The second case concerning children of human rights defenders is a more general category as described by Rebecca Sheff in a blog on Human Rights First: “Reprisals Against Children of Human Rights Defenders in UAE“.
She reports that on 8 October 2015, the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child released a report expressing “concern” about the United Arab Emirates’ treatment of human rights defenders andtheir families. It noted that the government has been persecuting the children of defenders, restricting their “rights to education, identity documents, to freedom of movement and to keep contact with their detained parents.” The Convention on the Rights of the Child requires the UAE to protect children against discrimination or punishment on the basis of the status, activities, expressed opinions, or beliefs of their parents. The UAE’s acts of intimidation violate children’s fundamental rights and inhibit the work of defenders. Dozens of political prisoners in the UAE are serving long prison sentences after being convicted in a mass unfair trial in 2013. ….The Committee on the Rights of the Child also expressed concern “about the reported continuous harassment of human rights defenders in the State party, which greatly undermines the emergence of a vibrant civil society as well as the protection and promotion of children’s rights.” The lack of a robust civil society in the UAE means that children’s rights issues are neglected and violations go unaddressed. Ahmed Mansoor, a prominent human rights defender in the UAE, recently received the 2015 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders.
Indeed one of the most moving scenes in the film on the work of MEA Laureate Mansoor was when he told how his own child did not recognize him after a stay in detention: (minutes 5.20)
Former participants of Equitas’ Regional Human Rights Training Session rallied in Gonzacqueville, Ivory Coast, to raise awareness of teen pregnancy which leads girls to cut their education short. The protest was held last Saturday, 30 August 30 and brought together people from all walks of life in the community. “We wanted to raise awareness of this growing phenomenon,” said the spokesperson of the campaign, Koné Tenin. Fourteen cases of teenage pregnancies have been reported recently at the Gonzacqueville Lycée.
With Costa Ricaas the tenth country to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rightsof the Child, children or their representatives will have the possibility to file an individual complaint as from April 2014,when the Protocol comes formally into effect, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) announcement on 14 January.
(Executive Director of HRA Babloo Loitongbam delivering the vote of thanks of the meeting)
The Indian agency E-Paonet reports in some detail on the visit by a UN Special Rapporteur to India. Let’s start by acknowledging India’s willingness to accept the Rapporteur (unlike other countries such as Eritrea I just reported on today)!
The Rapporteur in question is Rashida Manjoo the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, its Causes and Consequences who held a consultative meeting with representatives of civil society organizations, women human rights defenders, victims and other advocates working on violence against women at Classic Hotel, on 28 April. As many as forty separate depositions were made during the meeting, the largest one during her current 10-day long official mission to India from April 22 to May 1. After hearing all the depositions, Rashida observed that it was not her mandate to comment on the depositions made before her, but assured that her report and recommendations would be based on facts and they would be placed on the table of the forthcoming session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, which is scheduled to take place June this year at Geneva for necessary actions. Read the rest of this entry »
The local NGO Samaj Chetna Adhikar Manch has been working in 20 villages in Madhya Pradesh, India, and has been in the forefront of the struggles to end malnutrition from the area as well as widespread corruption in welfare schemes that defeats all attempts of snatching the children away from the death trap of absolute poverty induced malnutrition. The organisation has earned the ire of the local goons because of its complaint to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) that led to an enquiry and consequent dismissal of those responsible for irregularities. The relatives of those dismissed are now harassing and threatening the activists with dire consequences.
The continuing harassment and brazen attacks on the activists of the organisation despite the local administration being aware of the threats is akin to criminal negligence and points to complicity with the accused. T
UNICEF has just released the ‘Top 10 Cartoons for Children’s Rights’, as selected by polling broadcasters and communicators, to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Cartoons for Children’s Rights is a UNICEF broadcast initiative that aims to inform people around the world about children’s rights. So far, the effort has forged partnerships with many well-known animation studios that have developed more than 80 half-minute public service announcements (PSAs). Each PSA illustrates a right described in the global rights treaty, such as ‘Freedom from Child Labour’ or ‘Protection from Neglect’. All the spots are non-verbal, in order to get the rights message across to everyone, regardless of language.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 