CRINmail 1463
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Ethiopia crackdown on peaceful protesters
The international community has been urged to address the Ethiopian government's crackdown on peaceful protesters, including children, which has so far left 140 dead since December 2015. The police and military have repeatedly quashed peaceful protests against the transfer of ownership of a community school and areas of a local forest to private investors, using live ammunition against protesters, including children as young as 12. The violent response to the protests represents the most severe crackdown on the right to peaceful assembly since the contested 2005 elections in which nearly 200 protesters were killed in the capital. Ethiopia and its foreign aid partners, including DFID and USAID have come under increasing criticism for the adverse impact its development programmes have had in parts of rural Ethiopia, often moving communities from their ancestral lands to allow the re-allocation of their land for agribusiness and other private business interests.
Transparency and accountability
The UN whistleblower who first exposed the sexual abuse of children by peacekeepers in Central African Republic has been exonerated from charges that he breached confidentiality rules. Anders Kompass was suspended and faced dismissal after he passed confidential documents detailing the sexual abuse of children by French troops in CAR to French authorities because of the UN’s failure to stop the abuse. The UN repeatedly condemned his actions, insisting that he had breached protocols by sharing a secret internal document. He had been under a disciplinary investigation for nine months before the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight finally cleared him of all charges this week. Meanwhile, Congolese soldiers have been expelled from the UN peacekeeping mission in CAR following recent allegations that soldiers raped two women and a child in the city of Bambari in October 2015. The UN said inspections of the Congolese soldiers showed they failed to meet requirements for training, equipment and preparedness.
The world’s largest security firm G4S could be stripped of its contract within the United Kingdom’s juvenile justice system, the government has said, after undercover footage emerged of abuse against juveniles at the hands of guards. G4S is contracted to run three juvenile detention centres, and has won the contract to operate one facility for another five years. An inspection at one of the centres last year revealed that children had been subjected to degrading treatment from staff. In 2014, 14 children who had been unlawfully restrained in centres run by G4S and Serco were awarded damages amounting to £100,000. The latest damning footage shows children being assaulted by guards and unnecessary restraint techniques being used against them, including a young boy who is seen telling staff who are squeezing his windpipe that he cannot breathe. The footage also alleges that G4S staff routinely falsified records of violent incidents. Seven members of staff were suspended from the facility following the release of the footage.
Child exploitation and debt bondage
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo children as young as seven are working in dangerous conditions mining cobalt which is used in the production of lithium-ion batteries used in mobile phones and other consumer electronics, according to a new report by Amnesty International.
Meanwhile the United States Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal by food giant Nestlé against a previous ruling allowing a lawsuit over the use of slave labour by children in the company’s cocoa supply chain. The food companies Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill are also defendants in the case, which was brought by three people who were forced to work on Ivorian cocoa plantations as children. The plaintiffs claim they worked up to 14 hours per day, were given only scraps of food to eat, and were whipped and beaten. The complaint, filed under the Alien Torts Statute, alleges that the defendants were complicit in child slavery as they provided financial and technical assistance to local farmers in a bid to guarantee the cheapest source of cocoa. In their failed appeal, the defendant companies had invoked a 2013 Supreme Court decision stipulating that the Alien Torts Statute is presumed to only cover violations of international law occurring on US territory, unless the conduct abroad affects the US “with sufficient force”. Lawyers for the plaintiffs will now have the chance to amend the complaint and argue that the law can extend to conduct overseas.
In addition, the latest newsletter by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre looks at forced labour in global supply chains.
The deadline for submitting responses to a questionnaire on debt bondage by the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, Ms Urmila Bhoola, has been extended to 15 February 2015. The responses will assist the office of Ms Bhoola in preparing a report on the issue that will be presented to the Human Rights Council in September 2016. The questionnaires, one for States and another for advocates or experts, are available in English, French and Spanish. Read more about the call for information.
Health crises and starvation
Children in parts of South Sudan are on the brink of severe malnourishment, as ongoing conflict and inflation are preventing food reaching some areas, humanitarian workers have warned. While last year the worst malnutrition rates were in conflict zones, food insecurity is now affecting the rest of the country, even in areas deemed relatively safe. “Food insecurity is a massive problem. Last month the market here literally ran out of food. There was nothing on sale,” says Yadessa Gedeffa, a programme officer with UNICEF. “Supplies have to come here by road from Juba and the roads go through the areas where there is fighting, so nothing can get here,” added Alana Mascoll, who oversees a food security project for World Vision.
In Syria, at least 400,000 people are living under siege in 15 towns across the country, as government troops are preventing humanitarian aid reaching civilians in rebel-held towns, using starvation as a weapon of war. At least 35 people have died of starvation in one town alone, according to Doctors Without Borders, and more than 250 others are suffering from severe acute malnutrition. Humanitarian envoys finally reached three towns of Madaya, Foua and Kefraya this week, but aid workers warn that the problem extends beyond those towns.
Responses to blasphemy in Pakistan
Lawmakers in Pakistan have withdrawn a proposal to impose harsher penalties against those who arrange child marriages after a religious body branded it "blasphemous". The Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill 2014, which would also have raised the legal age of marriage for females from 16 to 18 (bringing it in line with the minimum age for males), was rejected by a parliamentary committee on religious affairs following criticism by a representative from the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) who said it was “anti-Islamic”. Recommendations by the CII, which was formed in 1962 to advise parliament on the compatibility of laws with Sharia, are non-binding. Despite this, commentators have criticised that the parliamentary committee yielded to pressure from the CII. The council has in the past come under fire for saying that DNA was inadmissible evidence in rape cases.
Meanwhile a Pakistani boy cut off his own hand after an imam accused him of blasphemy. Mohammad Anwar, 15, from a village in the Punjab province of Pakistan, misheard cleric Shabbir Ahmed speaking during a sermon in which he asked those who did not believe in the prophet Mohammed to raise their hand. After Anwar raised his hand, the cleric accused him of blasphemy in front of the whole congregation. The boy then went home, cut off his own hand, and presented it to the cleric on a plate, according to officers. The imam was later arrested, accused of using hate speech to incite violence and anti-terrorism charges have been filed against him.
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ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN IN FRANCE
France ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1990 and has also ratified the optional protocols to the CRC on children in armed conflict and on the sale of children. Children can generally bring cases through representatives and private prosecutions are allowed. NGOs can intervene in cases to support a civil claim and file cases in front of the European Committee of Social Rights. A children’s ombudsperson receives complaints and intervenes in cases. Specialised tribunals deal with criminal proceedings where children are involved. Children can benefit from legal aid to file cases if they lack resources and are always entitled to it if they are the defendant.
Read the full report on access to justice for children in France.
This report is part of CRIN's access to justice for children project, looking at the status of the CRC in national law, the status of children involved in legal proceedings, the legal means to challenge violations of children’s rights and the practical considerations involved in bringing a case.
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UPCOMING EVENTS
Juvenile justice: Human rights of children deprived of liberty - Improving monitoring mechanisms
Organisation: Defence for Children International
Date: 15 February 2016
Location: Brussels, Belgium
Digital rights: Call for papers - Children & young people's rights in the digital age pre-conference
Organisation: Int’l Association for Media & Communication Research
Submission deadline: 15 February 2016
Event date: 26-27 July 2016
Location: London, United Kingdom
Advocacy: International Children's Peace Prize 2016
Organisation: KidsRights
Nomination deadline: 14 March 2016
Location: N/A
Alternative care: Improving standards of care - systems, policies & practices
Organisation: Udayan Care
Date: 18-19 March 2016
Location: Noida, India
Americas: Requests for hearings & working meetings at the IACHR 157th session
Organisation: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Dates: 2-15 April 2016
Location: Washington DC, United States
Leadership: Future Leaders Programme
Organisation: The Resource Alliance
Event date: 4-8 April 2016
Location: Oxford, United Kingdom
Disability: 32nd Pacific Rim international conference on disability and diversity
Organisation: Center on Disability Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Event date: 25-26 April 2016
Location: Honolulu, United States
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EMPLOYMENT
CRIN: Middle East and North Africa Intern
Application deadline: Rolling deadline
Location: Bethlehem, Palestine
Open Society Foundation: Programme Officer - Early Childhood Programme
Location: London, United Kingdom
Application deadline: 30 January 2016
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JARGON OF THE WEEK: **Radicalisation**
Promoting the use of clear language among children's rights advocates
With terrorism making news headlines almost every day, society’s fear of children being ‘radicalised’ is increasing and often results in excessive measures. Mere use of the words radicalisation and extremism can set off alarm bells, with the idea of children being lured to Syria or Iraq becoming so intense that some governments have begun keeping tabs on children's internet usage. Meanwhile school staff have taken to interviewing children for “inappropriate references to terrorism” and even monitoring toddlers in nurseries.
But before the so-called Islamic State and Al Qaeda, before the Taliban or Boko Haram, there were also radicals. This word used to mean something more than violent extremism and was laden with qualities reflecting freedom of thought and expression, reserved for people with the drive to change the world. Yet today 'radicalisation' has become a fearful term, even resulting in children being accused of extremism for simply exploring their own ideas.
Read more on the issue, as CRIN looks at the concept of ‘radicalisation’ of children and their civil and political rights in more detail.
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