04-Feb-2019
On Friday, February 1, a Ugandan mother from London was convicted of “subjecting her 3-year-old daughter to female genital mutilation…in Britain’s first conviction for FGM,” the Thomson Reuters Foundation reported. FGM was made illegal in the country more than thirty years ago. The woman, who for legal reasons must remain unidentified, could be sentenced to…
22-Dec-2018
This is the story of Human rights defender Bhanwari Devi who changed the course of the law. Over the years, she has won several awards for her exceptional courage. She continues to live in Bhateri Rajasthan, still carrying on her work as a ‘saathin’. Related: Damodar Turi’s battle in Jharkhand
22-Oct-2018
The Australian government has issued a formal apology to child sexual abuse victims after a five-year investigation found that multiple organisations, including governments, schools, churches, and charities, “for decades failed to keep children safe,” the Guardian reported. Prime Minister Scott Morrison spoke in the House of Representatives on Monday, October 22, with victim, survivors, families…
21-Sep-2018
International NGO Save the Children has cautioned that five million children in Yemen are under threat due to potential famine, CNN reported. According to UAE state media, on Tuesday, September 18, the Saudi-led coalition mounted a campaign to retake the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, that is held by the Houthi rebels. According to Save…
06-Aug-2018
Somalia’s Attorney General, Ahmed Ali Dahir, has announced the country’s first prosecution over FGM, after a 10-year-old girl haemorrhaged to death after undergoing a traditional cutting in mid-July 2018, the Guardian reported. At a conference on female genital mutilation (FGM) in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, Dahir said that a team of ten investigators had been dispatched…
14-Jul-2018
The recently published Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict from the United Nations Secretary-General has revealed that, in 2017, “there was a large increase in the number of violations compared with the number reported for 2016”. The report notes that there were “at least 6,000 verified violations by government forces and more than 15,000 by a…
30-May-2018
On Tuesday, May 22, the Norwegian parliament voted unanimously for a law banning all child marriage, the Thomson Reuters Foundation reported. Norway has a minimum age of 18, but permits those aged 16 and 17 to wed provided they have parental consent and permission from the county governor. A government spokeswoman said that very few people…
08-May-2018
On May 7, 2018, the Indian Supreme Court issued an order directing that the Kathua gang-rape and murder case be transferred outside Jammu and Kashmir. The case where an eight year old Muslim Bakarwal girl was kidnapped, drugged, raped and murdered in Kathua in Jammu in January, will now be heard by a District Judge in…
07-May-2018
In a welcome development in the Kathua rape and murder case, the Supreme Court has transferred the case to a court in Pathankot, Punjab. The trial will be conducted on a day-to-day basis and the SC will monitor the trial. This is significant given concerns that the accused in the case could use their political clout…
28-Apr-2018
Riding on the outrage generated in wake of the horrific details of minor Kathua girl becoming public, the BJP government has passed an ordinance on death penalty and other stringent punishments for people who rape minors. Not only is this a regressive step but also this move is nowhere close to yielding the desirable results. This measure is only…
19-Apr-2018
The brutal gangrape and murder of an eight year old girl in Jammu and brazen attempt to defend the perpetrators shocked everybody in India. The Crime Branch chargesheet says that it was an attempt to drive Muslim Bakarwals out of the area. Related: Outrage spills outside Kathua and Unnao Implement FRA to empower Bakarwals…
19-Apr-2018
Could the deliberate alienation of Bakarwals from Jammu’s forest lands be one of the underlying factors that led to the brutal rape and murder of a little girl in Kathua? Talib Hussain, the firebrand lawyer and activist, who has been at the forefront for the struggle for Justice for the little girl, talks to us about…
17-Apr-2018
Boko Haram militants in Nigeria have kidnapped more than 1,000 children in the country’s northeast since 2013, UNICEF has said. UNICEF has said that it has recorded more than 1,000 confirmed cases of kidnapping, but that the true figure could be more. According to UNICEF, over 1,400 schools have been destroyed and at least 2,295 have…
17-Apr-2018
बाल यौन उत्पीड़न के मामले देश में बढ़ रहे हैं और भारत के मुख्य न्यायाधीश दीपक मिश्रा की अगुवाई में तीन न्यायाधीशों की पीठ, ने उच्च न्यायालयों से यौन अपराधों से बच्चों का संरक्षण करने संबंधी अधिनियम (प्रोटेक्शन ऑफ चिल्ड्रन फ्रॉम सेक्सुअल ऑफेंस – POCSO), 2012 के तहत बाल यौन उत्पीड़न के मामले में लंबित केसों…
16-Apr-2018
It’s hard to find hope when everything around is moving into a dark abyss of misdeeds, hatred and sectarianism. When children yet to blossom into beautiful adults are sacrificed at the altars of nationalism, hatred, communalism. When a life is cut short way ahead of time and when those defending the child are also thirsty…