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	First reparations order issued by International Criminal Court by UN Women   09 August 2012   Landmark ruling paves the way for strengthening women’s access to justice for conflict-related crimes.   The ruling made by the International Criminal Court this week regarding reparations to victims in the case of convicted former Congolese militia commander Thomas Lubanga reflects a growing recognition in international law that justice must go beyond mere prosecutions and a focus on perpetrators to include an equal focus on victims’ rights to redress and reparation.   This is the first time that the ICC has ruled on reparations and UN Women welcomes the inclusion of explicitly strong language on aspects of gender-sensitivity and women’s inclusion.   UN Women’s Deputy Executive Director, Lakshmi Puri, says this ruling sets a precedent for future court decisions.   “As a mechanism of justice, reparations are of particular importance for women victims of conflict,” says Ms.Puri. “Reparations have the potential to provide recognition of women’s rights as equal citizens, acknowledgement of the harm suffered, as well as a concrete contribution towards victim’s recovery,” she says.   In the past, reparation programmes have tended to marginalize and exclude women, who should be primary beneficiaries. The principles pronounced by the ICC in the Lubanga case will make a significant contribution to overcoming some of these deficiencies and in particular to strengthening women’s access to justice for conflict-related crimes.   In particular, the decision notes the need for specific attention to be paid to the needs of survivors of sexual and gender based crimes, emphasizes that “gender parity in all aspects of reparations is an important goal of the Court” and lays out innovative recommendations regarding overcoming administrative obstacles faced by women, such as possession of formal identification documents.   Many of the recommendations detailed by the Court form the basis for UN Women’s own efforts to support and strengthen reparations programmes and ensure they are delivered in a way that benefits women.   UN Women in partnership with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is currently finalizing guidelines on reparations for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence. These guidelines will build upon and make recommendations to operationalize the important principles established by the ICC.   UN Women is also working with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) to sensitize development practitioners involved in justice processes to the needs of women and to support the delivery of reparations that have a substantive impact on victim’s lives, particularly those of women and girls.   UN Women is the UN organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality, and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programmes and services needed to implement these standards.   It stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life, focusing on five priority areas: increasing women’s leadership and participation; ending violence against women; engaging women in all aspects of peace and security processes; enhancing women’s economic empowerment; making gender equality central to national development planning and budgeting; and increasing coordination and accountability across the UN system for gender equality).   http://www.unwomen.org/2012/08/un-women-welcomes-first-reparations-order-issued-by-international-criminal-court/ Visit the related web page
	US rights groups demand an end to solitary confinement for children by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism   Life behind bars is tough enough for US teens but solitary confinement is torture.   Children as young as 13 are being placed in solitary confinement for months at a time in US jails, according to a report by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union.   The report, Growing Up Locked Down documents, for the first time, the widespread use of solitary confinement on youth under the age of 18 in prisons and jails across the US.   The report makes shocking reading. It documents a 15-year-old carving the first letter of her mother’s name into her arm, another 15-year-old boy locked in solitary for 15 days for not making his bed, a 14 year-old who spent 60 days locked up alone and juveniles describing their experience as being like a slow death.   Nobody knows how many juveniles are held in solitary, as it is not documented, but it is estimated that between 3% and 5% of US prisoners are held in solitary and anecdotal evidence suggests that, in some systems, children may be isolated at even higher rates than adults.   In some states its use seems astoundingly high. In the year up to June 2012 New York City, for example, authorities put 14% of its young prisoners in solitary. In New York’s notorious Rikers Island jail juveniles spent an average of 43 days in solitary.   The findings are based on interviews with 127 young people who spent time in solitary as teenagers. One interviewee said he had spent nine months in isolation.   In the US juveniles can be imprisoned as adults and so can be punished and disciplined as adult prisoners. But solitary confinement is also used as a way of protecting juveniles from older inmates.   The report sets out to show the shocking, permanent harm that is done to young people held in such conditions. Many of the juveniles imprisoned already have mental health issues that are exacerbated by time in solitary.   The mental stress makes inmates self-harm, cutting themselves with razors or staples. They can hallucinate and ‘lose touch with reality,’ says the report.   Solitary confinement is particularly damaging for children. Child prisoners in isolation are prevented from exercising and from interacting with their peers, both important for their development and general wellbeing.   Some cannot take part in rehabilitation and education programmes.   Some prison authorities do recognise solitary is an expensive and counterproductive way of containing offenders, but still the practice is used.   On the back of the findings HRW and ACLU are calling for an outright ban on the use of solitary confinement for people under 18, echoing a call made in 2011 by a UN expert. Instead the human rights groups are calling on the US to invest in alternative methods. Effective incarceration and rehabilitation helps young offenders change says Ian Kysel, the report’s author.   Speaking at the UN last year, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture Juan Mendez declared: ‘Segregation, isolation, separation, cellular, lockdown, Supermax, the hole, Secure Housing Unit…whatever the name, solitary confinement should be banned by States as a punishment or extortion technique.’   ‘Considering the severe mental pain or suffering solitary confinement may cause, it can amount to torture.’ Visit the related web page
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