries run by Roman Catholic nuns between 1922 and 1996, where they were forced to undertake unpaid manual labour in conditions of slavery. Many of those made to go there were unmarried mothers, women with learning difficulties and girls who had been abused. Even a crime as minor as not paying for a train ticket could warrant being sent to the Magdalene laundries. Organisations representing the survivors welcomed the apology, as well as the Irish Government’s proposal to offer support and compensation to survivors.
At a much wider scale, the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Domestic Workers Convention came into force in September. What the Convention does is set out the first global standards enshrining the rights of all domestic workers, including some 15.5 million children, in international law. While most domestic workers are victims of exploitation and violence at work, the Convention notes that children are at even greater risk due to their young ages, lack of awareness of their rights, separation from their family, and dependence on their employer.
So far ten countries that have ratified the Convention - Bolivia, Germany, Guyana, Italy, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Philippines, South Africa and Uruguay. CRIN is part of an NGO coalition campaign to encourage more governments to ratify the Convention. The “12 by 12” campaign was launched by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) to seek 12 ratifications of the Convention in 2012. The campaign continues to organise worldwide and is now active in 92 countries. The NGO coalition sent a letter to Ministers of Labour in 2013 urging governments to ratify the Convention.
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Harmful practices
All violations of children’s rights can be considered harmful practices. But it is those that are based on tradition, culture, religion or superstition that in many cases continue to be tolerated, often so as not disturb the status quo. The past year, however, showed that a more informed consideration of such practices and awareness of the harm they cause children are taking place. Particularly notable is how seemingly innocuous practices have increasingly come under the spotlight, namely non-consenting and non-therapeutic genital surgery such as male circumcision and surgery on intersex children.
Throughout 2013, there were numerous institutional responses to these practices. In March, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights convened a hearing on the human rights situation of intersex people in the Americas after receiving report that intersex children are routinely subjected to surgeries to “normalise” their genitals, yet which are performed without their informed consent, are rarely medically justified, and which cause physical and mental suffering. At the hearing, the Commission “urge[d] the States to adopt urgent measures to review these medical interventions for persons under 18 years of age, in the light of every person’s right to personal integrity, dignity, privacy, identity, autonomy, access to information, and sexual, reproductive, and health rights."
Regarding male circumcision, children’s ombudspersons from five Nordic countries agreed in September to work with their respective governments to restrict male circumcision so that it is no longer performed on non-consenting, underage boys for non-medical reasons. Representatives of associations of Nordic paediatricians and paediatric surgeons also support the initiative.
In 2013 Medical associations from 17 countries also voiced their opposition to routine male circumcision of infants and boys as a medically unnecessary procedure which goes against medical ethics. In a 2013 edition of the medical journal Pediatrics, paediatricians and medical associations agreed that "[c]ircumcision fails to meet the commonly accepted criteria for the justification of preventive medical procedures in children," and that existing research does not justify “surgery before boys are old enough to decide for themselves.”
Finally in October, the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly included a series of practices - including non-consenting genital surgery - in a resolution on “children’s right to physical integrity”. Within its provisions is the recommendation that national governments restrict certain procedures until a child is old enough to consent to them or refuse consent.
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UPCOMING EVENTS
Children's rights: 65th Session of the CRC
Organisation: UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
Date: 13-31 January 2014
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
More details here.
UPR: 18th Session of the Universal Periodic Review
Organisation: Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Date: 27 January - 7 February 2014
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
More details here.
Human rights: 25th Session of the Human Rights Council
Organisation: Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Date: 3-28 March 2014
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
More details here.
Americas: 150th Session of the IACHR
Organisation: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Date: 20 March - 4 April 2014
Deadline to request hearings: 20 January 2014
Location: Washington DC, United States
More details here.
Bodily integrity: Whole bodies, whole selves - Activating social change
Organisation: Genital Autonomy et al.
Event date: 24-27 July 2014
Location: Colorado, United States
More details here.
Africa: Keeping Children Safe in Africa - Identifying and addressing the challenges
Organisation: Keeping Children Safe et al.
Date: 3-5 September 2014
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
More details here.
Juvenile justice: World Congress on Juvenile Justice
Organisation: Terre des hommes et al.
Date: 26-30 January 2015
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
More details here.
The Last Word
“When a big child hits a small child in the playground, we call him a bully; five years later he punches a woman for her handbag and is called a mugger; later still, when he slugs a workmate who insults him, he is called a troublemaker; but when he becomes a father and hits his tiresome, disobedient or disrespectful child, we call him a disciplinarian.”
-- Dr Penelope Leach, child psychologist, highlighting the social and legal inconsistencies
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