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
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LIBERIAWest and Central AfricaCRC Session 36, 17 May-4 June 2004 Child Soldiers CRC Briefs http://www.crin.org/docs/resources/treaties/crc.36/liberia_CSCS_ngo_report.pdf […]
Taylor had come under high pressure after being indicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone in June 2003 for his alleged role in crimes committed during a 10-year civil war in Sierra Leone, including the recruitment and use of child soldiers. It is widely known that ex-President Taylor supported the United Revolutionary Front (RUF), which abducted and forcibly recruited children as soldiers in Sierra Leone. The conflict in Liberia had intensified in the immediate months prior to Charles Taylor’s resignation. Reports indicated increased voluntary and forcible recruitment of child soldiers in Monrovia and government-controlled areas. On 22 July UNICEF, the UN’s Special Representative for West Africa, the UN’s Special Representative on Children involved in Armed Conflict and ECOWAS issued a joint urgent appeal for an end to hostilities and emphasized the “unacceptable mobilisation of children and women in violation of all agreed international norms and standards”. The appeal went on to state that “some of the actions against children and women constitute crimes of war under the Statute of the International Criminal Court”. UNICEF and the NGO Don Bosco have also publicly denounced the forcible and voluntary recruitment of girls and boys as young as nine years into Liberian Government armed forces. […]
We the children are still being forcefully recruited from the camp”. There are incidences of young boys who put up resistance and [who are] flogged and forcefully recruited. We have set up a team to blow alarm whenever the recruitment vehicle comes into the camp”7 Child soldiers seeking refuge in Sierra Leone have reported being forcibly recruited by the government’s Anti-Terrorist Unit and armed forces. Young male conscripts have been forced to carry looted goods and captured weapons and sent to the front, often without proper training. Reports from human rights organizations in early 2002 described children being rounded up for recruitment around Monrovia and gave accounts of armed children manning checkpoints and riding in military vehicles in Monrovia and Gbarnga. Young women and girls have been raped and forced to become “wives” to the soldiers as well as combatants. It is believed that rape and other sexual violence are commonplace in these cases. Children attempting to flee with their parents towards the border with Sierra Leone have been stopped at checkpoints by the Anti-Terrorist Unit. The children are taken away from their parents to a military base, where their heads are shaved. Those children whose parents cannot afford to “buy” their freedom are sent to the front lines, often with little or no training. In June 2003 Liberian Defense Minister Daniel Chea denied that the government was forcibly conscripting children, arguing that young people were patriotically volunteering. However, women representing the internally displaced who demonstrated in Monrovia in April 2003 recounted an increase in forcible conscription of boys and young men, with government security forces shooting randomly as those abducted tried to flee. […] Liberia has army-run elementary and high schools located within army barracks for children of military personnel. Efforts began in 2002 to revitalise a pre-war government-run officer training corps programme, which was compulsory for all high school and university students. Towards the end of 2002 the International Committee of the Red Cross carried out international human rights training for instructors in the training corps programme, all of whom were military personnel. UNICEF and UNHCR Human Rights Watch February 2004 Vol. 16, No. 2 (A) How to Fight, How to Kill: Child Soldiers in Liberia[…] They [the LURD] caught us near the camp and we have been with them for two months. Training was very hard. They show you how to fight, how to kill. . .During the war, we went as far as the Stockton bridge but had to retreat. I saw plenty people killed, even young children. It was terrible. —George H., sixteen years old, October 25, 2003. Many of them were forcibly recruited, drugged, beaten, and made to commit horrible acts. These children killed, raped and abused members of their own communities. Because of these acts, they are both victims and perpetrators. —Child protection worker, Monrovia, October 29, 2003. Over the last fourteen years, Liberians have known little but warfare. Conflict and civil war have devastated the country and taken an enormous toll on the lives of its citizens, especially children. Thousands of children have been victims of killings, rape and sexual assault, abduction, torture, forced labor and displacement at the hands of the warring factions. Children who fought with the warring parties are among the most affected by the war. Not only did they witness numerous human rights violations, they were additionally forced to commit abuses themselves. Both of the opposition groups, the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), as well as government forces which include militias and paramilitary groups widely used children when civil war resumed in 2000. In some cases, the majority of military units were made up primarily of boys and girls under the age of eighteen. Their use and abuse was a deliberate policy on the part of the highest levels of leadership in all three groups. No precise figures […] including their rights to life, to health, to protection and to education. Many child soldiers have suffered egregious abuses: forced conscription into the armed groups; beatings and other forms of torture; and psychological damage resulting from being forced to kill others. Girl soldiers have suffered the additional humiliation of rape and sexual servitude, sometimes over periods of several years. […] Boy and girl fighters typically received limited training in operating automatic weapons, mortars and rocket propelled grenades. Taught to maneuver in combat, to march, and to take cover, children were often the first sent out to the front lines where they faced heavy combat. Children were also charged with other tasks such as manning roadblocks, acting as bodyguards to commanders, looting from civilians and abducting other children. Although younger children were generally used as porters, cooks, cleaners and as spies, children as young as nine and ten were sometimes armed and active in combat. In addition to their military duties, girls with the armed groups were raped and sexually enslaved by the fighters. One girl who spoke with Human Rights Watch, fourteen at the time of her abduction, was raped by many fighters and later assigned to a commander as a wife. Girl fighters were collectively known as ‘wives’, whether attached to a particular soldier or not. Some older girls were able to avoid sexual abuse, sometimes by capturing other girls for sexual servitude. […]
Children described beatings, torture and other punishments inflicted on them by commanders for alleged infractions of rules. Children were tied and beaten for stealing, for failing to follow orders, and for abusing the civilian population. Nevertheless, child soldiers were complicit in abuses against civilians—including murder, rape and widespread looting—often committed with the involvement of their adult superiors. Boy soldiers were often drugged prior to facing combat by commanders handing out pills. Boys described these drugs as making them feel fearless during fighting. LIBYAN ARAB JAMAHIRIYAMiddle East & North AfricaNo report available on the CRIN LIECHTENSTEINEurope & Central Asia No report available on the CRIN LITHUANIAEurope & Central Asia No report available on the CRIN LUXEMBOURGEurope and Central AsiaCRC Session 38, 10 - 28 January 2005 Coalition Nationale pour les droits de l'enfant Luxembourg - French www.crin.org/docs/resources/treaties/crc.38/Luxembourg_ngo_report.doc […]
Ecole et enfants à besoins spécifiques Le système scolaire luxembourgeois est une source permanente de discriminations, de situations conflictuelles et de violation des droits des enfants. […] Dans les années passées, il y a eu d’importants mouvements d’ONG contestant la politique du gouvernement en matière d’éducation : L’échec scolaire, la discrimination des enfants des travailleurs immigrés, des enfants handicapés, le manque de volonté politique pour un dialogue avec les organisations de la société civile et le manque de volonté pour engager des réformes structurelles fondamentales sont responsables d’un mécontentement profond et ont conduit à diverses associations momentanées d’ONG réclamant des réformes profondes du système scolaire. Un regroupement de 14 associations oeuvrant en faveur d’enfants handicapés a même introduit un recours devant le tribunal administratif contre un projet de réforme de la loi de base sur l’enseignement primaire qui prévoyait e.a. d’abolir le droit des parents à choisir le type d’enseignement convenable pour leur enfant. […] Justice Un mouvement comparable s’est développé dans le secteur de l’aide à l’enfance défavorisée. Le grand mécontentement des professionnels de secteur socio-éducatif avait amené le gouvernement à créer une commission spéciale « Jeunesse en détresse » qui a écouté les principaux acteurs du secteur, dont les institutions, les services et les ONG. […]
Les enfants qui vivent dans des familles en situation de détresse sont souvent placés dans des institutions sans que les familles aient bénéficié d’une aide appropriée. Les professionnels du secteur socio-éducatif sont mécontents mais divisés sur la politique à suivre : aider d’avantage les familles à gérer eux-mêmes leurs conflits et éviter ainsi les placements des enfants ou développer et perfectionner d’avantage les structures de placement. Mais le Luxembourg est déjà un pays où le taux des enfants placés est un des plus élevés en Europe. En plus, la part des enfants placés par le juge des enfants est excessivement élevée : Trois quarts de tous les enfants placés le sont par le tribunal de la jeunesse et les parents déchus automatiquement de l’autorité parentale, ce qui favorise la déresponsabilisation de ces derniers. […] Les enfants étrangers (plus de 40% de la population scolaire au Luxembourg) sont le groupe le plus défavorisé. Ce problème existe depuis plus de trente ans et n’a pas trouvé de solution jusqu’au présent. Toutes les mesures entreprises à ce jour n’ont pas amélioré significativement la situation de ces enfants qui se retrouvent sur le marché de l’emploi sans qualification. Les raisons sont multiples : Une politique d’intégration forcée passant par l’apprentissage du luxembourgeois et plus tard de l’allemand, deux langues qui ne sont pas utilisées ni au domicile ni dans l’entourage immédiat de ces enfants. Une pédagogie de l’échec mettant l’accent sur l’allemand comme langue initiale pour l’apprentissage de la lecture et de l’écriture Une pédagogie perfectionniste sanctionnant l’erreur et bloquant une progression normale par le redoublement et l’exclusion (classes spéciales ou d’appui, exode vers l’étranger) L’absence d’une vraie politique multiculturelle La société multiculturelle au Luxembourg est une illusion pieuse à laquelle s’adonnent les politiciens de toutes les couleurs. La réalité est que les différents groupes d’immigrants ne se mêlent pas à la population autochtone ni entre eux, de sorte qu’ils forment des communautés repliées sur elles-mêmes. […] Les problèmes liés à la procédure d’asile au Luxembourg dépassent le cadre des droits de l’enfant. Retenons que la procédure est longue, qu’un nombre infiniment petit de dossiers sont acceptés par rapport aux demandes et que pour les enfants, les retours forcés constituent un second déracinement et un second traumatisme. Ce thème est un sujet de discussion permanent entre le gouvernement et les associations défendant les intérêts des demandeurs d’asile. Il y a même eu des manifestations nécessitant l’intervention des forces de l’ordre et des actions de soutien d’élèves pour leurs camarades de classe demandeurs d’asile. Du point de vue des droits de l’enfant, la procédure d’expulsion donne également lieu à des plaintes quand les enfants sont tirés de leur sommeil et conduits à l’aéroport comme des criminels. MACEDONIA (The Former Yugoslav Republic Of )Europe and Central AsiaCRC Session 23, 10 - 28 January 2000 Macedonian National Coalition – English www.crin.org/docs/resources/treaties/crc.23/Macedonia_MNC_ngo_report.pdf […] The Coalition thinks that the legislative system of the Republic of Macedonia contains all required legal measures, which constitute the basic prerequisites for the implementation of international standards on children's rights. This is conducive to the practical implementation of the Convention and the stipulated rights in Macedonia. The Coalition, however, also emphasises the disparity between legal regulations and their implementation in practice. In this sense the Coalition advocates the consistent implementation of legal norms. The Coalition thinks the extent of cooperation between the Govt. and NGOs insufficient -especially with respect to the preparation of legal acts referring to the protection of the rights of children and the relevant Convention. […] The Coalition welcomes and supports the initiative to introduce the institution of a CHILDREN'S OMBUDSMAN. It considers that this institution could operate within the NGO sector, as an office regulated by law or a special decree. The Coalition thinks that the Govt. should make additional efforts as regards the ratification of international conventions and agreements related to the recognition / implementation of court rulings -especially if the latter refer to cases of kidnapping or alimony cases. In spite of the fact that the Govt. Report offers a survey of the Constitutional and legislative regulatory framework on several issues concerning the protection of children with developmental difficulties and disabilities as successfully regulated -all this remains at a prevailingly declarative level. State institutions lack initiatives in practice through relevant mechanisms, through organisation and coordination and through achieving concrete results -which would be evaluated independently of existing subjective and objective factors and reasons; The Coalition advocates the introduction of education on the rights of the child and on prevention against sexual abuse; on (verbal and physical) abuse, on protection against AIDS and on protection against child pornography into educational curricula.The Coalition considers the development of a protection and support system for children without parents -placed with foster-families or children's homes - a priority . Foster-families looking after children without parents should be granted highquality material and social benefits. The Coalition endorses the proposal on the financing of a shelter for homeless children by the Govt. This facility would operate within the NGO sector . Directory: docs docs -> Application for acem docs -> Observational Assessment of Teaching Practices Teaching Assessment Initiative Proposal Submitted to The Teachers for a New Era project docs -> Traditional British values docs -> From Warfighters to Crimefighters: The Origins of Domestic Police Militarization docs -> Borzoi Club of America Register of Merit Program I. What is a Register Of Merit docs -> Protecting the rights of the child in the context of migration docs -> United Nations E/C. 12/Esp/5 docs -> 9th May 1950 the schuman declaration docs -> Getting To Outcomes® in Services for Homeless Veterans 10 Steps for Achieving Accountability Download 4.33 Mb. Share with your friends:
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