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SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2013, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- The Protocol recognizes children's legal standing with respect to seeking redress for the violation of their rights - either directly or through a representative. To promote its implementation, domestic remedies and child-sensitive procedures and mechanisms need to be in place, including ombuds for children or similar national independent human rights institutions. Similarly, child-sensitive procedures and legal safeguards need to be established to ensure respect for the best interests and the views of the child, to protect children's privacy and prevent the risk of ill- treatment or intimidation.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2013, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- [The Bali meeting adopted important policy recommendations, highlighting the following areas:] Legislation - States should undertake a comprehensive legislative review to align relevant domestic legislation, whether in statutory, customary or religious laws, with human rights standards; in countries with plural legal systems, the supremacy of legislation aligned with international human rights standards should be explicitly recognized in the law to avert potential conflicts in legal interpretation and implementation. - Legislation should decriminalize status offences and survival behaviours and include legal safeguards to protect the child's best interests, and the child's right to freedom from violence and discrimination, to free and safe participation in proceedings throughout the restorative justice process, and to legal and other relevant assistance. - Legislation should provide law enforcement, prosecutors and the judiciary with options for diverting children away from the criminal justice system and promoting restorative justice processes at all stages of the proceedings; it should include alternative and educative measures such as warning, probation, judicial supervision and community work, to be applied in combination with restorative justice processes or when restorative justice is not appropriate. Children's right to recovery, rehabilitation and reintegration should be firmly expressed in legislation. - Legislation should recognize that restorative justice and informal justice or conflict resolution mechanisms, while being accessible at the local and community levels and playing an important role in the protection and reintegration of children, should never jeopardize children's rights or preclude children from accessing the formal justice system.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2014, para. 83
- Paragraph text
- The Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols, notably the Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography provide important guidance for the realization of children's rights online. All measures, including legislative, policy and educational initiatives, should be guided by the best interests of the child; respect and support children's growing autonomy and agency, and protect children from violence and discrimination. These principles lay the foundation to capitalize on the potential of the online environment; to promote children's learning and freedom of expression; to support children in accessing, receiving and imparting information; and to protect them from harmful materials and information, from unlawful interference with their privacy or correspondence, and situations where their honour and reputation may be at risk.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2014, para. 41a
- Paragraph text
- [In some countries, important legislative initiatives have addressed violence against children with albinism and those accused of witchcraft, criminalizing harmful practices and issuing protective measures to secure children's safety and protection. Legislation is, however, insufficient to change superstition and deeply rooted beliefs. To ensure the protection of these children, the Special Representative has called for a comprehensive strategy highlighting, the following measures:] Supporting the protective role of the family. Parents and members of the extended family play a central role in the care and protection of children and need to be sensitized and supported in their child-rearing responsibilities. To address the social and economic drivers of violence against children with albinism or accused of witchcraft, it is critical to provide basic social services of quality to families concerned, to promote child development, well-being and effective protection, and to prevent children's exposure to harm.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2013, para. 31c
- Paragraph text
- [To address these dimensions and capitalize upon a growing body of knowledge and experience in this area, the Special Representative organized with the Government of Sweden an expert consultation in 2012 (see also A/67/230, para. 24). The conclusions and recommendations highlighted the urgency of the following measures:] Capitalizing on children's perceptions, views and experiences while ensuring due respect for their protection from harm and their right to express views and influence decisions, and avoiding situations that may place children at risk; and
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2014, para. 111
- Paragraph text
- Schools have a unique potential to promote non-violent behaviour and to support change of attitudes condoning violence. Through quality education, children can gain the skills and abilities to surf cyberspace with confidence, to avoid and address risks, and to become well-informed and responsible digital citizens. This includes promoting creative, critical and safe use of the Internet and preventing and responding to incidents of online violence, including cyberbullying, even when they were not originated in the school environment.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2016, para. 92
- Paragraph text
- Promoting a safe and peaceful learning environment is a major cultural undertaking that requires leadership and support from Government, including adequate resources, to become a reality. It is crucial to strengthen children's protective environment with the support of all relevant stakeholders, including parents and caregivers, teachers and service providers. No less important is engaging and empowering children themselves. Children need to develop their own capacities as digital citizens and learn solid values and life skills, including being responsible in their actions towards others.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2017, para. 93
- Paragraph text
- In April 2016, in Sofia, the Council launched its new Strategy for the Rights of the Child (2016-2021), which was developed with the participation of the Special Representative. Children's freedom from violence is at the heart of the Strategy and is mainstreamed in actions concerning the protection of children from online abuse; the promotion of child participation; the development of child-friendly justice; the prevention of deprivation of liberty and the promotion of diversion measures; and the protection of children on the move.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2014, para. 124
- Paragraph text
- Legislation should provide law enforcement agencies, prosecutors and the judiciary with options for diverting children away from the criminal justice system and promoting restorative justice processes at all stages of the proceedings; it should include alternative and educative measures, such as warnings, probation, judicial supervision and community work, to be applied in combination with restorative justice processes or when restorative justice is not appropriate.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2012, para. 85
- Paragraph text
- Children growing up in poverty are less likely to access basic social services of quality or to benefit from effective preventive initiatives or protection mechanisms. This is a particularly acute problem for children living or working on the street, who often struggle to survive in unhealthy, hazardous and violent public spaces where crime is rampant and protection hardly available, and who are at risk of enduring ill-treatment by the authorities or being criminalized for survival behaviour, including truancy and begging.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- The weak writ of the State, particularly in peripheral areas, is another contributing factor to conflict and has played a role in exposing children to violence. Where the State is challenged in its ability to provide security, deliver basic social services, adjudicate on grievances and facilitate economic activity, local communities turn to alternative forms of authority. Traditional governance structures and/or justice mechanisms, may take precedence over weak statutory institutions. However, traditional governance structures are often not underpinned by the normative standards and protection mechanisms facilitated by the State. Where conflict is occurring, local communities also often form self-defence groups and frequently enlist young children in the community to fight and defend them against external threats.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Youth
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2010, para. 83
- Paragraph text
- The situation of those children remains hidden and surrounded by stigma, and is seldom envisaged as a priority in the policy agenda. There is scarce information on the numbers of children deprived of liberty and on the reasons that lead to their placement in justice and care institutions; independent monitoring mechanisms are rarely available to safeguard their rights and address their complaints; and sensationalistic information, combined with ill perception of growing juvenile delinquency, fuel social pressure for the criminalization of children and adolescents, and for the introduction of increasingly lower ages of criminal responsibility and longer measures of deprivation of liberty. This is a pattern that helps to create a culture of tolerance of violence against children, and which often contributes to the stigmatization of children belonging to poor and disadvantaged groups.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Children
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2012, para. 89
- Paragraph text
- Economically advanced countries are also implementing severe cutbacks in social spending and are promoting budgetary austerity measures to reduce national debt and boost their economies. In some cases, cuts in child benefits in the area of education have hampered families' ability to buy schoolbooks and cover the cost of their children's meals and transportation, while child labour in the informal sector and in agriculture may be on the rise as a result of shrinking family income. As recently highlighted by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, increasingly difficult socioeconomic situations for families and high levels of stress and pressure can result in serious risks of domestic violence towards children and need to be carefully monitored.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2013, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- [The Bali meeting adopted important policy recommendations, highlighting the following areas:] Training and guidance - Effective training should be assured to all relevant law enforcement and justice actors, including the police, prosecutors, the judiciary, probation officers, lawyers, social workers, facilitators and mediators. It should provide skills to promote dialogue, manage emotions and conflict, and secure safety of child participants; and address child rights and relevant legislation, as well as diversion, restorative justice processes and other alternative non-custodial measures. Guidelines and standard operational procedures should be developed for professionals involved in this process.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2013, para. 101
- Paragraph text
- Economically advanced nations are also implementing severe cutbacks in social spending and promoting budgetary austerity measures to reduce national debt and strengthen their economies. In some cases, cuts in child benefits in the area of education have hampered families' ability to buy schoolbooks and cover the cost of their children's meals and transportation, while child labour in the informal sector and agriculture may be on the rise as a result of shrinking family income. As highlighted by the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, increasingly difficult socioeconomic situations for families and high levels of stress and pressure can result in serious risks of domestic violence towards children and needs to be carefully monitored.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2013, para. 94
- Paragraph text
- Collaboration with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, human rights treaty bodies and special procedures of the Human Rights Council continued to feature highly in the Special Representative's agenda. In this regard, the collaboration with the Committee on the Rights of the Child focused on the advancement of the global campaign for the universal ratification of the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child; follow-up to the Committee's concluding observations in the context of field visits; and support to the development and implementation of general comments, especially No. 15 (2013) on the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health; No. 16 (2013) on State obligations regarding the impact of the business sector on children's rights; and No. 17 (2013) on the right of the child to rest, leisure, play, recreational activities, cultural life and the arts.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2014, para. 41d
- Paragraph text
- [In some countries, important legislative initiatives have addressed violence against children with albinism and those accused of witchcraft, criminalizing harmful practices and issuing protective measures to secure children's safety and protection. Legislation is, however, insufficient to change superstition and deeply rooted beliefs. To ensure the protection of these children, the Special Representative has called for a comprehensive strategy highlighting, the following measures:] Ensuring a universal vital registration system. The universal and mandatory registration of births is indispensable to plan for the basic social services children are entitled to, and provide the special assistance victims of social exclusion particularly need; it helps to secure children's protection; and is crucial to break the invisibility of the violence that these children endure.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2014, para. 41f
- Paragraph text
- [In some countries, important legislative initiatives have addressed violence against children with albinism and those accused of witchcraft, criminalizing harmful practices and issuing protective measures to secure children's safety and protection. Legislation is, however, insufficient to change superstition and deeply rooted beliefs. To ensure the protection of these children, the Special Representative has called for a comprehensive strategy highlighting, the following measures:] There is a need to ensure the recovery and reintegration of child victims. This is critical and should be promoted in a nurturing environment that fosters children's health, self-respect and dignity, and supports the development of their full potential in life.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2013, para. 115
- Paragraph text
- Although significant progress has been achieved, this process needs nurturing to translate the vision of the Study into reality and ensure it takes root and results in real change for all children. As highlighted by the findings of the global survey, it is crucial to sustain the achievements made, scale up positive initiatives and widen the ownership of this process of social change. But very especially, it is essential to avoid any risk of stalling the momentum built up around the implementation of the Study or of allowing this agenda to become diluted in the face of competing priorities.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2015, para. 79
- Paragraph text
- Research on gangs in Honduras has shed some light on factors that lead adolescents to join or leave a gang. Joining a gang is more likely for a young person whose parents are absent for economic reasons, including as a result of migration, and for whom no other authority figure has stepped in. In one group studied, gang members who had lost their parents saw the gang as a replacement family. In another group, gang members were far more driven by financial reasons, regarding the leader as the boss of the business. Overall, the most common reasons for leaving the gang were the birth of a first child, concern about damage being caused to family members, the opportunity to move to a different neighbourhood, commitment to the community and having a spiritual experience.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Children
- Families
- Youth
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- International and national courts are encouraged to use and build on the jurisprudence arising from the judgement handed down by the International Criminal Court in the Lubanga case and to be guided by the measures that the Court has put in place related to child protection and child participation in judicial proceedings.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- [Strengthening family and community protection mechanisms]: Initiatives to raise community awareness about the rights of children and the long-term implications of children’s association with armed groups and to promote attitudinal change or encourage the intervention of community and religious leaders to halt child recruitment should be conducted in close collaboration with parents, community and religious leaders, teachers and children themselves. Dialogue to foster community ownership is crucial, as are consultations that aim at identifying and building on existing positive practices.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 101
- Paragraph text
- Measures to address the structural causes of child recruitment must tackle social exclusion and provide children and youth with education and socioeconomic alternatives. At the national level, measures to reintegrate children must be systematically included in broader recovery and development strategies. The economic dimensions of preventing the recruitment of children and reintegrating them into society need to figure prominently in the peacebuilding, recovery and development agenda of international agencies and bilateral donors.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Youth
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2017, para. 76
- Paragraph text
- There has been progress on these issues in Malawi, including the adoption in 2015 of the Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Act, which increased the minimum age of marriage to 18 years; the Government's commitment, in November 2016, to align the Constitution with that legislation and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child; and the crucial role played by traditional leaders in mobilizing their communities to prevent the early and forced marriage of girls and to ensure their return to school to pursue their education.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- In the previous report of the Special Representative to the General Assembly, concerns related to internally displaced children were highlighted and the report included an annex specifying the rights and guarantees for this vulnerable group (A/64/254, annex I). The Assembly acknowledged the guarantees in its resolution 64/162 on the protection of and assistance to internally displaced persons. These rights and guarantees include the principle of non-discrimination, the right to documentation, protection from violence and abuse, the right to essential services, and the requirement that when dealing with internally displaced children the best interest of the child must prevail.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2010, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- As a cross-cutting issue, working to eliminate violence against children opens up avenues for developing partnerships across mandates - including child-related mandates - through cooperation with the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery and, in particular, the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, with whom regular meetings have been held to exchange information and strengthen collaboration. Similarly, cooperation will be valuable with violence-related mandates, including on violence against women and torture; with economic, social and cultural rights-related mandates, to help address the root causes of violence; as well as with others, such as those mandates on the rights to education, freedom of opinion and expression that can help to empower children and young people, enhance prevention efforts and consolidate a culture of respect for children's rights in society. These are important partnerships that the Special Representative will continue to promote.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2011, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- Protection of children from violence within the justice system will be another topic of special concern. As highlighted at the twelfth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, and confirmed by numerous initiatives promoted across regions, this is an area where significant steps are needed to narrow the gap between international human rights standards and the reality on the ground, and where there is great potential to capitalize on significant experiences in different parts of the world, including the development of child-friendly justice procedures and mechanisms, the promotion of child-sensitive materials, the establishment of independent monitoring mechanisms to uphold children's rights, and the consolidation of evidence to inform the development of laws, policies and programmes.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2011, para. 93
- Paragraph text
- The year 2011 has been marked by enhanced collaboration with the African Union Department of Social Affairs and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, building upon the framework of cooperation developed with those institutions. The Special Representative partnered with the African Union initiative to promote the universal ratification of the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other child rights treaties. With the African Committee of Experts, important strides were made in strengthening the protection of children from violence, not least through the Burkina Faso technical consultation on legislative reform in Africa to prohibit violence against children, including corporal punishment.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2012, para. 20a
- Paragraph text
- [The outcomes of the expert consultation are set out in a thematic report, to be launched during the commemoration of the 2012 International Day of the Girl Child, and include the following overarching recommendations:] Legislation plays a crucial role in the social process of abandonment of harmful practices against girls and boys, and is a core dimension of States' accountability for the protection of children from violence; this includes the obligation to ensure harmonization of all legislation, including customary and religious laws, with international human rights standards, and to ensure the establishment of a legal definition of the child in compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2012, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- Children from disadvantaged communities are attractive targets for organized criminal activities. Through coercion, social pressure or the promise of financial reward, they are at risk of recruitment and manipulation to hold or deliver drugs or weapons, to carry out petty crime, to beg on the streets or to become involved in other exploitative activities. At the same time, for young people lacking genuine educational and economic opportunities and living in socially excluded and marginalized neighbourhoods, participation in gang culture may be perceived as a way of gaining status and recognition; according to some studies, as many as 15 per cent of all youth in gang-affected communities may end up joining a gang, 15 being the typical age of gang entry.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Youth
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph