The protective environment: Development support for child protection

Human Rights Quarterly

Volumn 27, Issue 1, 2005, Pages 214-248

  Landgren, Karin ^a  

^a UNICEF   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CHILD WELFARE; HUMAN RIGHTS; LEGISLATION; VIOLENCE;

EID: 15744403452     PISSN: 02750392     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/hrq.2005.0007     Document Type: Review

References (131)

1. The term Children Protection, as used by The United Nation Children's Fund (UNICEF), refers to the protection of children against violence, exploitation and abuse. It includes the situation of children in conflict with the law, and children without their customary caregivers (such as orphans, children in institutions, and those separated from families in time of conflict or disaster)-conditions that render children particularly vulnerable to violence, abuse, and exploitation.
2. Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted 20 Nov. 1989, G.A. Res. 44/25, U.N. GAOR, 44th Sess., Supp. No. 49, U.N. Doc. A/44/49 (1989) (entered into force 2 Sept. 1990), reprinted in 28 I.L.M. 1448 (1989) [hereinafter CRC]. Only the United States and Somalia have yet to ratify the CRC. Many states have, however, entered reservations to particular articles of the CRC, or to the CRC as a whole; some of these are incompatible with the object and purpose of the CRC.
3. Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflicts, G.A. Res. 54/263, 54 U.N. GAOR, 54th Sess., Supp. No. 497, A/RES/54/263, Annex I (2000) (entered into force 12 Feb. 2002);
4. Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, adopted 25 May 2000, G.A. Res. 54/263, Annex II, U.N. GAOR, 54th Sess., Supp. No. 49, U.N. Doc. A/RES/54/263, Annex II (2000) (entered into force 18 Jan. 2002).
5. Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour (ILO No. 182), entered into force 19 Nov. 2000, reprinted in 38 I.L.M. 1207 (1999) [hereinafter ILO Convention No. 182];
6. Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, G.A. Res. 55/25, Annex II, 55 U.N. GAOR, Supp. No. 49, at 60, U.N. Doc. A/45/49 (Vol. I) (2001).
7. See e.g., International Labor Oganization (ILO), A Future Without Child Labour 1, 32 (2002), available at www.ilo.org/dyn/declaris/ DECLARATIONWEB.DOWNLOAD_BLOB?Var_DocumentID=1566 (180 million children in the worst forms of child labor, including 1.2 million children trafficked yearly);
8. United Nations International Children's Fund (UNICEF), A World Fit For Children (2002), available at www.unicef.org/publications/ pub_wffc_en.pdf;
9. Defence for Children International, Kids Behind Bars: A Sudy on Children in Conflict with the Law 135 (2003), available at www.defence for children.nl/ariadne/loader.php/en/dci/documenten/RapportKBB.pdf (over 1 million children detained as a result of being in conflict with the law);
10. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, Children in War, available at www.reliefweb.int/ocha_ol/advocacy/production/beta/children_war (300,000 child soldiers, over 2 million children dead as a direct result of armed conflict since 1990, and 22 million children displaced by conflict);
11. World Health Organization (WHO), Report of the Consultation on Child Abuse Prevention 17 (1999), available at www.who.int/ violence_injury_prevention/media/en/235.pdf ("40 million children aged 0-14 suffer from abuse and neglect, and require health and social care");
12. WHO, World Report on Violence and Health 60 (2002), available at www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/world_report/en/ full_en.pdf [hereinafter WHO Report on Violence and Health] (57,000 children under fifteen dead as a result of homicide in 2000);
13. Dick Sobsey, Violence and Children with Disabilities: An International Perspective, 24 One-in-Tfn, (2003), available at www.rehab-international.org/publications/10-24.pdf ("For each child killed by violence, it is likely that at least 100 children are injured and many of those will have permanent disabilities as a result.");
14. UNICEF, Child Protection, Female Genital Mutilation, available at www.unicef.org/protection/index_genitalmutilation.html (between 100 and 130 million women and girls alive today in Africa have undergone some form of genital mutilation). Millions of other children are affected by the violence and abuse that flourish in indirect connection with armed conflict. Global figures are not available for many types of violence and exploitation. As an indicator of high vulnerability to exploitation and abuse, 15 million children under the age of eighteen had been orphaned as a result of HIV/AIDS by 2003, an increase of 3.5 million in two years.
15. UNAIDS et al., Children on the Brink 2004: A Joint Report of New Orphan Estimates and a Framework for Action 7 (2004), available at www.unicef.org/publications/files/cob∧yout6-013.pdf.
16. For example, states are obliged to undertake a comprehensive review of all domestic legislation and related administrative guidance as part of ensuring compliance with the CRC. General measures of implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 5, U.N. Comm. on the Rts. of the Child, 34th sess., 18, U.N. Doc. CRC/ GC/2003/5 (2003)[hereinafter General Comment No. 5].
17. General guidelines regarding the form and contents of periodic reports to be submitted by States Parties under article 44, paragraph 1(b), of the Convention, U.N. Comm. on the Rts. of the Child, 13th sess., 343rd mtg., 40, U.N. Doc. CRC/C/58 (1996),
18. reprinted in Rachel Hodgkin & Peter Newell, UNICEF, Implementation Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Annex 3 (2002) [hereinafter Reporting Guidelines.
19. General Comment No. 5, supra note 6, 24-65.
20. Concluding Observations: Romania, Considerations of Reports Submitted by States Parties under Article 44 of this Convention, U.N. Comm. on the Rts. of the Child, 32nd sess., 18(a), U.N. Doc.CRC/C/15/Add.99 (2003) [hereinafter Concluding Observations: Romania].
21. Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child: Bhutan, Consideration of Reports Submitted by States parties under Article 44 of the Convention, U.N. Comm. on the Rts. of the Child, 27th sess., 23(a), 29(a), 31(c), 33(a), U.N. Doc. CRC/C/15/ Add.157 (2001) [hereinafter Concluding Observations: Bhutan].
22. International financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank Group, and other multilateral institutions, provide financial, analytical, technical, and advisory services to the developing world in an effort to fight poverty and promote sustainable development.
23. This is also the pattern of country reports under other human rights reporting mechanisms, including the Human Rights Committee monitoring compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted 16 Dec. 1966, G.A. Res. 2200 (XXI), U.N. GAOR, 21st Sess., Supp. No. 16, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 999 U.N.T.S. 171 (entered into force 23 Mar. 1976) (ICCPR) and the Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, performing the same function for the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted 16 Dec. 1966, G.A. Res. 2200 (XXI), U.N. GAOR, 21st Sess., Supp. No. 16, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 993 U.N.T.S. 3 (entered into force 3 Jan. 1976).
24. UN Statement of Common Understanding on the human rights-based approach i[ (May 2003), reprinted in UNICEF, The State of thr World's Children 2004, Annex B, 91-93 (2003), available at www.unicef.org/publications/files/Eng_text.pdf [hereinafter World's Children 2004].
25. Broadly, UNHCR's mandate pertains to the rights of refugees, asylum seekers, and stateless persons; the ILO's mandate to labor, and UNICEF's mandate to children and women.
26. See discussion on "Action 2," infra § (IV)(B)(1). The World Bank also addresses the issue of Social Protection. See World Bank Group, Social Protection, available at www1.worldbank.org/sp.
27. See, e.g., WHO Report on Violence and Health, supra note 5, at 59-86.
28. There are endless examples of the permutations such multiple abuses can take, including children who run away from harsh domestic labor only to be detained for vagrancy and subjected to physical violence in jail; children who have been sexually abused within the family or community and are then stigmatized and forced into the sex industry; and children who have been orphaned and, not receiving alternative care by the state, seek their own survival through whatever employment they can find, routinely in the worst forms of child labor.
29. CRC, supra note 2, art. 24(2)(f).
30. WHO Report on Violence and Health, supra note 5.
31. See Population Council, Transitions to Adulthood, Married Adolescents/First-Time Parents: Child Marriage, available at www.popcouncil.org/ta/childmar.html;
32. Owen O'Donnell et al., Child Labour and Health: Evidence and Research Issues 7, 28-30 (2002), available at wwww.ucw-project.org/ resources/pdf/childlabour_health.pdf;
33. Kajsa Alsing-Monemi, et al., Violence Against Women Increases the Risk of Infant and Child Mortality: A Case-Referent Study in Nicaragua 18 WHO Bulletin 10-16 (2003), available at www.scielosp.org/ pdf/bwho/v81n1/v81n1a04.pdf;
34. Breastfeeding.com, Advantages of Breastfeeding, available at www.breastfeeding.com/all_about/all_about_more.html.
35. For example, Common Country Assessments and the United Nations Development Action Frameworks are meant to take a human rights based approach. See generally United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Human Rights, available at www.undp.org/governance/ humanrights.htm;
36. UNDP, Poverty Reduction, available at www.undp.org/poverty. UN staff understanding of international human rights obligations remains limited. A recent World Vision.study of the World Bank's reticence to help governments fulfil human rights obligations suggests: [A]n institution unwilling to broach the subject of rights, even in the case of children, the elderly or people with disabilities;...help is not even offered to governments to achieve specific national obligations under their economic, social and cultural commitments, no matter how closely related these were to those World Bank sectoral programmes reviewed.... By declining to proactively offer to help governments achieve their national rights obligations, the Bank may actually hinder the achievement of these. The Bank too often overlooks the reality that it is a central actor in the reform of those parts of government that would be expected to deliver on the rights instruments.
37. Alan Whaites, The World Bank-doing the rights thing?, Global Future 8 (World Vision, Monrovia, C.A.), Fourth Quarter 2003, available at www.globalfutureonline.org/PolicyAdvocacy /GIbIFutr.nsf/issues/DBFAAA769C172C1988256E8500240048/$File /GF03Q4_web.pdf?OpenElement.
38. Implementation of human rights instruments are to be taken into account in preparing the United Nations Common Country Assessments; in practice, greater attention is given to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs include eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality, reducing child mortality, and combating HIV/AIDS. See United Nations, Millennium Development Goals, available at www.un.org/millenniumgoals. Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi proposed that the Millennium goals "be amended to include the promotion of humans rights," because democracy can be realized and development achieved only through human rights.
39. "I wish that Secretary-General Kofi Annan could hear this," Malloch Brown [Administrator of UNDP] said, "because today he chided me and others for concentrating so much on the eight MDGs that we forget that they are part of the Millennium Declaration, which calls very strongly for democracy and human rights as the route to achieving the goals." Iranian Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi says human rights essential for Millennium goals, Newsport, 3 Jun. 2004, available at www.undp.org/dpa/frontpagearchive/2004/june/3jun04.
40. In a workshop on rights based approaches, held by Save the Children Sweden, "one of the main criticisms was that development actors in general were seen to refrain from pressurising Governments about specific rights violations, for fear of risking their legitimacy and future programme activities." Save the Children Sweden, Workshop on Rights-Based Approaches 8 (2003), available at www.rb.se/NR/ rdonlyres/D7D283C7-91E9-4B3D-97CB-60CA2E4EAA01/0/ Workshoponrightbasedapproachesart2967.pdf
41. Hugo Slim and Luis Enrique Eguren, Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action, Humanitarian Protection: A Guidance Booklet (pilot version), 26 (2004), available at www.alnap.org/pubs/pdfs/protectionbooklet3.pdf.
42. General Comment No. 8 on the relationship between economic sanctions and respect for economic, social and cultural rights, adopted 12 Dec. 1997, U.N. Comm. on Econ., Soc. & Cult. Rts.,17th Sess., 10, U.N. Doc. E/C.12/1997/8 (1997).
43. The Committee on the Rights of the Child recognizes that responsibilities to respect and ensure the rights of children extend in practice beyond the state and state controlled services and institutions to include children, parents, and wider families, other adults, and nonstate services and organizations. General Comment No. 5, supra note 6, 56.
44. "In some wealthier countries, poverty does not appear to be the main cause of child prostitution." Inter-Parliamentary Union/Unicef, Child Protection: A Handbook for Parliamentarians 64 (2004), available at www.unicef.org/publications/files /Guide_Enfants_OK.pdf [hereinafter Child Protection Handbook]. Moreover, in some developing countries, social causes appear to be at least as important as economic ones. A report on Kenya by the UN Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography notes: [S]pecialists working with children in the streets were of the opinion that poverty per se is not the only cause, although it certainly aggravates matters, but that abuse or rejection within families is the primary reason for the increase in street children and the consequent vulnerability to commercial sexual exploitation. The breakdown of traditional family values and the culture of African extended family were frequently cited as most compelling causes leading to a moral disintegration of society, again making children more vulnerable to sexual exploitation. Children escape physical and sexual abuse from home and from dysfunctional families affected by unemployment, substance abuse and criminality, and end up in the streets.
45. Report of the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, Ms. Ofelia Calcetas-Santos, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 54th Sess., Agenda Item 20, 11, U.N.Doc. E/CN.4/1998/101/Add.1 (1998).
46. Protective Government Commitment and Capacity would include ratification of international conventions, without reservations; budgetary provisions for child protection; public declarations of commitment; explicitly "child friendly" policies; and support for public prosecutions.
47. Protective Legislation and Enforcement would include incorporation of relevant international standards; prosecution of violators; police and judiciary functioning without interference; accessible redress mechanisms; child friendly and confidential legal procedures; the availability of legal aid; no criminalization of victims; and a juvenile justice regime in place.
48. Protective Culture and Customs would include (among other illustrative examples) an environment in which women and girls face little discrimination; childcare practices do not involve corporal punishment; violence is not a key component of masculine identity; spouses are not required to have FGM/C or be underage; peaceful dispute resolution is valued; children are attributed with dignity; recourse to state institutions is common; harmful practices are not underpinned by religious beliefs; sexual exploitation of children is socially unacceptable; and children with disabilities or orphaned by AIDS are not stigmatized.
49. Open Discussion, including the engagement of civil society and media would require that harmful phenomena are recognized as such and are reported in the media; that protection failures are acknowledged at the community and national level; that young people are able to refer to such issues at home, at school, and with each other; that victims are not threatened or ostracized; and that NGOs and media are able to work with minimal interference.
50. Protective Children's Life Skills, Knowledge, and Participation, would include an environment in which children are aware that they have rights; are encouraged to form views and express them; are provided with necessary information; are taught problem solving and negotiating skills; have their self-esteem valued by adults; and are listened to within the family, school, and community.
51. Protective Capacity of Families and Communities would include parents and other caregivers observing protective childrearing practices; families supported for childcare needs; communities supporting and monitoring protection; and the existence of some demographic balance (no adult shortage).
52. Protective Essential Service would include (among illustrative examples) education that is free for all children, including refugees; nondiscriminatory provision of health care, including for sex workers and detainees; a functioning social welfare system, with social workers, shelters, and hotlines; trained teachers who are present and working; and safe and supportive classrooms.
53. Protective Monitoring, Reporting, and Oversight would include systematic collection of data,transparent reporting of data and review by policy makers; access by independent observers to children in traditionally marginalized groups; and encouragement of and respect for civic review.
54. See, e.g., Laurice Taitz, AIDS now SA's top killer: New Findings contradict President Mbeki's denial that the epidemic is the leading cause of deaths in this country, Sunday Times (Johannesburg), 16 Sept. 2001, at 23, available at www.suntimes.co.za/2001/09/16/ news/news23.asp;
55. Interview with Dr. Malegapuru William Makgoba, President of South African Medical Research Council, NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (PBS television broadcast, 12 Jul. 2000), available at www.pbs.org/ newshour/bb/health/july-dec00/aids_safrica_7-12.html.
56. For example, it was only when sexual violence against women and girls during armed conflict, as well as in refugee and internal displacement settings, were singled out as a phenomenon that they attracted significant condemnation, resources, and programmatic and legal action. In a decade, the issue went from being treated as a tragic byproduct of conflict to being designated, in some circumstances, as a war crime.
57. See, e.g., Prosecutor v. Akayseu (Case No. ICTR 96-4-T), Judgement of Trial Chamber 1, 2 Sept. 1998;
58. Prosecutor v. Anto Furundzija (Case No. IT-95-17/1), Judgement of Trial Chamber II, 10 Dec. 1998.
59. World's Children 2004, supra note 17, at 77.
60. General Comment No. 5, supra note 6, 51.
61. Id. 26. The Committee promotes, but does not require, the incorporation of the Convention into domestic law. It has commended states' adoption of consolidated acts on the rights of the child.
62. World wide, migrant smuggling and trafficking is now worth between $12 billion (IOM estimate) and $30 billion (US sources). Migrants pay £1500 from Romania, £6-9000 from India to a top rate of £16,000 from China ($30,000 from China to the United States). The fee varies with the distance travelled, mode of transport and whether extra services are offered (for example, guarantees of repeated attempts until entry is secured, work on arrival). Cost for a well forged passport can be £2,000. Profits are approaching drug smuggling levels and with lower criminal penalties if caught, there are few disincentives.
63. The United Kingdom Parliament, House of Commons, Home Affairs, First Report, Sess. 2000-2001, App. 1, 9.2 (23 Jan. 2001) available at www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200001/cmselect/cmhaff/163/ 16305.htm.
64. See, e.g., The Girls Next Door, available at www.nytimes.com/2004/ 01/25/magazine/25SEXTRAFFIC.html;
65. www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/americas/12/02/rights.mexico.murders.reut/ index.html. Women and girls who have been raped may face "honor" killing, coerced prostitution, ongoing physical and mental abuse or ostracism, and the impossibility of marriage.
66. See, e.g., UNICEF, Africas Orphaned Generations 20 (2003), available at www.unicef.org/publications/files /africas∨phans.pdf [hereinafter Africa's Orphaned Generation (on property grabbing from widows).
67. See generally Ford Foundation, Many Roads to Justice: The Law-Related Work of Ford Foundation Grantees Around the World (2000), available at www.fordfound.org/publications/recent_articles/docs/ manyroads.pdf.
68. For example, after Senegal passed a law abolishing female genital mutilation/cutting and establishing severe penalties for violators, one traditional cutter performed 120 operations in the space of a few days, and an influential religious leader declared the practice a religious obligation to be continued. On balance, Senegal's experience has been positive, as it includes a significant grassroots component.
69. Peter Easton et al., Social Policy from the Bottom Up: Abandoning FGC in Sub-Saharan Africa, 13 Developmnet in Practice 445, 450 (Nov. 2003).
70. Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ending Corporal Punishment: Swedish Experience to Prevent All Forms of Violence Against Children-and the Results 14 Jan. 2001).
71. Ibid. id.
72. CRC, supra note 2, at pmbl.
73. See, e.g., David Halbfinger, Care of Juvenile Offenders in Mississippi is Faulted, N.Y. Times, 1 Sept. 2003, at A13.
74. See generally, Deffence for Children International, supra note 5;
75. A Stigma That Never Fades, Economist, 8 Aug. 2002, available at www.economist.com/world/na/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1270755. In 1985 [in the United States], 70% of people on parole successfully completed their term; by 1999, only 42% did. Those who break their parole now account for a third of prison admissions, the fastest-growing category. Altogether, roughly two-thirds of released prisoners are re-arrested within three years of release; 40% are already back in prison in that time.
76. See also Fact Sheet, Correctional Association of New York (July 2002), available at www.correctionalassociation.org/ JJP_Juvenile_Detention_factsheet.htm) (regarding juvenile re-offenders in New York City). Furthermore, research has shown that in many cases alternatives to detention programs are far more effective in addressing the safety concerns of society, as well as the rehabilitation needs of an at risk population.
77. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, adopted 18 Dec. 1979, G.A. Res. 34/180, U.N. GAOR, 34th Sess., Supp. No. 46, pmbl., U.N. Doc. A/34/46 (1980) (entered into force 3 Sept. 1981), 1249 U.N.T.S. 13, reprinted in 19 I.L.M. 33 (1980).
78. Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, on the Rights of Women in Africa, CAB/LEG/66.6/Rev.1, adopted 11 Jul. 2003 and not yet in force, requires states parties to commit themselves to modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of women and men through public education, information, education and communication strategies, with a view to achieving the elimination of harmful cultural and traditional practices.
79. Id. ar. 2, and calls for states to take measures including the creation of public awareness in all sectors of society, legal prohibition of the practices in question, provision of necessary support to victims of harmful practices through basic services such as health services, legal and judicial support, emotional and psychological counseling as well as vocational training to make them self supporting, and protection of women who are at risk of being subjected to harmful practices "or all other forms of violence, abuse and intolerance." Id. art. 5.
80. The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, on the Rights of Women in Africa, defines harmful traditional practices as "all behaviour, attitudes and/or practices which negatively affect the fundamental rights of women and girls, such as their right to life, health, dignity, education and physical integrity."
81. Id. art. 1(g). Other traditions identified by human rights treaty bodies as harmful practices have included scarring, tattooing, binding, and branding; dowry related killings; abandonment or neglect of children with birth defects; female infanticide; tests of virginity of future brides; forced feeding of young women and nutritional taboos for pregnant women; killing of children related to ritual sacrifices; gifting of virgin girls to temples, shrines or priests. Child Protection Handbook, supra note 31, at 91
82. CRC, supra note 2, art. 24(3).
83. See, e.g., Concluding Observations: Bhutan, supra note 14, 31;
84. Concluding Observations: Romania, supra note 10, 26.
85. See Involving People, Evolving Behavior 1-39, 157-211 (N. McKee et al. eds., 2000) [hereinafter Involving People]. Agencies work with a range of strategies and partners to address attitudes and behaviors. Partners may include the media, schools, and religious leaders. Strategies may involve village meetings and child-to-child peer education.
86. See id. at 160, 184.
87. Bridget Anderson & Julia O'Connill Davidson, Is Trafficking in Human Beings Demand Driven?: A Multi-Country Pilot Sudy 41-42 (International Organization for Migration, IOM Migration Research Series, No. 15, 2003), available at www.iom.int/DOCUMENTS/PUBLICATION/EN/ mrs_15_2003.pdf (addressing the importance of prevailing social norms, largely determined by peer behavior and what people can get away with). "[I]In the final analysis, it will be peers who police the margins." Id. at 47.
88. Involving People, supra note 61, at 32.
89. See Gerry Mackie, Fernale Genital Cutting: The Beginning of the End, in Female "Circumcision" in Africa: Culture, Controversy, and Change 253 (Bettina Shell-Duncan & Ylva Hernlund eds., 2000). The author writes that foot binding in China came to a rapid end by 1911, less than twenty years after the founding of the first anti-footbinding society.
90. Id. at 256. Tostan, an education program that started in Senegal, is organized like a "virtuous pyramid scheme," in which intermarrying communities decide jointly to abandon the process. Id. at 259.
91. See generally, id. at 256-59.
92. Salman Masood, Pakistani Inquiry Reveals Details of a Woman's "Honor Killing," N.Y. Times, 14 Dec. 2003, at 15 (quoting Rashid Rahman).
93. See, e.g., Human Rights Watch, World Report 2002, at 228 (2003), available at www.hrw.org/wr2k2/pdf/india.pdf (for discussion of caste discrimination and Indian government actions at the World Conference Against Racism);
94. Avert, HIV & Aids in China, available at www.avert.org/aidschina.htm. "in August 2001, the Chinese Government finally admitted that the country was facing a serious AIDS crisis. Previously the Government response had been one of suppression and denial."
95. See also Note submitted by Mr. Juan Miguel Petit, Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, in accordance with Commission on Human Rights resolution 2002/92, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 59th Sess., 13, U.N. Doc.E/CN.4/2003/79/ Add.2 (2003). The Special Rapporteur does not consider that child sexual abuse is any more prevalent in France than in other European countries. However, it appears that many individuals in a position of responsibility for the protection of children's rights, particularly within the judiciary, are still largely in denial about the existence and extent of this phenomenon.
96. Children and young people have proven to be excellent advocates and initiators of dialogue, particularly among their peers.
97. CRC, supra note 2, art. 17.
98. General Comment No. 5, supra note 6, 49.
99. Involving People, supra note 61, at 123; see model of interdependence of life skills, id. at 127.
100. 1. States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child. 2. For this purpose, the child shall in particular be provided the opportunity to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child, either directly, or through a representative or an appropriate body, in a manner consistent with the procedural rules of national law.
101. See also the Agenda for Action agreed at the First World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, in Stockholm, Sweden in 1996, which recognizes the participation of children "so that they are able to express their views and to take action to prevent and protect children," and also the importance of identifying /establishing networks of children and young people "as advocates of child rights." World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, Agenda for Action, art. 6, available at www.csecworldcongress.org/ PDF/en/Stockholm/Outome_documents /Stockholm%20Declaration%201996_EN.pdf.
102. Reporting Guidelines, supra note 8, 42-47. The provision of effective complaints mechanisms for children is regarded by the committee as part of the implementation of both Article 12, involving the right to participation, and Article 19, which concerns the child's protection from violence and abuse. Id. 44, 88.
103. CRC, supra note 2, art. 7.
104. Patrice L. Engle, et al., UNICEF, Care for Nutrition and Development 7 (30 Aug.2000), cited in UNICEF, State of the World's Children 2003, at 20, n.16 (2002), available at www.unicef.org /publications/files/pub_sowc03_en.pdf.
105. CRC, supra note 2, art. 18 (2).
106. See Africa's Orphaned Generations, supra note 49, at 25. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rate of orphaning in the world: some 34 million children are without one or both parents, 11 million as the result of AIDS. Id. at 6, 9. In twelve African countries, at least 15 percent of all children under fifteen will be orphaned in 2010, on current projections. Id. at 11. In Rwanda, ravaged by both war and AIDS, 37 percent of households with children are taking care of orphans. Id. at 50.
107. See Human Rights Watch, Suffering in Silence: The Links Between Human Rights Abuses and HIV Transmission to Girls in Zambia 25-31 (2002), available at www.hrw.org/reports/2003/zambia/ zambia1202.pdf (showing that orphans are vulnerable to sexual abuse by extended family, which contributes further to the spread of HIV/AIDS).
108. See also Craig S. Smith, School Pedophilia Scandal Shakes Portuguese Society, Int'l Herald Trib., 9 Oct. 2003, at 3.
109. See, e.g., Human Rights Watch, Abandoned to the State: Cruely and Neglect in Russian Orphanges (1998), available at www.hrw.org/ reports98/russia2.
110. See also Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sweden, Children in Institutions 17 (2001) [hereinafter Children in Institutions].
111. Children in Institutions, supra note 81, at 12.
112. See, e.g., Jane Perlez, Enlisting Aid to Education in the War on Terror, N.Y. Times, 12 Oct. 2003, at 12.
113. ILO Convention No. 182, supra note 4, art. 7(2). Evaluation indicates that the cost, quality, relevance, and security of the schooling provided are directly relevant to its impact in countering child labor. UNICEF, Education as a Preventive Strategy Against Child Labour: Evaluation of the Cornerstone Programme of UNICEF's Global Child Labour Programme 38 (2003), available at www.unicef.org/ evaldatabase/files/Child_Labour_Evaluation_Report_27_Feb_2004.pdf.
114. Paula Sáez & Alejandro Cartes, Domestic violence: Agression against women in Chile, in World Vision, Violence Against Women: From Vision to Empowerment 17 (Don Brandt ed., 2003), available at www.justice-and-peace.org/PolicyAdvocacy/pahome2.5.nsf/0/ AE901D40B61F02E8688256E46008361F3/$file/Women_empower.pdf.
115. Report on the Twenty-Second Session, Comm. on the Rts. of the Child, 22nd Sess., 291(o), U.N. Doc. CRC/C/90 (1999) [hereinafter CRC Report on the 22nd Session].
116. See generally UNICEF, Education as a Preventive Strategy Aagainst Child Labour: Evaluation of the Cornerstone Programme of UNICEF's Global Child Labour Programme (2003), available at www.unicef.org/ evaldatabase/files/Child_Labour_Evaluation_Report_27_Feb_2004.pdf.
117. Id. at 27-29, 204.
118. WHO Report on Violence and Health, supra note 5, at 59-65, 156-57, 171-73.
119. As an example of what is needed for health services to reach youth in the first place, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has identified, among other things, the need for specially trained staff, stressing respect for young people including honoring their privacy and confidentiality, the availability of peer counselors, specially designated space or special times for youth, the involvement of youth in the design of such programs, service outreach and delivery of programs, drop in clients welcomed, and publicity, and recruitment that inform and reassure youth. UNPF, State of World Populations 2003, at 42 (2003), vailable at www.unfpa.org/upload/lib_pub_file/ 221_filename↙p2003_eng.pdf.
120. CRC, supra note 2, art. 39.
121. General Comment No. 5, supra note 6, 27.
122. See infra § IV (A).
123. General Comment No. 5, supra note 6, 48.
124. A recent meeting on the MDGs noted that experience to date [P]oints to significant underlying problems with national statistical systems and with use of information. These include isolated, fragmented and parallel donor supported initiatives which do not translate into expanded country capacity; limited demand for statistics and for evidence-based decision-making and programming within governments; and systems that do not include all levels of information.
125. Report of the Second Meeting of the MDG Support Group, Stockholm, Sweden (19-20 Feb. 2004), United Nations Development Programme 5 (2004) (on file with author).
126. Annual Report 2003, Benin Country Office, UNICEF (on file with author) and interview with UNICEF Regional Director, West and Central Africa, in Cotonou, Benin. UNICEF is currently conducting a desk review of community based child protection mechanisms.
127. This is a collaboration underway between UNICEF and Futures Group International. See generally UNICEF, Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys, Background, available at www.childinfo.org/MICS2/ Gj99306m.htm.
128. Several of these practices will be included in the next UNICEF Multiple-Indicator Cluster Surveys in 2005. Child detention and institutionalization are not presumptively abusive, but signal heightened vulnerability and the need for oversight.
129. UN Launches Fresh Approach to try to Bolster Human Rights Protections in Countries, UN News Service, 27 Oct. 2004, available at www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=12366&Cr=human&Cr1=rights. The project will focus on such aspects of national human rights protection as legislation, the judiciary, recourse mechanisms, accountable government institutions, democratic and participatory decision making processes, and strong civil society, including a free and independent media. The protection of vulnerable and marginalized groups is also underlined.
130. See generally Strengthening the United Nations: An agenda for further change, U.N. GAOR, 57th Sess., Agenda Item 53, 50-51, U.N. Doc. A/57/387 (2002).
131. Strengthening human rights-related United Nations action at country level: National human rights promotion and protection systems, Plan of Action. 14-15 ,(18 Sept. 2003), available at www2.undg.org/documents/