State Violence Against Children and Youth: The case of sexual violence Reflections for discussion purposes

Summary: Many forms of abuse and
exploitation are generally seen as
belonging to the realm of
the "private criminal sector", or
within the sanctity of the family.
There are, however, evident
instances which are clearly State
sponsored or tolerated.

CRC THEME DAY STATE VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN YOUTH

The case of sexual violence, Reflections for discussion purposes

GENERAL

Both the CRC and the more recent ILO Convention 182 as well as positions taken by the Committee and UNICEF representatives have made it clear that the sexual exploitation of minors under 18 and their use for the purpose of pornographic material is a form of violence and a violation of their Rights. Similarly, the CRC makes it equally clear that children who are victims or at risk of such abuse require special protection.

In 1996, the World Congress held in Stockholm dealt specifically with these abuses andproduced an Agenda for Action outlining concrete measures to  protect and prevent these offences and rehabilitate the victims. The implementation of this  Agenda by the States who unanimously adopted it four years ago will be reviewed in  Yokohama, Japan 17-20 December 2001.

 Many psychologists claim that sexual abuse/exploitation is one of  the ultimate forms of humiliation and violence. It is an extreme abuse of power and its  traumatic impact has often dire physical consequences and always leaves lasting  psychological scars on the victims. Some say that although some children and youth eventually learn  to cope with these handicaps, real healing is practically impossible.

 So, our first premise is that sexual abuse and exploitation of  children are extreme forms of violence. The second is that it is often perpetrated or tolerated by  the State. This perpetration and tolerance of sexual violence directed toward children and  youth can often be obvious, as shown by the(not exhaustive) instances listed below. However, it  can also be much more insidious and less directly identified, and the relationship of cause  and effect is not clearly defined in the public mind.

THE OBVIOUS CASES

Many of these forms of abuse and exploitation are generally seen  as belonging to the realm of the "private criminal sector", or within the sanctity of the family. There are, however, evident instances which are clearly State  sponsored or tolerated such as the situations listed below

• The sexual abuse and exploitation of children and youth in  public institutions such as prisons, orphanages, schools, etc. has been fully documented in  the press, North and South, East and West. We have ourselves supplied many credible  reports to the Committee and to the relevant Special Rapporteurs.
• In cases where there is no separation between religious  institutions and the State, there is also a sad record of sexual exploitation and abuse of minors,  generally girls, but boys are not exempt. This violence takes many forms, ranging from  extreme physical violence, particularly in times of strife. There are also less obvious  manifestations. At the risk of being "politically incorrect" and citing those cases couched under  the label of tradition, there is female genital mutilation and its dire consequences: early  marriages, repudiation leading to prostitution, HIV/AIDS and other illnesses and, of  course, death. These are also fully documented in reports to international monitoring  mechanisms.
• Similarly, State policy justified by religion and/or tradition  leading to extreme discrimination of girls reduces them to such a state of  vulnerability that they have no defence against all forms of sexual abuse and exploitation.
• In time of war, the chaos created by the total breakdown of  values and barriers leads sexual violence on both sides of the conflict by State and militia  armies. These situations frequently produce the more lasting development of a lucrative  and organised sex trade after the onset of peace. Examples abound on all continents.
• Economic upheaval (as in European countries in transition),  where moral barriers, social services and law and order have also broken down, provides  fertile ground for similar excesses. Here too, the development of trafficking for sexual  purposes is one of the lasting results.
• Some groups, because of their vulnerability and lack of political  status, such as minority and street children are often prey to sexual abuse by state  agents, such as the police, who know that their behaviour will not be the object of sanction by an  indifferent State.

THE STATE AS UNWITTING PERPETRATOR OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE

Often, the part of the state in the perpetration of sexual violence  is much less direct but no less real. It is more a sin of omission than of commission. The Convention has articles dealing with all the situations  enumerated above. Further, these articles clearly contain obligations for State Parties to take all  appropriate measures, including the review of their national legislation, to fully implement their  protective role.

When these laws contradict the CRC and victimise children, the  stage is easily set for the worse abuses. This type of official neglect or, worse, intentional  callousness, is rarely accorded high priority. Following are examples, again not  exhaustive:

• Laws setting early ages for marriage and “consent” to sexual  relations, coupled with the criminalisation of prostitution lead to the victimisation of children  and the tolerance of violence perpetrated against them.
• Lack of legislative provisions for appropriate sanctions against  the perpetrators of sexual violence.  4
• Lack of legislation and mechanisms to monitor the quality of  care and services for children and youth in public institutions.
• Laws institutionalising discrimination against women.
• Lack of legislation to protect minorities or indigenous people.
• Immigration laws lacking special provisions for the protection of  children and youth.
• Lack of provision for juvenile justice in the national judicial  system

The culmination of this benign neglect is the disappointing results  of the long negotiations on an additional protocol to the CRC on the Sale of children, Child  Prostitution and Child Pornography adopted at this year’s session of the Commission on  Human Rights. One had hoped that the States’ intent was to enhance the  protection provisions contained in the CRC. Instead, the protocol appears more concerned with ensuring the  protection of national laws than the protection of children. Indeed, there are so many  references to the precedence of these national laws over international standards that one  wonders how this new instrument will be implemented. This may reflect a growing trivialisation of sexual exploitation in  general and, as a consequence, of the sexual exploitation of children.

Far from being considered a violence, terms such as child sex  workers, increasingly used all over the world, relegate the issue to a simple labour matter. We  may expect that in the not too distant future, we will be talking about improving the working  conditions of these workers instead of fighting to eliminate the extreme violence there are  subjected to.  18 August 2000.