Child rights information network

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.

There have been reports of torture and other illegal activities following a protest that got out of hand sometime in early April. The World Organisation Against Torture is now investigating the incident which may have seen minors being tortured while in police custody. Reports from the incident in Chisinau between April 7 and 8 say that many of the detainees were held in poor conditions with very limited access to water and food. Those arrested, which were mostly minors, were also beaten badly with fists, feet, plastic bottles and even clubs. The investigation is ongoing and arrests will be made.

In good news the Taliban and the Pakistan government signed a treaty that will carry a cease fire for much of the Swat Valley. The truce will bring in Sharia Law to the tourist area which is home to more than 1 million people. The Taliban has been using religious schools and military training centers in the area to recruit children and then use them for suicide attacks as they saw fit. The Taliban has been very ruthless in the way they recruit and then brainwash these children. They are constantly shown videos of how they will become martyrs and the glory of being a suicide bomber.

China has unveiled its new human rights initiative that should be put into practice starting this year. There are several clauses that specifically deal with children which is a huge step forward for the biggest population in the world. Highlights include the prohibition of child labour which is a huge victory in itself. There are also provisions dealing with cracking down on child abduction and the human trafficking of minors. This is the first time that China has proposed such human welfare changes and one can only hope that putting them into practice will be done swiftly and without much resistance from the general population.

It maybe a tradition for the women of Sierra Leone to have their genitals cut and then be sent to the bush for up to 3 months as a right of passage but it has been having lots of negative effects on the country. It seems that the country has moved a step closer to solving some of its poverty woes by having village chiefs and local officials sign an agreement that would raise the initiation age to 18 yrs and make it voluntary. This should keep young women in school longer as they will not get pregnant as quickly and marry which causes them to drop out of school.

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.

A coalition called Justice for Children which is based out of Turkey is trying to change the way children are prosecuted for terrorism. Under the current law young men and women are being tried and sentenced for up to 20 years for acts of terrorism while they are actually just taking part in different protests around the country. A Lawyer for the coalition said: “The Law on the Protection of the Child and Children’s Rights agreements clearly need to be imposed on the Anti-Terrorism Law…The scope of the law must exclude children under the age of 18.” This is a growing problem in Turkey and needs to get resolved quickly.

The United Nations committee for children’s rights is investigating how a 17 year old boy ended up in the Peruvian army. It seems the young man was enlisted as a 16 year old and was just 2 months shy of his 18th birthday when he was killed along with 13 other soldiers in a terrorist attack. The UN strictly prohibits anyone under the age of 18 to belong to the army of a UN State. The Peruvian government and the army itself is now required to find out how it is possible the young man got enlisted and what measures will be taken to prevent such an event from happening again.