CRINmail 1465
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LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS
Declining juvenile justice standards
At least 250 children in Bahrain are in prison on political grounds, according to a new report by the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR). Anti-government protests have been an almost daily occurrence since February 2011, the year in which the Arab Spring civil uprisings arose in countries in the Middle East and North Africa. But the Bahraini regime has responded with violent repression from the start, killing, injuring and imprisoning scores of protesters. The BCHR has also called on the government to stop detaining and interrogating children on terrorism charges. For example 17-year-old Ahmad al-Arab was recently sentenced to 130 years in prison on charges of protesting against the ruling Al Khalifah royal family and for alleged terror acts. Human rights groups have criticised the Bahraini judiciary for handing down such jail terms to protesters and activists.
In Kyrgyzstan a new draft law seeks to make terrorism and religious extremism punishable from the age of 14 years. Acts that would fall under these proposed offences include taking part in armed conflict in a foreign State, financing terrorist activities, and showing support for terrorism. The draft law also proposes that statutes of limitations, parole, and less severe sentences not apply in cases involving children. Kyrgyz children aged 16 and over can already be held criminally liable for any offence, but the age of criminal responsibility is as low as 14 for certain offences, such as killing, theft and kidnapping.
A recently approved law in India, which allows child offenders aged 16 and above to be tried as adults for certain offences, is being challenged over whether it violates the constitution. The new Juvenile Justice Act stipulates that in cases in which over-16s are alleged to have committed a heinous offence, such as rape or murder, the Juvenile Justice Board will determine if the offender is to be sent for rehabilitation or tried as an adult. An analysis of the bill by the Centre for Child and the Law draws attention to the fact that treating juvenile offenders as adults contradicts the Convention on the Rights of the Child and ignores fundamental differences between adolescents and adults, which establish children’s diminished culpability.
Children’s rights organisations are being invited to get involved in the Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty. The Study will be collecting and examining information on the situation of children in detention and will look at all forms of child detention. Read more at www.childrendeprivedofliberty.info and sign up to be a signatory here.
Inhuman sentencing of children revisited
The United States Supreme Court has ruled that people serving sentences of life imprisonment for murder committed as teenagers must have the chance to apply for parole, and this right can be applied retroactively. The decision is an extension of a 2012 ruling by the Supreme Court which struck down automatic life sentences without the possibility of parole for child offenders. The latest ruling, which came in relation to the case of a man who has been in prison for more than 50 years for murder committed as a 17-year-old, will allow those convicted a long time ago to be considered for parole or given a new sentence. The ruling, however, does not obligate judges to grant parole; rather it means states can offer a parole hearing with no guarantee of release. Since the 2012 ruling, only 18 states have allowed former child offenders to ask for their release or be given new prison terms. Read CRIN’s summary of the latest ruling here.
In Iran, more child offenders have been executed under President Hassan Rouhani during 2014-2015 than at any time during the past five years, Amnesty International has revealed in a new report. The 2014-2015 period saw at least three executions of child offenders, with at least 160 others on death row. Dr Ahmed Shaheed, the UN expert on human rights in Iran said that “piecemeal” measures on capital punishment are not enough. The situation in Iran is repeated in other States, however, which have either increased executions or reintroduced the death penalty, as is the case in Pakistan. Read CRIN’s country report on inhuman sentencing of children in Iran.
Privacy and autonomy
In Tajikistan, proposed amendments to a law on parental responsibility seek to make internet providers disclose free information to parents about their children’s internet surfing history. The existing law regulates children’s access to information for the purpose of education "in the spirit of humanism and patriotism." But media reports say it is unclear if there are mechanisms preventing personal data being disclosed to third parties, even if these are parents. Meanwhile the authors of the new proposal say the move will protect children from "terrorist and extremist organisations, violence and bad taste." While the definition of “bad taste” is unclear, some commentators suggest it refers to materials that are “alien to the national culture”.
The Zika virus could push countries in Latin America to change restrictive laws on women’s reproductive health care, some international reproductive rights experts have suggested. In a region where more than half of all pregnancies are unplanned, there are calls for governments to make contraception and abortions accessible to women in order to prevent the most harmful impact of the untreatable Zika virus, which poses an acute risk to maternal and foetal health. Latin America is also the region with the second highest rate of teenage pregnancies in the world, as well as being the only region where the number of births by girls under the age of 15 has increased. Four of the six countries in the world that have a no-exceptions ban on abortion have either already been affected by the Zika virus or are in its current path. The World Health Organization has warned that the virus is expected to reach across the entire Western hemisphere, with four million cases projected to arise before the close of 2016.
Child migrants and refugees
In the United States, the foster care programme responsible for placing unaccompanied migrant children in foster homes failed to conduct basic checks on the adults accepting a child, which resulted in children being placed with human traffickers and people who forced children to carry our exploitative labour, according to a report from the US Senate. The report found that the processes for protecting unaccompanied children from human traffickers are not regular or transparent, with no federal agency taking responsibility for their welfare. The report admitted that government procedures “may well have contributed to trafficking or other forms of abuse” of children. The report was commissioned after six unaccompanied Guatemalan children were placed with human traffickers and forced to work up to 12 hours a day under the threat of death.
Australia's High Court has ruled that the government's policy of detaining asylum seekers offshore is legal, a decision which paves the way for more than 250 people, including 37 babies and around 50 other children, to be deported to a detention camp on the tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru. Australia intercepts all boats carrying people seeking asylum and takes those on board to offshore detention centres in Nauru or to Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. But rights groups have reported harsh conditions, violence and abuse at the centres, as well as “epidemic” levels of self-harm among detainees. UNICEF has said it is "unreasonable" for Australia to "shift responsibility" to developing countries. In its decision, the High Court rejected a challenge brought by lawyers for one detainee who argued the policy was unconstitutional. But the judges did stress that people cannot legally be held in camps indefinitely.
More than 10,000 refugee children have gone missing in Europe, potentially falling victim to sex traffickers or modern slavery, according to Europol. The European Union law enforcement body claims the numbers relate to the last 18-24 months as refugee numbers have surged and the organisation believes a “criminal infrastructure” was established in 2014 to traffic the thousands of people fleeing conflict and persecution. While acknowledging that not all the children will be criminally exploited, as some might now be with family members, “we just don’t know where they are, what they’re doing or whom they are with,” said Europol’s chief of staff Brian Donald.
In Sweden, a gang of masked people took to the streets of Stockholm at the weekend, handing out leaflets inciting violence against refugees and threatening to give "the North African street children who are roaming around" the "punishment they deserve”. The group, reported to have included up to 100 men, wore balaclavas and armbands and have been connected to gangs of Swedish football hooligans in the capital.
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ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN IN INDIA
India ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1992, and has also ratified the optional protocols on children in armed conflict and on the sale of children. Even if the CRC does not have the force of law and does not prevail over domestic legislation, courts often refer to it and interpret domestic legislation in accordance with it. Children can bring cases through a “next friend”, who are generally the parents. However, if the best interest of the child dictates otherwise, a legal guardian may be appointed. Public interest litigation is available for children directly or through their representatives to challenge laws and government actions that violate children’s rights. Many institutions can receive human rights complaints: the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights, the National Human Rights Commission, and state commissions. Children involved in juvenile justice or child welfare proceedings have the right to be represented at the expense of the government and are automatically eligible for legal aid in other cases. Specialised courts exist for child offenders, child victims, and specifically child victims of sexual abuse. In these courts, children have the right to privacy and confidentiality. Periods of limitation do not begin running for children until they reach the age of majority. The major obstacles to access to justice for children are the inapplicability of secular law to some regions of the country and in family matters for certain religious areas, corruption and inefficiency.
Read the full report on access to justice for children in India.
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
Armed conflict: Int'l conference on the impact of armed conflict on children and youth
Organisation: ANPPCAN and ISPCAN
Dates: 7-10 February 2016
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Funding opportunity: NGOs and social enterprises with a focus on children and youth
Organisation: Epic Foundation
Application deadline: 10 February 2016
Location: Global
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
Violence: Child abuse linked to a belief in witchcraft and juju
Organisation: AFRUCA
Date: 10 March 2015
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
Save the Children Sweden: Programme Development Manager
Application deadline: 7 February 2016
Location: Khartoum, Sudan
JARGON OF THE WEEK
Promoting the use of clear language among children's rights advocates
Who knew that forming partnerships could be so confusing - especially those encouraged by the Sustainable Development Goals. In particular Goal 17 on building global partnerships, which, despite identifying “policy coherence” as a systemic issue, is less than coherent.
For example, take the objective to “strengthen domestic resource mobilisation”. Note to self: partnering the word resource with mobilisation does not make for easy reading.
There’s also the objective to “implement investment promotion regimes”, which could make a reader wonder if implementation will take place under dictatorships.
When writing your organisation's goals or policies on partnerships it's important to keep the language simple, because something which is key for successful partnerships - as for any relationship - is communication and understanding.
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