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Stop making children criminals by Child Rights International Network & agencies Over a million children in detention at risk of violence. Around the world, more than a million children are held in detention, including in police cells, prisons and borstals (a youth institution or reformatory). Cut off from education and from the care of their own families, many of these children face an appalling level of violence—whether from police officers, prison guards, adult detainees, or from their own peers. The UN Human Rights Office is working closely with the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Violence against Children and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to promote reforms to juvenile justice systems with a view to better protecting child detainees from violence and, ultimately, reducing the number of children in detention through use of alternatives to custodial sentences. “Repressive systems are not appropriate for children. Under international law, the deprivation of liberty of children should only ever be used as a measure of last resort and, even then, for the shortest appropriate period of time,” said Charles Radcliffe, Chief of Global Issues at the UN Human Rights Office in New York, at a recent high-level event on violence against children in the juvenile justice system. Radcliffe expressed concern that some governments were introducing harsh new laws on the treatment of young offenders that violated children’s rights. “That is in part because there is a common perception that juvenile delinquency is increasing. This perception, not grounded in evidence but based on often hyper-ventilated media reports of a few serious cases, tends to influence political discourse,” he said. Similar pressures had also led to reductions in the age of criminal responsibility to less than 12 in some countries. There are countries where children are sentenced to life imprisonment or execution, or other violent forms of sentencing, such as flogging, stoning and amputation. Such sentences are in clear breach of applicable international human rights instruments, which insist that any system of juvenile justice should reinforce the dignity and self-worth of the child. In her remarks, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Violence against Children, Marta Santos Pais, highlighted the ways in which children in conflict with the law are vulnerable to violence. “Children face a constant risk of physical, psychological and sexual violence,” she said, “including at the moment of their arrest, during police interrogation, in pre-trial detention and also after conviction.” She called for the decriminalization of so-called “survival behaviours” and “status offences,” including begging and truancy, and more social support for children with mental health and substance abuse problems. Universal birth registration was also needed to minimize the risk of children being treated as adults by the justice system, and more robust monitoring of detention centres to deter violence against children, investigate alleged abuses and hold accountable those found responsible. The UN Human Rights Office, UNODC and the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Violence against Children recently released a joint report, Prevention of and Responses to Violence against Children within the Juvenile Justice System. The Convention of the Rights of the Child and a substantial body of law that has developed over the past decades, offers specific protections for children in juvenile justice systems. Consequently, every child alleged as, accused of, or recognized as having infringed the penal law, has the right to be treated in a manner consistent with the child’s sense of dignity and worth. The Committee on the Rights of the Child offers guidance to States on putting the Convention into practice, including recommending alternatives to custodial sentencing. http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/ViolenceAgainstChildrenInDetention.aspx Stop making children criminals. (Child Rights International Network) The Child Rights International Network (CRIN) wants to encourage a debate on juvenile justice which gets beyond pragmatism and compromise. In particular we want to provoke a new debate about the setting of minimum ages of criminal responsibility. We support those who believe the way forward is to separate the concept of responsibility from that of criminalisation – and stop criminalising children. We want to work with other organisations and human rights advocates to encourage States to design systems which keep children out of the criminal justice system altogether, systems which renounce retribution and focus exclusively on children"s rehabilitation, always with necessary attention to public safety and security. The Convention on the Rights of the Child asserts the rights of every human being below the age of 18 years. The suggestion that States should define an age, within the Convention"s definition of childhood, at which children can be criminalised is inevitably discriminatory. It is in conflict with the Convention"s requirement that the child"s best interests must be a primary consideration and the child"s right to maximum possible development. It inhibits the logical development of fully rights-compliant systems to respond to offending by children. Criminalising children causes persisting harm not only to the overall development of many children but also of human societies. It encourages a spiral downwards by children into further offending and increasingly violent offending which often extends into adulthood. It prevents societies moving on by upholding lingering beliefs in original sin and the need to beat the devil out of children. Shockingly there are 31 States where minimum ages can be identified consider children criminally responsible at age seven, and another 11 States at eight. In 2003, the European Network of Ombudspersons for Children (ENOC) issued a position statement, adopted by member- institutions in 21 States who were "concerned at the tone of political and media debate and the direction of public policy and legal changes concerning juvenile offenders in many of our countries." ENOC"s statement argues: "We believe that current trends to reduce the age of criminal responsibility and to lock up more children at younger ages must be reversed. The treatment of young people placed in penal institutions in many of our countries is a scandal – breaching their fundamental human rights. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: "The Commission considers that the element of retribution is not appropriate within juvenile justice systems if the objectives pursued are the reintegration and rehabilitation of the child. Removing [children] from the criminal justice system does not mean that they will not be held responsible for their actions, nor that they will be denied due process to determine whether allegations against them are true or false. Meanwhile, the Commission urges States to progressively raise the minimum age under which children can be held responsible in the juvenile justice system towards 18 years of age." - Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Rapporteurship on the Rights of the Child, July 2011. http://www.penalreform.org/news/pri-project-violence-against-children-detention http://www.penalreform.org/news/turning-research-action-eliminate-torture-and-ill-treatment-children-detention Visit the related web page |
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Red Cross says Syria conflict now "civil war" by ICRC & agencies International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) 13 July, 2012 The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it now believed the conflict in Syria could be classed as a "civil war", meaning all combatants are now officially subject to the Geneva Conventions. The ICRC is the guardian of the Geneva Conventions, setting down the rules of war, and as such is considered a reference in qualifying when violence has evolved into an armed conflict. The independent humanitarian agency had previously classed the violence in Syria as localised civil wars between government forces and armed opposition groups in three flashpoints - Homs, Hama and Idlib. But hostilities have spread to other areas, leading the Swiss-based agency to conclude the fighting meets its threshold for an internal armed conflict and to inform the warring parties of its analysis and their obligations under law. "There is a non-international armed conflict in Syria. Not every place is affected, but it is not only limited to those three areas, it has spread to several other areas," ICRC spokesman Hicham Hassan said. "What matters is that international humanitarian law applies wherever hostilities between government forces and opposition groups are taking place across the country [Syria]." "This includes, but is not necessarily limited to Homs, Idlib and Hama." The qualification means people who order or commit attacks on civilians including murder, torture and rape, or use disproportionate force against civilian areas, can be charged with war crimes in violation of international humanitarian law. For most of the conflict, the ICRC has been the only international agency to deploy aid workers in Syria who deliver food, medical and other assistance across frontlines. All fighters caught up in an internal armed conflict are obliged to respect international humanitarian law, also known as the law of armed conflict, according to the ICRC. This includes specific sections of the 1949 Geneva Conventions. Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights director Andrew Clapham said the ICRC assessment of the conflict, which he shared, was important. "It means it is more likely that indiscriminate attacks causing excessive civilian loss, injury or damage would be a war crime and could be prosecuted as such," Mr Clapham said. (The International Committee of the Red Cross is one of the world"s leading aid organizations helping the victims of war and other situations of violence. Every year, some 12,000 staff provide relief assistance, clean water, sanitation and medical assistance to vulnerable people worldwide, visit www.youtube.com/user/icrcfilms to view films highlighting the work of the ICRC) 10 Jul 2012 Red Cross Red Crescent Movement deplores killing of aid worker. The Syrian Arab Red Crescent, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies are deeply shocked by the death of Mr Khaffaji and condemn the shooting in the strongest possible terms. "We are devastated. The loss of Khaled is completely unacceptable," said Dr Abdul Rahman al-Attar, the president of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. "All sides must respect health-care workers and the red cross and red crescent emblems, and allow Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteers to provide assistance unhindered and in safety." Mr Khaffaji was shot while on duty in an ambulance clearly marked with the red crescent emblem. It is of the utmost importance that aid workers not to be harmed. "The ICRC condemns all attacks on civilians, including medical and humanitarian workers. The ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent work together in Syria to provide life-saving assistance to those in need on an impartial basis," said Marianne Gasser, the head of the ICRC"s delegation in the country. "First-aid workers must be protected, and allowed to safely continue assisting people in need." "While performing its duties of helping people amid the fighting, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent has to date lost four volunteers and its secretary-general," said Erika Jansson, from the International Federation. "Many are still risking their lives on a daily basis, providing urgent assistance to people in need." The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the ICRC express their deepest and heartfelt condolences to Mr Khaffaji"s family and friends and to the entire Syrian Arab Red Crescent. Under international humanitarian law, parties to an armed conflict must distinguish at all times between civilians and those involved in fighting, and take all feasible precautions to spare civilian lives. Medical staff and facilities, and humanitarian relief personnel, must be respected and protected from attack. * See also Federation of Red Cross, Red Crescent Societies: http://www.ifrc.org/en/news-and-media/news-stories/international/ http://www.icrc.org/eng/what-we-do/protecting-civilians/index.jsp Visit the related web page |
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