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Summary: This report extracts mentions of children's rights issues in the reports of the UN Special Procedures. This does not include reports of child specific Special Procedures, such as the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, which are available as separate reports. Scroll to: Report by the UN Special Rapporteurs on torture, and on violence against women ---------- Report by the UN Special Rapporteurs on torture, and on violence against women Manfred Nowak (The Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or Punishment), Yakin Ertürk (the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences) A/HRC/10/44/Add.3 Country visit: 4 to 11 July 2008 Report published: 12 February 2009 Issues raised: Acts of torture and ill-treatment in places of detention :The Special Rapporteur has received a limited number of allegations of ill-treatment by officials in institutions under the authority of the MoJ.11 However, although corporal punishment of children is unlawful under the general provisions prohibiting torture and the Law on Child Rights, he received credible allegations about corporal punishment and forced labour in Lipcani educational colony reportedly to prepare minors for life in adult prisons. Footnote 11: The Government repudiated these allegations of ill-treatment and stressed that rights and obligations of the convicted minors would be respected. The Special Rapporteur welcomes on-going efforts by the Government, e.g. in the area of training for penitentiary staff on the prevention of torture. (Paragraph 23) Medication: The Special Rapporteur visited a psychiatric clinic in Bălţi, including the wards for persons who were serving court sentences, including forced treatment and the children’s ward. He was concerned that persons serving court sentences were held in apathy, subject to excessive use of tranquilizers and by the lack of clarity on whether the use of these tranquilizers was always based on free and informed consent by the patients. Moreover, according to the forensic expert who accompanied the Special Rapporteur, the medication given to the partly very young children, especially in terms of tranquilizers, was clearly not suitable. He thanks the Government for the additional information received and welcomes that the Ministry of Health recognized that the treatment, which consists almost exclusively of the use of strong neuroleptics (developed long time ago), was inadequate and indicated that psychiatric care would be individualized, new treatments developed (ergo therapy, psychotherapy, music therapy, occupational therapy), and modern drugs purchased once the necessary funds were made available. (Paragraph 43) Trafficking: The Government has taken steps to address the problem, e.g. in the first nine months of 2007, the Ministry of Interior reported that it conducted 62 raids to inspect 195 travel and employment agencies, and it withdrew the licenses of 14 (six travel and eight employment agencies) for suspected trafficking. The Prosecutor General’s Office reported that authorities initiated 507 trafficking investigations in 2007-including 17 criminal investigations under the child trafficking statute- which constitutes an increase from 466 investigations in 2006. Moldova’s Centre to Combat Trafficking in Persons (CCTIP) reported 251 trafficking prosecutions (out of which 107 sent to the courts) and 51 convictions of traffickers in 2007. In 2008, 96 criminal cases on trafficking were sent to courts. While the Government could not provide complete statistics on length of sentences for trafficking convictions, CCTIP reported that at least 50 traffickers convicted in 2007 are serving 7 to 10-year prison sentences. (Paragraph 50) Women in detention : Children of mothers sentenced to imprisonment can by law be accommodated in detention facilities with their mothers up to the age of three years (see Enforcement Code article 276). The Special Rapporteur welcomes the Government’s project to build a special wing at Pruncul penitentiary institution which would accommodate twelve female detainees with their children. (Paragraph 55) Report by the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women Yakin Ertürk A/HRC/11/6 /Add.4 Country visit: 4 to 11 July 2008 Report published: 8 May 2009 Issues raised: Feminization of migration: As these figures indicate, seasonal or temporary migration is a way of life especially for rural Moldovans in their strategy to cope with the pressures of the economic crisis of the late 1990s, which resulted in declining standards of living and unemployment. The overall rural migrant stock is composed of 64 per cent men and 61 per cent of women. While men appear to make up the majority of overall migrants, women’s migration has become a salient feature of the phenomenon. With formal channels lacking, many women rely on informal networks, some of which may be linked to illegal operators that lure young women and girls into risky forms of employment, as discussed below. (Paragraph 16) Different estimates situate female migration from Moldova between 40 and 60 per cent of the overall migrant population. Many of my interlocutors, especially in rural areas, referred to an increasing number of women going to work abroad, often illegally, without legal protection or insurance, and leaving their children and husbands behind, with the prospect of earning an income to improve the family’s living conditions.20 However, particularly within irregular/illegal forms of migration, many Moldovan women fall victim to trafficking networks and experience situations that amount to torture and ill-treatment. (Paragraph 17) Domestic violence: While reliable data and a systematic registering of cases on the nature and extent of the phenomenon is lacking, domestic violence is said to be widespread. According to a Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family report: “[...] At present, the frequency of domestic violence, whose victims are women and children, is acquiring alarming proportions. Unfortunately, it is very difficult for the State to control domestic violence since in most of the cases it is reported only when there are severe consequences of the violence, the other cases being considered just family conflicts.”(Paragraph 20) Exploitation: Migration takes a particular toll on children left behind or those in fractured families, making them more vulnerable to violence and exploitation. Studies show that the number of children who do not live with both parents has nearly doubled in recent years from 16 per cent in 2000 to 31 per cent in 2005. The situation is particularly worrisome for the children whose mothers have migrated. (Paragraph 25) Trafficking in women and girls: The Republic of Moldova is said to be a major source for trafficked persons, particularly women and girls, 14 per cent of whom are under the age of 18 and more than half are between 19 and 24 years old. (Paragraph 30) Trafficked children are subjected to sexual exploitation (77 per cent), forced into begging (5 per cent), perform auxiliary work at construction sites (5 per cent) or work in homes (7 per cent). According to IOM and La Strada data, at least 70 per cent of trafficking victims come from families described as “poor” or “very poor”, 65 per cent declare unemployment as their main reason for going abroad, and between 70 and 95 per cent had experienced violence at home prior to being trafficked. Several of my interlocutors, including victims, described the need to escape an abusive family and community environment as a factor being intimately linked to trafficking. Women escaping domestic violence and girls leaving or running away from institutional care are most vulnerable to being trafficked. According to IOM, 80 per cent of the women and girls trafficked from Moldova were victims of domestic violence before being trafficked and after their return. (Paragraph 31)
Please note that the language may have been edited in places for the purpose of clarity
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