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Summary: Speech by Peter Newell at a side event at the General Assembly during the week of the launch of the UN Study on Violence Against Children, October 2006.
Why is the Study, and its reception by the UN General Assembly, and the terms of the children’s rights resolution now being drafted, so important for children? This is not simply about child protection, but about children’s status in all our societies. Are we as adults, are our governments, prepared finally to recognise children as individual people, not property, with the same right to respect for their human dignity and physical integrity as the rest of us? For decades, there has been a strong written international consensus against the extreme forms of violence against children – commercial sexual exploitation, the worst forms of child labour, trafficking, female genital mutilation, the impact of armed conflict. Those problems have not been solved, but States find no difficulty in reaffirming their commitment to action. Further information: On the other hand, most governments and most adults have found it convenient to ignore the daily, routine violence that children suffer in their homes and in schools and other institutions. States ratify the CRC and make commitments at global conferences, but meanwhile they continue to authorise and approve in their laws and policies some arbitrary – and often very severe - level of violence against children. At least 36 states still authorise flogging or whipping children as a sentence of their courts; at least 95 still authorise the beating, usually with canes or belts, or in half the states of the US with wooden paddles, of children in schools. And in the family home, just 16 states have so far reformed their laws to give children the same protection as other family members from being hit. Last year’s General Assembly omnibus resolution condemned corporal punishment of children in schools and in detention; a small minority – but only a small minority - of states insisted on voting to retain the right to authorise violence in these settings. I am sure they are already active in the negotiations on this year’s resolution. But let us be completely clear, we will have hopelessly let down children and deserted the foundation of human rights and of the UN itself – equal respect for every individual’s human dignity - if this year’s resolution does not reflect clearly and explicitly the key message of Professor Pinheiro’s report: no violence against children is justifiable; all violence against children is preventable. The report, by urging states to prohibit all forms of violence against children, is doing no more than reflecting the absolutely clear human rights obligations that States have accepted under the CRC and other instruments. The resolution, like the report, has to be explicit, has to spell out that violence includes all corporal punishment, all harmful traditional practices and all sexual violence. It has to be explicit because of the extraordinary hypocrisy of adults when it comes to these issues and they manage to convince themselves that violence is not violence when it is directed at a child and dressed up as tradition or discipline. The Study, thanks to the leadership of Paulo Sergio and the consistent involvement of children and young people, has broken through the hypocrisy. In fact, it is much more difficult for adults to be openly hypocritical in the presence of children, which is why such strong and clear recommendations emerged from all the nine regional consultations held around the world, where children were present and made their presence felt. Unfortunately, children are not present during the very untransparent negotiations of UN General Assembly resolutions, or we might see a much clearer and more principled – and shorter and simpler – text emerging. The excuses and compromises and vague language flow easily. But none of this would be acceptable if we were debating violence against women, or elderly people, or even animals. So why children? Children are different. Yes, but as the Study says their differences – their smallness and fragility, their developmental status, their dependence on adults, their unique human potential, the special difficulties for them in seeking help when they are being hurt: none of these justify less protection from violence. There is at last accelerating progress towards accepting children’s right to equal protection of their human dignity, in all regions. In Europe, soon half the 46 member states of the Council of Europe will have banned all corporal punishment. Greece’s parliament accepted full prohibition last week; a Bill is nearing its final stages in parliament in the Netherlands and our hosts today, Slovenia, have committed themselves to explicit prohibition in a new family code. In Latin America there are commitments in at least five states. The South Asia Forum, following up last year’s Islamabad regional consultation, is committed to law reform in all eight member countries. The Study process has been highly participatory and it has acted as a catalyst and begun to build a real momentum to achieve a new universal respect for children. We must not lose that momentum. Which brings me to Professor Pinheiro’s follow-up recommendation that a Special Representative of the SG should be appointed on violence against children. Again we are hearing the adult excuses, all pragmatic and none providing any sort of convincing or satisfactory answer to the children who have so earnestly begged Paulo to make sure this report does not gather dust on official shelves - but leads to real change in their lives – now. Some simply say we are in the middle of a UN reform process and it is the wrong time to create a new mechanism. That misses the point completely. It is not bad timing for children. Delay is bad for children. They have waited surely long enough for a fundamental protection that UN reformers take for granted for themselves. The price is not great, to establish a new mandate with a compact office for four years.
We cannot let children down by losing the momentum now. As Paulo says in his report, none of us can look children in the eye if we continue to condone and approve of any form of violence against them. I hope you will all do all you can to ensure that the resolution explicitly accepts and supports children’s equal right to full protection of their human dignity. And that it requests the appointment of a Special Representative with the authority to ensure that the Study and this report does mark a long overdue global turning point in adults’ respect for children.