Children

A child in prison surely sounds like a superfluous statement, for unquestionably children do not belong in prison. The word prison is often synonymous with adult, yet sadly around the globe there are some 1 million children languishing in prisons, and most of these are not some special child prison or version of juvenile detention, but adult prisons.

According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child the imprisonment of a child to be used “only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time” and that the child “shall be treated with humanity and respect for the inherent dignity of the human person, and in a manner which takes into account the needs of persons of his or her age”.

Poverty and war often lead children to the streets and they therefore often find themselves embattled in a life of petty crime, sex trafficking, begging, etc. Life on the streets for many children quickly leads them to be placed behind bars, such as in the Philippines.

In many countries, women who are placed in prisons who have children for which they cannot find relatives to care for, are often forced to take their children with them. Children are then imprisoned along with their mothers, where they often lack access to any form of education. The lack of education on a child can be devastating and in turn create a cycle of poverty. Such a case reached the media in May when in Zambia, Kabwe Social Workers Rescue Five Children From Prison. The five children, who’s ages ranged from 5 months to 4 years old, where placed in the care of local social services after they where discovered in the dire conditions of the maximum security prison. However the case in Zambia mirrors that of many other countries such as Ethiopia, Sudan and many other countries.

The issue of children in prison, or detention centers, does not even escape western nations such as the US. As discussed in the post Child Detainees, An International Crime?, children detained at the Hutto, Texas, center. Hutto was again brought to light again only today in The New Yorker article, The Lost Children: What do tougher detention policies mean for illegal immigrant families?,

Children who are either placed in prison for their own perceived crimes and those who are placed in prison along side their mothers, are not the only children affected by what many see as systems failing families, including in the US as was brought to light this month in the article, Women, children suffer from harsh prison policies, on women in detention. Many states in the US are now looking at alternative solutions including prison nurseries, halfway houses, and other programs which help mothers and children foster healthier and more substantial relationships, in order to brake the cycle of prison life in the family.

The issue of children in prisons and detention centers is complex and varied, but one thing is clear, all of these children are being denied a fundamental right to childhood! The denial of freedom has led these children to be denied the rights to education, the right to play and thus the right to a healthy and happy existence.
See former posts on children in prison and search for other countries and recent articles, including;

• Brazil’s Penal System Shows It’s Lawlessness as A Young Girl is Raped For Weeks
• Child Detainees, An International Crime?
• Haiti’s Children’s Prison - 2005
• INSIDE THE CHILDREN’S PRISON IN ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA - 2002
• SUDAN: Women and children in prison
• Children in Conflict With the Law: What is Done, But Rarely Told - 2006
• DRC: Children “languishing in Ituri prisons”
• CAMEROON: Two months after riots, children remain in prison
• IRAQ: Child prisoners abused and tortured, say activists

“Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.” - James Arthur Baldwin

Children follow the path that we set for them, they look to their elders for examples and guidance. As we have all too often seen, as with the children’s poll I mentioned in my Earth Day post, the best example for the worlds children is not being set. If children only see hate, destruction, greed, violence and war then these are the examples we have given them to imitate and turn into the reality of adulthood. Let us give the children of today more examples of kindness, peace, and preservation to imitate, so that the children of tomorrow will need not look so tirelessly for good imitations of life.

The ‘cycle of abuse’, we’ve all heard the phrase a million times, yet I often think we forget what it means. It does not only mean the cycle, or stages, in which abuses are carried out. A child who grows up in an abusive home, is sexually abused, is a victim of trafficking, a child soldier…unfortunately the list of grave injustices against children goes on and on, is never able to escape the cycle of abuse. Therefore a child of abuse is at an increased risk to become an abuser, victim of sexual assault, become socially isolated, turn to drugs and alcohol, and various other form of self destructive behavior or susceptible to varying forms of continued abuse. We, as an international community must work to ensure that all children have been given their right to protection, both to prevent such abuses, and to assist the abused in their recovery. Therefore substantial physical and psychological care must be given to victims.

No matter what you say, or what you do, it all leaves a mark on the children around you. A child who witnesses violence and war, is forever scared by what they see. A child who hears nothing but negative, cannot erase the voice that says, “you can’t”. But the child who witnesses peace and love, will carry that with them forever and continue to share hope for the future.

We cannot erase the mistakes of the past, but we can leave a bigger impression on a child with hope, than with despair.

This week I spoke with Julianne Duncan, Associate Director for Children’s Services, with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Migration and Refugee Services, about the issues facing child trafficking victims in the United States. The USCCB and the Catholic church have been a strong proponent of migrant rights since the early days of US history when Catholic immigrants where being met with great hardship and public distance. It has been an international priority for the Catholic Church to speak up for immigrant rights, and they see it as their responsibility to speak up for those who cannot speak up for themselves, and therefore program priorities are to access funding and use church funding for those who have no one to care for them. “Most vulnerable of the migrants are those who cannot depend on their own countries support and protections. Refugees or trafficking victims….we speak heavily….most vulnerable of those are unaccompanied children.”

When did USCCB get involved in the fight to combat trafficking, and what prompted the church to get so involved? “Trafficking has been policy priority since at least the mid 90s. USCCB, has been interested and concerned in the trafficking around the world as well as within the US, and was one of the original agencies that advocated and pushed through the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) in 2000.” The USCCB has been helping victims of trafficking from Eastern Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa, through three federally funded programs. Programs include a contract from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement, and two grants to raise awareness on trafficking from the U.S. Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime, to raise awareness about the issue of trafficking and serve the victims.

In January of 2003, the USCCB and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) received funding for a Trafficked Child Placement and Technical Assistance Program, which places children, including trafficked children, in Unaccompanied Refugee Minor programs. “Through these programs, trafficked children are able to receive culturally and linguistically appropriate care, including mental health services, intensive case management, and education.” In addition USCCB and LIRS offer specialized assistance and training for service providers of trafficked children.

Most recently, the USCCB has been contracted for a National Services Contract for Victims of Human Trafficking. The contract gives the USCCB the ability to subcontract with local organizations to provide comprehensive case management services to adults and pre-eligible children who are survivors of human trafficking, as defined in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. USCCB/MRS provides coordination, training, per capita funding, and monitoring to subcontractors, and partners with Project REACH and Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) to provide technical assistance to the subcontractors serving human trafficking survivors.

The USCCB is also part of the Coalition of Catholic Organizations Against Human Trafficking, other member organizations include Catholic Relief Services, Catholic Charities USA, Covenant House, and many others. The Coalition of Catholic Organizations Against Human Trafficking woks to develop plans to combat trafficking, increase aid to victims, work with policy makers, provide public advocacy and education.

According to Ms. Duncan, “trafficking victims are in a precarious position”, which is due to their immigration status, high level of vulnerability, and in regards to children their often inability to speak up for themselves. The USCCB aims to get more policy and advocacy for victims, and gives “equal importance to advocacy and policy, as to program services”.

Please read my next post, tomorrow, July 11, which will contain more information on USCCB and child trafficking, as Ms. Duncan answers a number of detailed key questions.

Links:
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Coalition of Catholic Organizations Against Human Trafficking
Guidance for Identifying a Child Victim of Trafficking
Frequently Asked Questions About Services to Trafficked Children
Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000
Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 Fact Sheet
Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) of the US Department of Health and Family Services - Administration for Children and Families
The Campaign to Rescue and Restore Victims of Human Trafficking

Photo by Mark Edwards

In honor of today being International Refugee Day, I want to draw your attention to the millions of child refugees, who are parentless and alone in their struggle for safety and a home.

For millions of children home is a word has very little meaning, or serves only as a painful reminded of what they have lost and fear will never have again. While for most of us in the west, home is a word we take for granted, to most of us having a home is symbol of what we have accomplished and achieved in life. A home is a symbol of family and safety, a place of warmth and love, yet for all too many children, home is nothing but a fading memory, or a dream. Like the story your grandparents always told you about their childhood, the story of home for many children is that far way land that they can only imagine through the stories of their parents or grandparents. Home often only reminds refugee children of what they have lost, often home is just a fading memory. What refugee children have lost is much more than a physical home, it is the loss of their entire families, their homelands, their culture, and their safety.

Once in a Refugee camp, safety and security, especially for children, is a daily struggle. While all refugees are vulnerable, children are are particularly vulnerable, many children are unaccompanied in the camps, and are therefore at even greater risk. Risks in the camps can often come from those who are put in place to protect refugees, as the infrastructures of refugee camps, and of other law and immigration officials, often prey on children…children can be misled, abused both physically and sexually, and are prime potential victims for trafficking and other horrendous crimes.

Joung-ah Ghedini, a UNHCR spokesperson, spoke of a child Ghedini met in a camp in Burundi, who’s parents where killed in a raid. The young girl told Ghedini:

“I don’t know what to think about anything. Living here, I don’t hear the gunfire, or the shelling, but I’m still scared; maybe I’ll be scared like this for the rest of my life.” Ghedini said of the girl, “Here’s an 8-year-old who has survived more than most adults, and she’s not griping, not complaining. That’s all she knew: being scared about being able to go to sleep at night and not worry.” (National Geographic News; For Refugee Children, “Home” is a Changing Concept)

According to UNHCR there are 20.8 million refugees, internally displaced persons, asylum seekers, and persons of concern worldwide, however the 2006 Global Trends:Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons report, states that the number has risen dramatically to 32.9, which is of grave concern, and should be to all persons and states. In the report the UNHCR was unable to get clear statistics on the ages brake down of refugees from the total refugee population, however it is estimated that almost half, or more, of the worlds refugees are children. Additionally it is approximated that half of all refugees,and others of similar status, are female.

Unaccompanied child refugees is of grave concern, due to the specialized needs and protection of their situation, however a full consensus on treatment of these children has yet to have been made. This includes the ages by country which determines their status as an unaccompanied minor. Therefore this is a large gap in the protection of children, and even more so with unaccompanied children, and it is apparent worldwide. As not only are unaccompanied children ripe for violations in refugee camps, but also when in industrialized nations seeking refuge and asylum. The main reason for this gap in protection, is that children are not seen as politically viable and they do not have a strong voice in the system, and without parents, guardians or agencies to protect them, they can be shuffled around even more as stateless citizens. Children often have no documentation, to prove age or origin, and this can often compound the situation even further.

“These migrant children thus labor under the triple burden of alienation, isolation, and minority status. One of the starkest examples of the tension between state law enforcement mandates and a children’s rights perspective is found in the asylum system. It is here that children regularly face insuperable hurdles and rights-violating procedures. Far from receiving compassionate or protective state intervention, many migrant children encounter punitive and degrading measures that cast them as delinquents and “urchins,” rather than as particularly vulnerable refugees. ” (Triple Burden: The Obstacles to Protection Facing Unaccompanied and Separated Child Migrants Today)

Commenting on the situation of unaccompanied children in the UK, Margaret Lally of the Refugee Council said,

“It’s clear from this report that separated refugee children are not getting the same level of care as any other child would receive under UK childcare legislation. But we should never forget that any child is a child first and foremost and a refugee second. We have a duty to these children under domestic and international law and they must be protected.” (Refugee children arriving alone are being left unsupported and unprotected, reveals UK report)

How do we move forward, and ensure that we are working together in a sustainable and collective world effort to assist those who are forced to leave their homes?

Marc Giménez, Campaign coordinator of Federation of Young European Greens, when asked about the situation of refugees stated, “…a high percentage of migrants are young people and thus it is important to create projects which contribute to the exchange of realities between migrants and young activists of destination countries. Only when sharing experiences and working together, we will be able to row in the same direction”.

We need to look at refugees, especially children, for what they are…normal people who have been forced from their homes, who are scared and vulnerable, they need our help and understanding. No one flees their homes in the darkness of the night, with only the clothes on their back, because the want to…refugees are refugees, because they have to be! Whether desperately waiting for war to end in an a bordering country; living in an internal camp to escape natural disaster; or seeking asylum, for fear of persecution and death, in the West, refugees are people just like you and me, who have been forced to live through the unthinkable.

Please see yesterdays post for more information and links. You may also be interested in Child Detainees, An International Crime, posted on April 9, 2007. Please also see my fellow FPA bloggers Cathryn Cullver and Rich Basas,on their Migration Blog, for more information on this and related issues.

Links:
UNHCR - State of the World Refugee’s 2006
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Refugee Studies Centre
European Council - Refugees and Exiles
Human Rights Watch
Refugees International
American Refugee Committee International
The International Refugee Committee (IRC)
International Committee of the Red Cross Displaced Persons Site
Amnesty International - Refugees
The International Rescue Committee
Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children
NineMillion.org
Middle East Info - Has a good forum with lots of photos and discussions on refugees
Human Rights Watch - Forgotten Children of War
2006 Global Trends:Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons Report
Trends in Unaccompanied and Separated Children Seeking Asylum in Industrialized Countries
SeparatedRefugee Children in the Untied States: Challenges and Opportunities
American Near East Refugee Aid

Photo by Time

No child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily. The arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time. Convention on the Rights of the Child, article 37(b)

Detention centers rarely look different than prison, and for a child the effects of spending time in such facilities can be detrimental. The complex nature of seeking asylum often leaves children and their parents, often single mothers, in limbo for weeks and sometimes more than a month. The effect that the feeling of isolation and on any person can be extremely hard to handle, but for a child isolation is mixed with fear and confusion, as their is no way to clearly explain that they have done nothing wrong to deserve the restrictions and lock-up they now face.

Holding child detainees in immigration detention centers is of growing concern, and now the subject of much debate on both sides of the water. Just last week grave concern was raised in Brittan about Yarl’s Wood, as many children have been being held at the facility for more than four weeks. The British government admits that detaining children is not ideal, however they see it as the only way. The Minister of Immigration, Liam Bryne, went so far as to place a majority of the blame on the parents, saying the lengthy time in detentions was due to parents stalling the deportation process. However, for the parents and children looking out of locked doors in Yarl’s Wood the view is quite different. One mother of two, who has been detained twice, said:

“The Children found it very upsetting. They kept on asking me if we are in a prison and whether we had committed any crime. They still have nightmares, they don’t sleep, they think about detention.” (BBC: Young are too Long in Yarl’s Wood)

In the United States Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services have been conducting interviews and visits with families who are being held in a detention centers in Texas. The two groups claim that based on their findings the center in Hutto, Texas should be shut down, as children are living in ‘jail-like conditions’, which in the Texas facility is exactly that, a jail! The groups also found that children where not receiving adequate education, if a child is over five they are separated from their parents at bedtime, threats to separate families where used on both children and parents. These conditions are obviously detrimental to the welfare of children and serve little purpose in adding the immigration progress. Both groups recommended that that families holding no criminal or security threat be released, and alternatives such as parole, electronic bracelets and shelters run by nonprofit groups, be used in replace of penal facilities. “The Homeland Security Department defended the centers as a workable solution to the problem of illegal immigrants being released, only to disappear while awaiting hearings.” (Group Seek Shutdown of Immigration Center) That said it is presumptuous of the government to assume all will run, and surely the suggested use of ankle bracelets and a house arrest situation would suit all concerns of flight risk, while allowing children a sense of normality in their daily lives.

In the report, The Detention of Children in Member States’ Migration Control and Determination Processes, the authors looked at the increasing use placing children in detention centers by EU member states. Recommendations in the report included The report concluded that: immigrant minors rights be monitored by the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) , statistics on the detention of minors be composed by all states for report to the FRA on an annual basis, a report be produced annually highlighting each countries when detaining children in regard to the mentioned recommendations, the placement of health care in all detention centers, legal representation for all children before detention, an automatic right for independent judicial review for all children regarding their detention, the use and adherence of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and for all member states to use ‘detention only as a last resort’.

Australia has been in the spotlight, regarding the detaining of children in facilities which have been seen as inadequate and prison like. Concerns have been raised publicly for a number of years, especially over the use of facilities that are mandatory for all asylum seekers, including children, that are deemed by many, as worse than the prisons of the country. The detention of children in Australia is of serious concern, as children do not receive an adequate education, are at risk for mental illness and abuse. In the article, The impact of detention on the mental health of detainees in immigration detention, and the implications for failing to deliver adequate Mental Health Services: Who Cares?, Claire O’Connor researches the mental health effects that are caused by such prison like conditions for asylum seekers, and the governments failure to recognize, treat and prevent these grave health concerns.

The case of unaccompanied children is far more difficult than that of children detained with their families, as children who seek asylum independently face a far more difficult time in obtaining assistance. Children who are alone are also at a greater risk for abuse and often disregarded as nothing more than runaways or delinquents, their rights are then seen as something secondary to their unknown crimes. The Harvard Review of Latin America published an article, Children Seeking Asylum, highlights the grave concerns that have emerged in the immigration and deportation process in a post 911 world, including an increase in children applying for asylum independently. “In the U.S. separated children who seek asylum are regularly and routinely detained, often for months on end. A third of the 5000 children detained each year are locked up in secure jails, alongside juveniles convicted of criminal offenses; they are subjected to handcuffing and shackling, and other intrusive and punitive measures… Refugee advocates report that children seeking asylum are used as baits to find, detain and eventually deport undocumented parents already in the country.” The article also highlights how many children are detained, and many times even deported, due to their parents illegal status, even though they are US citizens.

The use of detention centers for children appears to be a clear violation to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, as the best interest of the child are not being met. Therefore we must take efforts around the globe to see that new regulations, procedures and facilities are established, for all detainees, especially children. While the process of asylum is underway, a child should never be denied his or her human rights.

CHILDREN CONFINED- Immigrant Detention at Hutto
d movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/HBCAgSCGM04" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Links:
Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children

Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Service

Immigrant Detention and Human Rights

Chill Out: Children out of Detention

More Than 2,000 Children of Asylum-seekers Detained

A Last Resort

Hopefully many of you where able to catch the powerful and shocking, first part of ‘Slaves in America’ with Charles Gibson to follow the the story of Evelyn Chumbow, from Cameroon, a former slave, held captive in Maryland. Chumbow, was brought to the US at 11, with dreams of an education and new life in a land of prosperity.

“What I would say to the American people is that they have to realize that this happens all over the country, in the backs of restaurants, in the fields in Florida, in the timber industry in the north of New York. There’s nowhere in America that it doesn’t happen,” said Melanie Orhant, Chumbow’s attorney. Ms. Orhant is also the managing attorney for the Break the Chain Campaign, an organization dedicated to helping survivors of trafficking. (Beatings, Isolation and Fear: The Life of a Slave in the U.S.)

You can find more victims stories on Polaris Project’s website, who has a collection of hundreds of victims testimonies from more than 50 countries. You will find haunting stories from victims like Rosa:

“When I was fourteen, a man came to my parents’ house in Veracruz, Mexico and asked me if I was interested in making money in the United States. …He said I would be in good hands, and would meet many other Mexican girls who had taken advantage of this great opportunity…the men told me that my employment would consist of having sex with men for money. I had never had sex before… Because I was a virgin, the men decided to initiate me by raping me again and again…I couldn’t do anything to stop it. I wasn’t allowed to go outside without a guard…”

While victims stories are frightening and deplorable, the most frightening aspect of trafficking is that it is at an all time high, and no country or city is immune from its effects. The United States has one of the highest ratings as a destination country for human trafficking victims, though we issue the Trafficking in Persons Report yearly, we are failing to secure the problem in our own country.

Destination Countries of Trafficking Victims

Source: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). 2006. Trafficking in Persons: Global Patterns, p. 39.

Source countries and routes of human trafficking

Victims of trafficking in the United States are lucky in one sense, as we are a country that dose not just deport victims once found, where as many countries lack the laws and infrastructure to see victims as anything more thank prostitutes and illegal immigrants. Therefore many victims of trafficking and slavery are simply jailed and deported to their home countries. This not only re-victimizes, but also places these vulnerable woman and children right back into the hands of those who trafficked them. Protect Act, which focuses American sex tourists and foreign nationals that traffic children into the US. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 , which was reauthorized in 2005, includes provisions targeting demand for trafficking victims, and issuing more protective T-Visas to victims. The Form I-914, which is a victim self application, that serves to give temporary benefits to illegals who have been victims of trafficking. The form also give benefits to their immediate family if applicable. If you are a victim of trafficking, or know someone who is, you can find more information on U and T visas for victims of trafficking on the National Immigration Law Center and immigration.com.

Working to prevent trafficking worldwide, Shared Hope International, has had great strides in pushing forward legal and political reform against trafficking, as well as successfully rehabilitating victims. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has a a number of programs for victims and resources, including how to identify a victim of trafficking. You can also see The Salvation Army - Emergency Response to Suspected Trafficking Cases for information on identifying victims, and finding support services.

Please see the previous post for more information and resource links.

“There is no trust more sacred than the one the world holds with children. There is no duty more important than ensuring that their rights are respected, that their welfare is protected, that their lives are free from fear and want and that they can grow up in peace.”
– Kofi Annan

Mark Vallen from his series Art for Change

They are your children, though you cannot and do not see them. They are all of our children…the parentless, homeless, abused, innocent victims of war, and the unloved children of the world.

Why are they our children? Because they are the future, they are the future politicians, war lords, business leaders, suicide bombers, teachers, terrorists, writers, dictators and presidents.

If our actions, love and understanding lead a child on the right path today, taking them out of war and strife, then how do we sit idly by and do nothing?

A future teacher or terrorist…The choice is ours!