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In this issue:

LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS

Discrimination on school grounds

The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has ruled that children living with or affected by HIV have a right to education, free from harassment and discrimination. The ruling came in relation to the case of a five-year-old boy who was denied admission to school because he was believed to be HIV positive, with the court holding that the government had an obligation to ensure protection of the human rights of people living with HIV. The UN praised the 28 April ruling, arguing that it would set a precedent for future cases in the country where discrimination is alleged in employment, education, or any other aspect of life based on whether or not a person is HIV positive. The decision is the first of its kind in South Asia, a region in which no country has yet passed a national law addressing discrimination against people with HIV.

In France, a 15-year-old Muslim girl has been banned from class twice for wearing a long, black skirt considered by the headteacher to “conspicuously” show religious affiliation, in a case that has sparked an outcry. Wearing religious symbols, such as veils, the Jewish kippa or large Christian crosses, in schools is banned by France’s strict secularity laws, but “discreet religious signs” are allowed. The student said the skirt is “nothing special, it’s very simple, there’s nothing conspicuous. There is no religious sign whatsoever”. In a similar case last year a Muslim girl was allowed to return to school in her usual attire after being barred from classes for wearing a long, black skirt – again, deemed to be a religious symbol. Both cases renewed use of the hashtag #JePorteMaJupeCommeJeVeux (I wear my skirt as I please). According to the CCIF Islamophobia watchdog, about 130 students were rejected from class last year for outfits deemed too openly religious.

The Japanese government is failing to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) children from school bullying, Human Rights Watch has found in a new report. Japan’s national bullying prevention policy does not include any mention of the specific vulnerabilities of LGBT students, as officials insist that no child is any more vulnerable to bullying than another. What’s more, the school curriculum fails to address LGBT issues and teachers are inadequately trained on gender and sexuality. The latter in particular has led to cases in which teachers have told LGBT students to avoid bullying by conforming to social norms, and that by being openly gay or transgender they are being selfish and should expect not to succeed in school. Japan’s bullying prevention policy is up for review in 2016 amid a growing national debate on equal rights for LGBT people.

Child refugees detained, camps to close

Kenya plans to close all its refugee camps, including the world's largest, Dadaab, on the Kenya-Somalia border, in a move that would displace well over 600,000 people. The government said it was shutting down the camps due to “very heavy” economic, security and environmental concerns, citing the influence of terror group Al-Shabaab as among the risks of keeping the camps open. It is not yet clear when the closures will begin, but the government has already disbanded the Department of Refugee Affairs, which worked with NGOs on welfare of the refugees. Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty International's director in East Africa said that “This reckless decision by the Kenyan government is an abdication of its duty to protect the vulnerable and will put thousands of lives at risk. It could lead to the involuntary return of thousands of refugees to Somalia and other countries of origin, where their lives may still be in danger. This would be in violation of Kenya’s obligations under international law.”

A 16-year-old Syrian asylum seeker, who travelled through nine countries to the United Kingdom was unlawfully detained by the Home Office for almost a month because officials did not believe his age. The child’s uncle, who lives in the UK, had the boy’s Syrian passport, certificate of basic preparatory education and his civil registration record, all showing his date of birth as 25 August 1999. The boy said he had been kidnapped by Syrian government officials, tortured and forced to work transporting ammunition for the war, and a medical report carried out by a Home Office doctor confirmed he had injuries consistent with torture. However the official who handled the boy’s case declined to look at the documentation, deciding he was over 18. He was then detained at an immigration removal centre. Between January 2015 and March 2016 more than 30 children were unlawfully detained as adults and later released, but the Refugee Council says it believes there are many more such cases it is not aware of. 

Children’s rights and the environment

Air pollutants from traffic may be partly to blame for the rise in the number of babies with birth defects in South Korea, according to Korean researchers. A key finding is that an expectant mother’s exposure to the pollutants as well as to endocrine disruptors – chemicals that, at certain doses, can interfere with the hormone system in humans - can negatively affect a developing child, the paper by Inha University found. Its authors say chemicals such as pesticides and Bisphenol A - which is primarily used to make plastics - have been reported to affect human pregnancies, and may be linked to the number of defects in Korean newborns’ genital and urinary systems. Increases have been recorded in the rates of babies born with undescended testis; hypospadias, where the urinary opening is not on the head of the penis; and cryptorchidism, the absence of one or both testes from the scrotum. The findings support overseas research linking traffic-related air pollutants and exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals with malformations in newborns, especially in industrialised countries.

Children’s rights and the environment will be the focus of the 2016 Day of General Discussion by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, with registration for the event and the call for submissions opening last week. The Day will take place on Friday, 23 September at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. Those interested in attending will need to contact the Committee’s secretariat by 1 September. Meanwhile written submissions will be accepted until 31 July on issues related to the following thematic areas:

• the impact of environmental harm on children’s rights;
• the role of children as agents of change in the environmental context;
• state obligations regarding the rights of the child in relation to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment; and
• the role of the business sector.  

Click here for more information.
 

Trafficking and exploitation

Police in the United Kingdom have identified 982 cases of children potentially being trafficked into the country for labour or sexual exploitation, according to the latest statistics from the National Crime Agency. According to its data, close to 1,000 children had been flagged up as potential victims of trafficking in 2015, up from 671 in 2014, while children’s charity Barnardo's suggested that this figure was only the tip of the iceberg. Albanian, Vietnamese and British children were identified as the most likely victims, with a sharp rise in the number of referrals of children from Eritrea being reported during the last year. The ongoing refugee crisis is believed by some to be responsible for growing numbers of trafficked children, with as many as 10,000 unaccompanied migrant and refugee children believed to have gone missing in Europe over the last two years.

Former child soldiers in Somalia are allegedly being forced to work as spies for the government in programmes financially supported by the CIA. Sources inside the US-funded Somali intelligence agency confirmed to theWashington Post that hundreds of children were being detained in case they could be used as assets in the battle against al Qaeda affiliate Al Shabaab. Several of the children interviewed explained that they were placed in danger, or asked to point out others who had links to terrorist groups after they themselves defected. The United States has given $330million to Somalia in military assistance despite its own laws against aiding countries which use children as soldiers.

To read more about how military recruitment of children - whether voluntary or compulsory - violates their human rights, read our position and the role of international law in recruitment of under-18s, read our minimum ages paper. 

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CASE STUDY: Sex education stalemate in Croatia after decades of disagreement 

A collective complaint before the European Committee of Social Rights exposed discrimination in the material being taught in Croatian sex education classes but did not manage to cement a better system. Sex education in Croatia remains a divisive issue between religious and secular campaigners and teachers to this day.

Read the full case study.

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 and looking at the outcomes and the impact of the case. 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

Justice: Juvenile justice in Europe - Past, present and future? 
Organisation: University of Liverpool et al
Date: 26-27 May 2016
Location: Liverpool, United Kingdom

Child rights: Summer school on the rights of the child
Organisation: University of Nottingham
Application deadline: 1 June 2016
Event date: 27 June – 1 July 2016
Location: Nottingham, United Kingdom

Child rights: Summer school on children’s rights
Organisation: Leiden University
Application deadline: 1 June 2016
Court date: 11-15 July 2016
Location: Leiden and The Hague, Netherlands

Investment: Why Europe needs to invest in children
Organisation: Eurochild
Date: 5-7 July 2016
Location: Brussels, Belgium

Statelessness: StatelessKids Youth Congress
Organisation: European Network on Statelessness
Dates: 11-13 July 2016
Location: Brussels, Belgium 

South Asia: Submissions for journal - ‘Institutionalised Children: Explorations and Beyond’  
Organisation: Udayan Care
Abstract deadline: 15 July 2016

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

Violence: 21st ISPCAN International Congress on Child Abuse and Neglect
Organisation: International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN)
Dates: 28-31 August 2016
Location: Calgary, Canada

Participation: Young Citizens & Society: Fostering Civic Participation
Organisation: University of Strathclyde
Dates: 2-3 September 2016
Location: Glasgow, Scotland

Alternative care: International alternative care conference
Organisation: University of Geneva and Institut de droits l’enfant
Event dates: 3-5 October 2016
Location: Geneva, Switzerland

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EMPLOYMENT

CRIN: Web Manager and IT Support
Location: London, United Kingdom
Application deadline: Until filled

CRIN: Middle East and North Africa Intern
Location: Bethlehem, Palestine
Application deadline: Rolling deadline

Oak Foundation: Director of the Child Abuse Programme
Application deadline: 31 May 2015
Location: Geneva, Switzerland

Council of Europe: Policy Adviser (child rights)
Application deadline: 24 June 2016
Location: Strasbourg, France 

THE LAST WORD

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