Spain
11.04.01
Events
OMCT intervenes at the CHR on the rights of the child: Ethiopia, Guatemala, Spain, USA and the need for a SR on violence against children
- Event Date: 11.04.01
- Event Time: 00:00:00
STATEMENT TO THE UNITED NATIONS COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS BY THE WORLD ORGANISATION AGAINST TORTURE (OMCT)
For consideration under Item 13 (Rights of the Child) of the Provisional Agenda
Mr Chairperson,
In the last five years, the World Organisation Against Torture has documented and acted on more than 2300 cases of torture, summary executions, forced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and other more subtle forms of violence and repression against children.
Despite a widespread sense of disbelief and the instinctive repugnance produced in people when evidence of these grave violations are brought to light, ill-treatment of children at the hand of agents of the state or tolerated by the state still exists in many regions of the world. These forms of violence are very seldom or insufficiently dealt with, both at the national and international level.
It would be a mistake to consider cases of torture and ill-treatment as sporadic and isolated acts. Rather, they have very often proved to be a part of a systemic phenomenon, where violence is widespread within the family, the community and within state institutions.
Mr Chairperson,
OMCT would like to draw the Commission’s attention to the situation of children in Ethiopia, where ethnic and religious conflicts are still occurring in different parts of the country. According to the Ethiopian Human Rights Council, a member of the OMCT network, the renewed ethnic conflict in Eastern Wellega between the Amhara and Oromo which resumed in November 2000, has resulted in the killing of a hundred people, including eight children aged from 2 to 15, and 10900 displaced persons. The indifference, and sometimes partisanship, of government officials at various levels of responsibility appears to suggest that these conflicts, which affect an overwhelming proportion of children, were intentional.
Moving on to Guatemala, the situation of street children is again of utmost concern to OMCT. According to Casa Alianza, a member of the OMCT network, most street children have been exposed to violence and abuses of all sorts. They are left to themselves on the streets of the main urban centers, condemned to an incessant struggle for bare survival and exposed to the brutality of members of the police forces. Harassment, torture and even executions of street children are realities in Guatemala. Of particular concern is the situation of female children, who have been victims of sexual abuse by members of the National Civil Police. These violations are often covered up, with the perpetrators all too often going unpunished.
Mr Chairperson,
Violence against children is not only a reality of southern countries. OMCT continues to be very concerned about the situation of street children in the Spanish autonomous communities of Ceuta and Melilla in Morocco. Some of these children, mostly those of Moroccan and Algerian origin, have been suffering harassment and, in some cases, ill-treatment from police officers and educators. Denunciations also exist confirming the arrest and illegal expulsion of children without any concern for the risks they might face in their own country. Last January, 13 Algerian children engaged in a hunger strike in order not to be returned to regions affected by civil war.
Another issue of grave concern is the imposition and execution of the death penalty on children, especially in the United States. During the 1990s, the death penalty was carried out on 10 children in the United States and still a lot more of them are reserved on appeal or remain on death row. The United States is one of only two countries, which has not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which unequivocally forbids the death penalty on persons who were under eighteen at the time of their crime. The United States is party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which embodies the same prohibition. OMCT deplores that they do not hold themselves bound by this provision on the basis of a reservation made by the time of their ratification of the Covenant. As a result, some US States still authorize the use of the death penalty to juveniles from the age of 16 onwards.
Mr Chairperson,
While violence against children occurs on a daily basis, on several occasions the national justice system remains inactive or, if there is an investigation, the pace and the procedures of the investigations reveal deficiencies and a lack of impartiality in the system. This cycle of violation and impunity is likely to be perpetuated at the international level, where there is no specific mechanism to address violence against children.
It is time for the international community to comply with the commitments it largely accepted through the almost universal ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. While the current practice of mainstreaming children’s rights within the existing mechanisms on human rights must be strengthened and encouraged, it remains insufficient since it does not allow a global and systematic approach on violence against children.
OMCT has already in the past years called for the appointment of a Special Rapporteur on Violence against children and strongly believes that this would contribute to comprehensively and specifically addressing the issue, while guaranteeing a proactive and anticipative role.
OMCT supports the proposal by the Committee on the Rights of the Child to undertake an in-depth study on the issue of violence against children. This study should explore, inter alia, the different types of violent treatment of which children are victims, identify their causes, the extent of the violence, and its impact on children, and put forward recommendations for action, including effective remedies and preventative and rehabilitative measures.
OMCT deems that the need for a new mechanism to address violence against children should be investigated alongside and in connection with the international study.
Thank you Mr Chairperson.
Geneva, April 2001
Roberta Cecchetti
For consideration under Item 13 (Rights of the Child) of the Provisional Agenda
Mr Chairperson,
In the last five years, the World Organisation Against Torture has documented and acted on more than 2300 cases of torture, summary executions, forced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and other more subtle forms of violence and repression against children.
Despite a widespread sense of disbelief and the instinctive repugnance produced in people when evidence of these grave violations are brought to light, ill-treatment of children at the hand of agents of the state or tolerated by the state still exists in many regions of the world. These forms of violence are very seldom or insufficiently dealt with, both at the national and international level.
It would be a mistake to consider cases of torture and ill-treatment as sporadic and isolated acts. Rather, they have very often proved to be a part of a systemic phenomenon, where violence is widespread within the family, the community and within state institutions.
Mr Chairperson,
OMCT would like to draw the Commission’s attention to the situation of children in Ethiopia, where ethnic and religious conflicts are still occurring in different parts of the country. According to the Ethiopian Human Rights Council, a member of the OMCT network, the renewed ethnic conflict in Eastern Wellega between the Amhara and Oromo which resumed in November 2000, has resulted in the killing of a hundred people, including eight children aged from 2 to 15, and 10900 displaced persons. The indifference, and sometimes partisanship, of government officials at various levels of responsibility appears to suggest that these conflicts, which affect an overwhelming proportion of children, were intentional.
Moving on to Guatemala, the situation of street children is again of utmost concern to OMCT. According to Casa Alianza, a member of the OMCT network, most street children have been exposed to violence and abuses of all sorts. They are left to themselves on the streets of the main urban centers, condemned to an incessant struggle for bare survival and exposed to the brutality of members of the police forces. Harassment, torture and even executions of street children are realities in Guatemala. Of particular concern is the situation of female children, who have been victims of sexual abuse by members of the National Civil Police. These violations are often covered up, with the perpetrators all too often going unpunished.
Mr Chairperson,
Violence against children is not only a reality of southern countries. OMCT continues to be very concerned about the situation of street children in the Spanish autonomous communities of Ceuta and Melilla in Morocco. Some of these children, mostly those of Moroccan and Algerian origin, have been suffering harassment and, in some cases, ill-treatment from police officers and educators. Denunciations also exist confirming the arrest and illegal expulsion of children without any concern for the risks they might face in their own country. Last January, 13 Algerian children engaged in a hunger strike in order not to be returned to regions affected by civil war.
Another issue of grave concern is the imposition and execution of the death penalty on children, especially in the United States. During the 1990s, the death penalty was carried out on 10 children in the United States and still a lot more of them are reserved on appeal or remain on death row. The United States is one of only two countries, which has not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which unequivocally forbids the death penalty on persons who were under eighteen at the time of their crime. The United States is party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which embodies the same prohibition. OMCT deplores that they do not hold themselves bound by this provision on the basis of a reservation made by the time of their ratification of the Covenant. As a result, some US States still authorize the use of the death penalty to juveniles from the age of 16 onwards.
Mr Chairperson,
While violence against children occurs on a daily basis, on several occasions the national justice system remains inactive or, if there is an investigation, the pace and the procedures of the investigations reveal deficiencies and a lack of impartiality in the system. This cycle of violation and impunity is likely to be perpetuated at the international level, where there is no specific mechanism to address violence against children.
It is time for the international community to comply with the commitments it largely accepted through the almost universal ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. While the current practice of mainstreaming children’s rights within the existing mechanisms on human rights must be strengthened and encouraged, it remains insufficient since it does not allow a global and systematic approach on violence against children.
OMCT has already in the past years called for the appointment of a Special Rapporteur on Violence against children and strongly believes that this would contribute to comprehensively and specifically addressing the issue, while guaranteeing a proactive and anticipative role.
OMCT supports the proposal by the Committee on the Rights of the Child to undertake an in-depth study on the issue of violence against children. This study should explore, inter alia, the different types of violent treatment of which children are victims, identify their causes, the extent of the violence, and its impact on children, and put forward recommendations for action, including effective remedies and preventative and rehabilitative measures.
OMCT deems that the need for a new mechanism to address violence against children should be investigated alongside and in connection with the international study.
Thank you Mr Chairperson.
Geneva, April 2001
Roberta Cecchetti