HR 129: Brief
to the Committee from UNICEF
Child Rights: Regional Overview - The Middle East and North Africa
Violence against children constitutes a problem
throughout the Middle East and North Africa and takes many forms. Because research has tended to focus on
specific kinds of violence in limited geographical areas, it is not possible to
know the full scope of the problem. And
because of a general acceptance of some forms of violence and a fear of
throwing light on others, there is great reluctance to talk publicly about
violence against children. As a result,
information is often incomplete and, even where data are collected or surveys
undertaken, people may not reveal all they know or think.
Factors contributing to violence in the region
include poor long-term or temporary economic conditions, the impact of conflict
or occupation, problems
in the family such as marriage break-ups or separation and prevalent cultural
beliefs and gender discrimination. Children are also vulnerable because they are
children: they are expected not to retaliate and to accept violence as part of
the adult/child relationship.
In the home and family
· There is widespread use of violence as
'discipline' in families in the Middle East and North Africa. 'Family' includes not only parents but
members of the extended family and indeed others who may be said to part of
family life and relations.
· In Syria, more than 90 per cent of children
polled said they had experienced verbal abuse and insults. Some 79 per cent of the children reported
being beaten. In most cases it is the
mother who inflicts the violence.
· In Yemen, violence is the most common form of
punishment of children in the home. Kuwait, Egypt, Jordan and the countries of
the Gulf Cooperation Council all report violence against children in the
home.
· An estimated 90 per cent of women in Sudan,
Djibouti and Egypt have been subjected to female genital mutilation/cutting,
while in Yemen the figure is put at 25 per cent.
· Early marriage is also a common practice throughout
the region. While Libya has set the
legal age for marriage at 20, Algeria at 19, and Djibouti, Palestine, Morocco
and Jordan at 18, in most countries the legal age of marriage is low - in
Sudan, for example, the minimum age for marriage of both boys and girls is 10
years.
· The association of family honour with a woman's
sexual conduct frequently leads also to what is called 'honour crime' but which
in fact is a most severe form of violence against young women. 'Honour killing' is rarely talked about. Jordan has been one of the few countries to
have prompted public debate on this issue. Statistics there suggest that some
25 young women are killed every year in honour crimes, one-third of all
reported murder cases.
In schools
· The Committee on the Rights of the Child has
expressed its concern about the wide use of corporal punishment in the region's
schools, even where it is officially banned.
· In Syrian schools the most prevalent form of
violence is that inflicted on students by teachers and administrative
personnel. In general, psychological
violence is the most prevalent form of 'discipline' used, as teachers insult
students and humiliate them, but beatings are also frequent.
· In Lebanon, despite a ministerial decree banning
corporal punishment in schools, the practice is still allowed in law and
continues, especially in government schools.
· In Palestinian schools, corporal punishment is
regularly used, as it is in Iran, where students report that children from poor
backgrounds are particularly targeted.
In institutions
· Children admitted to punitive institutions have
not necessarily done anything wrong. They may be sent to such institutions
because no alternatives exist. In Yemen, for example, children who have been
sexually abused in the home may find themselves in a reform institution because
they have been removed from the family and admitted to the justice system. Reports show that they are at risk there of
sexual abuse by guards and teachers as well as older children.
· A 2004 report on rehabilitation institutions in
Damascus, Syria, indicated that a high percentage of children are subjected to
different forms of psychological and physical violence, including sexual
violence. The living conditions and
services were also reported to be poor.
· A Human Rights Watch report on children in
conflict with the law in Egypt documented violence against children during
arrest or transfer to custodial institutions. Often the children were
transferred with adults who also subjected them to violence, including sexual
violence.
In the community
· In Egypt, anyone under the age of 18 who does
not have a permanent shelter to live in or a legal source of income is
classified as potentially deviant and can be arrested. In Jordan and Lebanon,
the law describes child beggars as 'deviant'.
· It is impossible to consider community-level
violence in this region without taking into account the impact of conflict and
occupation on children, their families and the communities they live in.
· The Committee on the Rights of the Child has
expressed its concern that, while Israeli children are deemed to be children up
to the age of 18, Palestinian children are subject to Israeli military law that
allows them to be detained as young as 12 and treated as adults when they reach
16. The Committee has also expressed concern that the Israeli authorities use
torture to interrogate Palestinian children.
· House demolitions, the death of the family
breadwinner, men's increasing sense of frustration as a result of exceedingly
high unemployment and restricted mobility all contribute to a context where
domestic and communal violence are nurtured.
The Gaza Community Mental Health Programme has reported that men who are
detained and subjected to torture frequently return home and use violence as a
means of imposing their dominance on their wives and children.
In workplaces
· Child domestic labour is common throughout the
region including in some of the wealthier countries, including the Gulf States,
where children are brought in from poorer countries to work in domestic
service. These children come from other Middle Eastern countries but also from
South Asia, for example Sri Lanka.
· Children in domestic labour are not only
frequently exploited, they are also at very high risk of violence. Hidden behind the doors of an employer's
home, children in domestic labour or even those of legal working age are
beaten, burned and humiliated not only by the adults of the family but often by
the children too, and even by other domestic helpers.
· When they reach the legal minimum working age,
young children are still at risk just because they are young and inexperienced.
They are beaten by bosses and co-workers if they make mistakes or do not work
fast or well enough. They may be harassed, especially girls. Invariably, too, throughout the region
children who are working do not enjoy the labour rights that other workers
do. They are often badly paid and are
sometimes not paid at all.
· Many children are sent into child domestic
labour not only because their parents hope to receive some income from the
child's labour, but because the family is relieved of the 'burden' of housing
and feeding the child. Many parents explain their decision to send a girl,
especially, into domestic service as 'education', claiming that the girl will
learn valuable skills that will serve her well when she marries.
· Children from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh
have also traditionally been brought into the region to work as camel jockeys
in the camel races of Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. In recent years
international campaigns to end this have resulted in government action to
legislate against this dangerous practice.
RECOMMENDATION
We
recommend that the Foreign Affairs Committee should ensure that the issue of
children's rights (alongside those of human rights and the promotion of
democracy) is included in the follow-up work to its 2007 inquiry into the
Middle East and that it is also given greater prominence in this year's edition
of the FCO report on human rights.
25 February
2009
