The week in children's rights - 1532

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LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS

Public health and education

The Italian government has ruled that children must be vaccinated against 12 common illnesses before they can enrol in state-run schools. The move comes in response to a three-fold increase in recorded cases of measles so far this year compared to all of 2016, with Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni blaming a decrease in vaccinations on the "spread of anti-scientific theories". Conspiracy theories about the health risks of certain vaccinations - largely based on one discredited paper - have lead some parents to shun immunisation. In recent years a group of campaigners against vaccinations, dubbed the 'anti-vax' movement, has dissuaded people from opting in to immunisations by citing supposed risks. Under the new measures, if children are not vaccinated by the age of six, the school starting age, their parents will be fined. The number of two-year-olds vaccinated in Italy against measles has dropped from more than 90 percent to below 80 percent, short of the World Health Organization’s recommended coverage of 95 percent or more.

The mortality rate among infants and mothers in Venezuela has risen since the onset of the country’s economic and ensuing health crises, according to government figures. Infant mortality rose by 30 percent last year with 11,466 cases, while maternal mortality shot up by 65 percent to 756 cases. Meanwhile cases of malaria increased by 76 percent in 2016 compared to the previous year. Venezuelans are facing shortages of everything from vaccines to rice, as the recession and currency controls have slashed both local production and imports of foreign goods. The released report cited neonatal sepsis, pneumonia, respiratory distress syndrome, and prematurity as the main causes. Hospitals in the country often lack basic equipment such as incubators, and pregnant women are struggling to eat well, including taking folic acid, factors that can affect a baby’s health. Former health minister Antonieta Caporale was sacked at the start of May after her department released the latest data. The health ministry had stopped publishing figures after July 2015, amid a wider data blackout.

After experiencing the world's worst Ebola outbreak, the economic downturn in Liberia has meant more girls are missing out on school in order to help their families. "Ebola saw poverty levels rise significantly at the same time that education was interrupted," said Felicia Dahlquist from the charity Street Child. Extra costs such as uniforms, books and transport, and the need to work to boost family income are forcing many girls to drop out of school or preventing them from obtaining an education. From a survey of around 1,000 girls, Street Child found 4 in 10 girls could not study after school as they had to work, while two thirds had dropped out of education due to poverty. Many of these girls said they helped their families to earn money by farming, hawking and trading on the streets and even being sexually exploited in return for cash or food. A quarter of the girls in education also said they felt unsafe at school, due to sexual harassment by teachers, pressure to pay bribes or to have sex with teachers, as well as being subjected to corporal punishment. Liberia has the world's highest proportion of children missing out on primary school at around two thirds. 

Sexual and urban violence

Girls in Colombia increasingly view getting pregnant as a means of protection against gang violence in a country with one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in Latin America, government health experts have said. Anecdotal evidence from neighbourhoods in Bogotá and Medellín with high rates of violence shows teenage girls are increasingly getting pregnant on purpose because they believe it brings security and status, and is a way to be protected from rival gangs and to face less pressure to commit crimes. The experts said that teenage pregnancy in Colombia is also fuelled by a lack of information about sex, obstacles in accessing contraception, and rape at the hands of relatives and stepfathers. One in every five girls in Colombia between 15 to 19 years are or have been pregnant, and while the number has reduced in recent years, child pregnancy is still tolerated among society, said Amelia Rey, a health official in Bogota. "There still exists the cultural notion that one way or another this is acceptable or permissible," she said.

A new study has shown that girls are increasingly being trafficked for sex in northern Mexico and are being forced into exploitation as child brides by their husbands. The research, part of a joint effort launched by Mexico and the US to improve health and quality of life along the border, interviewed 603 women working in the sex industry in the Mexican cities of Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez, with most stating that they had been trafficked as under-age brides, often by their husbands. Under a 2014 law, the minimum age for marriage in Mexico is 18, but girls can marry at age 14 and boys at age 16 with parental consent. Human trafficking is believed to be the fastest-growing criminal industry in Mexico, the majority of victims being sexually exploited women and girls. The 2016 Global Slavery Index published by rights group Walk Free Foundation estimates that there are around 380,000 people currently enslaved in Mexico.

Ugandan soldiers in the Central African Republic (CAR) have sexually exploited or abused at least 13 women and girls since 2015, including at least one rape, and threatened some victims to remain silent, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has learnt. The Ugandan military has been deployed in the country since 2009 in a peacekeeping capacity as a part of the African Union’s Regional Task Force. HRW conducted interviews with 13 women and three girls in early 2017, who described ongoing exploitation or abuse since 2010 by the soldiers in the southeastern town of Obo, where Ugandan forces were based. Two of the women were under 18 years old when the exploitation or abuse took place and said that their abusers threatened them with reprisals if they told Ugandan and UN investigators about the abuse. Despite 15 of the women and girls interviewed having children borne from the Ugandan soldiers, in each case the soldier who fathered the child left the country and has not provided any support.
 

Refugees and migration

The global number of refugee and migrant children travelling alone has reached a record high, increasing nearly five-fold since 2010, UNICEF has said in a new report. At least 300,000 unaccompanied and separated children were recorded in some 80 countries in the combined years of 2015 and 2016, up from 66,000 in 2010 and 2011. The new report presents a global snapshot of refugee and migrant children, the motivations behind their journeys and the risks they face along the way. The research shows that an increasing number of these children are taking highly dangerous routes, often at the mercy of smugglers and traffickers, to reach their destinations, clearly justifying the need for a global protection system to keep them safe from exploitation, abuse and death. UNICEF said the central Mediterranean route between north Africa and Italy is one of the world's deadliest, with 4,579 deaths last year, including some 700 children, many from Eritrea, Gambia, Nigeria, Egypt and Guinea. Unaccompanied and separated children accounted for 92 percent of all children arriving in Italy by sea last year. 

The Iranian government should amend legislation which denies migrant children an education, Human Rights Watch has said. Under current government policies Afghan refugees are required to pay school fees and show residency documents to be admitted to school. UNHCR estimates there are 1.5 to 2 million undocumented Afghans in Iran, and that 50 percent of primary school-age and 75 percent of secondary school-age refugees are out of school. International law guarantees all children the same right to primary and secondary education, free from discrimination, the organisation points out. However, when children flee their homes they are often not able to attend school due to fighting or systemic barriers to education, such as discriminatory policies. In refugee camps, there are often few education services, children can be routinely detained in immigration detention and can experience stigma and discrimination in class, or taught in a language they do not understand. HRW says governments should change problematic or discriminatory laws and policies, invest in inclusive classrooms, and work with humanitarian agencies and donors to ensure all children can receive an education.
 

Armed conflict

Yazidi children captured by ISIS were starved and told they could eat in paradise if they carried out suicide bombings, according to interviews conducted by AP in the Esyan refugee camp in northern Iraq. After killing and kidnapping thousands of people from northern Iraq's Yazidi religious minority, ISIS militants then sought to indoctrinate young boys they had held captive. AP reports that they were often sent to training camps to become fighters and suicide bombers. Many are now living in camps for the displaced along with the surviving members of their families. "Even here I'm still very afraid," said a 17-year-old who now lives with his mother, sister and a brother. Ahmed was among some 200 Yazidi boys sent to a two-month camp in Tal Afar where they were shown how to use a suicide belt, throw a grenade, or behead a person. "They were telling us, ‘You are not Yazidis anymore. You are one of us,’” Ahmed said. "I can't sleep properly because I see them in my dreams."

In Afghanistan, five children from the same family were killed after a piece of stray ordnance they had come across exploded in the eastern province of Laghman, according to the New York Times. The UN Special Representative for the Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, Tadamichi Yamamoto, said the children were playing outside their home and found the mortar round, likely fired during fighting earlier in the day. “A family destroyed in seconds, this horror is just one of too many incidents documented at the onset of this fighting season,” he said. In the absence of any peace effort or any regional consensus on ways to ease the conflict, armed conflict in Afghanistan is expected to intensify this year. On Monday, the UN said that the armed violence across the country in the first four months of the year had killed 283 children and wounded another 704, a 21 percent increase over the same period last year.
 

Privacy and government pressure

Parents in the United Kingdom have been urged to refuse to hand over their children’s personal data in a national school census which campaigners say targets foreign-born children. Primary and secondary schools are being asked to request additional information from parents including pupils’ country of birth and proficiency in English language. There have been some complaints by parents who say schools have demanded they hand over passports as proof of their children’s nationality. Campaigners claim sensitive data has been handed over to third party organisations, police forces and the Home Office. The National Pupil Database, established in 2002, already contains personal and identifiable records on more than 20 million people. The campaigning group Against Borders for Children said this move turns schools into a hostile environment for young people, but they say they are optimistic that the government may reconsider this move following the decision last year not to collect nationality data on two to five year olds.

In Uzbekistan, the agriculture minister has ordered schools to publicly shame the children of farmers who do not follow government directives on which crops to grow. Officials have sought to pressure farmers to only grow cotton on land leased from the government. Cotton is vital to the national economy, which exports around 700-800 thousand tons each year, and is an industry where forced labour is common. However, many farmers suffer heavy losses from only growing cotton and often struggle to feed their families on the limited income. In an effort to put pressure on farmers in the Djizak region to increase production, local officials are increasingly targeting the children of farmers by showing videos in schools condemning and shaming those who refuse to grow cotton. With this measure, activists say the government intends to deter other farmers from diversifying the crops they grow.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Child labour: Global Conference on the Sustained Eradication of Child Labour
Organisation: IPEC
Deadline: 26 May 2017
Location: Online

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

FGM: Seminar on 'Building bridges between the EU and FGM countries of origin'
Organisation: End FGM European Network
Date: 30 May 2017
Location: Brussels, Belgium

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

Seminar: Urban Planning and Children
Organisations: Child in the City Foundation & European Network for Child Friendly Cities
Dates: 19-20 June 2017
Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands

Child abuse: ISPCAN European conference on child abuse & neglect
Organisation: International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect
Dates: 1-4 October 2017
Location: The Hague, Netherlands

EMPLOYMENT

UNICEF: Consultant - Review of Adolescent Participation
Application deadline: 31 May 2017
Location: Negotiable

Terre des Hommes: Secretary General
Application deadline: 9 June 2017
Location: Brussels, Belgium

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