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	Threatened Island Nations: Legal Implications of Rising Seas and a Changing Climate by UN Non-Government Liaison Service   19 November 2010   The Permanent Mission of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) to the UN and the Center for Climate Change Law of Columbia University will jointly convene a conference entitled Threatened Island Nations: Legal Implications of Rising Seas and Changing Climate from 23-25 May 2011 in New York.   Earlier this year, the RMI government began collaborating with Michael Gerrard, Director of Columbia University’s Center for Climate Change Law, "to explore creative approaches to the legal issues facing low-lying island nations as climate change causes sea levels to rise." In July, the Center put out a call for papers that will feed into the May conference. Seventy-seven international proposals have been submitted and are currently being evaluated.   On 13 November the RMI Permanent Mission to the UN organized a briefing on “Potential legal issues for small island nations arising from climate impacts” at UN Headquarters in New York. John Silk, Foreign Minister of the RMI, opened the briefing by raising the question “Do people belong to the land or the land to the people?”, underlying the manifold of unresolved legal issues small island States might be facing as the gradual rise in sea level threatens the habitability of their land.   Mr. Silk emphasized the need for urgent actions and stressed his government’s readiness to assume political leadership and cut its own emissions by 40% by the next decade — one of the most ambitious targets in the world.   Mr. Gerrard, keynote speaker, emphasized the crucial role of civil society and non-governmental organizations in the conference as well as in the preparatory process. He invited all interested groups and stakeholders to share their experience, knowledge and expertise in any of the seven sets of questions that the conference will tackle:   1. Statehood and statelessness: Can a State maintain its legal personality despite its lack of physical territory or the inhabitability of its territory (e.g. entitlement to a seat in the United Nations, institute proceedings before the International Court of Justice, right to self-determination, status of the population)?   2. Maritime governance: What is the legal basis for interpreting submitted baselines, both under various national laws and international law? What happens to maritime zones, the law of sea, treaties and conventions in the case of “deterritorialized” States?   3. Re-settlement rights: Where can climate-displaced people find refuge, what is their legal status? What citizenship and voting rights do they have or will they acquire? Does the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees provide an adequate legal framework for consideration of these issues?   4. Legal rights and remedies: What relief and remedy can climate-displaced people seek? What actions can/should be taken in the courts of the island states? In the courts of major emitting countries or existing international tribunals?   5. Existing institutions and international law: To what extent can/should existing international conventions/bodies, such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) play a role in developing a response to the problems faced by low-lying island States? What other international legal mechanisms or bodies can/should play a role?   6. New convention/international body: Is there a need for a new “Convention on climate-displaced people” or a new international body dealing with the above mentioned sets of questions?   7. Preservation of cultural identity: Includes a manifold of practical questions.   A compendium of the actions, deliberations and outcomes of the conference will be published in 2011 and a website specifically dedicated to the legal issues arising from climate change for small island states will be set up shortly.   For further information on the subject and to stay updated on the conference agenda, visit the website of the Center for Climate Change Law.   * This area of developing law will have implications for potentially hundreds of millions of people who may be severly impacted by future climate change across a number of countries if immediate meaningful action on climate change is not realized forthwith. Visit the related web page
	Millions of Children face violence and abuse by Marta Santos Pais UN Special Representative on Violence against Children   March 2011   Marta Santos Pais, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children, says violence continues to hamper the lives of millions of children around the world.   Younger children were at special risk, having less ability to speak up and seek support and also greater chances of suffering irreversible emotional and health damage.   Hidden and socially accepted, violence against children was met with passivity and indifference and was perceived as a needed form of discipline or a difficult topic to bring into the open.   Ms. Pais said she would focus on three particular areas: the continued promotion of the universal ratification of the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which were now in force in 142 countries and only 50 countries were missing; conducting a global survey to assess progress in the prevention and elimination of all forms of violence against children; and placing a special emphasis on violence in education and justice-related areas.   Ms. Pais said that the United Nations Study on Violence against Children called for all States to support children with mechanisms that provided support such as telephone hotlines where children would have access to the support of professionals. The report stated that there were fragmented initiatives which were not connected and not part of a robust child protection system.   One finding of the report was that the mechanisms were not accessible to the most vulnerable children, especially those living in the streets, and that many children lacked trust in the services fearing they would be judged and not assisted.   There was a special challenge in the case of sexual exploitation and abuse where, in the large number of cases, those who committed the abuse were known and trusted by the children.   Professionals lacked training and guidance on how to identify early signals of violence, where to report the violence and assurances that they would be protected. There was also a lack of communication among professionals from the medical and legal spheres.   Najat Maalla M’Jid, Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, said that in terms of reinforcing and guaranteeing the effective protection of children against violence, including sexual exploitation, she recommended the establishment of clear legal procedures and mechanisms to deal with offenders and also to protect child victims.   These mechanisms needed to be physically and geographically accessible to all children and available in a language that was comprehensible and adapted to the age, gender, handicap and background of the child.   In order to be effective, such mechanisms needed to be incorporated into national policies on the protection of children and also needed to guarantee the privacy of the children concerned.   In addition, these mechanisms had to be subject to regular evaluations and should be strengthened, supported and monitored by regional and national institutions concerned with the protection of the rights of the child.   Nov 2010   Despite existing international standards, violence and abuse continue to be a harsh reality for millions of children around the world, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, Marta Santos Pais, said in a message delivered on the anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and in support of a proposed World Day for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Violence against Children, an initiative of the Women’s World Summit Foundation, an NGO coalition of women and children organizations.   “Violence against children remains hidden, and it has a serious and lifelong impact on the lives of children, compromising their physical and emotional health, development and education,” Ms. Santos Pais said.   “Sexual violence is associated with stigma and concealed suffering; it leads to unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and a high risk of exposure to HIV infection for both boys and girls.   Although an egregious violation of children’s rights, sexual violence and abuse remain difficult to survey as a result of their sensitive nature.   Available data is scant and fragmented, national studies are scarce and reporting remains weak and difficult,” she said.   The Special Representative noted that there are nevertheless positive developments to build upon, such as significant legal reforms introduced in various countries to prohibit all forms of violence against children.   “At present, twenty nine countries have a comprehensive and explicit legal ban on all forms of violence against children,” she said. “Several countries have reinforced their legislation to address specific forms of violence and to protect children from ill treatment and abuse in schools, from child trafficking and sexual exploitation, as well as harmful practices, including female genital mutilation and early and forced marriage.”   Recognizing the urgency of this cause, the Special Representative is committed to pursue three critical goals in the framework of her mandate: the development in each State of a national comprehensive strategy to prevent and respond to violence; the introduction of a legal ban on all forms of violence against children; and the promotion of a national data collection system and research agenda.
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