Latest news with #InternationalConventionontheRightsoftheChild


Arab Times
2 days ago
- Arab Times
Child abuse in our societies
The definition of a 'child' varies from country to country. According to the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, anyone under the age of 18 is considered a child, unless a country's law defines adulthood as occurring at a younger age. This means a child is entitled to a range of rights, protections, and care appropriate for their age, through their growing awareness of the world around them. This awareness serves as the first gateway for a child to enter a world of knowledge and skills. The more effective a child's sensory integration is, the better their ability to learn, adapt, and develop physically, mentally, and socially. However, achieving this requires providing both psychological and physical care, an important concept that many people overlook. In our culture, it is often considered necessary to hit a child if they fail or neglect to perform a religious duty, for example. This hinders their development and constitutes a violation of their human rights, given the child's complete inability to defend themselves. It also has a profoundly negative impact on their psychological well-being and overall future. Therefore, civilized countries do not hesitate to punish parents, guardians, or teachers who hit a child under the pretext of discipline or for making a mistake. The laws in these countries also prohibit harming animals, as the sophistication and civilization of a nation are measured by how it protects the weak. Serious studies have shown that many hardened criminals and mentally ill individuals were often subjected to beatings during childhood. Likewise, those who inflict such violence on children, whether parents, guardians, or teachers, were frequently victims of severe beatings themselves. Proper child-rearing requires skills that many lack, which are love, appreciation, encouragement, as well as a deep understanding of the child's needs and true abilities, coupled with patience as their minds mature into adulthood. As children and even teenagers, many of us were accustomed to seeing teachers carrying sticks and using them as threats. Unfortunately, teacher violence has caused many students to drop out of school. It is encouraging to see that international agreements have since worked to eliminate this abusive practice in some countries, though it sadly persists in many others, including much of our region. I have often heard stories, especially from the 1970s and earlier, about friends returning from abroad, often from Western countries, complaining that schools and even security authorities warned them they could face legal action if they physically discipline their children, or if the children reported parental mistreatment to teachers. I vividly remember my late friend Salem Zabal, the chief photographer for Al-Arabi magazine, when he returned from Australia. He felt that his right to raise his daughters according to the devout Christian upbringing he had received was being restricted. For that reason, he chose to return to the Arab Middle East, which he called 'paradise'. Therefore, it is essential to enforce laws that protect our children. Children are not the property of their parents but belong to society as a whole. Their behavior, good or bad, reflects on everyone, whether parents like it or not. In this context, former Al-Azhar cleric and professor Mustafa Rashid highlighted that an Eastern man often feels no shame in beating his wife in front of his children, yet is embarrassed to show affection by kissing her in their presence.


Euronews
25-03-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
France examines proposals for tougher sentencing for underaged offenders
ADVERTISEMENT The French Senate is set to examine a controversial legal proposal put forward by former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, which he claims will tackle youth delinquency. The bill, which was green-lit during a first reading in the National Assembly, proposes harsher "sanctions" for parents who fail to fulfil their legal responsibilities towards their children, while pushing for tougher trials for repeat underage offenders. Attal, who served as France's Prime Minister from January to September 2024, cited the riots which took place across the country in the summer of 2023 as the driving force for drafting the legal proposal. That summer, hundreds of minors, some aged as young as 12 or 13, took to the streets to protest the killing of a 17-year-old teenager named Nahel M. by a police officer. A demonstrator runs on the third night of protests sparked by the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old driver in Paris, 30 June, 2023 AP Photo What is in the legal proposal? While parents in France currently face up to two years in prison and a €30,000 fine for jeopardising "the health, safety, morality or education of their underaged child," the new law would see sentences raised to three-years and fines increased to €45,000. Judges would also be able to hand parents a community service sentence. The bill would also bring changes to France's juvenile criminal justice code, by speeding up trials for repeat underaged offenders. Instead, rapid hearings for repeat offenders aged over 16 years old would be instated. However, the legal proposal has faced firm criticism. In November, the French Defender of Rights (Défenseur des Droits) organisation, an independent government administrative authority, issued a warning that the bill could break some of France's international commitments, in particular the International Convention on the Rights of the Child. Former French Prime minister Gabriel Attal who tabled the new legislation photographed in Paris, 19 September, 2024 AP Photo The 2023 riots as a catalyst While social media posts helped fuel the 2023 riots in France and incited many teenagers to take part, the French government placed some of the blame on parents who failed to stop their children from participating. The cost of damage from the riots is estimated to have reached €1 billion, according to a report released by the Senate's Law Commission in April 2024. In April 2024, the French Ministry of Justice released figures revealing that 60% of the 1,180 minors who took part in the riots were from single parent homes. In response, Éric Dupond-Moretti, the French Minister of Justice at the time, said parents should be treated with "firmness" but also "humanity."