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On 20 November 1989, the UN Convention on the rights of the child was adopted with the aim of promoting and protecting the rights of children all over the world. In November 2006, 17 years later, this Convention is almost universally ratified. Yet, paradoxically, children across the world continue to suffer violence. During 2006, the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) denounced several situations of such violence. Today we wish to remind everyone that, beyond the more publicised cases, numerous situations of violence against children occur everyday, far from the reach of the media. In order to fight for the defence and the promotion of children’s rights, it is essential to denounce all forms of violence against children, including torture, at all levels. Even though children of all social origins are concerned by violence, notably in the private sphere, a recent study by OMCT shows that, in particular, poverty is an undeniable root cause of violence. As a result, children coming from disadvantaged social backgrounds are often found to be the most vulnerable. Torture “emerges in societies in which bonds have degraded, where social injustice, marginalisation and unreserved exploitation generate collective violence, both on the part of those who control the State in order to serve their own interests and among the victims who, because of the absence of the space and system required to recognize and protect their rights, resort to violence that ultimately breaks the social contract”. For instance, the study reveals that, in Egypt, police officers arrest and detain children solely on account of their precarious social situation, i.e., being homeless, engaging in begging or due to a disability, not because they have infringed the law. During the course of 2006, OMCT also denounced the inappropriate and repressive solutions which have been applied to children living on the street. In Latin America, children are frequently victims of social cleansing phenomena. In Honduras and Guatemala, for instance, they are summarily executed by private or public agents or paramilitary groups, who are sometimes even recruited by residents. Governments justify these actions by comparing street children to members of the maras. Those responsible enjoy total immunity. An alternative report on Guatemala submitted by OMCT and local Guatemalan NGOs to the UN Committee Against Torture in May 2006 stresses the violence of attacks on children, citing the discovery of the bodies of two children living on the street: Heidy Mariol Ruano, 14 years old, stabbed 76 times and Mario Estuardo Esquivel, headless, whose killers have still not been apprehended. Street children are rarely considered as rights holders and are often targets for severe abuses such as violent arrests. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, OMCT recently denounced the illegal arrest and detention of 220 children, twenty of whom were under the age of five, whose only fault was being too poor to live elsewhere than on the street. Minors in conflict with the law, particularly those deprived of liberty, are often victims of violence which is rarely ever denounced. OMCT’s reports on Benin, Kenya and Chile show that judicial practices almost always lead to the systematic detention of those children instead of alternative solutions to deprivation of liberty. The excessive use of detention increases the poor conditions of detention in many countries. In addition to overcrowding, lack of medical and legal assistance, and deplorable hygiene, a worrying phenomenon is the mixing of children with adults, placing children who have been accused with those who have been convicted, and mixing vulnerable children in need of protection with those in conflict with criminal law. Unfortunately, their rights are rarely taken into consideration since they are seen as delinquents who deserve punishment, not being entitled to any rights. OMCT militates in favour of those categories of children “who embarrass” or who are ignored in order to ensure their protection and the respect of their rights. In this framework, OMCT deplores the fear or even resistance of some States to accept the creation of a Special Representative to the UN General Secretary on Violence Against Children, despite the fact that the study on Violence Against Children directed by Prof. Sérgio Pinheiro has been widely accepted and conducted in consultation with States. This study makes a clear plea for action by concluding that violence against children can never be justified, whether it is imposed by tradition or meted out for discipline, and that all forms of violence against children can be prevented. OMCT regrets the hypocrisy of States which have on one day together denounced violence against children and on the next, they are unwilling to take concrete measures to fight against it. OMCT calls on all channels of media to raise awareness of this issue and to ask governments to bring to light the action which they have implemented to effectively eradicate violence against children. Further information