CRINmail 1466
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LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS
Health, survival & gender
Twelve children have died from an outbreak of waterborne and viral diseases which have plagued the drought-hit Tharparkar district of Sindh, Pakistan, raising the death toll to 138 this month alone. The region has been devastated by a drought, with severe malnutrition among children becoming common. Civil society organisations and local activists in the region have expressed their anger and concern over the lack of response by local authorities whose inaction they say is worsening the situation. Local leaders have said if the regional Sindh government continues to address the crisis inadequately they will need to request direct intervention from the federal government.
Advising women and girls in Latin America not to become pregnant is not an effective policy response to the spread of the Zika virus, said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, as he showed support for women’s reproductive rights. The World Health Organization has declared a public health emergency of international scale amid concerns of a possible association between upsurges in reported cases of Zika virus disease and of microcephaly in the region. “In Zika-affected countries that have restrictive laws governing women’s reproductive rights, the situation facing women and girls is particularly stark on a number of levels,” said the UN rights chief, especially in situations “where sexual violence is rampant, and sexual and reproductive health services are criminalised, or simply unavailable.”
The true global scale of female genital mutilation (FGM) has been revealed in a new publication by UNICEF which suggests at least 200 million girls and women have undergone ritual cutting, half of them living in just three countries. The latest worldwide figures include nearly 70 million more girls and women than the last global estimate in 2014, largely because of new data being collected in Indonesia. In the analysis of 30 countries, statistics show women in Indonesia, Egypt and Ethiopia account for half of all FGM victims worldwide. Somalia has the highest prevalence of women and girls who have been cut – 98 percent of the female population between the ages of 15 and 49.
First payment, then rights
The mayor of a town in central Italy has come under fire for proposing that the children of tax dodgers be banned from public playgrounds and refused school lunches. “Taxes are used to finance services, and those who don’t pay, don’t have the right to use them,” said Michela Rosetta, the mayor of San Germano Vercellese, a small village of around 1,800 inhabitants, which has a tax deficit to the tune of €100,000. Other measures to tackle the problem include no longer handing out free rubbish bags and stopping waste collections until payment is made. However, some groups within the community have complained that children should not be punished for their parents’ failure to pay taxes.
A school in Zimbabwe that had refused to release exam results to one of its pupils because she had not paid her outstanding school fees has now done so after a human rights organisation threatened court action. The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) wrote to the school arguing that withholding the results was a violation of the child’s right to education and development, explaining that the decision “has a bearing on her future life and livelihood” as it prevented her from furthering her studies, progressing with her learning and fully achieving her potential. Previously in 2009, a court ruled that withholding exam results is a legitimate way to enforce payment. But the ZLHR contends that “the best interests of the child are the supreme consideration and limiting a child’s rights as a debt recovery scheme cannot be countenanced at law,” the organisation said in its letter to the school.
Access to justice and child protection
In India, five out of six roles on the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights remain unfilled, taking the body into its fifth month of inactivity. The commission is supposed to hear complaints and protect children’s rights in Delhi, India but has allegedly been rendered ‘toothless’ by the ongoing lack of qualified volunteers. Ministry officials have assured journalists that the posts will soon be filled but pressure is mounting to speed up the process after the body of a six-year-old was found inside a water tank.
Sexual abuse of children in the Catholic church has hit the headlines again after a member of the Pope’s sex abuse panel refused to step down until ordered to do so by the pontiff himself. Peter Saunders, a survivor of sexual abuse in the church was told to take a leave from working on the panel by other members to “consider how he might best support the commission's work”. Saunders had previously called for active investigations of priests suspected of abusing children and insisted that police should be involved rather than making it an internal issue for the church.
Sexual and genetic discrimination
Thirty-two young LGBT Mormons have reportedly taken their own lives since early November - when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the United States announced an anti-gay policy labelling people in same-sex marriages "apostates" and barring their children from being baptised. All of the victims are between the ages of 14 and 20 years, and all but six of the suicides occurred in the state of Utah. The 15 million-member Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that acting on feelings of "same-sex attraction" is a sin, and excommunicates gay and lesbian members who decline to remain celibate.
Also in the US a school in California suspended a 15-year-old child from attending classes because he has genetic markers associated with cystic fibrosis, according to the sixth grader’s parents who have filed a lawsuit against the Palo Alto school district alleging genetic discrimination. The family disclosed the DNA information to the school when filling out a medical form, after which staff revealed the results to the parents of two siblings at the same school who have cystic fibrosis. The school tried to transfer the boy to another school on medical grounds, because people suffering from inherited lung disease are especially vulnerable to cross-infection from other sufferers, so health mandates stipulate that such children cannot attend the same class. However, genetic markers are no guarantee of contracting a disease, and the boy has since not developed cystic fibrosis. The boy was eventually allowed to return after missing several weeks. His family first sued the Palo Alto school district in 2013, but the local district court dismissed the case. In January it was appealed to the federal Ninth Circuit court.
Calls for submissions
The Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children is inviting stakeholders to take part in a consultation process aimed to inform and shape the Partnership’s strategy. An online form is available in English,French and Spanish. Hard copy submissions are also accepted. The deadline for submitting feedback is 15 March 2016. Further information is available at www.end-violence.org/consultation.html
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is inviting submissions for the preparation of its General Comment on children in street situations. Submissions should address the four chosen questions relating to issues such as freedom of association and assembly (CRC article 15), the right to special protection and assistance for children deprived of a family environment (article 20), the right to an adequate standard of living (article 27), among others. The deadline for submissions is 12 April 2016.
Plan International and Centre for Children's Rights at Queen's University Belfast are looking for examples of budgeting initiatives that involve children at national, sub-national, municipal and local levels. Researchers are seeking contacts for some research on these initiatives and would be grateful if those who have good examples contact Chelsea Marshall ([email protected])
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ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN IN ISRAEL
Israel has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child but it does not have the force of law and cannot be directly applied by the courts. Its provisions have, however, been extensively cited as a source of interpretative guidance. Children cannot bring civil cases to challenge violations of their rights independently; rather they must be assisted by a legal representative. The representative is usually a parent or a court-appointed guardian. Where the violation amounts to a crime, the proceedings are typically brought by the Attorney-General and private prosecution is an option only in relation to some minor offences. Legal aid is available to children and their representatives for certain types of civil and judicial review cases if the financial eligibility criteria are met and if it can be shown that the claim has a reasonable chance of succeeding.
Read the full report on access to justice for children in Israel.
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
Training: Online course on child rights situation analysis
Organisation: Human Rights Education Associates
Dates: 3 February - 15 March 2016
Location: Online
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
Film: Human Rights Watch film festival
Organisation: HRW
Dates: 9 March - 18 November 2016
Location: London, Toronto, New York, Nairobi
Violence: Child abuse linked to a belief in witchcraft and juju
Organisation: AFRUCA
Date: 10 March 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
UN: Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories
Application deadline: 11 February 2016
Location: Various
CRIN: Legal Research Assistant
Application deadline: 29 February 2016
Location: London, United Kingdom
CRIN: Middle East and North Africa Intern
Application deadline: Rolling deadline
Location: Bethlehem, Palestine
IFEX: Head of Member and Network Development
Application deadline: 29 February 2016
Location: Toronto, Canada
LEAK OF THE WEEK
Getting a scholarship is usually based on financial need and academic achievement, not on whether you’re still a virgin. Unless you’re a prospective university student from South Africa’s uThukela district, where female-only recipients of the aptly named Maiden’s Bursary Award must be virgins and undergo regular virginity tests. Recently awarded to 16 young Zulu women, they are required to be 'tested' during university term holidays, and if they are suspected of having had sex - with no mention of the issue of consent - they will lose their bursary.
Supporters of the bursary programme claim that it helps young women stay focused on their education and avoid unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. But critics say it is a “misguided” policy because it sends the message to young female pupils that opportunity to education only comes about by not having sex. The NGO Lawyers for Human Rights says the award holds girls to a different sexual standard than boys, entrenching gender inequality.
Moreover, South Africa’s minister of social development, Bathabile Dlamini, said that while it is illegal for girls under the age of 18 to be subjected to virginity testing, those over 18 can if they give informed consent -- but "this does not include coercion through making access to resources to study a condition for that support. That is discrimination and not consent."
Full story.
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