Penal Reform International’s Post

🌟Register for Online Participation in the Global Conference on Justice for Children Deprived of Liberty! 🗓 When? 17–19 December 2024 Organized by Defence for Children International and UNICEF, this conference will assess progress on the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty and explore solutions to uphold children’s rights in justice systems worldwide. Key Themes from 10 Online Side Events: 🔸 The situation of Palestinian children in Israeli military courts 🔸 Youth-led dialogues driving justice reforms 🔸 Addressing the needs of children in armed conflicts 🔸 Enhancing access to justice for girls 🔸 Criminal mediation initiatives in Africa 🔸 Data collection on children in detention 🔸 Exploring alternatives to child immigration detention 🔸 The role of Socio-Legal Defence Centres (SLDCs) 🔸 Australia’s approach to transforming child justice 🔸 Protecting detained children from torture and ill-treatment These side events offer unique opportunities for in-depth discussions on pressing issues and innovative approaches to ensuring justice for children. 📢 Don’t miss your chance to participate in this critical global dialogue and contribute to advancing the rights of children deprived of liberty. 🔗 Learn more: https://lnkd.in/dJsgH_Yf 👉 Register here: https://lnkd.in/dN5QT5_r #JusticeForChildren #ChildRights #GlobalConference

Our Spring 2024 webinar, the Rights of the Child: Children in Conflict, discusses vulnerabilities of children in conflict zones, such as the six types of grave violations against children, which are Recruitment, Killing and Maiming, Sexual Violence, Attacks on School, and Hospitals, Abduction, and Denial of Humanitarian Aid. Sam Holmes, Watchlist on Children & Conflict, discusses further at: https://lnkd.in/gVWQAWP4

In case you missed it -- check out our upcoming webinar, “Detained and Denationalized: the Mistreatment and Detention of Children Associated with Armed Conflict”, the second in our Children & Armed Conflict Series. We'll be live September 12, 2024 from 10-11am EDT in partnership with the Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict and ChildFund Alliance. --- From Al Hol, Syria, to Israel to Northern Nigeria, children accused of association with armed groups are increasingly held in detention, often without charge or under conditions that violate their rights under international law. Undergirding this detention is a narrative that portrays children as perpetrators of violence, or even “terrorists”, rather than victims of violence. In detention, children can face ill treatment, sexual violence and torture. Based on Watchlist's latest count in 2022, nearly 3,000 children were detained for actual or alleged association with armed groups. One driver of so many children remaining in detention is the refusal of some nations to accept their citizens’ repatriation. In a disturbing example in Britain, a child was actually stripped of her citizenship after having joined ISIS, and deprived of the assistance and protection she would otherwise receive. In our upcoming webinar, moderated by Ling San Lau, Associate Research Scientist at the CPC Learning Network, panelists from the fields of international humanitarian law, child protection and humanitarian action will discuss trends in detention, denationalization, the experiences of children deprived of their liberty, and avenues to address these concerning developments. PANELISTS: Julia Joerin, Child Protection Adviser, ICRC Joseph Anthony, Senior Humanitarian Advocacy Advisor, Save the Children International Eitan Diamond, Manager and Senior Legal Expert, Diakonia International Humanitarian Law Centre Janine Morna, Thematics Researcher – Children, Amnesty International DATE: Thursday, September 12, 2024 - via Zoom TIME: 10-11am Eastern Time (New York, NY) Click here to register: https://lnkd.in/dJ5rE2pt

Syria has once again brought international attention to the country’s ongoing struggles with justice, accountability, and human rights violations. Amid this geopolitical turbulence, the Report of the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM)—completed in June 2024 and published in December—serves as a powerful reminder of the atrocities that have long plagued the Syrian detention system. This report documents the systematic use of torture, inhumane detention conditions, enforced disappearances, and sexual violence within Syrian Government detention facilities since 2011. These findings are crucial in contextualizing the recent developments and emphasizing why #AccountabilityMatters for Syria’s future stability. Key Findings 1. The report highlights how Syrian intelligence agencies—commonly referred to as the mukhabarat—have normalized torture and cruel treatment as tools for interrogation and suppression. Despite legal provisions prohibiting such practices, detainees are subjected to prolonged incommunicado detention, physical abuse, and psychological torment. These actions reflect a blatant disregard for #HumanRights and international law. 2. The Syrian Government’s intelligence apparatus, including the Military Intelligence Department, General Intelligence Directorate, Air Force Intelligence Directorate, and Political Security Department, operated with de facto immunity. This impunity has allowed systemic violence to persist unchecked, further deepening the #SyriaCrisis and the erosion of trust in governance. 3. The report also sheds light on the use of sexual violence and enforced disappearances as weapons of control and intimidation. These practices have inflicted long-term physical and emotional scars on countless victims, emphasizing the importance of #TransitionalJustice in addressing the country’s deep wounds. While the report provides a historical record of violations, it also serves as a call to action for addressing systemic abuses. 1. Accountability for Perpetrators As the political landscape shifts, this report underscores the need for mechanisms to hold perpetrators accountable for their actions. The international community must work alongside Syrian stakeholders to ensure that justice is served, not just for past violations but to deter future ones. 2. Strengthening Transitional Justice The Report provides a foundational framework for #TransitionalJustice in Syria. By documenting the scale and nature of the crimes, it equips policymakers and human rights advocates with the evidence needed to design and implement justice mechanisms that address the needs of victims and survivors. 3. Recent events in Syria offer an opportunity for structural reform, particularly within the country’s security and intelligence apparatus. The findings of the report emphasize the importance of dismantling systems of impunity and building institutions that respect #HumanRights and the rule of law.

Why is it important to include women in #peace and #security efforts? How can young women from the MENA region and North Africa contribute to peacebuilding in their communities? How does illegal arms trafficking impact the safety and stability of communities in the MENA region? What role can advocacy play in combating the illegal transfer of small arms? More and more we will answer during in our workshop This workshop is organized by the International Humanitarian Law and Youth Initiative in collaboration with The International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) and is supported by UNSCAR. Our objectives align with those of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) and IANSA, focusing on empowering young women from across the MENA region. We aim to build their capacities in monitoring, documentation, and advocacy related to the implementation of the Programme of Action on Small Arms (PoA). Ma'in Alshamayleh Elli Kytomaki

CHILD TRAFFICKING AND GRAVE VIOLATIONS NEW STUDY ADDRESSING POLICY AND PRACTICE  PROTECTING CHILDREN IN ARMED CONFLICT The Children In Armed Conflict’ Study is focused on seven countries or geographic areas: Colombia, Lake Chad Basin, Libya, Myanmar, South Sudan, Syria, and Ukraine. It’s produced by the Office of the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba, in close collaboration with the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, Siobhán Mullally. “What this study shows are the ways in which child trafficking overlaps and interacts with the six grave violations while mapping out legal and policy responses, which too often are done in silos. Most importantly, the Study offers recommendations to prevent and ensure accountability for perpetrators of this serious violation of international law,” said Virginia Gamba. The study addresses a key gap in policy and practice on the protection of children in armed conflict and contains recommendations that the authors described as “concrete, targeted, and timely”. #StandWithUkraine #UkraineCrisis #UkraineRelief #HelpUkraine #UkraineHumanitarian #UkraineSupport https://lnkd.in/dxipBFBq https://lnkd.in/dXYSqH93. https://lnkd.in/d7B3d2SV

During a webinar launch via Zoom, attended by government representatives, civil society organizations, and media outlets, the Rasd Coalition unveiled a sobering report detailing six significant violations against children from April 2022 to December 2023. This report documents 127 violation cases across 13 Yemeni governorates, encompassing atrocities such as killing or maiming, sexual violence, abduction, recruitment, attacks on schools, and denial of humanitarian aid access. The findings highlight the urgent need for action to protect Yemeni children and uphold their rights. to read full report and find more about findings click the link below: https://lnkd.in/dswxWWQp #ChildrensRights #YemenConflict #Justice4Yemen

⚠️ Child Rights Violations This summary highlights the most severe violations against children, documented by our field monitors in 📅 November 2024 only in📍#Idleb #RuralIdleb #RuralHama #WesternAleppo. Additionally, from the start of December till today the 4th of December 2024, our team has also documented: 🔴 14 children killed (10 boys and 4 girls). 🟠 36 children injured (24 boys and 12 girls). 🏫 Attacks on 5 schools and 8 hospitals. These violations resulted from heavy shelling targeting residential areas and civilian infrastructure, protected under international humanitarian law, by Syrian government forces and their allies. 🚨 These alarming violations sound an urgent call for international and human rights bodies to act swiftly to end these atrocities and protect children in Syria. #ChildRightsViolations #ChildProtection #HumanRights #ChildrenInConflicts

Dear US Senators: We, a community of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and leaders working to end human trafficking, declare in solidarity that we strongly support a comprehensive reauthorization of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) before the end of the 118th Congress. We are grateful that the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (H.R. 5856) passed the U.S. House of Representatives on February 13, 2024 by a resounding bipartisan vote of 414 to 11. We were also pleased that the International Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (S. 920) was reported favorably with bipartisan support by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on June 12, 2023. We urge you to prioritize passage of a unified comprehensive bill to reauthorize essential domestic and international anti-trafficking programs, which lapsed in September 2021 and still await reauthorization. The TVPA is the most foundational piece of anti-trafficking legislation in the United States because it governs the federal government’s comprehensive response to human trafficking. Most notably, it provides critical funding to support survivors and to combat human trafficking in all forms both domestically and internationally. The current reauthorization improves existing efforts to prevent trafficking, protect victims and prosecute traffickers. While there is a surge of new child protection legislation within the 118th Congress, critical funding and policy provisions within TVPA have fallen through the cracks. Portions of the TVPA were reauthorized during the 117th Congress, but major elements of the reauthorization did not receive final approval and urgently require passage. Human trafficking, also known as trafficking in persons or “modern slavery,” deprives people of their freedom, wages and dignity. According to the U.S. Department of State, trafficking “undermines national security, distorts markets, and enriches transnational criminals and terrorists.”1 It is increasing around the world at an alarming rate, and is one of the greatest humanitarian crises of our time. TVPA reauthorization represents a bipartisan and bicameral effort to prevent and stop human trafficking both here in the United States and internationally. We thank you for your leadership and implore you to immediately prioritize the passage of this vital legislation.  #HumanTrafficking #TVPA #AntiTrafficking

Alongside 108 other NGOs, we support this important call for the tide to be turned on conflict and humanitarian action in 2025. “We are witnessing unspeakable human suffering due to the proliferation of conflicts lacking political solutions and the normalization of IHL violations. “Indiscriminate attacks on civilians and humanitarian workers, the bombing of schools and hospitals, and the use of starvation and sexual violence as methods of warfare are devastating communities worldwide.” Now is the time. We must come together to make a change. Read the full statement below ⬇️ #GlobalHumanitarianOverview #HumanitarianFunding #IHL