Publications

Social protection is particularly important for children, in view of their higher levels of vulnerability compared to adults, and the role that social protection can play in ensuring adequate nutrition, access to and utilization of social services. While existing evidence shows that social protection programmes successfully address several dimensions of child well-being -often in an indirect way - a move towards a more "child sensitive" approach to social protection has recently been advocated at the highest level in the international development community.

Expanding Internet access for all children and young people without discrimination and exclusion in all parts of the world, together with promoting digital citizenship and responsibility, ought to be critical objectives for policymakers concerned with enhancing opportunities for children. The study primarily addresses two issues: child sex abuse recorded in images; and the grooming of young people for sex. A third issue, cyberbullying, emerging from much research as an issue of particular significance to children, is also touched on in this report. There are many knowledge gaps about the protection challenges raised by the Internet, particularly in parts of the world where its penetration is so far more limited. There has been significant work undertaken to analyse children’s online behaviour and investments made in strategies to address and prevent abuse in parts of Asia, across Europe and the United States of America. But there has been less exploration of online child abuse and exploitation across many low- and middle-income countries.

La mayor accesibilidad a Internet de todos los niños y jóvenes del mundo, sin discriminación ni exclusión alguna, junto con la promoción de la ciudadanía y la responsabilidad digitales, deben ser objetivos fundamentales para los responsables de trazar políticas destinadas a incrementar las oportunidades de los niños y las niñas. El desarrollo de un acceso más seguro a Internet forma parte de este proyecto. El propósito del presente informe es examinar las pruebas disponibles en el plano mundial. El estudio aborda esencialmente dos cuestiones: los abusos sexuales de niños grabados en imágenes y la captación de menores con fines sexuales. El presente informe también aborda una tercera, el ciberacoso, que numerosas investigaciones han puesto de manifiesto como tema de particular importancia para los menores.

L'expansion de l'accès à Internet pour tous les enfants et les jeunes, sans discrimination ni exclusion, dans toutes les parties du monde, ainsi que la promotion de la citoyenneté et de la responsabilité numériques doivent faire partie des objectifs prioritaires des décideurs politiques soucieux d'accroître les possibilités offertes aux enfants. La construction d'un accès plus sûr à Internet fait partie intégrante de ce projet. Le but du présent rapport consiste à passer en revue les données factuelles disponibles. Dans un premier temps, l'étude s'est penchée sur deux problèmes : la maltraitance sexuelle d'enfants enregistrée en images et la manipulation des jeunes à des fins sexuelles. Une troisième question, le harcèlement en ligne, que de nombreuses recherches s’accordent à qualifier de très important pour les enfants, est également évoqué dans ce rapport.

Expanding Internet access for all children and young people without discrimination and exclusion in all parts of the world, together with promoting digital citizenship and responsibility, ought to be critical objectives for policymakers concerned with enhancing opportunities for children. The study primarily addresses two issues: child sex abuse recorded in images; and the grooming of young people for sex. A third issue, cyberbullying, emerging from much research as an issue of particular significance to children, is also touched on in this report. There are many knowledge gaps about the protection challenges raised by the Internet, particularly in parts of the world where its penetration is so far more limited. There has been significant work undertaken to analyse children’s online behaviour and investments made in strategies to address and prevent abuse in parts of Asia, across Europe and the United States of America. But there has been less exploration of online child abuse and exploitation across many low- and middle-income countries.

This working paper addresses the role, contribution and impact of independent human rights institutions for children (IHRICs), also referred to as children’s ombudspersons or children’s commissioners. It looks at these institutions from the perspective and jurisprudence of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (the Committee) and the global perspective on the perception of the child and childhood resulting from contributions of these institutions to the process of implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

Tous les Etats francophones de l’Afrique de l’Ouest sont parties à la Convention relative aux droits de l’enfant (CDE) ainsi qu’à la Charte africaine des droits et du bien-être de l’enfant (CADBE) et ont donc l’obligation de les mettre en œuvre, en particulier en suivant les indications des organes chargés du contrôle de leur application. Le Comité des droits de l’enfant a identifié les mesures générales essentielles à la mise en œuvre de la CDE. Parmi elles, figure l’établissement d’institutions indépendantes de défense des droits de l’enfant. Ces institutions ont généralement pour mandat de contrôler les activités de divers acteurs – publics et privés – au regard des droits des enfants, de promouvoir les droits des enfants en émettant des recommandations et en éduquant le public, et d’examiner des plaintes individuelles concernant des violations de ces droits. Le présent document fait l’état des avancées pour l’établissement d’institutions indépendantes de défense des droits de l’enfant à la lumière des standards internationaux et africains, en particulier au Burkina Faso, Mali et Sénégal.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child has been one of the main instigators for the development of independent human rights institutions for the promotion and protection of children’s rights. Relying on article 4 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, it adopted a general comment on this issue in 2002, and now consistently encourages State parties to establish or strengthen such institutions in its concluding observations. Efforts have been made recently with human rights treaty bodies to enhance the involvement of independent institutions at each stage of the reporting process. For independent institutions specifically in charge of monitoring children’s rights, this implies an important contribution to the work of the Committee. Their status of independence from their government in the reporting process has been emphasized and some institutions submit a separate report to the Committee.

Child participation is closely linked and interdependent with civil and political rights and with the fundamental perceived concepts of childhood, evolving capacity and autonomy. The right of children to express their views freely and to have them taken into account is both a substantive right and a general principle relevant to all aspects of implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The degree of children’s participation within a society and the ways of involving children and adolescents in all matters affecting them depend on various factors, including the perceptions of childhood and adults’ views about children’s capacity to participate. Independent human rights institutions for children promote, protect and monitor progress in the realization of children’s rights.

The paper provides an overview and analysis of the initial steps for the establishment process of a separate children’s ombudsman in Turkey. It examines the legal, political and social reasons why an ombudsman for children would be needed in the country. Specifically, it analyses Turkey’s legal framework and international obligations, concluding that lack of implementation of the law and monitoring of children’s rights are the main challenges. Children have disproportionately high rates of poverty, and are often victims of various forms of violence, in particular girls. The political structure of the country is affected by significant tensions, especially with regard to the place of religion in the public sphere. The paper analyses the possible reasons for the stalemate and looks at the text of the law from a child rights perspective.

La présente étude a pour objet de préparer une base de travail pour soutenir le processus de réflexion en vue de Maroc d’un mécanisme indépendant de recours et de suivi des droits de l’enfant, conformément aux recommandations du séminaire international organisé, le 10 décembre 2009 sur ce thème. La revue des expériences étrangères montre qu’il n’existe pas un modèle unique. Le mécanisme de recours peut revêtir différentes formes, dont le choix doit résulter d’une large consultation prenant en considération l’environnement politique, social et les possibilités offertes au niveau national et au niveau local. Deux modèles sont proposés : le modèle intégré et le modèle séparé. Les avantages et les inconvénients sont décrits et mis en comparaison.

The objective of this Roundtable was to reflect on the linkages between governance and child rights and initiate a dialogue between both constituencies. It brought together actors from the governance sector and child rights experts. Various studies have evidenced that good governance brings both an intrinsic and an instrumental value to a wide range of development outcomes, including poverty eradication, the reduction of inequities, economic growth and broader social objectives.