LATEST NEWS AND REPORTS
Civil society crackdowns
Teenage students are believed to be among 80 people arrested at a military school in Turkey for their alleged involvement in last week’s coup attempt. Government figures claim 232 people died, including 145 civilians, by the end of the failed revolt, in which a rogue faction deployed tanks to the streets and targeted key infrastructure. The government vowed to take action against suspected supporters of the coup and of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who authorities say was behind the uprising, an allegation Gulen denies. The army, judiciary, security and civil service have all since been targeted in what the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, says is "revenge" against government opponents and critics. Almost 3,000 judges and more than 15,000 education staff have been suspended, and the licences of 21,000 teachers working at private institutions revoked. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said: "We will continue to clean the virus from all state bodies because this virus has spread. Unfortunately like a cancer, this virus has enveloped the state."
Russia has lowered the age of criminal responsibility to 14 for a variety of offences related to extremism, terrorism and participation in mass riots, as a new set of “draconian” anti-terrorism laws came into force this week. As a result of the newly defined offences, anyone over the age of 14 will now be criminally liable for “failure to report a crime” that someone “has been planning, is perpetrating, or has perpetrated,” with children facing up to a year in prison for such a “failure”. Rights groups say the law is vaguely worded, with Tanya Lokshina, Russia programme director for Human Rights Watch, pointing out in June that “it’s not clear what ‘planning’ stands for or what level of knowledge needs to be proved to hold a person liable.” Critics of the “Yarovaya Law”, as it is known in Russia, argue that it will give the government sweeping powers to define what amounts to mass unrest and allow it to prosecute all opposition. Russia’s Presidential Council on Civil Society and Human Rights has urged President Vladimir Putin not to sign the law, which it said was unconstitutional and contained legal uncertainties.
Sexual and gender-based violence
Rape remains prevalent in Ivory Coast five years after the country returned to peace, according to a report by the UN Operation in Cote d'Ivoire (UNOCI), with evidence suggesting that well over half of the victims could be children. "Cote d'Ivoire in recent years has recorded significant progress in terms of human rights, but the persistence of rape and impunity towards their perpetrators remains of serious concern and requires urgent action," said UN High Commissioner Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein. The UN could not provide a clear overview of the number of rape cases in the country since national authorities do not keep such statistics; but based on a sample of 1,129 documented cases of rape between 2012 and 2015, the UN determined that 66 percent of the victims were children. While 90 percent of these cases were subject to an investigation, fewer than one in five resulted in a conviction.
New data from UNICEF shows that two-thirds of people in countries where female genital mutilation is common say they want the practice to end. Unfortunately, individuals’ desire to end female genital mutilation is often hidden, and many women and men still believe the practice is needed in order for them to be accepted in their communities. Moreover, in addition to the majority of people opposing female genital mutilation where it is concentrated, there is evidence of growing momentum and commitment to end the practice. In 2015, both Gambia and Nigeria adopted national legislation criminalising the practice.
The head of the UN Population Fund has, for the first time, described female genital mutilation as "child abuse". Dr Babatunde Osotimehin told the BBC that the custom was a human rights abuse and needed to end immediately. More than 200 million women and girls around the world have undergone the procedure, where parts of the female genitalia are removed or symbolically cut. The UN estimates a further three million women are at risk of being mutilated. Dr Osotimehin said: "There is absolutely no reason to cut anybody, and it seemed to us that it is part of the gender imbalance that has always existed in these communities which are based on patriarchy. I think it's child abuse."
Refugees, education, detention
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that France violated the rights of a number of refugee children by holding them in administrative detention during the asylum process. In five judgments the Court held that there had been a breach of the children’s rights under Article 3, relating to protection from inhuman or degrading treatment, with some young children detained alongside their parents for several weeks. In two of the cases, the Court also found disproportionate interference with the right to respect for family life, with four of the five cases also including breaches of the right to liberty and security.
After difficult journeys across the Mediterranean and Europe many refugees also face difficult conditions, serious health problems and detention while trying to reach safety. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) this week lashed out at drug manufacturers Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline, claiming that they were unfairly hiking the price of drugs used to immunise refugee children in Greece. MSF alleged that one pneumonia vaccine was being sold in Greece for as much as 20 times the price it is sold for in other European countries, denying many children protection from one of the biggest killers of those aged five or less.
More than half the school-age Syrian children in Lebanon are not enrolled in formal education, according to the latest report from Human Rights Watch (HRW). The new research estimates that more than half of the 500,000 Syrian refugee children currently in the country are missing out on schooling as their parents face problems with their residency status or cannot afford costs related to education, including transport, uniforms and books. The report suggests the removal of barriers to enrolment, increased provision of non-formal education with the support of NGOs and an end to violence against children in the form of corporal punishment and raids on schools in refugee camps.
As many as 96,000 unaccompanied children sought asylum in the member States of the European Union during 2015, according to the European Asylum Support Office. In its annual report the body noted that more than 1.4 million people registered for asylum in the EU in 2015, more than doubling the number of applications received the previous last year and marking the highest number of arrivals since the EU began collecting data in 2008. Notably, the number of unaccompanied children arriving in Europe more than quadrupled compared to 2014, with just four European countries receiving 70 percent of all asylum applications. Most of the refugees are from either Syria, Afghanistan, or western Balkan countries, with one in three applications for refugee status being made in Germany.
Transparency and oversight
Candidates seeking to be the next UN Secretary-General took part in live televised debates for the first time ever last Tuesday. The event came as the UN General Assembly works to ensure greater transparency in the appointment process which has been shrouded in secrecy for 70 years. The candidates took questions from the audience on subjects including leadership style, climate change, the International Criminal Court, the civil war in Syria and the recent fighting in South Sudan, where UN peacekeepers are struggling to protect civilians. They included a question from CRIN asking how the candidates would ensure all appointment processes for UN high-level positions are open and transparent. Meanwhile the results of the Security Council’s ballots to choose a candidate to recommend to the General Assembly for election later this year, however, will not be made public. The final decision rests with the five nations that hold a veto on the Security Council - the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and China, with a decision expected by October.
UN Secretary-General (SG) Ban Ki-moon last week asked Saudi Arabia for information on actions it is taking to prevent the killing and wounding of children in Yemen in response to the government’s claim that it is conducting military operations with "great care." The meeting between Ban and Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, which took place in New York, followed the SG’s decision to remove the Saudi Arabia-led coalition fighting in Yemen from his annual blacklist of those who violate children’s rights in armed conflict. The SG criticised Riyadh for exerting “unacceptable pressure” by threatening to cut funding to the UN. The coalition, which has fought in Yemen since March 2015 against Iran-allied Houthi rebels, has been responsible for 60 percent of child deaths and injuries in the conflict last year, killing 510 and wounding 667, according to the UN. Read an open letter from a group of human rights groups criticising the SG’s decision to let Saudi Arabia off the hook.
On a more positive note, Morocco has requested to rejoin the African Union (AU), after leaving the organisation 32 years ago, meaning the State would be eligible to ratify the regional body’s human rights instruments, including the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.. The country left the AU in protest of its acceptance of Western Sahara’s membership as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which Morocco claims as its own territory. Morocco, which is the only African country not to belong to the AU, even threatened to withdraw its soldiers from global peacekeeping missions as a result of the dispute in March. The recent softening of its position suggests the authorities have concluded their absence has not helped diplomatic efforts on Western Sahara, and the AU has said that it will continue pushing for the rights of the people of Western Sahara to hold a self-determination referendum.
Sex education, criminalisation and Brexit stress
Sex education in the United Kingdom has been roundly criticised in a new report by the Terrence Higgins Trust which highlights failings around the discussion of the subject. The report claims that while 99 percent of students believe sex and relationship education (SRE) is necessary in schools, 75 percent of children were not taught about consent and 95 percent had not learned about LGBT issues in school. The report’s findings are based on a survey of more than 900 young people aged 16-24 and, according to the chief executive of the Trust, shows that a move towards compulsory SRE is necessary to avoid a “safeguarding crisis”. Half of the respondees rated the SRE they received as either "poor" or "terrible", and the report pointed out that the guidance on sex education in the UK was now older than many people receiving the education.
A report from Barnardo’s calling for children not to be “unnecessarily criminalised” for displaying harmful sexual behaviour towards others also challenged perceptions of young people and sex in the UK this week. The report, “ Now I know it was wrong” explained that some activities categorised as ‘harmful sexual behaviour’, including sexting, are increasingly common among teens and young people. In light of this, the report claims that criminalisation of children and labelling young people as sex offenders “makes it more likely that they will struggle to regain a normal life”, while specialised support and therapy could help at-risk young people stay safe and deter harmful or criminal acts. The report also highlighted the importance of children receiving “high-quality, age-appropriate information and advice about healthy relationships” and called for parents to help make their children “critical consumers” when it comes to material shared online.
Young people might also benefit from advice and support when it comes to making sense of a post-referendum Britain, as some adult behaviour in the wake of the vote has set a bad example for children. There has been at least one incident of public racism and xenophobia targeted at a school and reports of hate crimes spiking after the referendum decision was announced. As well as this many students from the European Union are now living in limbo, unsure whether or not they will be able to finish their education in the UK. As a result, the National Association of Head Teachers called on the government to give the public assurance that EU nationals will be allowed to continue their schooling without interruption.
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