CRINmail 1469
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LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS
Freedom of religion and expression
In Egypt three Coptic Christian teenagers were sentenced to five years in prison for insulting Islam in a mobile phone video. The three are aged between 15 and 17 years old, while another boy of 15 was sent to juvenile detention for an indefinite period. Defence lawyer Maher Naguib said the four were merely mocking the beheadings carried out by jihadists of the Islamic State group. Ahead of the sentencing, the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF), an independent rights group, concurred that the four teenagers were performing scenes "imitating slaughter carried out by terrorist groups". Naguib says he will appeal the judgment. According to the ECRF, the boys had been detained for 45 days and subjected to "ill-treatment" before being released pending trial.
In the United States, legal rules on mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse by religious officials, even in the context of confessions, have been struck down by a Louisiana judge on the basis that they violate the clergy’s freedom of religion. The ruling was made in relation to a lawsuit alleging negligence by the Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge for the alleged sexual abuse in 2008 of a 14-year-old girl by a 64-year-old parishioner. The victim had spoken of the abuse to Reverend Bayhi during confession, but he failed to notify anyone, allowing the abuse to continue. Bayhi testified that, had he reported the suspected abuse, he would have been automatically excommunicated from the Church for breaking the sanctity of confession. Judge Caldwell concurred, saying that Article 609 A(1) of the state’s Child Code violated Bayhi’s right to free exercise of religion under the First Amendment of the Constitution. The ruling is subject to an immediate appeal to the Louisiana Supreme Court.
Sexual violence accountability
Two men have been sentenced to more than 100 years in prison each forf orcing women and girls into sexual and domestic slavery during Guatemala’s civil war, in what marks the first time anywhere in the world that sexual violence in an armed conflict has been successfully prosecuted in the country where the crimes took place. Francisco Reyes Giron, the commander of a military base, was found guilty of holding 15 women in sexual and domestic slavery and for killing one woman and her two daughters. Heriberto Valdez Asij, a paramilitary, was convicted for the same case, as well as the forced disappearance of seven men. During the 20 days of testimony one victim who was as young as 12 at the time of the crimes, testified to being tortured and thrown into a pit. The ruling is the country’s first on sexual violence committed during Guatemala's 36-year civil war.
An investigation by the Washington Post has revealed that many more women than first suspected may have been raped by UN peacekeepers in the Central African Republic. The scandal, which first broke in early 2014 and has been in the news since, has led to troops being expelled, senior UN employees being fired and new leadership taking responsibility for the peacekeeping mission. Despite continued UN investigations into what has been happening, and what led to the culture of impunity, little has been done to punish the perpetrators or give justice to the victims. Many human rights organisations have called for a better system of accountability and for States to prosecute peacekeepers who commit crimes while deployed abroad.
Australia’s most senior Catholic priest has admitted that an institutionalised culture of disbelief allowed children being abused by priests to go unheard. Speaking to the Royal Commission on institutional responses to child sexual abuse via videolink, Cardinal George Pell claimed that when he first heard allegations of priests sexually abusing children in the 1970s, he was “strongly inclined” to believe the priests’ version of events, but has since learned that a cover-up took place to hide the truth from him. Cardinal Pell has been giving evidence from Rome as he is too sick to fly to Australia, though some victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in Australia have flown to Italy to watch him testify.
HIV and sexual discrimination
In a legal first for Italy, a family court in Rome has approved a lesbian couple’s request to simultaneously adopt each other’s daughters. The two women made their application under current laws which say a child’s right to “ongoing affection” should be paramount in deciding whether to grant adoption requests. The couple’s lawyer said each of the children “has a biological parent and a social parent who share parental responsibility fully and equally.” The move comes after Italy’s senate approved a law last week allowing same sex civil unions, despite the ruling Democratic Party bowing to pressure to remove provisions guaranteeing homosexuals who enter such unions the right to adopt their partner’s children. The Democratic Party is now planning to table a separate bill which will seek to give gay, unmarried couples and single people the same rights as married couples when it comes to adoption.
All children except one boy were taken out of a school by their parents in western Sri Lanka amid false rumors that the 6-year-old has AIDS, prompting school officials to say they will hold an awareness-raising session with parents. The boy’s mother said many other schools had rejected him because her husband's death had been wrongly blamed on AIDS, despite the boy having a certificate proving he does not have the disease. She said parents had tried to pressure her to remove her son from the school, but she refused. The regional education director, Saman Wijesekara, said parents of all 186 pupils had formally asked to stop attending the school. Sri Lanka is considered to have a very low prevalence of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, with fewer than 0.1 percent of the population being carriers. But there is low awareness of the virus and how it spreads, which leads to stigma and discrimination.
Violence and firearms
Also in the US, lawmakers in Iowa have passed a bill that allows children of all ages to handle guns and will now head to the state senate for a final vote. The bill permits children under the age of 14 to have handguns while under parental supervision. State representative Kirsten Running-Marquardt who opposes the bill said it “allows for one-year-olds, two-year-olds, three-year-olds, four-year-olds to operate handguns”. Currently in Iowa, children can legally use long guns and shotguns under adult supervision but not handguns. However this bill would allow the use of handguns as long as parents are 21 years old and maintain “visual and verbal contact at all times with the supervised person". In addition, a recent study reveals how the firearms industry and the National Rifle Association are targeting children as the next generation of customers. Strategies have in the past included sponsoring and giving firearms to youth groups including Boy Scouts, endorsing handgun competitions for young people, and advertising rifles for "junior shooters" in magazines.
During the recent Ugandan elections in which President Yoweri Museveni extended his 30-year rule, there have been six cases of mutilation and murder of children, believed to bring good luck to candidates, a children's charity said. "Child sacrifice cases are common during election time as some people believe blood sacrifices will bring wealth and power," said Shelin Kasozi of Kyampisi Childcare Ministries, a charity that cares for survivors of attempted child sacrifice. Though suspects have been apprehended, the cases have yet to go to court. In 2015 seven children and six adult sacrifices were reported in the country. Human sacrifices have been coupled with increasing attacks on albino people in Africa, linked to a growing demand from political hopefuls for body parts prized in black magic in the run up to elections in several African countries.
Corrections
In last week’s CRINmail we said that the Human Rights Council was holding its annual day on the rights of the child on Monday, 29 February and that CRIN would be reporting live from Geneva that week. This was incorrect. The annual day will be held on Monday, 7 March, and CRIN will be reporting from the event between 7-10 March.
The theme of the annual day is information and communication technologies and sexual exploitation. CRIN will provide daily round-ups of discussions in our newsletter on Children’s Rights at the UN, which you can subscribe to here. You can also follow our live coverage on Twitter at@CRINwire and the hashtag #HRC31.
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CASE STUDY: Mandatory death penalty in Bangladesh voided after 14-year legal battle
Sentenced to death for a crime allegedly committed when he was just 14, a Bangladeshi boy’s case became the centre of a lengthy legal battle which ultimately led to mandatory executions being declared unconstitutional. Read the 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 asstrategic 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
Film: Int'l Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights
Organisation: Various
Event date: 4-13 May 2016
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Film: Human Rights Watch film festival
Organisation: Human Rights Watch
Dates: 9-18 March 2016
Location: London
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
Funding opportunity: Call for proposals from organisations supporting unaccompanied and separated children and youth in Greece
Organisation: European Programme for Integration and Migration - Epim
Application deadline: 31 March 2016
Location: Greece
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
Child rights: Online foundation course on children's rights
Organisation: Human Rights Education Associates
Event date: 27 April - 7 June 2016
Location: Online
Child rights: Online course on child safeguarding
Organisation: Human Rights Education Associates
Event date: 27 April - 7 June 2016
Location: Online
Alternative care: International alternative care conference
Organisation: University of Geneva and Institut de droits l’enfant
Event dates: 3-5 October 2016
Deadline for travel subsidies & poster applications: 1 May 2016
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Child rights: Geneva summer school on children's rights
Organisation: University of Geneva
Course dates: 6-17 June 2016
Application deadline: 1 May 2016
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Digital rights: Children & young people's rights in the digital age pre-conference
Organisation: Int’l Association for Media & Communication Research
Event date: 26-27 July 2016
Location: London, United Kingdom
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EMPLOYMENT
CRIN: Middle East and North Africa Intern
Application deadline: Rolling deadline
Location: Bethlehem, Palestine
International Social Services: Consultancy - Training tool for those working with children in need of alternative care
Application deadline: 17 March 2016
Location: N/A
UNICEF Office of Research: Research & Evaluation Specialist (Migration Research)
Application deadline: 19 March 2016
Location: Florence, Italy
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JARGON OF THE WEEK: **Pathfinder**
Promoting the use of clear language among children’s rights advocates
Contrary to first impressions you don’t need a compass or map-reading skills to be a pathfinder in the advocacy world. All you need are good ideas and will to follow these through.
The meaning of pathfinder is as literal as meanings can get - a person who finds or shows others a path. But nowadays the word is being used in the figurative sense to describe either individuals who or organisations and States which take the lead on a particular issue. And it’s in this figurative use of the word that language becomes idealistic.
Luckily, those behind the bid to romanticise human rights language stopped at pathfinder - imagine calling a State a torch-bearer or guiding light.
Nonetheless, romanticism is the domain of novelists, not report writers, whose role it is to describe things plainly and for what they are, e.g. an organisation leading on the issue of XXX, or a pioneering advocate.
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