Child rights information network

November 20th is the official Child Day in Canada. It commemorates the United Nations adoption of two landmark documents concerned with the human rights of all children and youths. Canadians honour our children and The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of The Child on Nov 20th, 1959, and the The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child on Nov 20th, 1989. The sole purpose of Child Day is to promote awareness about the Convention and the rights our children under the age of 18 have.

Slovakia’s Ombudsman Pavel Kandráč has demanded investigation into a incident involving local police in Roma. The policemen reportedly made 6 young men strip each other and then slap each others faces in the police station. Video of the event has been released to local authorities and media outlets which has since been broadcast on several websites. The police officers are facing charges in the event as they have broken both Slovakian laws as well as those of the United Nations. The boys were apparently being detained for attacking a 66year old lady and stealing her purse.
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A family court in Australia has pulled the passport of a man and his daughter to prevent him from taking her to Africa for a “cutting”. The Australian man is of African decent and it is quite common for females to get “cut” or have their genitals mutilated when they become of age. The Female Circumcision is common practice in Africa but it is highly opposed by the World Health Organization and it has been against the law to do any such act in Australia since the early 1990s. The man failed to appear in court to hand in his passport so there is no word if the court order will actually prevent anything.

International diplomats based out the Norwegian embassy have come together to try to persuade the Madagascaran government to begin respecting the rights of children. Representatives from Germany, Norway, South Africa, France and Switzerland all came together to make an appeal to the government to begin respecting the initiatives laid out to protect the children and develop their community and school systems. While the country is in a state of a social and political unrest their needs to be a voice for the minors which often get the worst of these conflicts.