A compilation of extracts from ngo reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child relating to violence against children This document is an annex to the publication
SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS The Caribbean No report available on the CRIN. SAINT LUCIA
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SAINT KITTS AND NEVISThe CaribbeanNo report available on the CRIN. SAINT LUCIAThe Caribbean No report available on the CRIN. SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINESThe Caribbean CRC Session 30, 20 May - 7 June 2002 SVG Human Rights Association – English www.crin.org/docs/resources/treaties/crc.30/st.vincent_ngo_report.pdf […] The Laws relating to the age at which girls and young women can give consent to having sexual relations have many variants and need to be re vised and consolidated into one age limit. IT IS RECOMMENDED that having sexual relations with a girl who is under 15 years, should automatically be a criminal offence. It is regrettable that children under the age of sixteen (16) years who are charged with murder and other serious criminal offences are kept in Police Stations until the date for their trials because there is no Juvenile Center for young persons who have been accused of criminal offences. In some instances they are placed in cells at Police Lockups. […] With regards to protect ion from. “all forms of punishment”, the State Party instead of protecting children from such punishment allows Corporal Punishment to be inflicted at School, by Law. This contravenes the Convention. […] Children are abused in all different ways and forms in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, physically, psychologically, verbally, sexually, and by way of neglect and abandonment. There are Legislative and Administrative measures to protect children from violence, injury and other harm. The Courts administer Laws such as Indictments for Rape, Assaults, Incest, Carnal Knowledge, Wounding and other Crimes perpetrated against children. The crimes perpetrated on children are largely within the family, by mother and father, brother and sister. The Criminal Code, 1988 provides avenues for criminal prosecution against persons who criminally cause harm in any form to children. The Domestic Violence (Summary Proceedings) Act 1995 provides Protection Orders for children against abuse. The problem of effecting social re- integration of children and their families after serious trauma perpetrated on children is seriously lacking. Counseling though in existence is not adequate. Of great concern is that crimes and abuses and physical and mental harm perpetuated on children are often deliberately hidden within the family. This is done to sometimes hide the shame which exposure would bring. The situation regarding abuse and all forms of ill treatment on children is on the increase. A Register of Child Abuse has been recently started recording abuse on children and is reproduced in the State Party’s official Initial Report. That is not the whole truth. It however is an effort to record some of the sad and unacceptable harm done to the children. Finally, not enough is done by the State Party to mount programmes and procedures aimed at prevention of abuse of all forms on children. Continuing education of parents and children and the community at large is necessary. […]
But in contradiction to all the above the State Party allows Corporal Punishment to remain legal for children as young as five (5) years and upwards at Government and Government Assisted Primary Schools (Statutory Rules and Orders 1959 No. 44 Gazetted the 16th January, 1960). Section 9, Sub -section 3 of the said Regulations says:- “Corporal Punishment may be administered as a last resort by the Head Teacher or by an Assisted Teacher in the presence, under the direction and on the responsibility of the Head Teacher”. In reality all types of Teachers apply Corporal Punishment on students. Section 9 Sub -section 4 defines the Instrument to be used for Corporal Punishment as follows: “It shall be a leather strap twenty inches in length and one and a half inches in breadth and a quarter of an inch in thickness”. Up to six strokes can be given to any pupil for any misdemeanor. “Corporal Punishment at Schools also contravenes Article 19 of the CRC which states that children must be protected from “all forms of physical and mental violence”. Corporal Punishment is sometimes used on Juveniles who find themselves before the Criminal Courts. Corporal Punishment on children is done as a matter of course within families in St. Vincent and Grenadines. In many cases children are seriously injured and traumatized […] There are those children who have been abandoned by their parents, or for one reason or the other, have no fixed place of abode. They are missed out in receiving assistance that they so much need. These children need a specific home facility that may be used for purposes of their daily care and upbringing, and for professional childcare guidance, in helping them to be rehabilitated and be integrated again in the normal life of the society and their various communities. […]
Article 40 (a) The guarantees mentioned in Article 40.2 are not always met. For example, children are sometimes forced to confess to criminal offences by police when they are held in custody at police stations. I know this from a child who informed his relatives in my presence that he was forced to plead guilty on a charge of being in possession of marijuana. (b) Children need legal assistance and representation in Court and also as soon as possible after being detained or arrested by police. Poor children- and the majority of those brought before the Court are poor -cannot afford legal representation. The State Party does not provide legal assistance save when a child is charged with murder and this is only at the level of the Criminal High Court – not at the Preliminary Inquiry stage (P.I) in the Magistrates Courts. (c) Children who have been charged with infringing the penal law are not usually treated on detention and arrest by police “in a manner consistent with the promotion of the child’s sense of dignity and worth”. They are kept mixed with adult persons charged with crimes, in police stations. (d) The Corporal Punishment of Juveniles Act (Cap. 123) allows for the caning of juveniles who have been found guilty of crime or pleaded guilty thereto. This punishment is delivered on the bare buttocks and up to twelve (12) strokes can be given-usually by a policeman in a police station. (e) Children charged with murder are not given bail . If they are over 16 years of age they are sent to an adult prison to await their trial. In local prisons there is little or no division or separation between untried prisonersand those already tried. The age for criminal responsible starts at eight (8) years. IT IS RECOMMENDED it be increased at least to age twelve (12) The Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (the Beijing Rules) are not followed, because children are treated like adults. It must be mentioned that matters – whether civil or criminal – affecting children are heard in the Family Court which affords privacy for Juveniles. The public is excluded and there is a legal embargo on what the media can report. SAMOAEast Asia & Pacific CRC session yet to be scheduled (planned for September 2006) SAN MARINOCRC Session 34, 15 September - 03 October 2003 Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers – English www.crin.org/docs/resources/treaties/crc.34/SanMarino_CSCS_ngo_report.doc […]
National Recruitment Legislation and Practice Besides civilian police, San Marino maintains two small military units, the Gendarmerie and the Guardiedi Rocca.i There is no compulsory military service but citizens between 16 and 55 years may be enlisted in certain circumstances to defend the State. SAO TOME and PRINCPEWest and Central AsiaCRC Session 36, 17 May-June 6 2004 Child Soldiers CRC Briefs http://www.crin.org/docs/resources/treaties/crc.36/Sao%20Tome_CSCS_ngo_report.pdf […]
A group of military officers seized power during a coup on 16 July 2003. Constitutional order was restored after the military junta signed an agreement with international mediators on 23 July. Some of those involved in the coup were reportedly former members of the Buffalo Battalion, a mercenary group created by the Apartheid government in South Africa during the 1970s to fight against the South West Africa People’s Organisation (based in Angola), who were fighting against the South African occupation of what became known as Namibia. Iii During the coup some of them are reported to have used military weapons and carried arms. There have been no reports of involvement by under 18s. SENEGAL CRC Session 10, 30 October - 17 November 1995 Defence for Children International - Senegal – French www.crin.org/docs/resources/treaties/crc.10/Senegal_NGO_Report.pdf […] 3) La Protection Enfants travailleurs : Il s'agit d'enfants qu''on rencontre surtout dans le secteur informel comme vendeurs ou revendeurs, apprentis ou exerçant de petits métiers (cireurs, laveurs ou gardiens de voitures). I1 s'agit aussi des filles domestiques. Ils présentent tous a peu pres les mêmes caractéristiques et partagent les mêmes besoins : - Provenance en général du milieu rural ou péri-urbain. - l'essentiel de leurs activités se déroulent dans les villes - Faiblesse ou absence de scolarisation - Relations faibles avec le milieu familial dans le cas des filles domestiques, - Absence de couverture sanitaire et sociale dans le cas des apprentis et des filles domestiques - Quasi-inexistence de contrat de travail pour les vendeurs, revendeurs et filles domestiques. - Pas de plan de formation préétablie pour les enfants apprentis. - Difficulté de constater des abus a cause du caractère familial des "entreprises" utilisant cette catégorie d'enfants. - Très mauvaise rémunération des prestations fournies par ces enfants. - Victimes souvent des rafles de la police en ce qui concerne les vendeurs et revendeurs pour cause de situation irrégulier. - Etudes qualitatives et quantitatives encore très récentes concernant cette catégorie d'enfants.
I1 est difficile des fois de faire la démarcation au point de vue activité d'avec certains enfants travailleurs d'une manière qénérale. En plus de certaines ressemblances ,(niveau scolarisation - méfiance de la société -suspicion des services de sécurité...) d'avec les enfants travailleurs, ils présentent leurs propres cáractéristiques liées a leur situation spécifique : - On les assimile a tort a des délinquants ou des prédélinquants. -Ils sont souvent en rupture avec le milieu familial - Ils sont exposés a tous les risques d'agression et de violence parce que passant la nuit a la belle étoile - Très peu de données sur l'ampleur et les véritables caractéristiques du phénomène. - Absence d'hygiène corporelle et vestimentaire. - Les enfants ne sont pas pris en compte dans les statistiques officielles Les Enfants talibes mendiants : I1 s'agit des enfants placés a l'école coranique et entièrement pris en charge par le maître coranique. La plupart du temps, le maître coranique émigre de son milieu rural vers la ville avec ses talibes dont la situation en général se traduit par : - une misère affective et sociale compte tenu d'une séparation avec les parents qui peut être longue et a ].laquelle s'ajoutent les mauvais traitements. -un environnement sanitaire et hygiénique assez precaire - un temps plus long consacré a la mendicité plutôt qu'a la formation. - le seul débouché semble être la possibilité pour l'enfant de devenir lui aussi maître coranique et de s'installer a son compte -Difficulté de déterminer le nombre même si 1'UNICEF l'estime a 100000. I1 est a noter cependant que le programme mis en place dans le cadre de la coopération UNICEF-Gouvernement du Sénégal en faveur des enfants, nous semble viable, même si pour le moment on ne sent pas son impact aux endroits les plus fréquentés par ces enfants dans les villes, Enfants en Institution (cas des enfants délinquants ou en danger moral): Malgré les efforts dans le sens de la couverture du territoire national et de l'amélioration de la qualité de la prise en charge au niveau éducatif, il existe des insuffisances qui donnent un aperçu sur la situation de ces enfants. - Faiblesse du budget alloué a ce secteur - Prise en charge stationnaire a 3FF depuis 1975 - Pas de politique de prévention globale de la délinquance juvénile - Difficulté d'assurer la réinsertion socio-économique a cause de l'absence de débouchés - Difficulté de passer de l'étape initiation professionnelle a la formation professionnelle a cause du manque de matière d'oeuvre et de personnel qualifié dans les structures concernées. - Suppression du recrutement du personnel éducatif malgré l'existence de l'école qui continue a en former. - Pas de structure spécifique de prise en charge de la délinquance féminine - Absence d'études exhaustives sur le phénomène
D'une manière générale, la situation des enfants se caractérisent a ce niveau par : - la difficulté de les séparer des adultes, - la possibilité de pouvoir informer rapidement les parents de la situation. - l'absence d'une participation des populations aux mesures a mettre en oeuvre - l'absence d'une politique réelle de prise en charge et d'encadrement de cette catégorie d'enfants. - Difficulté d'accéder aux structures ayant en charge cette catégorie d'enfants - Pas d'études sur le phénomène en dehors des statistiques de la Police Judiciaire et de l'Administration Pénitentiaire. Exemple: en 1991. les mineurs représentaient 5,02% de la population carcérale et 5,74% en 1992. - les services de sécurité sont peu impliqués dans le débat sur les Droits de l'Enfant. - I1 n'existe pas encore dans le programme de formation des personnels des services de sécurité, de module relatif aux droits de l'enfant. Or, il existe des organisations qui sont prêtes a s'investir a ce niveau.
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