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LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS  

Armed conflict and state violence

The first ICC trial to focus on rape as a war crime has seen Jean-Pierre Bemba, the former vice-president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, sentenced to 18 years in prison for rape and pillage committed by his troops. Bemba is now the highest-level official to be sentenced at the Court. Karen Naimer, director of the sexual violence in conflict zones programme at Physicians for Human Rights, said that the sentence marked a “critical turning point”, bringing a “measure of closure” to the victims who have waited a long time for this day to come. Echoing her sentiments, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, emphasised the importance of this judgment for international criminal justice and sexual and gender-based crimes in particular. This landmark decision is the first occasion on which rape has been recognised as a weapon of war; it also represents the first recognition of the doctrine of command responsibility, whereby a leader may be held accountable for the actions of their subordinates. Bemba’s lawyers stated that they would be appealing the conviction and pressing for a mistrial.

A UN-mandated human rights inquiry has concluded that the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is responsible for committing genocide against Yazidis, amounting to crimes against humanity and war crimes. These findings have been documented in a new report which emphasised the Yazidi people’s subjection to the “most horrific of atrocities”. The report details how ISIS has sought to “erase the Yazidis through killings”, and contains detailed information of abuses specifically affecting children. The Yazidis’ faith has been publicly declared by ISIS as the reason for their persecution and men and boys aged over 12 years old are routinely separated from their families and executed should they refuse to convert. Women and girls are still being held captive in their thousands, subjected to sexual slavery and a multitude of other abuses. The report calls for an end to impunity for the crimes carried out against the Yazidi people and urgent action on the part of the UN Security Council, whether through referring the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC) or by setting up an ad hoc tribunal for the prosecution of rights violations.

At least eight Syrians, including four children, have been shot dead by Turkish border guards at a crossing north of the jihadist-controlled Syrian town of Jisr al-Shugour, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Turkish authorities claim that the accusation is unjust, insisting that only warning shots were fired in an effort to disperse the group, adding that it is under immense pressure from the EU to stop the flow of Syrian refugees trying to reach Europe. The organisation claims that more than 60 Syrians have been shot fleeing across the border into Turkey.

Meanwhile, a 15-year-old Palestinian boy has been shot dead, with four other teenagers injured by Israeli troops near the West Bank city of Ramallah. This was in response to an earlier incident of a Palestinian youth throwing stones and molotov cocktails at Israeli settlers, causing injuries. The teenagers were travelling in a car between villages just west of Ramallah when their vehicle came under a “shower” of Israeli fire. Having initially declared Mahmoud as one of the “terrorists” responsible for the stone-throwing, Israeli media later clarified that he was an innocent bystander. Mahmoud’s is the latest killing in a grave increase in fatalities since last October as tensions continue to escalate.

Refugee and migrants children

Plans to close Kenya’s Dadaab camp, the largest refugee camp in the world, have been challenged by the country’s commission on human rights. The government announced its intention to close the camp last month due to the heavy economic, environmental and security burdens that housing more than 300,000 refugees entailed, but opponents claimed the move would be illegal, and would negatively affect all of the refugees in the makeshift city. The commission asked the court to order the government to reinstate services for refugees and to take back the statements made in a press release on 6 May, in which it claimed the camp would be closed.  

Rights groups in Hong Kong say the government is dragging its feet in dealing with asylum applications, as the number of stateless children steadily increases. Claims for refugee status have more than tripled in the last two years with most new arrivals coming from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Vietnam. The Chinese-ruled city has approved only 52 of more than 8,000 applications since 2009 and critics claim that the delay is due to the government trying to avoid a further influx of refugees. There are currently more than 11,000 asylum seekers in Hong Kong, some of whom have been waiting for a decision for more than 15 years. Parents have claimed that children are being denied the right to housing, to work and to an education, as they cannot afford the subsidised education offered by the State.

In the runup to World Refugee Day earlier this week, damning reports and statements highlighted the dire situation facing people trying to find safety across Europe. The offices of UNICEF in France and the United Kingdom published a joint report on the conditions endured by migrant children in refugee camps near Dunkirk and Calais, including slavery, sexual abuse and forced criminal activity. Meanwhile, throughout Europe, children are still frequently being detained for moving across borders and are often held in the same cells as adults. The UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights reiterated that “Detention is never in the best interests of the child,” at the latest session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, referencing the treatment of unaccompanied children in the current crisis. However, not all children make it to Europe safely. Between 1 January and  5 June this year, more than 2,800 deaths were recorded in the Mediterranean as migrants and refugees, many of them unaccompanied children, made the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean. The Council of Europe has also drawn attention to the need to protect refugee children from sexual exploitation and abuse as they move across Europe. The council has called for governments and NGOs involved with refugee children to share data and best practices on protecting refugee children via a focused questionnaire.

Education and right to information

As many as 30 to 40 percent of teachers in Venezuela are failing to show up at school each day because they are standing in lines for food or medicine, the country’s biggest teachers’ union estimates, due to a growing food crisis. Pupils' attendance is also dropping because fewer schools now provide meals, meaning that their only option for getting food during the day is to join the food lines with their parents. Frequent power and water cuts are also disrupting classes, and schools have been closed on Fridays for almost two months following a government decree to save electricity. Some privately-run schools have discreetly stayed open on Fridays and retained teachers by bumping up their salaries. But such options are not available to state-run schools, which are affected by insufficient funding and a lack of qualified teachers due to low salaries or emigration.

A woman in China is suing the country’s education ministry over a textbook that described homosexuality as a “psychological disorder”. Ms Qui Bai found the reference in 2014 when researching homosexuality at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou. Bai previously went through the ministry’s complaints process, but received no response. She subsequently sued the ministry unsuccessfully, with a court reasoning that the lack of response from the state body did not infringe on Bai’s rights. But now a Beijing court has accepted the case, which argues that "as a current university student, the plaintiff has a direct interest in the textbook materials". According to a 2014 UNESCO study, the few university textbooks that cover LGBT issues contain “misinformation”, with more than half of the textbooks surveyed portraying LGBT people as “psychologically abnormal”. Meanwhile school-age children in mainland China are not taught about sexuality at all, as it is not prescribed in the curriculum, while sex education is practically non existent.

All schools in Poland should provide comprehensive sexuality education that is age-appropriate, evidence-based, and non-judgmental, said Nils Muižnieks, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights. In his report following a visit to the country, the commissioner points out that teachers generally lack training and knowledge of the subject, and in some classes provide sexuality education based on their personal point of view. Currently the subject is not compulsory, as parents can opt their children out of classes - a policy which critics say is due to the influence of the Catholic church. Read more about children’s right to access information in the context of sex education.

Child labour

India's southern state of Tamil Nadu has launched a crackdown on factories violating labour laws after two teenage girls were seriously injured escaping from a factory. After being forced to work 12-hour shifts and being subjected to abuse the girls scaled a 14-foot wall and jumped into thorny bushes to get away. The Tamil Nadu Textile and Common Labour Union said that the girls were forced to work overtime, banned from contacting family or studying, and were assaulted as they worked. Many factories in the region hire young girls, paying their families for three years' work with the money paid at the end of the fixed term. Former workers say they often do not receive the full amount because of deductions for their food and lodging.

The Moroccan parliament passed the domestic workers bill this week increasing the age at which children can work in domestic settings from 15 to 16. In Morocco, children as young as eight have been found undertaking domestic work, at times enduring hazardous labour, long working hours, low pay, and abuse. The Federation of the Democratic League for Women's Rights has called for the working age to be set at 18 stating that the law does not take into account that young girls across the country are being forced into labour reminiscent of forms of slavery. But reflecting on the systemic reasons why children work in the first place, rights activist Mohammad Babahida said: "The solution isn't to demand an end to child labour but rather to provide respectable work to their parents and to create a modern education system". Read more about child labour and children’s labour rights.

Palm oil plantations run by a subsidiary of food manufacturer Indofood, which produces PepsiCo's snacks in Indonesia, present "a disturbing system of abuse", according to a recently released investigation. The report was based on interviews last year with 41 workers at two plantations on the island of Sumatra, was jointly released by the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), Indonesian labour rights group OPPUK and International Labor Rights Forum. They  have accused the company of turning a blind eye to child labour with children as young as 13 spotted helping with harvesting at the plantations. The findings were said to be the tip of the iceberg for Indonesia's palm oil industry. Though it is a major driver of growth for Southeast Asia's largest economy, it has been linked to the destruction of rainforests and wildlife habitats, as well as displacement of indigenous communities and child labour.

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MINIMUM AGES: Admission to employment

Following the launch of CRIN’s discussion paper on minimum ages, we will be providing weekly snippets of a children’s rights issue where age thresholds are applied. This week, we look at the minimum age for admission to employment and children’s right to work.

Laws that prevent children from working which do not address the economic conditions that push children to work in the first place can mean that children will resume working the moment official eyes are averted, and risk becoming part of the illegal economy where abuse and exploitation are routine.

While children must be protected from work which is harmful to their health and development, they also have a right to work. Child workers should enjoy the same rights as their adult counterparts to be able to defend their labour rights, such as being able to join a union. Instead of prohibiting children from working, governments should formalise and regulate their labour activities, establish safeguards to ensure their protection and that the decision to work is the child’s own. Child employment should be safe, adapted to a child’s age, fairly paid, and should not interfere with their other rights, especially their education and development.

Read more on the issue on page 16 of CRIN’s discussion paper on minimum ages. The paper draws out some general principles and criteria to ensure consistent and adequate respect for children’s rights in setting such ages.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Climate change: Inter-generational Equity, Children’s Rights & the SDGs
Organisation: Voices of Future Generations Programme
Event date: 7 July 2016
Location: London, UK

Investment: Why Europe needs to invest in children
Organisation: Eurochild
Date: 5-7 July 2016
Registration deadline: 24 June 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

GI-ESCR: Research and Advocacy Intern
Application deadline: 28 June 2016
Location: Nairobi, Kenya

GI-ESCR: Human rights and social services campaigner
Application deadline: 30 June 2016
Location: Nairobi, Kenya

Keeping Children Safe: Global Head of Fundraising and Communications
Application deadline: 4 July 2016
Location: London, UK

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LEAK OF THE WEEK

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