Making Universal Children’s Day Meaningful

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November 20th is Universal Children's Day. The U.N. established Universal Children's Day in 1954 to create a day of “activity devoted to the promotion of the ideals and objectives of the [U.N.] Charter and the welfare of children of the world.” Worthwhile goals, but as there are now more than 125 international observance days, it is fair to ask whether Universal Children’s Day makes a difference.

Universal Children’s Day presents an opportunity to reflect on both progress made and work still to be done. Since the adoption of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child—the most comprehensive treaty on children’s rights and well-being—on November 20, 1989, significant progress has been made on behalf of tens of millions of children around the world. Yet much more work remains. The data on infant and child mortality rates reflects this: globally, the number of deaths of children under five declined from 12.7 million in 1990 to less than 6 million in 2015. That’s vital progress, as many children now realize their most precious right—to life and survival. Yet more than five million young children still die each year, largely due to preventable causes.

But Universal Children’s Day can be much more than a day to raise awareness. It can be a day of action, a launching point for initiatives that accelerate progress on children’s rights and wellbeing. What might that look like? I have three suggestions.

First, if you are President of the United States, send the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) to the Senate for its advice and consent. The CRC is the most widely accepted human rights treaty in history. There are 196 parties to the treaty; the U.S. is the only country that hasn’t ratified it. The CRC has helped foster progress on law, policy, and programs aimed at improving children’s well-being and securing children’s rights. The U.S. signed the treaty in 1995, but it has taken no action since then (ratification is necessary to make a treaty legally binding).

Under U.S. law, treaty ratification requires to the advice and consent of two-thirds of the Senate. Speculation about the level of support in the Senate is understandable, especially after the Senate failed in 2012 to achieve two-thirds support for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (it fell five votes short). But such questions are also premature. The future of the CRC in the United States lies entirely in President Obama’s hands, because the Administration hasn’t even sent the CRC to the Senate for its consideration. On Universal Children’s Day, the President can move the CRC forward by sending it to the Senate.

Second, if you are the CEO of a company, figure out how your company’s expertise or skill set can advance the rights and well-being of children. When the United Arab Emirates faced a problem with trafficking of young boys to serve as camel jockeys (the boys, many as young as five or six years old, were confined in unsanitary conditions, underfed, and often suffered serious injuries in races), it was a Swiss company that helped provide part of the solution. It invented a robot jockey, eliminating the demand for trafficked boys. Of course, technological advances can’t solve everything. Many young boys in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sudan and Yemen who might have been trafficked to the UAE remain vulnerable to other harms. But the point is not that the private sector has to do everything. Rather, it’s that innovative solutions are needed, and the private sector can make a difference. UNICEF has been building innovative partnerships to improve health, education, and social protection. Companies across all sectors can support this and other similar work. So Universal Children’s Day is an ideal day for CEOs to figure out how their company’s skillset can advance child well-being.

Third, if you are the head of a household, talk about human rights with your children. Rights are inherent. That means children, like adults, possess them. They are not left to governments to decide whether to grant them to individuals at age eighteen. Parents and caregivers are trustees of those rights as children grow and develop. The CRC recognizes the critical role of parents and families in nineteen provisions of the treaty. Children confront rights issues early – in both their day-to-day lives and in the imaginative spaces created for children, such as their favorite books. Though children, especially young ones, might not talk about rights issues using human rights language, they understand rights issues. Parents and other caregivers can play a critical role in guiding and supporting children as they explore questions about their own rights and their responsibilities to respect the rights of others. Universal Children’s Day offers a wonderful opportunity to start to engage children in a dialogue about rights and to explore ways to make their communities more child rights supportive.

In short, whatever role you play in your family, community, or country, you can use your unique position, knowledge, or skills to advance the rights and well-being of children. By doing so, Universal Children’s Day can be the start of a more supportive approach to children’s rights and child well-being.

 

First published on Human Rights at Home Blog. Also published on the websites of First Focus and the Child Labor Coalition.

The Reporting Process: An Underappreciated Human Rights Asset

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The U.S. government recently announced a consultation with civil society on November 12 in conjunction with its next periodic report under the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The U.S. ratified the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography and the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict in 2002 and is preparing to submit its third report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.  This is an important, if often undervalued, opportunity to advance the rights and well-being of children in the United States.

I have been privileged to participate in both prior reviews of the United States under the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, including presenting testimony to the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child during its session with NGOs in advance of its meeting with the government.  Those experiences show that the reporting process offers three significant opportunities for human rights advocates. First, the Committee takes seriously the views of NGOs. Often the questions, or List of Issues, that the Committee poses to a government reflects gaps highlighted by NGOs in their alternative reports or in their testimony to the Committee.  Second, many of the Concluding Observations and recommendations for the government come from NGO input.  Finally, the post-review process offers a critical opportunity to use the recommendations in advocacy at home.  In prior reviews under the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, ECPAT-USA has coordinated the lead alternative report (full disclosure: I serve as child rights advisor to ECPAT-USA).  Following both prior reviews, NGOs organized briefing sessions in various cities in the United States.  After 2008 review of the United States, several NGO representatives (including ECPAT-USA representatives and me) spoke at congressional briefings in the Senate and House of Representatives. Subsequent advocacy spurred the introduction of a bill that became the PROTECT Our Children Act of 2008.  The law addressed some of the recommendations that emerged out of the reporting process (that process is described in more detail here).  While that law isn’t perfect, it shows the potential that exists in the reporting process – the process can be successfully leveraged to advance human rights.

ECPAT-USA will again be coordinating the lead alternative report under the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children. And again, there is an opportunity to further advance law and policy aimed at securing children’s rights and well-being.

Simply put, the reporting process is a built-in monitoring and evaluation mechanism for human rights. While the substantive provisions of human rights law are essential and provide the basis for our work, the procedural benefits of human rights treaties – notably the reporting process – should not be overlooked.

Originally published at Human Rights at Home blog: http://bit.ly/1Q9eQiu.

It's Official -- The U.S. is Alone on Avoiding Children's Rights

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On October 1st, Somalia officially ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Now every country in the world has ratified the CRC … except the United States. The United States had as much influence on the text of the CRC as any country – during the drafting of the treaty, the United States submitted proposals and revisions on 38 of the 40 substantive provisions of the treaty.  Rights to freedom of speech and freedom of religion are included in the CRC because the U.S. government insisted on it. A review of all treaty provisions reveals that the CRC and U.S. law are largely compatible. Yet the United States remains the only country that resists the idea of accepting obligations to ensure the rights and well-being of every child subject to its jurisdiction.

For more, see the full blog at Human Rights at Home blog.

Human Trafficking, Survivors, and Social Science Research

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Human trafficking is a gross violation of human rights. We know that victims and survivors experience physical, psychological, and emotional harm.  Yet on August 18, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit overturned a trafficker’s conviction for “possession and use of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence,” when the crime in question was sex trafficking.

This opinion and others highlight the importance of social science research in court cases. For more, see my post at Human Rights at Home blog. 

Obergefell: The Dissent’s View on Access to Justice

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Last week, human rights advocates around the country – and indeed around the globe – celebrated the majority opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges.... One short passage in Chief Justice Roberts’ dissent should not be overlooked, as its implications for access to justice are potentially far-reaching....

Continue reading at Human Rights at Home Blog.

Legal glitch means trafficking transparency law isn't so transparent

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The California Transparency in Supply Chains Act, which came into effect in 2012, mandates that certain companies disclose what steps they've taken, if any, to address human trafficking and forced labor in their supply chains....Today, a legal glitch threatens to undermine the law's value and broader efforts to prevent the exploitation of human beings.

For more, see my op-ed on CNN.com:

What Are the Best Political Books for Kids?

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Excerpt:

But if you want a feel for politics and a sense of what the big issues are, there are plenty of good novels and picture books that would help all young voters. Understanding the wider issues of politics rather than the specifics of the current election manifestos can start early as children’s books are surprisingly political - sometimes overtly and sometimes subtly. In an article in the New York Times which discussed whether or not children’s books should be political, Jonathan Todres, professor of law at Georgia State University, wrote: “Politics, or rather social issues that have been politicised, are an inherent part of the stories children read and have read to them. Children’s literature provides a safe, imaginative space for children to confront complex issues.”

Click here for the full article.

Human Rights and the Social Determinants of Health

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Guest Blog on HealthLawProf Blog:

Poor people live shorter lives, substantially shorter in certain impoverished communities. A recent New York Times article highlighted the significant gaps in life expectancy among different counties in Virginia: “Residents of Fairfax County are among the longest-lived in the country: Men have an average life expectancy of 82 years and women, 85, about the same as in Sweden. In McDowell, the averages are 64 and 73, about the same as in Iraq.”

The poor are less likely to have access to needed health care and more likely to smoke, be overweight, and to live with constant stress, which we now know is harmful to the human body.  It is at this critical juncture (as well as others) that public health and human rights meet. As public health professionals focus on the social determinants of health, relatively few approach these issues through a human rights framework or in partnership with human rights advocates. Likewise, human rights activists miss opportunities to partner with, and build upon the work of, public health. 

The social determinants of health implicate human rights, and visa versa....

Click here for the full article.

Tobacco Related Harms Extend to Children Who Harvest It

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Guest Blog on HealthLawProf Blog:

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the release of the Surgeon General’s first report on the health consequences of tobacco.  Since that report was published in 1964, more than 20 million Americans have died prematurely as a result of cigarette smoking.  The annual total economic costs to the U.S. economy are now estimated to be $289 billion. This year’s Surgeon General’s report, The Health Consequences of Smoking--50 Years of Progress, contains some good news.  The prevalence of cigarette smoking among adults has declined from 42% in 1965 to 18% in 2012 (though progress has slowed in recent years).  And, perhaps more important, we know how to solve this problem; as the Surgeon General’s report details, “[t]he evidence is sufficient to conclude that there are diverse tobacco control measures of proven efficacy at the population and individual levels.

The harms of tobacco use are well known by anyone with interest in health care issues.  Less well known are the harmful effects of tobacco production on the many children who work on tobacco farms in the United States today.  In a report released earlier this month -- Tobacco's Hidden Children: Hazardous Child Labor in United States Tobacco Farming, Human Rights Watch found that:

Children working on tobacco farms in the United States are exposed to nicotine, toxic pesticides, and other dangers. Child tobacco workers often labor 50 or 60 hours a week in extreme heat, use dangerous tools and machinery, lift heavy loads, and climb into the rafters of barns several stories tall, risking serious injuries and falls.

The investigation also found that many children involved reported symptoms “consistent with acute nicotine poisoning.” In non-agricultural workplaces, labor laws prohibit the employment of children under 18 years old in hazardous occupations (such as excavation, manufacturing explosives, mining, and operating many types of power-driven equipment).  Yet the same protections do not exist for children working on farms. As the Human Rights Watch investigation uncovered, this is not just a labor issue, but a health issue and a children’s rights issue.  It merits much more attention.

In the United States, children under 18 years old are not permitted to buy tobacco products. We draw this line, as we do in many other areas of the law, because we recognize that children are entitled to special protections.  The harmful consequences of tobacco use demand that we make every effort to prevent children from taking up smoking.  Similarly, the dangers of tobacco production should convince us to end the practice of using children on tobacco farms.

First published on HealthLawProf blog.

Incorporating Experiential Learning in Health Law Courses

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Guest Blog on HealthLawProf Blog:

As law schools continue to contemplate curricular reforms, health law courses offer a particularly rich area for exploration.  Employers increasingly want new graduates to be “practice ready.”  Setting aside the larger debates on legal education, I believe that the breadth of health law creates opportunities to foster the development of students’ skills for many types of law practice.  Though clinics at many schools are an obvious space for that development, doctrinal courses can offer significant opportunities. 

In my Public Health Law course, I incorporate two drafting exercises during the semester.  Given the nature of topics we cover in the course (infectious disease outbreaks, tobacco, obesity, gun violence, bioterrorism, and others), the course lends itself to engaging students in legislative drafting exercises.  These assignments further strengthen skills taught in other parts of the curriculum and foster the development of new skills. This week, I share a few observations from my teaching on the value of incorporating skills exercises into a doctrinal class. 

Thinking like a lawyer. We say that teaching our students to “think like a lawyer” is a core skill that law schools nurture.  Drafting exercises advance students’ analytical skills, while introducing students to components of legal analysis not typically addressed by the case method – analysis in transactional law settings.  Transactional work requires lawyers to anticipate what might happen in the future and draft legal documents that account for that. Contracts and legislation, when well-crafted, anticipate and respond effectively to subsequent events.  In the drafting exercises, students get to engage in thinking ex ante about legal issues that might arise. Doing so, builds a side of “thinking like a lawyer” that is often underdeveloped in law school.

Write, write, write.  I have yet to meet a law professor who complains that we require students to write too much. Legal writing is one of the core skills needed for successful practice. Drafting exercises provide opportunities to do different types of legal writing.  These exercises also teach basic drafting skills that are relevant whether a student ends up drafting legislation, contracts, or settlement agreements.  In my class, we work on developing an appreciation for the precision needed to draft effectively.  I don’t expect students to be experts after two exercises, but their growth from the first to the second assignment alone demonstrates that they quickly develop an appreciation for key drafting concepts, learn what they need to pay attention to when drafting, and have a better sense of how to draft with precision and account for unintended consequences.

Risk/Benefit Analysis.  Drafting forces students to grapple with complex choices and analyze risk. Which party should bear the risk in a certain situation?  Should legislation detail exactly what is or is not permitted, or should that authority be delegated to a board of health? Whether drafting contracts or legislation, decisions need to be made as to risk.  Through these exercises, students gain experience identifying and assessing risk.

Risk/Benefit Analysis (for faculty).  When incorporating experiential learning exercises in doctrinal courses, there is often a fear that substantive law must be cut to make room for the exercises. In my experience, it’s not a zero sum game. Legal concepts can be reinforced and even taught through drafting exercises.  Due process and the void for vagueness doctrine are two areas that we grapple with in our drafting exercises.  Even if you are confronted with having to cut some reading materials, the payoff still makes it worth doing.  Every year, in mid-course evaluations (that I run), end-of-semester evaluations (run by the law school), and in feedback from former students in practice, students report that the drafting exercises were among the most valuable learning experiences.  Students want to develop tangible skills, and drafting exercises are a fun – yes, I said fun – way to help them do so. Health law offers wonderful opportunities to engage students in drafting and other experiential learning exercises that enrich their learning.

First published on HealthLawProf Blog.

 

Health Care and Human Trafficking

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Guest blog on HealthLawProf Blog:

Human trafficking inflicts significant physical, mental, and emotional harm on its victims.  The health consequences are dramatic and, in some cases, even life threatening. Victims and survivors of human trafficking confront a range of health issues from physical injuries and sexually transmitted infections to PTSD, depression, anxiety and other illnesses. 

Although human trafficking has received increased attention in recent years, responses to the problem remain rooted primarily in criminal justice frameworks. Law enforcement is necessary but not sufficient.  Health care professionals can play a key role in addressing human trafficking. 

Victims of human trafficking present at a wide range of health care facilities, including hospital emergency departments, community health centers, primary care clinics, school clinics, specialty clinics (e.g., obstetrics/gynecology, psychiatry), health department clinics, dental clinics, and other service providers.  In an article on sex trafficking of children and adolescents published last month in the New England Journal of Medicine, Ellen Wright Clayton and I wrote that health care professionals can help identify at-risk and exploited youth, provide needed treatment to survivors, and ensure that these individuals are connected with appropriate services. These roles apply not only to assisting individuals trafficked into the sex trade but also in identifying and responding to labor trafficking victims. Recent research has reinforced the need to recognize and respond to all forms of trafficking. Labor trafficking, which frequently has been overlooked, implicates numerous industries and businesses, including hospitality and tourism, agriculture, construction, mining, fisheries, domestic service, hair and nail salons, and many others.  

It is critical that health care professionals and health law attorneys recognize that the health sector provides an important opportunity for early intervention and even prevention. For example, a pimp who is exploiting a teenage boy or girl might still take that child to an emergency department for treatment for various ailments. Likewise, a rural community health center or pharmacy might be able to identify trafficked agriculture workers who otherwise are housed in remote areas that make it difficult to identify them. Health care facilities must develop evidence-based protocols to respond effectively in these and other situations.  They must ensure that clinicians and others who might come into contact with human trafficking victims are trained to identify victims and respond appropriately. 

Finally, this area is one in which medical-legal partnerships could offer significant benefits. Many human trafficking victims confront a host of legal issues and need assistance navigating systems and accessing services.  Where partnerships exist already, health lawyers and clinicians would do well to explore how their medical-legal partnership could expand to account for human trafficking.  Where partnerships have not yet been formed, the pressing needs of survivors of human trafficking might provide the impetus to forge collaborative working relationships among health care professionals and lawyers to better serve vulnerable populations.

 

First published on HealthLawProf Blog.