UN: Full Report on the Day on the Rights of the Child 2011

Submitted by crinadmin on Fri, 11/03/2011 - 03:50

Summary: The Annual Day on the Rights of the Child took place on March 9th, in Geneva. States, NGOs and independent experts discussed the theme of this year's day: 'Children living and / or working on the street'.

Menu:

-Introduction
-Morning - The roots of life on the street
-Afternoon - Prevention strategies and responses
-Full NGO Statements
-Further Information

Introduction

HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL: Day on the Rights of the Child 201

The Human Rights Council this week gave over a full day of its 16th session to a discussion on children's rights.

This year, State delegates, NGOs, UN agencies and individual experts gathered at the Palais des Nations, in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss the issue of children working and / or living on the street.. Read more about the Annual debate on children's rights.

The aim of the discussion was to raise awareness about the situation faced by children working and / or living on the streets; reaffirm existing human rights standards and commitments; highlight good practices and lessons learnt in addressing their situation; identify key challenges; and recommend future action.

Morning Session: The root causes of life on the street

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, opened the morning session which focused on the root causes and factors leading children to live and / or work on the streets.

The first panellist, Ms. Najat Maalla M'jid, UN Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, stressed that we must be careful to distinguish between the different situations of street children, for instance, those living permanently on the streets and those working but not permanently based on the streets.

She stressed that each child is unique and solutions must be tailored to their specific situation, but some of the general ways of addressing the reasons why children find themselves on the streets include monitoring institutions where children are placed, promoting a culture of non-violence, easy access for children to care mechanisms, preventing drug abuse, providing protection from armed conflict and national disasters.

Father Patrick Shanahan, President and Founding Member of Street Invest, also spoke during the morning session. He posed the question: "In whose interest do we work? Our own or the children's?"

He spoke about his experiences of working with children on the streets in Accra, Ghana, emphasising the need to listen to what children have to say. He said: "Are we attempting to put solutions to street children that are not good in reality?" Participation is one of the rights in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, he said, but how can we fulfil this if we are constantly prescribing what we think is right? ''We need working research. The person who runs the research must be the person interacting with children on the street."

He reported that street children in both Accra and Addis Ababa have told him that their voices must be listened to.

Leaving one last plea, he said: '"I want one government form this meeting to start a policy that brings child participation back to the street."

From experience

Two youth representatives from Bangladesh and Benin shared their experiences of living and working on the street.

Sévérine, 17, from the African Movement of Working Children and Youth, comes from a village in south Benin. She spoke of the dire conditions that large numbers of children find themselves in: they have long distances to work, are taken out of school, some are placed in families in the city to work as servants, some beg, while others join gangs. And many of them are persecuted by the police and even put in prison.

"The government's silence and lack of programmes cause these problems for street children. The State and parents must take responsibility and have obligation to send us to school," she said.

Mohammad, 16, and Tania, 14, youth representatives from Plan-supported programmes in Bangladesh grew up living and working on the street. They told of the physical and mental health problems children experience on the street. While they were lucky enough to find a youth drop-in centre which helped them to develop skills and learn about children's rights, many children continue to live on the streets and in desperate need of food and treatment, they said. 'We all deserve a childhood and the opportunity to go to school and become responsible citizens'.

Protectors or perpetrators?

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, Commissioner and Rapporteur on Children's Rights at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights shared insights from his country visits in the Americas.

"The home can sometimes be the most dangerous place for children", he revealed. Often, the reason children are on the streets is that they are beaten at home. These children must receive support from the State, but, in many cases the State is the main perpetrator of violence against them and, instead of protecting them, treats them as criminal members of street gangs.

"The systematic repressive response from these States compromises international human rights standards and is ineffective and costly. Teachers who sexually assault children continue to teach; police who mistreat children keep working; and institutions who do the same continue to work with children. This process allows violence to continue."

Speaking of the lack of protective services available to protect children from violence, he cast doubt on governments' commitment to following up the recommendations of the UN Violence Study, saying: "they continue to ignore violence and don't take responsibility for it".

Only three countries out of 35 countries in the Americas have enacted a full prohibition on violence against children, while just 29 States in the world have taken this step, he continued. The best way to stop violence against children is to stop it before it happens. States have human rights obligations: they can't pick and chose what to focus on; they must guarantee all rights in the Convention.

He emphasised the importance of children's participation in this process. Children and young people are the experts on their own situations and States must listen to them. A life free from all forms of violence, including corporal punishment, is children's right NOW, not just in the future. Children want to have rights as children, not only when they grow up.

"Banning corporal punishment is an obligation – that means investing in prohibition programmes to address the underlying causes. We must send a signal to say violence is not acceptable," he concluded.

State response

Among States taking the floor, Hungary, on behalf of the European Union, strongly condemned violence experienced by street children, including sexual abuse. It raised particular concerns about the lack of data on street children, and called on States to develop systems to address this.

Uruguay, on behalf of GRULAC, said the situation of children on the street must be given prominence on the agendas of governments which must allocate resources to address their situation and develop public awareness campaigns.

Belgium highlighted the particular situation of Roma children living on the street and stressed the importance of helping countries plan approach the issues from a social perspective rather than a criminal justice approach.

Guatemala added that it considered the term "street children" derogatory, and proposed the alternative 'children and adolescents living and / or working on the street'.

NGO statements

ECPAT International explained that many street children have lost parents to AIDS, and have to seek work on the street. Children who are themselves infected suffer discrimination and often become victims of sexual exploitation. Exploiters are driven by the fact that children are more likely to be free from infection and the belief that they can even "cure them" of AIDs. The focus of interventions must be on preventative and protective actions, it stressed, including assistance for families. This would help prevent children from resorting to the street in the first place. Read the full statement at the end of this report.

Save the Children focused on the situation of children who are "on the move" either voluntarily or involuntarily in search of work and education, or to escape conflict or abuse at home. It further asked the Council to encourage the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to conduct research into a child rights based approach to address the situation of these children. Read the full statement below.

Panellists' responses

Responding to the EU's concerns about the lack of data on the number and situation of street children, Najat Maalla M'jid said that the number of children is difficult to quantify as they move around so much. Responding to questions from other States about whether there are examples of successful programmes to reintegrate these children, she said there are many NGO programmes which are sometimes supported by States or the private sector. She listed some factors of successful programmes as know the issues, build trust with the children, recognise the children's skills, have long term social psycho-social support, provide social and economic support to parents.

"No magic answers"

Father Patrick Shanahan said: "There are no magic answers to this problem, you have to go to the street and speak to the children and find out what the problems are, it is a slow, slow process." He recommended putting a dedicated worker on the street and the child and the worker will come up with a development plan.

Paulo Pinheiro, also responding to the EU's question on data, suggested that this is an area for international cooperation, for example, UNICEF is also doing good work to gather information. Responding to Uruguay, he urged governments to implement the recommendations of the UN Study on Violence against Children. The experiences of Sweden, Germany and elsewhere show that changes in the law lead to changes in attitudes of police and teachers and parents, and others. You need law to educate, he said. Finally, he revealed that a newly created high-level panel on corporal punishment, including the presence of Louise Arbour, George Soros and Thomas Hammarberg, will appeal to Heads of States to deal with violence against children.

What now? From charity to rights

In her closing comments, Ms. Najat Maalla M'jid explained that "moving from a charity based to rights based approach gives the child back his or her voice and, if you dare to listen to that voice, you will find the beginnings of solutions - I stress 'the beginnings'."

Paulo Pinheiro closed the session, saying: "I hope you will ask your government to establish structures for child participation. You say you like hearing from the children here – well, you must do it in your own country, not just at the UN. I hope all members will support the resolution on the rights of children in street situations."

He also urged States to abolish inhuman sentencing of children, as many States continue to apply the death penalty, life imprisonment and corporal punishment to children as a sentence. Street children are especially vulnerable to coming into contact with the law and receiving such sentences.

Afternoon Session: Prevention strategies and responses

Marta Santos Pais, Special Representative of the Secretary General on Violence against children, spoke first in the afternoon session, stressing the need to build strong child protection systems, including for the family, and to join hands with the children working and living on the street. Whilst she agreed on the need for strong legislation, she stressed the need to abolish provisions that condemn and punish certain actions by children on the street, such as begging.

Marco Antonio Da Silva Souza, Director, Proyecto Meninos e meninas da rua Brazil, stated that 20 years after the establishment of the CRC, children living and / or working on the street still face stigma by the State, the media and society in general.

Theresa Kilbane, Senior Advisor, Child Protection/Social Change, UNICEF, said she wanted to focus on the holistic approach to addressing street children. She stressed how prevention cannot be done on an issue by issue basis. She said: “In recent years, groups of children have been looked at regarding violence. Many children are vulnerable to multiple violations and this individual look can lead to gaps. We really need to look at it more widely.”

Kari Tapiola, Special Advisor to the Director General of the International Labour Organisation, said the international community has pledged to eliminate all forms of child labour by 2016, and this cannot be achieved without tackling the issue of street children.

Response by States

Resistance to street children

Paraguay, on behalf of MERCOSUR, said there was still a resistance by all areas of society towards street children, but some progress has been made.

Overcoming stigma

Switzerland highlighted the considerable stigma attached to street children and asked the panel for their comments on the different challenges faced by boys and girls on the street.

Result of family breakdown

Australia said the vast majority of children end up on the street due to the breakdown of family set ups, stating how their approach subsequently focuses on early interventions to prevent them becoming street children in the first place.

Responses by Panellists

Marta Santa Pais stressed the need to listen to the views of children and not to assume we know what they want. She further stressed the need for preventative methods that addressed the wider family situation too.

Abdul Khalique Shaikh, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Sindh, Pakistan, answered a question made by several States on the sharing of good practice. He said: “Child protection is not just one area, it is holistic and different parts of government and civil society are involved. Some countries show good practice in some areas and weak practice in other areas (for example: strong in criminal justice but weak in education). He said it is important identify areas of strength and weakness and build capacity accordingly.

Responses by NGOs

Juvenile Justice

Human Rights Advocates spoke about street children and juvenile justice, saying that the Convention on the Rights of the Child prohibits life sentences without the possibility of parole. However, street children, due to stigma, are likely to receive longer sentences. Read the full statement below.

Birth registration

Plan International raised the issue of birth registration, stating how this serves as a precursor to other children’s rights. “Those without birth registrations are amongst the most vulnerable”, they said. “Children without proof of existence are invisible to governments. All States must make sure birth registration is accessible and available to all children, including minority groups and street children. States must raise awareness of birth registration”. Read the statement below.

Data and Research

Consortium for Street Children said: “How many are there? Who are they? And what can we do to help?. We need more reliable and better research”. They made recommendations to compile and disseminate international data guidelines, to invest in ongoing analysis of aid budgets and the proportion allocated to street children, and urged States to address the situation of street children in their reports to the UPR and treaty bodies. Read the statement below.

Alternative Care

SOS Children's Villages International made a joint statement, saying: “The placement of children in large scale institutions or in prisons is not acceptable. The State has the responsibility to deal with these children rightly and take measures to ensure their re-integration”. See statement below.

Drugs and alcohol – Don’t make it a foot note

The International Harm Reduction Association said the prevalence of drugs and alcohol with street children is clear, but merely footnoted. They urged States to provide assistance to families, adequately fund programmes to address the issue and listen to those who use drugs. Read the statement below.

Closing statements by panellists

Marta Santos Pais concluded by emphasising three key points. Firstly, the need to obtain more quality data on street children. She said we have the tools to carry out this task and that quality data will enable us to find the best preventions. Secondly, the need to document examples of good practices, and indeed mistakes made, so we can all learn from these. She hopes a solid report will evolve from this meeting so all parties can contribute to it. Finally, she stressed the importance of child participation and listening to the views of children in deciding prevention and protection measures.

Marco Antonio Da Silva Souza stressed the importance of political will in this process, comprehensive financing of initiatives and finally child participation.

Theresa Kilbane from UNICEF concluded saying the first step for prevention is the establishment of an effective child protection systems. She also said: "On the issue of data, we need to improve our capacities to find out what works and what doesn't, and furthermore who the children are and what are there needs. This will require increased investment".

Statements made by NGOs