Child Rights Publications
Looking back at human rights developments in 2013, several themes stand out. The unchecked slaughter of civilians in Syria elicited global horror and outrage, but not enough to convince world leaders to exert the pressure needed to stop it. That has led some to lament the demise of the much-vaunted “Responsibility to Protect” doctrine, which world governments adopted less than a decade ago to protect people facing mass atrocities. Yet it turned out to be too soon to draft the epitaph for R2P, as it is known, because toward the end of the year it showed renewed vitality in several African countries facing the threat of large-scale atrocities: the Central African Republic, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The report Captured Childhood is based on interviews with 70 children in 11 countries and draws on international law to ask for an end to child detention. A model to prevent child detention is described and builds on good practices identified in research done by the International Detention Coalition. Detention, even for a very short time, can cause long-lasting damage and is unnecessary in the case of children and families.
The experience of childhood is increasingly urban. Over half the world’s people – including more than a billion children – now live in cities and towns. Many children enjoy the advantages of urban life, including access to educational, medical and recreational facilities. Too many, however, are denied such essentials as electricity, clean water and health care – even though they may live close to these services.
LHR has brought a number of high profile cases in the 2008/9 period. In the Zimabawean Exiles Forum matter, LHR sought the release of several Zimbabwean human rights activists who were arrested and threatened with deportation following a protest against the arms shipment to Zimbabwe that took place at the gates of the Chinese Embassy.
The Child Rights Project, with the assistance of the Foundation for Human Rights, produced a comprehensive manual on upholding and promoting children’s rights.
This manual is aimed at advice givers who work at a grass roots level and encountered challenges and difficulties that children face in accessing and ensuring their rights both as a means of protection and development.