The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that two Muslim parents in Switzerland are not allowed to remove their daughters from mixed swimming classes mandated by the school curriculum. The court accepted that the State had interfered with the parents’ right to religion, but ruled that it did not amount to a breach of the right as it was carried out lawfully and with the legitimate aim of aiding the girls’ social integration. The Court unanimously ruled that the best interest of the children involved was paramount and noted that the State had offered to make some concessions for the children to accommodate their religious background. The court emphasised that inclusive schooling played a special role in the process of social integration, particularly where children of foreign origin were concerned, and took precedence over the parents’ religious or philosophical convictions.

Similarly, a Canadian public school board will not be required to give one father advance notice of potential “false teachings”, as doing so would result in his children missing lessons on moral relativism, sex education and the environment. The father wrote a letter to the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board in September 2010 requesting that teachers inform parents before certain subjects were taught in class so children could be removed from those classes, and the dispute lasted for more than six years. Justice Robert B. Reid stated in the ruling that "[The public education system], by definition, must provide education to the broadest possible cross-section of the population," adding that inclusion and equality needed to come before "individual religious accommodations in public education". Members of the school board welcomed the decision, but added that they often made religious accommodations, and that the best way to approach issues of religious freedoms was to discuss them openly with teachers and principals.

 

The Western Cape education department (WCED) has released the results of an investigation confirming that a school in South Africa allowed “discriminating practices” against black students. Sans Souci Girls’ High School became the focus of claims of racial discrimination in South African schools after girls organised protests against the schools’ codes of conduct and hair policies. The investigation found that a number of discriminatory practices had been allowed, but assured readers that steps have already been taken to remedy them. The investigation, which began on 1 September, was conducted by four senior officials in the WCED after protests at Sans Souci led to a group of children being locked out of the school. Some students claimed teachers had banned natural hair on school premises and that learners were penalised for speaking languages other than English at school. In one incident, a learner told journalists that she had received the equivalent of a demerit for speaking Xhosa, her mother tongue.

The English Children's Commissioner released a report setting out a vision for the internet in which children can be citizens, not just users, without having their personal information collected and controlled by companies. The report explains how despite being a force for good, the internet is not designed with children in mind, with large numbers of children telling researchers they felt social media platforms were unresponsive. Indeed, when asked, Facebook and Google were unable to provide information about the numbers and types of requests they receive from minors to remove content. The report includes a section translating Instagram's terms and conditions into plain language, for example: “Officially you own any original pictures and videos you post, but we are allowed to use them, and we can let others use them as well, anywhere around the world. Other people might pay us to use them and we will not pay you for that.” Among the report's recommendations is a call for the creation of a Children's Digital Ombudsperson, as already exists in Australia.

CIVICUS, an NGO which works to strengthen civil society, has launched an online tool to monitor violations of civic space globally. The tool features an interactive world map providing live updates from civil society, as well as tracking potential threats. Another resource to combat restrictions on human rights defenders was launched this week by a collective of hackers and researchers. The new site, Security Without Borders, aims to provide free cybersecurity support to NGOs, activists, and other at-risk groups. The site’s Request Assistance feature allows organisations to seek help with bolstering their communication protections or getting a suspicious email or file examined. The organisation plans to release a regular newsletter for NGOs, dissidents, and journalists that will update them on any potential cyber-attacks, security vulnerabilities, and the latest in security software.
 

New research from Denmark had found that circumcising boys increases their risk of developing urinary tract issues – particularly meatus stenosis, an abnormal narrowing of the urethral opening. The study, based on clinical studies in the United States and Iran, shows that one out of every five circumcised boys will develop meatus stenosis. The research also drew on data from Denmark’s national patient registry between 1977 and 2013, in what is thought to be the first systematic follow-up on circumcised boys many years after being circumcised. The findings come a month after the Danish Medical Association called for routine male circumcision to be barred until a boy is old enough to give his informed consent. The organisation has said circumcision performed for no medical reason is “ethically unacceptable”, unless the individual being circumcised has consented. Activists say the surgery exposes infants and boys unnecessarily to health risks.

Forensic virginity tests are still widespread in Afghanistan despite the procedure being banned. Studies have discredited the invasive examination to check if a girl or woman’s hymen appears to be intact, with human rights groups affirming it amounts to sexual abuse. But despite President Ashraf Ghani’s commitment to eradicate the practice, the tests are still ordered by justice officials, mainly the police, for “moral crimes” - including rape cases - compounding the alleged victim’s trauma. The main forensic medical centre in Kabul conducted 42 virginity tests in the first half of 2016, according to medical records there. But the real figure is believed to be higher. President Ghani's office acknowledged that the tests will continue to happen because of how ingrained they are in society. So much so that the forensic centre also receives many cases from families requesting a certificate documenting the girl’s “purity” for a future husband. The fear of social stigma has given rise to underground businesses promising to repair hymens for large sums of money.
 

Sexual violence
 

Six French soldiers accused of sexually abusing children in the Central African Republic have not been charged following a criminal inquiry. The assaults allegedly took place at a camp for displaced people near the airport in Bangui between December 2013 and June 2014. The prosecutor's office in Paris will make the final decision over the charges, but its decision is expected to reflect the judges’ findings. While it is likely the prosecutor’s decision will result in no further investigations or charges, there is a three-month window for interested parties to demand fresh investigations. Meanwhile, the UN announced the creation of a high-level task force to respond to sexual exploitation and abuse following a request from the new Secretary-General António Guterres to Jane Holl Lute, the Special Coordinator for improving the organisation’s response to such crimes. Members of the task force all hold official positions within the UN system and will present their strategy in the upcoming report of the Secretary-General on special measures for protection from sexual exploitation.

In Afghanistan, a report from AFP has highlighted the continued sexual abuse of young boys through the practice of “bacha bazi”, by Western-backed security forces. Bacha bazi, a practice in which young boys are dressed effeminately and claimed as the possession of powerful police or tribal elders and often sexually abused, has seen a chilling resurgence in post-Taliban Afghanistan. Owning a boy in this way is seen as a mark of social status, power and masculinity, and it is not widely perceived as homosexual or un-Islamic behaviour. AFP traced 13 families whose children had been taken and their testimonies shine a rare spotlight on the tradition of culturally-sanctioned enslavement, rape and the helplessness experienced by their families. The testimonies show how boys are often abducted in broad daylight, from their homes, opium farms and playgrounds. However, witnesses claimed that “bacha bazi” is not a crime that attracts punishment and has spurred a violent culture of one-upmanship where high-ranking individuals compete for young boys with no psychosocial support for victims, and little chance of families ever achieving justice.

The United States’ Supreme Court on Monday boosted one of the tech industry's main defences against holding websites liable for content posted by others, amid allegations of websites being complicit in child sex trafficking. The justices refused to consider reviving a lawsuit against Backpage.com, a large online classified ad service, filed by three young women who claimed the website facilitated child sex trafficking through classified advertisements posted in its "escorts" section. The court let stand a lower court's decision last year to dismiss the lawsuit because the Communications Decency Act, a 1996 law protecting free speech on the internet, shielded Backpage from liability for the content of the ads. Despite winning in court Backpage took down all of its ‘adult’ listings this week, and faced scathing questioning in the Senate after lawmakers revealed that the website frequently ‘sanitised’ listings involving children, routinely deleting phrases like “little girl”, “rape” and “Lolita”. The mother of a victim testifying before Congress called Carl Ferrer, Backpage’s CEO "just another pimp, one who happens to have a lot of expensive lawyers", while Elizabeth McDougall, a lawyer representing Backpage repeatedly refused to answer questions before the panel.

Food security and malnutrition

The humanitarian crisis in the Lake Chad region is rapidly worsening, with half a million children suffering from severe acute malnutrition according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. More than seven million people lack food and many women, left without husbands because of the conflict, have been forced to sell sex in order to feed their families. Conflict in the region, particularly against militant group Boko Haram, has made it extremely difficult for aid agencies to reach those in need. More than 2.4 million people have been displaced by the seven-year insurgency of Boko Haram, which originated in Nigeria but has intensified in recent years, spreading across borders into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon. The catastrophe is one of the most neglected crises of recent years, with those affected going largely unseen and unassisted by the world.

The food crisis in Venezuela shows no signs of abating, with reports that the military has been profiting from food trafficking. According to an investigation by the Associated Press, the Venezuelan military, who have managed the country’s diminished food supply since July of last year, have been selling food staples in illegal marketplaces for up to 100 times the government-set price. Meanwhile, children are dying from malnutrition and most Venezuelans are unable to pay for food, with many forced to look for scraps of food on the roadside. The country’s food shortage is closely linked to corruption, political upheaval and the 2014 collapse in oil prices. The ensuing currency crisis has created massive inflation rendering the bolivar near worthless, and leading to a 50 percent rise in the minimum wage this week. However, mounting shortages in medicine and consumer goods mean that even those able to fill bags with bundles of notes find themselves unable to secure basic necessities.

Leaders of the Wayuu indigenous tribe in La Guajira, Colombia have accused the government of neglecting the malnutrition crisis affecting its youngest members, warning a lack of action could affect the survival of the Wayuu people. A total of 81 minors from the community died from hunger in 2016 alone, while more than 4,770 children are believed to have died in the past decade. The UN Development Programme reported in 2013 that 50 children die for every 1,000 live births in the region, in stark contrast to the rest of the country where infant mortality has been steadily declining. Water scarcity, due to drought and the multinational El Cerrejón coal mine, has been a major contributor to the crisis, along with poor investment in infrastructure and health services in the region. In 2015 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ordered Colombia to undertake special measures to address the crisis, but members of the community say there has not been any definitive action on the protection of Wayuu children.

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CASE STUDY: Juvenile life sentences breached human rights standards
 

Five Argentinian teenagers were sentenced to life in prison, despite not having attained the age of majority at the time of their crimes. All five suffered grievous ill-treatment and were incarcerated for years before their cases were heard by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which ruled that life imprisonment should never be imposed on children.

Read the full case study here.

CRIN’s collection of case studies illustrates different approaches to using the law in children’s rights advocacy. Throughout the world advocates are changing legislation and societies for the better through what is known as strategic litigation - when a case seeks broader impact than simply bringing justice in a case at hand. Looking at how these efforts work in practice, CRIN is interviewing those involved in cases and looking at their outcomes and the impact they created. We will highlight both successful cases and less successful ones - which have still had an impact - to allow advocates to learn from previous efforts to challenge children’s rights abuses.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Asia: Course on "Frontiers of Children's Rights in the ASEAN Region"
Organisations: Leiden Law School et al.
Dates: 23 - 27 January 2017
Location: Beji, Depok City, Indonesia

Participation: E-course on child participation
Organisation: Human Rights Education Associates
Dates: 1 February - 14 March 2017
Location: Online

Education: Child Rights Public Budgeting
Organisation: Human Rights Education Associates
Dates: 15 February-1 March 2017
Location: online (e-learning course)

Education: International Children’s Rights
Organisation: Leiden University
Application deadline: 1 April 2017 (non-EU) / 15 June 2017 (EU students)
Dates: September 2017 - Summer 2018
Location: Leiden, The Netherlands

Education: Child Rights-based Approaches
Organisation: Human Rights Education Associates
Dates: 26 April - 11 July 2017
Location: Online

Europe: Justice for Children Award
Organisations: DCI and OMCT
Submission deadline: 30 April 2017

Best interests: International Conference on Shared Parenting
Organisations: The National Parents Organization & the International Council on Shared Parenting
Dates: 29-31 May 2017
Location: Boston, United States

Education: Child Rights Governance
Organisation: Human Rights Education Associates
Dates: 31 May - 11 July 2017
Location: Online

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