Schoolgirls in Peshawar. Section 89 Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), which allowed for the use of corporal punishment by parents, guardians and teachers "in good faith for the benefit”, was suspended last week by the Islamabad High Court. Credit: Ashfaq Yusufzai/IPS.

By Zofeen Ebrahim
ISLAMABAD , Feb 19 2020 (IPS)

“He struck his head, his side, his stomach and went on hitting him. When Hunain said he could not breathe, the teacher slammed him against the wall, saying, ‘Being dramatic are we?’” This is the eye witness account from a classmate of 17-year-old Pakistani student, Hunain Bilal, who was allegedly beaten to death by his teacher after he failed to memorise his lessons.

It was a story that had sent shockwaves through Lahore after Bilal died from his injuries in September. But Section 89 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) allowed for the use of corporal punishment by parents, guardians and teachers “in good faith for the benefit” meant that the teacher accused of Bilal’s death could not be tried for murder.

Bilal’s cousin, 21-year old media studies student Rimsha Naeem, has been concerned that the small social media uproar that placed a spotlight on the issue of corporal punishment in Pakistan was only fleeting. And that instead the memory her cousin’s tragic death would slowly fade as and the government appeared to be soft-peddling the issue.

“The murderer did not have to bear any consequences and is out on bail,” she told IPS, explaining why it was imperative that a law be put in place to stop “such barbarity so no parent should ever have to bear this tragedy”.

Last week, however, saw a victory for the rights of school kids across the country when singer and rights activist Shehzad Roy filed a successful petition with the Islamabad High Court to ban the practice of corporal punishment of children up to the age of 12.

“It was a huge win for us!” said a jubilant Roy, speaking to IPS after the court suspended Section 89 of the PPC. He is happy as now the children of the Islamabad Capital Territory, the only area in Pakistan where they remained unprotected by law or any administrative order, will hopefully be spared the rod.     

• In 2017, Sindh became the first province to ban corporal punishment by enacting a law — the Sindh Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Act — because the “child has the right to be shown respect for his personality and individuality” it states. Moreover it has made it a criminal offence.
• By eliminating smacking, spanking and even verbal lashing, it is hoped the child will no longer be humiliated in a classroom setting, a seminary, or at home.
• Other provinces in the country have administrative orders against corporal punishment, but these are not enforceable.

Roy said corporal punishment only caused harm and often led to a child dropping out of school or running away from home. Dr. Murad Khan, Professor Emeritus at Karachi’s Aga Khan University’s Department of Psychiatry, endorsed this. “The more damaging effect is that it leads to poor performance, loss of confidence and self-esteem, a sense of helplessness, anger (that can turn into violence towards others and self), anxiety and depression. In addition there is humiliation, shame and loss of dignity. All this affects a person mental health and well being,” he added.

Referring to a Harvard study, Roy told IPS that corporal punishment affected the same part of the brain area that is affected by severe physical and sexual abuse.

And the scars never heal, said Khan.

“The effect of corporal punishment on different individuals is different. Some grow up to be abusers themselves; some grow up angry at parents and family for not protecting them. Others grow up with poor self confidence and self esteem. Many hate all authority figures and have difficulty in forming trusting relationships.”

Khan also pointed out that in terms of behaviour change there is enough research to show that corporal punishment never works “neither as a deterrent nor in terms of changing a student’s behaviour”. He told IPS students should certainly be disciplined for any transgression – academic, social, behaviour etc. but never physically.

But Roy’s work is far from over. In the absence of a bill, the other three provinces, namely Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, have standing administrative orders barring corporal punishment to be inflicted. To this, Sami Mustafa, an educationist who has been running a school system in Karachi for over four decades, said tersely, “When was the last time these court orders worked in improving the educational culture of schools?”

“These administrative orders do not mean much,” agreed Roy because these “do not criminalise the act” and so like in the case of Bilal, the teacher cannot be tried for murder. What’s more, “it is an interim order and so far is limited to schools” pointed out human rights lawyer, Sara Malkani. Nevertheless she found “filing this petition is an important step” and one which was “in the right direction”. “The goal now is to get a final order that permanently bans corporal punishment,” she told IPS.

Roy, too, is aiming for a more permanent solution. “I want to re-ignite a conversation whereby the legislators in these provinces can find it upon themselves to legislate.”

And with a “good law” to take cue from, according to Shahab Usto, who is representing Roy, the work for other provinces in law-making should not be too difficult. 

“Sindh’s law is quite comprehensive and can be replicated in other provinces,” he told IPS. “It encompasses all the possible situations where a child faces punishment be it school, work, rehabilitation centre, jail or other places. There is no need to reinvent the wheel, it will only take more time,” he said.

He further said the Sindh Child Protection Authority Act 2011 could be brought in aid to reinforce the implementation of the Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Act, as the former contains provisions for institutional arrangement.

“Both laws, if implemented in a mutually supplementary way, could make a substantive improvement towards protecting the child human rights in Sindh, for now,” he told IPS. 

With Pakistan having ratified and becoming a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child back in 1990, which mandates member states to legislate the laws protecting children, Usto pointed out that Pakistan was “already behind schedule by 30 years”.    

Roy and Usto may be happy with the IHC’s verdict for now, but child rights activist and senior lawyer, Anees Jillani, has his misgivings about “judicial interventions” in matters that should “ideally be handled by the parliament and provincial assemblies coming up with a comprehensive law handling this issue”. He told IPS this new trend by the judiciary overstepping its domain to “attract media attention” rather “unhealthy”.

“I don’t want his life to have gone in vain,” Naeem, Bilal’s cousin, told IPS. “This unfortunate event may well have gone unnoticed by society had my cousin not died from his injuries which created an uproar on the social media, after which the mainstream media took it up…This happens to scores of kids every day, and is seen by our society as an acceptable way of disciplining a child.”

Former child soldiers enlisted by Al Shabaab are handed over to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) after their capture by forces of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). Credit: UN Photo/Tobin Jones

By Beatriz Ciordia
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 14 2015 (IPS)

Whether in Palestine, Ukraine or Somalia, wars result in millions of children threatened by the brutality of armed conflict.

The numbers speak for themselves: more than 300,000 child soldiers are currently exploited in situations of armed conflict and six million children have been severely injured or permanently disabled, according to UNICEF.The past year was one of the worst ever for children affected by armed conflict due the alarming rise in abductions, especially mass abductions, of children and adults in Nigeria, Iraq, Syria and South Sudan.

Likewise, an estimated 20 million children are living as refugees in neighbouring countries or are internally displaced within their own national borders as a result of conflict and human rights violations.

And the U.N. Secretary General’s most recent report, published on June 5, shows that in too many countries, the situation for children is getting worse, not better.

“There is still room at the individual agency level to strengthen safeguards towards prevention of child rights violations,” Dragica Mikavica, advocacy officer of Watchlist, a network of international non-governmental organisations, told IPS.

“For instance, more recently, Watchlist has been lobbying for the U.N.’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) to develop a policy that would ban states placed on the Secretary-General’s ‘list of shame’ from contributing troops to peacekeeping forces in other countries,” she added.

Jo Becker, Children’s Rights Advocacy Director of Human Rights Watch, agrees that the U.N. could better protect children from armed conflict in several ways.

“When governments or armed groups refuse to agree to such steps and continue abuses, the Security Council could be much more aggressive in imposing targeted sanctions, such as arms embargoes, or travel bans and asset freezes on the leaders of such groups,” she told IPS.

“The SC should also refer such cases to the International Criminal Court for investigation and possible prosecution,” she added.

The past year was one of the worst ever for children affected by armed conflict due the alarming rise in abductions, especially mass abductions, of children and adults in Nigeria, Iraq, Syria and South Sudan.

In addition to kidnappings, thousands of children were killed last year in different parts of the world.

In Iraq, for example, 2014 was the deadliest year for children since the U.N. first started systematically documenting violations against children in 2008, with nearly 700 children killed and almost 1,300 abducted – and these are only the recorded cases.

Likewise, in Palestine, the number of children killed by Israeli forces jumped to 557, more than the number killed in the last two military operations there combined.

In order to step up the fight against this violence, the U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted on June 18 Resolution 2225, which strengthens the international community’s mobilisation in support of children in armed conflict and condemns their abduction.

The resolution, tabled by Malaysia and sponsored by 56 member states, added abductions as the fifth violation that can trigger a listing of a party to the conflict to the Secretary-General’s “list of shame”.

This list facilitates greater monitoring of abductions and ensures that parties which engage in this particular crime are included on it. Once listed, the U.N. is able to engage the listed parties in negotiating action plans to stop this and other violations from occurring.

The vast majority of these abductions are carried out by non-state groups, including terrorist organisations such as Boko Haram and ISIS, which see mass kidnapping as a shining symbol of success.

Raising the profile of the abduction of children at the highest level – such as in form of a Security Council resolution – also endows child protection actors with greater capacity to advocate for response surrounding this egregious violation.

However, as UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Yoka Brandt argues, abduction is often only the first in a series of grave violations, followed by sexual assault and rape, indoctrination, recruitment as child soldiers and murder.

“Each offence blights that child. It robs her of her childhood and threatens her ability to live a full and productive life,” she said in an open debate on Children and Armed Conflict at the Security Council on June 18.

Brandt also stressed the importance of providing critical support to children after their release so they can resume “normal life”.

“These children are victims and must be treated as such. They’re inevitably burdened by physical wounds and psychological scars,” she said.

Raising awareness remains a critical point in the battle against the brutality suffered by children in situations of armed conflict.

Social media has proven a valuable tool for raising the public profile of the atrocities committed against children, especially mass abductions in contexts like Nigeria, Syria and Iraq.

“Social media contributed to internal U.N. debates around abductions of children, as the world could not turn a blind eye on what was happening to children last year,” Mikavica told IPS.

“All of this resulted in concrete actions by the Council at the last Open Debate as seen through trigger expansion,” she added.

However, as Becker told IPS, it’s important to keep in mind that although social media has been exceptionally effective in raising awareness of mass abductions of children by Boko Haram and other armed groups, it’s just a tool, not a substitute for action, which remains the real challenge for the U.N. and other international organisations.

Edited by Kitty Stapp

Children taken in by the Villa Infantil Irapuato, which has high standards of care – unlike many other orphanages in Mexico. Credit: Courtesy Laura Martínez

By Emilio Godoy
MEXICO CITY, Aug 18 2014 (IPS)

Homes for orphans or children in vulnerable situations in Mexico lack the necessary state regulation and supervision, which leads to scandalous human rights violations.

“The situation is very serious,” said Laura Martínez, director of the non-governmental Patronato Pro Hogar del Niño, in the city of Irapuato in the central state of Guanajuato, some 300 km north of Mexico City. “The higher interests of the children aren’t taken into account. Their rights are violated.

“There is no national census on where they are, who takes care of them, under which methodology. We should be well-regulated, well-supervised. The regulations are not followed and there is no legislation on this,” she told IPS.

Her shelter, known as the Villa Infantil Irapuato, has been taking in children since 1969 and has a capacity to house 40 orphans or children in an at-risk situation, between the ages of six and 20. Since 2003 it has applied its own care protocol.

The children are referred by the state office of the National System for Integral Development of the Family (DIF), and the shelter receives public and private financing.

Orphanages in Mexico operate in a vacuum of legislation, official records and supervision, with widespread problems of noncompliance and a lack of professionalism and funding – a situation that experts say is in violation of international treaties signed by Mexico.

In this country of 118 million people, with some 45 million children under the age of 18, there are around 700 public and private homes providing shelter to 30,000 children. But the Red Latinoamericana de Acogimiento Familiar (Latin American Foster Care Network) estimates that there are roughly 400,000 children in Mexico without parental care, including 100,000 who live on the streets.

The latest scandal over how these institutions are run broke out on Jul. 15, when the attorney general’s office announced that 596 people, including 458 children, were rescued from the “La Gran Familia” shelter in Zamora, a city in the western state of Michoacán. They were living in squalid conditions, in rooms infested with cockroaches and rats, according to the authorities.

Residents said they were raped, beaten, held against their will, and forced to beg. “We believe it is necessary to avoid institutionalisation and to have a general law on alternative care, and we urgently need clear, detailed information on children in institutions.” Martin Pérez

The home, which was founded in 1947, was run by Rosa del Carmen Verduzco, known as “Mamá Rosa”. She was deemed unfit to face prosecution because of her age and health problems, but six of her collaborators have been charged with kidnapping, child abuse and sexual abuse. The centre was shut down permanently on Jul. 30.

“The state is 30 years behind in terms of guaranteeing the rights of children in public policies,” said Martín Pérez, executive director of the Mexican Network for the Rights of Children. “The state has never supervised these establishments; every once in a while something comes to light and it remembers them and turns its attention to them.”

Since the state does not provide funds, it does not exercise oversight either. “And that leaves children in a vulnerable position. The shelters become a black hole; no one knows what educational method they’re using…what damage is caused,” Pérez told IPS.

Although the “Mamá Rosa” case was the highest profile scandal, whenever one of the orphanages or children’s homes makes it into the news, they all have one thing in common: irregularities in the way they are run.

On Jun. 17, the authorities rescued 33 children ages five to 17 and 10 young people between the ages of 18 and 24 from the Casa Hogar Domingo Savio in the central city of Puebla, in response to signs of abuse by the director of the home.

In 2011, 19 children were freed from the Instituto Casa Hogar Nuestro Señor de la Misericordia y Nuestra Señora de la Salette in Mexico City. The victims of abuse had received death threats to keep them from reporting the conditions they were held in.

Two years earlier, the authorities removed 126 mistreated youngsters from the “Casitas del Sur” shelters run by the non-governmental organisation Reintegración Social. They also found that 15 had gone missing, three of whom are still lost.

The Social Assistance Law requires the health ministry to monitor the homes for children. But the supervision is practically nonexistent.

International concern

For over a decade, Mexico has been in the sights of international bodies for these practices.

In its recommendations to the Mexican state in 2006, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concern over the large number of children placed in private institutions without any supervision, and suggested the creation of a directory and database of children in private homes.

“The Committee is concerned about lack of information (number, conditions of living, etc.) on children separated from their parents who are living in institutions. The Committee notes the large number of children in institutions managed by the private sector, and regrets the lack of information and oversight by the state on these institutions,” the document says.

The Committee, which monitors compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, recommended that the state establish regulations based on children’s rights and introduce effective legislation, reinforcing existing structures such as the extended family, improving training of staff and allocating increased resources to the relevant bodies.

In the February 2014 report “The Right of Boys and Girls to a Family. Alternative Care. Ending Institutionalization in the Americas”, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) urged Organisation of American States (OAS) member countries to “properly regulate the operation of residential care facilities and carry out proper oversight, investigating them and, where appropriate, punishing any violations of children’s rights that take place in these facilities.”

“Institutionalising children continues to be a common response to these situations in the countries of the region, although evidence shows that the way many residential institutions currently operate does not guarantee that the rights of the children who are put in them are protected, and exposes them to situations of violence, abuse, and neglect,” the IACHR concluded.

Civil society groups in Mexico plan to launch an offensive to pressure the state to fulfill its obligations.

During the 69th session of the pre-sessional Working Group of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, to be held Sept. 22-26, a delegation of children, along with UNICEF – the U.N. chidren’s fund – and non-governmental organisations, will present a report in Geneva on the situation of children, including minors without parental care.

In May-June 2015, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, made up of 18 independent experts, will evaluate Mexico.

And the IACHR Rapporteur on the Rights of Children, Rosa María Ortiz, will visit Mexico in October to draw up a report on the situation here.

“We believe it is necessary to avoid institutionalisaton and to have a general law on alternative care, and we urgently need clear, detailed information on children in institutions,” said Pérez of the Mexican Network for the Rights of Children.

Martínez, the head of the Patronato Pro Hogar del Niño de Irapuato children’s home, said it is important to take a close look at what kind of care each organisation provides. “The current model is too welfare-oriented. And who can guarantee monitoring of the cases? There is another approach that should be followed – working for a child’s development.”

Edited by Estrella Gutiérrez/Translated by Stephanie Wildes

Soundus, a young girl being treated in hospital for injuries from Israeli shelling of Gaza (August 2014). Credit: Khaled Alashqar/IPS

By Khaled Alashqar
GAZA CITY, Aug 16 2014 (IPS)

“My child became blind and lost the ability to speak, his dad died and his three brothers are seriously wounded. He still has not been told about the loss of his dad,” says the mother of 7-year-old Mohamad Badran. 

Mohamad is in hospital for treatment after being seriously injured in Israel shelling of Gaza. “My only way to communicate with him is by hugging him,” his mother adds.

Israeli air attacks and shelling in Gaza have left more than 1,870 dead and thousands injured. They have caused damage to infrastructure and hundreds of homes, forcing a large number of families to seek shelter in schools run by the U.N. agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA).Some of the children have suffered serious injuries which cannot be treated in Gaza due to the limited medical infrastructure and capacities caused by the Israeli blockade.

In a news note, the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that Israeli airstrikes and shelling have taken a “devastating toll … on Gaza’s youngest and most vulnerable.” It said that at least 429 children had been killed and 2,744 severely injured.

Some of the children injured have suffered serious injuries which cannot be treated in Gaza due to the limited medical capacities caused by the Israeli blockade.

According to UNICEF, about 400,000 children – half of Gaza’s 1.8 million people are children under the age of 18 – are showing symptoms of psychological problems, including stress and depression, clinging to parents and nightmares.

Monika Awad, spokesperson for UNICEF in Jerusalem, told IPS that 30 percent of dead as a result of the Israeli military attacks are children, and “UNICEF and its local partners have been implementing psychosocial support programmes in Gaza schools where refugee families are sheltering.”

”We have a moral responsibility to protect the right of children to live in safety and dignity in accordance with U.N. charter for children’s rights,” she added.

However, the acute psychological effects of the Israeli attacks Gaza that have emerged among children, such as loss of speech, are among the biggest challenges that face psychotherapists.

Dr Sami Eweda, a consultant and psychiatrist with the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (a local civil society organisation working on trauma and healing issues), told IPS: “When the Israeli war against Gaza ends, psychotherapists will grapple with many expected dilemmas such as the cases of the murder of entire families and the murder of the parents who represent the central protection and tenderness for the children. Such terrible cases put children in a state of loss and shock.”

According to Eweda, “we first need to stop the main cause of these traumas and psychological problems, which is the Israeli war against Gaza, and then begin an emergency intervention to support children’s health and treat traumas and severe psychological effects, including the loss of speech, which is considered as one of the self-defence mechanisms for overcoming traumas.”

Throughout the Gaza Strip, where entire neighbourhoods such as Shujaiyeh and Khuza’a have been destroyed by the Israeli invasion and heavy bombardment, access to basic services is practically impossible.

Displaced children in a UN-run school in the Shujaiyeh neighbourhood of Gaza (August 2014). Credit: Khaled Alashqar/IPS

People in these areas have been suffering difficulties in accessing drinking water and have been living in an almost complete blackout since the Israeli shelling of the power station which was the sole source of electricity in besieged Gaza.

Social Watch– a network of civil society organisations from around the world monitoring their governments’ commitments to end poverty and achieve gender justice – Thursday called on the international community to declare the Gaza Strip an “international humanitarian disaster zone”, as requested by Palestinian NGOs.

“The unrestricted violation of international law and humanitarian principles adds to the instability in the region and further fuels the arms race and the marginalisation of the issues of poverty eradication and social justice that should be the main common priority,” said Social Watch.

“The recurrence of these episodes in Gaza is the result of not having acted before on similar war crimes and of not having pursued with good faith negotiations towards a lasting peace,” it added.

In a press release, Save the Children, the world’s leading independent organisation for promoting children’s rights, said: “Children never start wars, yet they are the ones that are killed, maimed, traumatised and left homeless, terrified and permanently scarred.”

“Save the Children will not stop until innocent children are no longer under fire and the root causes of this conflict are addressed. If the international community does not take action now, the violence against children in Gaza will haunt our generation forever.”

In an interview with IPS, Save the Children’s spokesperson in Gaza, Asama Damo, said: ”We call for a permanent ceasefire and for lifting the siege on Gaza to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid and basic services to children.”

“We also need the international community to intervene to end the catastrophic humanitarian situation and fight the skin diseases that are widely spreading among the refugees at UNRWA schools due to overcrowding and congestion.”

According to UNRWA, 87 of their schools are being used as shelters by the refugees, half of whom are children under the age of 18. Ziad Thabet, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education in Gaza, told IPS:

“Israel deliberately targeted educational institutions and the education sector in general; large proportion of those killed and wounded are children and school students. Many schools and kindergartens were attacked.”

In the current disastrous situation in Gaza, it seems not only that the burnt bodies of Gaza’s children are the heritage of war, but also that their educational and health future is being burned.

(Edited by Phil Harris)

Families demonstrating to demand respect for their right to a roof over their heads, before the authorities evicted 13 families, including a dozen children, from the Buenaventura “corrala” or squat in the southern Spanish city of Málaga. Credit: Inés Benítez/IPS

By Inés Benítez
MALAGA, Spain, Apr 9 2014 (IPS)

“I don’t want them to grow up with the notion that they’re poor,” says Catalina González, referring to her two young sons. The family has been living in an apartment rent-free since December in exchange for fixing it up, in the southern Spanish city of Málaga.

Six months ago González, 40, and her two sons, Manuel and Leónidas, 4 and 5, were evicted by the local authorities from the Buenaventura “corrala” or squat – an old apartment building with a common courtyard that had been occupied by 13 families who couldn’t afford to pay rent. The evicted families included a dozen children.

Since then, she told IPS, her sons “don’t like the police because they think they stole their house.”

Spain has the second-highest child poverty rate in the European Union, following Romania, according to the report “The European Crisis and its Human Cost – A Call for Fair Alternatives and Solutions” released Mar. 27 in Athens by Caritas Europa.

Bulgaria is in third place and Greece in fourth, according to the Roman Catholic relief, development and social service organisation.

The austerity measures imposed in Europe, aggravated by the foreign debt, “have failed to solve problems and create growth,” said Caritas Europa’s Secretary General Jorge Nuño at the launch of the report.

“We’re doing ok. The kids are already pre-enrolled in school for the next school year,” said González, a native of Barcelona, who left the father of her sons in Italy when she discovered that “he mistreated them.”

She started over from scratch in Málaga, with no family, job or income, meeting basic needs thanks to the solidarity of social organisations and mutual support networks.

According to a report published this year by the United Nations children’s fund UNICEF, in 2012 more than 2.5 million children in Spain lived in families below the poverty line – 30 percent of all children.

UNICEF reported that 19 percent of children in Spain lived in households with annual incomes of less than 15,000 dollars.

“Child poverty is a reality in Spain, although politicians want to gloss over it and they don’t like us to talk about it because it’s associated with Third World countries,” the founder and president of the NGO Mensajeros de la Paz (Messengers of Peace), Catholic priest Ángel García, told IPS.

Spain’s finance minister Cristóbal Montoro said on Mar. 28 that the information released by Caritas Europa “does not fully reflect reality” because it is based solely on “statistical measurements.”

But in Málaga “there are more and more mothers lining up to get food,” Ángel Meléndez, the president of Ángeles Malagueños de la Noche, told IPS.

Every day, his organisation provides 500 breakfasts, 1,600 lunches and 600 dinners to the poor.

For months, González and her sons have been taking their meals at the “Er Banco Güeno”, a community-run soup kitchen in the low-income Málaga neighbourhood of Palma-Palmilla, which operates out of a closed-down bank branch.

According to Father Ángel, child poverty “isn’t just about not being able to afford food, but also about not being able to buy school books or not buying new clothes in the last two years.”

“It’s about unequal opportunity among children,” he said.

The crisis in Spain is still severe. The country’s unemployment rate is the highest in the EU: 25.6 percent in February, after Greece’s 27.5 percent.

In 2013, the government of right-wing Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy approved a National Action Plan for Social Inclusion 2013-2016, which includes the aim of reducing child poverty.

Caritas Europa reports that at least one and a half million households in Spain are suffering from severe social inclusion – 70 percent more than in 2007, the year before the global financial crisis broke out.

“Entire families end up on the street because they can’t afford to pay rent,” Rosa Martínez, the director of the Centro de Acogida Municipal, told IPS during a visit to the municipal shelter. “More people are asking for food. They’re even asking for diapers for newborns because they are in such a difficult situation.”

Of the nearly 26 percent of the economically active population out of jobs, half are young people, according to the National Statistics Institute, while the gap between rich and poor is growing.

As of late March, 4.8 million people were unemployed, according to official statistics. The figures also show that the proportion of jobless people with no source of income whatsoever has grown to four out of 10.

Social discontent has been fuelled by austerity measures that have entailed cutbacks in health, education and social protection.

A report on the Housing Emergency in the Spanish State, by the Platform for Mortgage Victims (PAH) and the DESC Observatory, estimates that 70 percent of the families who have been, or are about to be, evicted include at least one minor.

“The right to equal opportunities is dead letter if children are ending up on the street,” José Cosín, a lawyer and activist with PAH Málaga, told IPS.

Cosín denounced the vulnerable situation of the children who were evicted along with their families from the Buenaventura corrala on Oct. 3, 2013.

Fifteen of the people who were evicted filed a lawsuit demanding respect of the children’s basic rights, as outlined by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which went into effect in 1990.

The Convention establishes that states parties “shall in case of need provide material assistance and support programmes, particularly with regard to nutrition, clothing and housing.”

The number of families in Spain with no source of income at all grew from 300,000 in mid-2007 to nearly 700,000 by late 2013, according to the report Precariedad y Cohesión Social; Análisis y Perspectivas 2014 (Precariousness and Social Cohesion; Analysis and Perspectives 2014), by Cáritas Española and the Fundación Foessa.

And 27 percent of households in Spain are supported by pensioners. Grown-up sons and daughters are moving back into their parents’ homes with their families, or retired grandparents are helping support their children and grandchildren, with their often meagre pensions.

“When times get rough, the social fabric is strengthened,” said González. She stressed the solidarity of different groups in Málaga who for three months helped her clean up and repair the apartment she is living in now, which is on the tenth floor of a building with no elevator, and was full of garbage and had no door, window panes or piped water.

González complained that government social services are underfunded and inefficient, and said she receives no assistance from them.

Like all young children, her sons ask her for things. But she explains to them that it is more important to spend eight euros on food than on two plastic fishes. It took her several weeks to save up money to buy the toys. Last Christmas she took them to a movie for the first time.

Children selling their wares in Gaza. Credit: Mohammed Omer/IPS

By Elizabeth Yousefi
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 2 2013 (IPS)

In most countries, children are treated more gently by law enforcement than adults, with the right to have a parent present during questioning, for example. The situation is different in the Occupied Territories.

“The common experience of many children is being aggressively awakened in the middle of the night by many armed soldiers and being forcibly brought to an interrogation centre, tied and blindfolded, sleep deprived and in a state of extreme fear,” according to a recent UNICEF report on the Israeli detention of Palestinian children.

Israeli law enforcement officials have arrested approximately 700 Palestinian boys every year for the past 10 years, demonstrating patterns of ill-treatment that UNICEF calls “widespread, systematic and institutionalised”.

The majority of these boys are accused of the same crime – throwing stones at Israeli soldiers or their vehicles.

For the past several years, human rights organisations, U.N. experts, and both Palestinian and Israeli lawyers have made numerous attempts to bring attention to this issue as a clear violation of international human rights law.

In March, UNICEF released a report entitled “Children in Israeli Military Detention”, which outlines Israel’s violations from arrest to detention to interrogation to trial.

It makes specific reference to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Geneva Convention regarding the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, all of which Israel has ratified.

In an interview with IPS, Permanent Observer of Palestine Ambassador Riyad Mansour praised UNICEF’s work in “defending the rights of children, regardless of where they are”, and said he hopes, in the case of Palestinian children, that as more people become aware of the situation, more powerful voices will demand action from Israel.

International law demands that “all countries who are party to these conventions hold Israel responsible for violating any of the provisions,” said Mansour.

According to the CRC, arrest and detention of children, and their overall exposure to criminal proceedings, should always be the measure of last resort and should be minimised as much as possible.

If arrest is deemed necessary, the child under arrest and their parents or guardians must be informed immediately of the reasons; the child should only be physically restrained if they become a physical threat to themselves or others.

During interrogation, the child has a right to legal representation, the presence of a family member, and the right to refrain from self-incrimination.

Interrogators are forbidden from obtaining statements through any form of physical compulsion or verbal intimidation; illegally obtained statements are invalid in court proceedings.

Finally, children must be brought before a judge within 24 hours.

Israeli military detention of Palestinian children deviates quite radically from this model.

Situation in Israel

According to the UNICEF report, soldiers often apprehend children from their homes late at night in a violent manner, damaging property, offering no explanation as to what the charges are or where the child is being taken, and making threats of physical violence and further consequences should the family protest.

Children generally find themselves in the interrogation room within a day of arrest.

Of the cases examined by UNICEF, no child was accompanied by the requisite lawyer and family member; most did not see a lawyer until the day of their trial.

As of this month, the law will require that children under 14 be brought before a judge within 24 hours (reduced from four days), but those under 18 can still be held for 48 hours; furthermore, the judge may delay trial for 30 days at a time, up to 188 days.

Almost all children confess to their alleged crimes, which is no surprise considering the interrogation techniques reportedly employed by Israeli officials – harsh restraint, physical abuse, verbal intimidation, solitary confinement, and threats of worse abuse and even death against both the child and their family members.

Overwhelmingly, confessional documents – often in Hebrew – are the primary evidence for convictions.

Children and their lawyers tend not to object to forced confessions for fear of provoking harsher punishments.

On average, sentences range from two weeks to 10 months.

Technically, children aged 14 and older can receive the maximum sentences for crimes – 10 years for throwing an object at a person and 20 for throwing it at moving vehicle.

Enforcing military law

According to Catherine Weibel, UNICEF’s chief of communication in the occupied Palestinian territories, Israeli officials who worked with UNICEF on the report “generally acknowledged that there were problems, but tended to minimise their scope.”

In a correspondence with IPS, Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Yigal Palmor identified what Israel believes to be major sources of the conflict.

While no internationally recognised state sovereignty exists in the territories, Israel, as an occupying power, can only enforce military law.

“Obviously, military law does not provide the same rights and safeguards as civil law,” said Palmor, “for adults and minors alike.”

The “main reason”, Palmor says, is that potentially threatening Palestinian activist groups “use minors to stir violence and confront security forces, to make propaganda gains”.

Moving forward

UNICEF’s report includes a series of recommendations, which it intends to implement with Israel’s cooperation.

According to Palmor, “The recommendations are the fruit of our joint work and we will work with UNICEF to implement those recommendations.”

Ambassador Mansour has his doubts.

“We don’t believe that the Israeli occupying authority is putting any serious effort to stop these blatant violations of international human rights law,” he told IPS, however, he believes that reports like UNICEF’s “play a role in maximising pressure on the violators of the law”.

By Patricia Grogg
HAVANA, Dec 18 2012 (IPS)

“Child abuse merits a different, in-depth approach. The objective of this film is to make the problem visible and promote debate and reflection,” says Eric Corvalán, director of a documentary that required “breaking through walls.”

In the film “No es el camino” (This is not the way), prominent Cuban experts discuss child abuse. Social issues are nothing new to Corvalán. In 2008 he premiered “Raza” (Race), about the no-less thorny issue of racial discrimination.

That documentary won a number of awards, including the David Prize awarded by the University of Oriente, for its contribution to education. However, it has yet to be shown on Cuban television.

Eric Corvalán: “The 1975 family code was once cutting-edge, but it is now out-of-date.” Credit: Patricia Grogg/IPS

“When I asked why (it hasn’t been shown), they told me that it was a controversial issue, and that our society wasn’t ready to see it on television. If that was the case with ‘Raza,’ then I imagine that the same thing will happen with ‘No es el camino’,” the independent filmmaker, who is a member of the Cuban Audiovisual Association (ACAV), told IPS in this interview.

His documentary premiered in Havana on Sept. 25 as a demonstration of the commitment by the Oscar Arnulfo Romero Reflection and Solidarity Group to the U.N. secretary-general’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign, which celebrates Orange Day on the 25th of each month.

Q: Why child abuse and not another issue for your second documentary?

A: Because it is an issue that has hardly been addressed. If we acknowledge that domestic violence exists, then we need to know what is going on with the children, who suffer the most. They cannot defend themselves, and they are subject to that violence in different ways: physical, psychological and sexual. Walking through the city, I have seen mothers and fathers who abuse their children in public.

Q: Where does this problem occur?

A: Mostly within the family. The abuser may be an uncle, a cousin, the mother or the father. They scold the child, use disparaging language, or shake or pull the child – as if these were educational methods. That’s why I made the documentary, for children and also for parents, other relatives and the world in general.

The documentary makes it clear that many institutions are working on this issue, but there is no follow-up on cases and no specific law exists. The Penal Code includes a very general reference to the normal development of children and women.

Q: But there is a Family Code.

A: That legislation dates back to 1975. Since then, three generations have gone by…and it hasn’t been changed. In its time, it was very advanced, but now it’s not. Child abuse merits an in-depth approach. For example, in situations of economic crisis, social inequalities increase and children are the most vulnerable.

Q: The documentary brings together a good group of specialists on the matter, but does not include the testimony of any children. Why?

A: They are not in the documentary directly, because in Cuba, if you don’t have official authorisation you can’t interview a child and place him or her onscreen. The objective of this material was to make the phenomenon visible and to protect children. Before interviewing the specialists, I visited several communities in the city and talked to many boys and girls. I realised that the problem is cause for concern.

Children are very sincere, and you can find out about anything talking to them. Both boys and girls are very sensitive and they feel and suffer from problems without having anybody to turn to.

There is no infrastructure in Cuba where children can go and make a complaint. What is needed is a daily education campaign, teaching parents how to listen to their children and to know about their obligations to them.

Q: Do you feel that child abuse should not exist in a society like Cuba’s?

A: When we talk about violence in Cuba, we immediately begin comparing it to other countries, as a defence mechanism. There is less violence here than in other places, but it does exist. “A single boy or girl who is mistreated in this country is a serious problem for us,” said one of the people interviewed, Dr. Cristóbal Martínez, of the national children’s psychiatry group.

Our society is machista. We are violent and loud, but at the same time we are very humane and have a high educational level. These are tremendous contradictions, and in the face of a phenomenon like this, you wonder why it exists and what is being done to solve it.

Q: The documentary premiered in September. Why hasn’t it been screened since?

A: In May 2013, it will compete in the Santiago Álvarez (documentary film festival) in Santiago de Cuba. It will also be shown in international festivals in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, France, Canada, and the United States. Moreover, I hope that it will be used as a tool for studies by international and Cuban organisations.

Q: What was your greatest challenge in taking on such a sensitive social issue?

A: The main challenge was simply to do it – that is, to break through the walls of censorship and fear. I’m using these big words because making a film about violence of any kind is very difficult. Another main challenge now is for people to see it, and discuss and debate it. The idea of issues being discussed is now being promoted in our country, including at the level of the state.

Excerpt:

A wide-ranging reform of Argentina’s civil code is looking to replace traditional concepts of parental authority and control with one of parental responsibility, while expressly prohibiting corporal punishment for children and adolescents.

“The changes are pursuing a more democratic family, that in turn will promote a more democratic state,” lawyer Nelly Minyersky, a professor in the department of family law in the University of Buenos Aires and other academic institutions, told IPS.

Minyersky is one of the experts who worked on the bill for a new civil and commercial code, requested by centre-left President Cristina Fernández to replace the current code which date from the 19th century.

The proposed changes, prepared by over 100 experts, are now being analysed by Congress, which will convene public hearings in every province in the country in order to foster broad debate. Both chambers of Congress are expected to vote on the measures in March 2013.

The text of the bill incorporates into the civil code international treaties on human rights, including women’s, children’s, indigenous people’s and consumers’ rights, as well as protection of environmental resources.

The reformed civil code incorporates same-sex marriage (already established by law) and no-fault divorce, removes fidelity within marriage as a legal duty, and regulates surrogate motherhood.

It also does away with the idea of parental authority and control over children, which regards children as chattels of their parents, and replaces it with that of parental responsibility, and it replaces the concept of “correction” with those of guidance and orientation of one’s children.

“The structure of parental rights and duties is undergoing a fundamental change because children and adolescents are seen as persons with rights, and there is more respect for their views and their participation in decision-making,” said Minyersky.

The reformed code also takes into account the concept of adolescence, and provides for over-13s to have a say in decisions taken by parents or guardians about their health and education, as well as giving them the right to legal counsel if appropriate.

“This is part of what was recommended by the Convention on the Rights of the Child which entered into force in 1990 and was ratified by Argentina. The idea is not to diminish the value of parents’ opinions but to highlight that their authority arises from respect and a better relationship with the children,” Minyersky said.

The article in the current code establishing that parents have “the power of correction” will be replaced by one “prohibiting mistreatment and any act that physically or psychologically injures or harms children and adolescents.”

The bill also proposes offering parents support in the form of counselling services provided by state agencies, when needed.

In an interview with IPS, Gimol Pinto, a lawyer and expert on the protection of children’s rights at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said the reform is “absolutely essential and very welcome,” apart from the fact that legal precedents have already begun to incorporate many of these new concepts and rights.

“The present civil code refers to parental authority with wording that is open to misinterpresentation, as if any kind of corporal punishment were permitted. The new text, in contrast, describes the role of parents at length,” she said.

“Parents have rights, such as choosing their children’s names, the school they attend, or the religion they wish to bring them up in, but all of this must be in the context of the duty to contribute to children’s development as right holders and responsible persons,” she said.

Pinto said new challenges would arise once the new code was approved. “Education, awareness-building and empowerment for families are necessary, because raising children poses challenges, such as setting and applying firm limits without violence,” she said.

A report published this year by the U.N. secretary-general’s special representative on violence against children, Portuguese lawyer Marta Santos Pais, called for the urgent adoption of laws to protect children from violence.

The office of the representative said that between 500 million and 1.5 billion children worldwide suffer some kind of violence, and the main perpetrators are generally those entrusted with their care: family members, teachers or other persons involved in raising them.

The Global Progress Survey carried out in 113 countries for the report concludes that over 20 percent of countries already have some legislation on the issue, although it also indicates there are “significant gaps” between the letter of the law and its enforcement.

At the South American Meeting on the follow-up to the U.N. Study on Violence against children and adolescents held last year in Paraguay, it was reported that Costa Rica, Uruguay and Venezuela are the most advanced countries in the region in terms of legislating against corporal punishment of children.

A similar bill being debated by the Peruvian Congress prohibits methods of correction that harm the physical and psychological integrity of children.

Meanwhile in Brazil, a bill popularly known as the “anti-spanking law” was approved last December by the lower house of Congress but has not yet been debated in the Senate.

“Groups of conservative legislators presented six petitions opposing the bill,” Marcia Oliveira, an activist with the Rede Não Bata, Eduque (Educate, Do Not Punish! Network), a coalition of organisations advocating a ban on physical punishment of children, told IPS.

“Brazilian civil society has put strong pressure on members of Congress who work for the rights of children and adolescents, and we managed to overturn the petitions against the bill. Now we’re waiting for the result of the vote in the Senate,” she said.