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LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS

CRC elections

On 30 June 2016, Member States at the UN General Assembly in New York elected nine people to the Committee on the Rights of the Child in elections that take place every two years. Members not only have the authority to influence governments' compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), but can also interpret and expand on the provisions set out in the CRC. Committee members are elected for a term of four years. The newly elected members will replace those leaving the 18-strong Committee when their terms expire on 28 February 2017.

Elected by secret ballot, the successful candidates were: Amal Salman Aldoseri (Bahrain), Olga A. Khazova (Russia), Cephas Lumina (Zambia), Benyam Dawit Mezmur (Ethiopia), Mikiko Otani (Japan), Luis Ernesto Pedernera Reyna (Uruguay), Ann Marie Skelton (South Africa), Velina Todorova (Bulgaria), Renate Winter (Austria).

For more details and the exact number of votes received click here. For more information on each of the candidates, visit CRIN's page of candidate profiles here.

Refugees and armed conflict

The UN has said that tens of thousands of children in northeast Nigeria will die of malnutrition this year unless they receive aid soon, after reaching areas of the country previously cut off from aid by Boko Haram violence. Almost 250,000 children under the age of five in Borno state will suffer from malnutrition this year, said Jean Gough, Nigeria representative for UNICEF. "Unless we reach these children with treatment, one in five of them will die," she said. Meanwhile, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) found that 1,200 people fleeing Boko Haram have already died of starvation and illness at a camp in the same region. MSF found 24,000 people, including 15,000 children, sheltering in a hospital compound and counted 1,233 graves that had been dug in the past year. It said 480 of the graves belonged to children.

One in every five children in Iraq is at serious risk of death, injury, sexual violence and of being recruited into armed groups according to a new UNICEF report. The research notes that a third of all Iraqi children – some 4.7 million – need humanitarian aid, as conditions worsen following fierce fighting around the city of Fallujah, and with nearly 1,500 kidnapped since 2014. “Children in Iraq are in the firing line and are being repeatedly and relentlessly targeted,” according to UNICEF’s representative in Iraq. The report says almost 10 percent of Iraq’s children have been forced to flee their homes since the intensification of fighting in 2014 and documents at least 838 child deaths since 2014, with many more injured.

Access to information, communication and privacy

The UN Human Rights Council has agreed that deliberate disruption of the internet constitutes a violation of human rights, in a move that shows the UN’s recognition that the right to freedom of expression applies both online and off. In recent years the internet has become more widely accessible and is increasingly relied upon for expressing opinions, debating new ideas and organising political movements, meaning that blocking access can have real world consequences. The non-binding resolution built on previous UN statements about digital rights, and was initially drafted by Brazil, Nigeria, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey, and the United States. States which opposed the resolution included Russia, China, and Saudi Arabia. The text on “the promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the Internet” comes as access to the internet is being blocked or disrupted ever more frequently, being used to silence protesters and deter cheating in school exams. Article 19, an NGO working to uphold rights to freedom of information and expression throughout the world called the resolution “a much-needed response to increased pressure on freedom of expression online in all parts of the world”.

In the United States, Google and Viacom defeated an appeal in a class action lawsuit related to the tracking of children’s activities online. In a lawsuit filed on behalf of children under 13, it was alleged that the two companies acted illegally in recording data about the video games children played and the videos they watched while on the website of children’s TV channel Nickelodeon. The court ruled that the companies were not liable under several federal and state laws for planting "cookies" on boys' and girls' computers, which store data that advertisers use to send targeted ads. But the court claimed that the plaintiffs could not sue Google because the law only allowed them to sue “entities that disclose protected information, not parties, such as Google, alleged to be mere recipients of it”. However, because the mass media giant Viacom collected and disclosed the information to Google, it was subject to liability for the violation of federal statute and potentially some state privacy laws. The website in question also explicitly promised parents that their children’s data would not be recorded, despite allegedly knowing it would be.

A mobile advertising company based in Singapore has been hit with a $950,000 fine for tracking children’s location without their consent. InMobi settled a lawsuit after it was revealed that people were being tracked even if they did not opt to transmit data about their locations, as the company was able to collect information about wireless networks their devices were connecting to. The firm used this data to send targeted ads based on location and time, and has access to an estimated one billion devices, operating via thousands of popular apps. On top of this, the company admitted that it used apps targeted at children to collect some of the data, and is required by the settlement to delete all of this information, while implementing a more robust privacy policy. Commentators have suggested that while this is one of the first lawsuits of its kind it will not be the last, as the victory in this case will open up other advertisers for similar suits.

Health

In Bangladesh, 11 children reporting symptoms of severe fever and convulsions have died between 30 May and 20 June from diseases triggered by pesticide contamination, as confirmed by the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research. Experts stated that of the 46 blood samples taken from children from Dinajpur’s litchi growing areas, including the 11 recently deceased, pesticides were found in all of them. They added that consumption of litchis was not necessary in order to fall fatally sick, as a child roaming in and around heavily sprayed orchards could just as easily inhale and succumb to the pesticides. Upon visiting the families of the dead children, it was established that they all lived in close proximity to the litchi orchards and, in some cases, their fathers worked in the orchards. A similar series of fatalities was reported in 2012, when 12 children died having eaten litchis contaminated with pesticides. Many locals in the area have complained that the leaseholders spray the orchards with these chemicals in secret. The government has denied responsibility for people’s health.

According to a new study, children born in the developing world this year are likely to lose more than $177 billion in potential earnings over their lifetime as a consequence of stunting and other delays in their physical development. According to the study’s authors, a group of Harvard scientists, there is a direct link between poor growth in the early years of a child’s life and worse performance at school, leading to decreased earning power in later life. Among the causes of stunting are poor nutrition, low breastfeeding rates, premature birth and early exposure to infection. The study has been hailed as the first to analyse, in-depth, the economic impact of poor early growth in low and middle-income countries.

Some four in five children with mental health problems are being denied access to urgent treatment in some parts of England, according to data from the National Health Service (NHS). The figures, obtained by the Pulse website, reveal the extent of rationing of psychological care for children, despite high-profile government pledges to improve the service. They show that 61 percent of children and young people referred to support in 2015 received no treatment, while a third were not even assessed. Others are referred on to a school counsellor or a charity-run mental health service, instead of NHS care. The government has allocated an extra £250m a year for the next five years for children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) provision, but professionals say much of this is not reaching frontline services. Chief executive of NHS England, Simon Stevens, told Members of Parliament last month that CAMHS was the “most creaking” part of the NHS mental health system.

Religion, gender and sexuality

Authorities in Switzerland rejected the naturalisation application of two Muslim girls who refused to take school swimming lessons because boys were present. The sisters, aged 12 and 14, said their religion prevents them from participating in the compulsory swimming lessons if males are in the pool at the same time. The girls had applied for Swiss citizenship several months ago, but authorities decided they did not comply with the school curriculum and therefore were deemed not to be well assimilated in their communities or have respect for local customs - a requirement candidates for Swiss citizenship must fulfil. The same reason was given to members of an immigrant family in April because they wore sweatpants around town and did not greet passersby. But the swimming case is the first in which naturalisation applicants are rejected for not complying with a school programme. In another case in 2013, the country’s Supreme Court ruled that no exceptions for taking part in swimming lessons should be based on religious grounds.

A sex education textbook used in the Chinese province of Jiangxi that describes girls who have premarital sex as "cheap" has sparked criticism online. A teacher posted an extract of the High School Sex Education book which says premarital sex has a "tremendous negative psychological and physical impact on girls". It adds that "girls do not increase the love they receive from boys by sacrificing their bodies, but rather are seen as 'degraded' by their 'conquerors'” and "as a result, sexual relations can cause women to lose love." The teacher, who posted the extracts on the micro-blogging site Weibo, said: "The concepts are backward and all the negative comments are directed toward girls." One Weibo user said the textbook’s publisher, 21st Century Publishing Group, should "name itself the 18th Century Publishing Group." Following the criticism, the Education Department of Jiangxi told the Sixth Tone website that the books would be revised. In a similar case in Sweden last year, a school was criticised for a test which said that the ‘correct’ word to describe girls who have had numerous sexual partners was “mattress”.

The top UN human rights body voted last week to appoint an independent expert to monitor rights violations against gender and sexual minorities and hold States to account for these violations. The vote on the 47-member Human Rights Council, based in Geneva, passed only narrowly however, with 23 States in favour, primarily from Europe and Latin America, while six abstained. The 18 votes against the proposition came from Russia, and most of the African countries on the panel. The resolution was put forward by several countries in Latin America - a region with some of the world’s most advanced legal protections for gay and transgender people. The new independent expert will be responsible for identifying the root causes of violence and discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity globally, and will advise governments on ways to uphold their rights. Known as special procedures, UN independent experts are appointed on an ad hoc basis to investigate human rights issues on a given subject or in a particular country.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Statelessness: Stateless Kids 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

Foster care: International Foster Care 2016 European Conference
Organisation: International Foster Care Organisation
Dates: 1-4 September 2016
Location: Sheffield, UK
 

Advertising: Child rights based tools for protecting kids from alcohol marketing
Organisation: IOGT International
Dates: 2 September
Location: Liverpool, UK

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

Education: Achieving education for all and eliminating child labour
Organisation: The International Training Centre of the ILO
Dates: 25-30 September 2016
Location: Turin, Italy

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

Right to work: Eliminating child labour and promoting decent work in agriculture
Organisation:The International Training Centre of the ILO (ITCILO)
Dates: 14-18 November
Location: Turin, Italy

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THE LAST WORD

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