Sudan's children at a crossroads

An urgent need for protection

Published by: Watchlist, April 2007
Via: IOL

The protection and well-being of children and youth in Sudan are at a crucial juncture. While children in the South are enjoying increased protection and access to services, those in Darfur and other areas of Sudan are enduring unspeakable acts of violence and abuse.

Humanitarian agencies in Darfur operate in an extremely volatile environment that poses significant operational challenges and threatens the security of civilians and humanitarian personnel. Government policies that restrict the movement of humanitarian workers and attacks and threats by armed forces and groups have stymied aid operations throughout Sudan, particularly in Darfur, in the East and around Khartoum.

Watchlist is concerned about apparent deliberate efforts by the Government to suppress information and prevent agencies from collecting and disseminating details on attacks against children and their protection needs, particularly in Darfur and the East. These efforts prevented many reliable experts working in Sudan from contributing information to this report, as they expressed concern about the safety of staff and beneficiaries of programs and potential retributive attacks or threats. As a result, some pertinent information related to the well-being of children in Sudan was not included.

Access to information on violations against children is also limited by chronic insecurity. As a result, some sections of this report may detail attacks perpetrated by only a few armed groups. This does not imply greater culpability but reflects instead the limited access to information. Many actors in Sudan have acknowledged that all parties to the conflict have violated children?s rights.

In this report, Watchlist has included information on violations against children in Sudan in each of the major categories identified by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1612 (2005) on Children and Armed Conflict. These violations include killing and maiming, rape and other forms of sexual violence, abduction, denial of humanitarian assistance, attacks on schools, and recruitment and use of children by armed forces and groups. In addition, various other violations, such as forced displacement and torture, also continue to be committed against children and their families.?

(http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWFiles2007.nsf/FilesByRWDocUnidFilename/0608733FE1
DA422D852572C10066929D-Full_Report.pdf/$File/Full_Report.pdf)

Child rights at the core: the use of international law in South African cases on children's socio-economic rights - S Rosa & M Dutschke

The constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, explicitly protects the socio-economic rights of children and adults. When interpreting theses provisions in the Bill of Rights, the Constitution states that international law ‘must be considered’. This refers to binding and non-binding international legal instruments such as the treaties and the General Comments made by the supervisory bodies. This article argues that the courts have an essential role to play in the realization of international human rights law. Analysis of the judgments of the South African courts shows however that there are flaws in their use and enforcement of international and regional human rights law. In general, the courts tend merely to mention some of the applicable international law provisions without considering them in sufficient detail. Binding international law relevant to the rights of children is not given the same attention as non-binding international law. It is argued that the courts have not properly defined the scope and content of children’s socio-economic rights. Recommendations are made as to how the courts could strengthen their role in promoting the socio-economic rights of children through the considered use and enforcement of international law.
From: South African Journal on Human Rights 22(2). 2006, pp. 224-260

Pre-recorded videotaped evidence of child witnesses - Joanna Simon

The South African Law Commission recently rejected the proposal that pre-recorded videotaped evidence of child witnesses be used in the trial process as a way of protecting the child from further trauma and assisting the court in its truth seeking function. This article examines whether the Law Commission’s position is well founded. It analysis the problems attendant on the present system with regard to child witnesses, arising chiefly from its adherence to the adversarial system and the focus on aggressive cross-examination of the child witness, and suggests videotaped evidence as a possible solution. The main potential barriers to implementing such a procedure, namely the traditions of orality and the rules against hearsay, as well as the Constitutional argument regarding the right to a fair trial, are examined. It is concluded that such issues could be successfully overcome, provided the necessary safeguards are in place in order to protect the rights of the accused. The only real problem attendant on this procedure seems to be one of implementation and lack of resources. However, it is questioned whether this is a sufficiently strong argument against allowing a procedure that could potentially hold such significant benefits.
From: South African Journal of Criminal Justice 19(1). 2006, pp. 56-78

When do parents go too far? - Bernard Bekink

Are South African parents still allowed to chastise their children through corporal punishment in their private homes?

With the commencement of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996, the focus of the private law has increasingly shifted from parents to children. This has not only been the case under South African law but also according to International Law. According to this new legal paradigm, many calls have been made to abolish all forms of corporal punishment by parents of their children. There seems to be wide consensus that the common law authority of reasonable and moderate chastisement has become irreconcilable within a modern value orientated constitutional dispensation. Notwithstanding the fact that political powers are undecided on whether to prohibit all forms of corporal punishment on children and that society is not informed or trained on alternative educational measures, it is submitted that the application of corporal chastisement, even in the private family environment, has become unconstitutional. Such a form of punishment should thus be declared invalid and relegated to a relic of our legal past.
From: South African Journal of Criminal Justice 19(2). 2006, pp. 173-191