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CHILDREN'S RIGHTS AT THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

Children's rights are given most prominence at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) during its first session of the year, which features the annual day on the rights of the child. This year the annual day focused on information and communication technology (ICTs) and child sexual exploitation. CRIN has been reporting live from the Council’s 31st session all week. The following is a round-up of the highlights so far.
 

ICTs and child sexual exploitation

Day one began on the premise that children’s rights are applicable online as they are offline. But new technology has given rise to new and complex challenges, including streaming which occurs across different jurisdictions and so makes the identification of perpetrators increasingly difficult. The dark web and peer-to-peer connections facilitate the sharing of child abuse material, while virtual currencies complicate things further by creating anonymity for perpetrators.

The Qatari delegation was quick to argue that children’s irresponsible use of ICTs is why they end up victims of sexual exploitation in the first place. The Nordic countries, on the other hand, took a less accusatory and more practical approach, emphasising that education is key to protecting children from exploitation, as it builds their awareness on and resilience against online risks.

On accountability measures, Norwegian journalist Håkon Fostervold Høydal questioned why initiatives used to clamp down on copyright infringement, such as retrieving IP addresses from download logs, were not being replicated for use with those who download child abuse images. Yet when it comes to identifying victims, law enforcement face difficulties as many images and videos of abuse are posted anonymously, according to INTERPOL.
 

State sensitivities and conflicting agendas

Accusations started flying early on, as some States accused the Special Rapporteur (SP) on torture, Juan E. Méndez, of exceeding his mandate by choosing to focus his annual report on issues faced by women, girls and sexual and gender minorities deprived of liberty. Méndez countered these claims, saying it was “high time to examine gender-based crimes through the lens of torture". Yet this thematic focus insulted the sensibilities of some States which criticised Méndez for examining “controversial issues”, with the likes of Saudi Arabia, Iran and Russia calling this “suspicious”, while some delegations said he was “creating a hierarchy of victims”. In response, Méndez clarified it was about giving equal treatment to those “left by the wayside”.

The discord repeated itself with the presentation of the report by the SR on freedom of religion or belief. In the discussion which followed, freedom of expression was seen as running counter to religions, especially in the context of blasphemy laws, under which children also face punishment. Saudi Arabia, perhaps unfamiliar with the concept of freedom of expression, said it had hoped the SR would recommend criminalisation for insulting religion, which the Pakistani delegation said is “an act of incitement to violence”.

States need to be educated in dialogue, said the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, adding that governments should facilitate protests, not stop them. Nonetheless, Egypt insisted that States have the right to take ‘appropriate’ measures for public order during demonstrations, forgetting to remind attendees of its use of the death penalty, torture and mass trials in response to protests.

Criminalising children

The SR on the sale of children pointed out that policies to protect children from sexual exploitation can sometimes result in children themselves being criminalised, even for making sexual content without it being abusive. The SR warned against the practice in some States of putting these children on sex offender registries over instances of mutually consenting sexual activity between children. 

In the area of armed conflict, children are also criminalised for their association with armed groups, said the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict, Leila Zerrougui. She stressed that children who take part in hostilities should be seen as victims instead of being treated as offenders, and warned against bringing such children to trial before courts that do not fully recognise the special status of juveniles before the law, such as military courts.

For more detailed analysis of daily discussions, see our reporting for
Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3.

Follow the rest of CRIN's 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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LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS

Right to privacy & freedom of expression

In the United States, the FBI is instructing high schools to report students who criticise government policies and “western corruption” as potential future terrorists, a move based on the British “anti-terror” mass surveillance programme. Under the new guidelines, the agency warns that “anarchist extremists” are in the same category as so-called Islamic State, and young people who are poor, immigrants or travel to “suspicious” countries are more likely to commit horrific violence. According to news provider AlterNet, the measures are designed to single out Muslim-American students; but the FBI’s overly broad and vague risk factors could mean that any young person could be seen as dangerous and worthy of surveillance, especially if they are socio-economically marginalised or politically outspoken.

Parents in France who upload photos of their children onto social media without their permission could potentially face lawsuits for violating their children’s right to privacy, legal experts have said. Under the country’s stringent privacy laws, penalties for publicising intimate details of others’ private lives without their consent are as severe as a year in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros. "Children at certain stages do not wish to be photographed, still less for those photos to be made public," said Eric Delacroix, expert on internet law and ethics. The issue also relates to children’s security, with some parents being made to remove naked photos of their babies or young children from social networks.

Gender discrimination in textbooks

A new study by UNESCO has found that sexist attitudes and negative stereotyping are "rife" in school textbooks used in developing countries, which it says is a "hidden obstacle" to gender equality. The agency says female figures are mostly represented in textbooks as "nurturing drudges" in domestic roles cooking or caring for a child, and that such portrayals limit girls' career expectations. Male characters, on the other hand, are more likely to be depicted as business leaders, shopkeepers, engineers, scientists and politicians, and are more likely to be depicted than women in science and maths textbooks. "Ensuring all boys and girls go to school is only part of the battle," says Manos Antoninis, senior policy analyst from UNESCO’s global education monitoring report. "What they are being taught is equally, if not more, important. Persistent gender bias in textbooks is sapping girls' motivation, self-esteem and participation in school."

Violence against children

China’s first anti-domestic violence law, which covers protection for women, children and the elderly, entered into force this week. Previously domestic violence was covered under separate legislation, such as the marriage law. One in every four women in China are believed to be victims of domestic violence. In its wider definition of family abuse, the new law recognises differing forms of physical and psychological violence, including beatings, verbal abuse, intimidation and restriction of movement. However, corporal punishment of children is not explicitly banned in the law. According to the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children, there was no evidence that such a ban had been proposed during the drafting process of the law.

In Turkey, a group of Kurdish families have begun a “death fast” in protest at not being able to retrieve the dead bodies of their children from the streets of a besieged district of Diyarbakir months after they were killed in crossfire between state forces and Kurdish militants. Sur district has been under curfew for over 90 days, where Turkish security forces have been trying to force out Kurdish militants, primarily from the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H), who had began digging trenches and erecting barricades in the city. 

Children’s rights in the Americas

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has announced the hearings for its upcoming 157th session in April. Hearings that will address children’s rights issues explicitly will be on:

• the human rights situation of migrant and refugee children and families in the United States;
• sexual violence and human rights of girls and adolescents in Paraguay;
• right of children to food in Guatemala;
• missing children and adolescents in Mexico; and
• national child protection systems in the Americas.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Film: Int'l Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights
Organisation: Various
Event date: 4-13 March 2016
Location: Geneva, Switzerland

Film: Human Rights Watch film festival
Organisation: Human Rights Watch
Dates: 9-18 March 2016
Location: London, United Kingdom

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: 157th session of the IACHR
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

Summer school: Critical interdisciplinary course on children’s rights
Organisation: Various
Application deadline: 15 April 2016 (for scholarship applicants)
Dates: 28 August - 9 September 2016
Location: Ghent, Belgium

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

Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict: Research Officer
Application deadline: 31 March 2016
Location: New York City, United States

LEAK OF THE WEEK

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