Leveraging International Law to Strengthen the National Legal Framework on Child Sexual Abuse Material in Namibia

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabine Katharina Witting ◽  
Markus Angula
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
International Law ◽  
Child Pornography ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Child Prostitution ◽  
Optional Protocol ◽  
Rights Of The Child

With the gazetting of the Regulations of the Child Care and Protection Act 3 of 2015, on 30 January 2019, a crucial regulatory piece of children’s rights in Namibia has finally been operationalised. However, the Act insufficiently addresses new emerging online offences against children such as the possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material, and hence leaves a considerable gap in the protection of children’s rights. As the Namibian Constitution follows a monist approach to international law, this article argues that the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography can be directly applied to complement the national legal framework to prosecute cases of possessing and disseminating child sexual abuse material, while upholding fair-trial principles.

scholarly journals Transnational by Default: Online Child Sexual Abuse Respects No Borders

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 731-764
Author(s):  
Sabine K. Witting
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Pornography ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Child Prostitution ◽  
Optional Protocol ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Extraterritorial Jurisdiction ◽  
High Level

Abstract Combatting child sexual abuse on the internet requires a high level of harmonisation of both substantive and procedural laws, as online child sexual abuse is transnational by default: while the transnational nature of child sexual abuse material used to be the exception before the advent of the internet, it is now the rule. In order to prosecute and investigate online child sexual abuse across country borders, states rely heavily on extraterritorial jurisdiction clauses as well as informal and formal law enforcement collaboration channels. This paper analyses existing channels in the opsc, Budapest Convention and Lanzarote Convention, particularly against the background of the recently published crc Committee Guidelines regarding the implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (crc/c/156), and provides for concrete guidance on how to ensure that the best interests of the child in the prosecution and investigation of transnational crimes such as online child sexual abuse is the primary consideration.

scholarly journals Children’s rights and teachers’ responsibilities: reproducing or transforming the cultural taboo on child sexual abuse?

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beate Goldschmidt-Gjerløw
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Science Teachers ◽  
National Curriculum ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Explanatory Factors ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
State Initiatives ◽  
Cultural Taboos

Enhancing young learners’ knowledge about appropriate and inappropriate sexual behaviour is crucial for the protection of children’s rights. This article discusses teachers’ understandings of their practices and approaches to the topic of child sexual abuse in Norwegian upper secondary schools, based on phone interviews with 64 social science teachers. Countering child sexual abuse is a political priority for the Norwegian government, and the Committee on the Rights of the Child acknowledges several state initiatives to counter child sexual abuse through education. Nevertheless, this study finds that teachers do not address this topic adequately, indicating that cultural taboos regarding talking about and thus preventing such abuse, including rape among young peers, still prevail in Norwegian classrooms. Furthermore, emotional obstacles, including concerns about re-traumatising and stigmatising learners, hinder some teachers from addressing this topic thoroughly. Additional explanatory factors include heavy teacher workloads, little preparation in teacher education programmes, insufficient information in textbooks, and an ambiguous national curriculum.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: The Good, the Bad, and the Useless

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 42-57
Author(s):  
Midori Matthew
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Emotional Abuse ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
International Treaties ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
United Nations Convention ◽  
The United Nations

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children (UNCRC), put forth in 1989, has generated a global movement in the direction of protecting and promoting children’s rights, resulting in a paradigm change in how children are perceived under the law. While the UNCRC is the most widely ratified international human rights treaty in human history, children’s fundamental right to protection continues to be violated through actions instigated by adults, such as neglect, physical, sexual, or emotional abuse, or being coerced into marriage, wartime activities, or slavery. This is largely a result of international law having no empirical legal binding; since countries are sovereign upon themselves, without domestic enforcement by each individual signatory country, there is no obligation to abide by the terms of international treaties. Applying both a philosophical and legal framework, this paper seeks to provide a critical analysis of whether or not treaties of international law, such as the Convention on the Rights of Children (UNCRC), have an unyielded potential to spark a tangible, beneficial change in the promotion of children’s rights, or if such doctrines are nothing more than glorified pieces of lip service paid to bolster the signatory country’s face value on a global level.

The protection of children from sexual exploitation Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography

2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 551-566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Santos Pais
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Child Pornography ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Child Prostitution ◽  
Optional Protocol ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Normative Foundation ◽  
Global Priority ◽  
Legislative Policy

AbstractThe Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography provide a sound normative foundation for children's protection from sexual abuse and exploitation and for the adoption of legislative, policy and other measures to prevent and address these child rights violations. With the commemoration in 2010 of the 20th anniversary of the entry into force of the Convention and the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Protocol, there is a strategic opportunity to promote universal ratification of these standards and to strengthen concerted efforts for their effective implementation. With this aim, a UN campaign has been launched to achieve universal ratification of the Protocol by 2012, to ensure the safeguard of children's protection from sexual abuse and exploitation as a legal imperative and a global priority, to prevent loopholes in child protection systems and to fight impunity within and across borders.

scholarly journals Unchained freedom in cyberspace: a new danger for children’s rights

2020 ◽  
pp. 391-395
Author(s):  
Shahin Sabir Mammadrzali
Keyword(s):  
Moral Development ◽  
International Law ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
The Internet ◽  
State Control ◽  
Entertainment Education ◽  
Child Rights ◽  
Digital Rights ◽  
Rights Of The Child

The article is dedicated to the harm of cyberspace over children's digital rights in the Internet and introduces conclusions for better defeating digital violations. Digital violations against child rights exist in various forms. Although violation of children's digital rights is the reality of current life, still there is no unified and well-developed system of solutions to restrict freedom in cyberpace. Cyberspace opens new borders for entertainment, education, cultural and moral development of children. Yet, possible difficulties arise when it comes to suitable child rights. Children's digital rights is significantly more complex and multifaceted. Few norms in international law can be found for the regulation of cyberspace and the digital rights of children in this new medium. The content and scope of digital rights of children have not been defined yet. Thus, systemic international and national cyberspace mechanisms relating to the rights of the child should be created on the basis of state control.

The New Complaints Mechanism for the Convention on the Rights of the Child

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 205-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne Egan
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Optional Protocol ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Child Friendly

The un General Assembly has recently adopted a third Optional Protocol to the crc, providing for an individual complaint mechanism for children. The product of a sustained campaign on the part of ngos and children’s rights advocates, the Protocol achieves a certain parity of esteem for children vis-à-vis complainants under other core un human rights instruments by enabling them to make complaints specifically with respect to rights guaranteed by the Convention and its two substantive protocols. This article examines the terms of this new procedure in the light of its drafting history and explains why the resulting text has in many respects disappointed in terms of delivering a much-hoped for “child-friendly” complaint mechanism for children.

scholarly journals CHILD'S HEALTH CARE: LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND ONGOING CHALLENGES

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (12) ◽  
pp. 2789-2794
Author(s):  
Oleksandr V. Petryshyn ◽  
Marianna I. Liubchenko ◽  
Oleksii O. Liubchenko
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Private Life ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Dialectical Approach ◽  
Legal Method

The aim: Is to analyze the development of the modern legal framework for child's health care, to clarify the benefits of a human rights-based approach, which is now is mainstreaming for understanding the right of children to health and means of its protection. Materials and methods: To achieve this goal, as well as taking into account the specifics of the topic, the following research methods became relevant: the application of a dialectical approach and historical method made it possible to understand the patterns of formation and development of ideas of children's rights and health within the international community and national states; formal-legal method was used when studying legal texts (international law acts, both of universal and regional level, interpretation and clarification of human rights treaty bodies, expert reports and research, case law), and comparative-legal was used to compare different approaches on health protection in various international human rights mechanisms (US Supreme Court, Council of Europe). Conclusions: Today, perceptions of children's rights at the doctrinal and jurisprudential levels are quite developed due to a broad understanding and openness to progressive interpretation. In particular, the inclusion into the legal context such determinants as the inviolability of the dignity and private life of the child, proper understanding of the stages of adulthood, and an assessment of the child's developmental environment has made modern international law and national legal systems to become more viable in sense of protection of child's well-being in today's world.

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