Volume 4 No 1


Contents

Editorial

Special focus: Selected developments in the area of children's rights

Editorial of special focus: Selected developments in the area of children's rights
by Chiara Altafin

Redressing language-based exclusion and punishment in education and the Language Friendly School initiative
by Deena R Hurwitz and Ellen-Rose Kambel

Rohingya children in Bangladesh: Safeguarding their health-related rights in relation to the available healthcare system
by Sudipta Das Gupta, Maliha Samiha Zaman and Korima Begum

Procedural precarity: An examination of Canadian immigration policy and practice in relation to immigrant youth
by Aviva Weizman

Children’s rights to privacy in times of emergency: The case of Serbia in relation to internet education technologies
by Kristina Ćendić

Children’s rights budgeting and social accountability: Children’s views on its purposes, processes and their participation
by Laura Lundy, Karen Orr and Chelsea Marshall

The Third Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Preliminary case law assessment for the effective promotion and protection of children’s rights
by Cristiana Carletti

Article

Rethinking the façade of decentralisation under the 1996 Constitution of Cameron
by Chofor Che Christian Aime

Recent regional developments

European populism in the European Union: Results and human rights impacts of the 2019 parliamentary elections
by Hugo Balnaves, Eduardo Monteiro Burkle, Jasmine Erkan and David Fischer

Selected developments in human rights and democratisation in sub-Saharan Africa during 2019
by Joshua Nyawa, Chisomo Nyemba, Deborah Nyokabi, Ian Mathenge and Thomas White

A contradictory 2019 in the Arab world: The heralds of a second Arab Spring in times of increased vulnerability and upgraded authoritarianism
by Iasmin Ait Youssef, Rana Alsheikh Ali, Elena Comaro, Elise Diana, Solène Lavigne Delville, Nouha Maaninou, Marta Pannunzio and Charlotte van der Werf

Selected regional developments in human rights and democratisation in the Asia Pacific during 2019: Prospects turned to plights
by Ravi Prakash Vyas, Mike Hayes, Amalinda Savirani & Pranjali Kanel

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Recent Submissions

Now showing 1 - 5 of 14
  • Item
    Global Campus Human Rights Journal, Volume 4 No 1
    (Global Campus of Human Rights, 2020) [...]
    This volume of the Global Campus Human Rights Journal consists of three parts. The first part, ‘Special focus: Selected developments in the area of children’s rights’, is the first time the Journal devotes special attention to the rights of children. In the second part, we publish a single article of a general bearing. In this article, Chofor Che finds the root causes for the ongoing political malaise in Cameroon in the failure of that state to effectively implement the decentralisation framework provided for under the 1996 Constitution of Cameroon. The third part contains a regular feature of the Journal, a discussion of ‘recent developments’ in the fields of human rights and democratisation in four of the regions covered by the Global Campus of Human Rights.
  • Item
    Editorial
    (Global Campus of Human Rights, 2020) [...]
    This volume of the Global Campus Human Rights Journal consists of three parts. The first part, ‘Special focus: Selected developments in the area of children’s rights’, is the first time the Journal devotes special attention to the rights of children. In the second part, we publish a single article of a general bearing. In this article, Chofor Che finds the root causes for the ongoing political malaise in Cameroon in the failure of that state to effectively implement the decentralisation framework provided for under the 1996 Constitution of Cameroon. The third part contains a regular feature of the Journal, a discussion of ‘recent developments’ in the fields of human rights and democratisation in four of the regions covered by the Global Campus of Human Rights.
  • Item
    Editorial of special focus: Selected developments in the area of children’s rights
    (Global Campus of Human Rights, 2020) Altafin, Chiara
    The thirtieth anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) represented an occasion for many in the field to take stock, reflecting on achievements and challenges of children’s rights advocacy and engagement with the CRC Committee. It also presented an opportunity to critically reflect on the extent to which the Convention has impacted on children’s rights research, including in terms of empirical and conceptual approaches, methodological innovations and gaps. We chose to contribute to the debate generated by the anniversary celebration with this edition of the Global Campus Human Rights Journal, which provides insight into selected developments in the area of children’s rights in different regions covered by the Global Campus of Human Rights.
  • Item
    Redressing language-based exclusion and punishment in education and the Language Friendly School initiative
    (Global Campus of Human Rights, 2020) Hurwitz, Deena R. ; Kambel, Ellen-Rose
    Despite decades of scientific literature showing the benefits of multilingual programmes that allow children to learn through their mother tongue, millions of children around the world continue to be denied the right to be educated through a language they understand. Not only are home languages largely excluded from the official curriculum, but children belonging to ethnolinguistic minorities often are also prohibited and sometimes even punished for speaking their mother tongue on the school grounds. Contrary to what is generally believed by educators, preventing children from using their home language does not improve their educational performance, but rather has harmful social and emotional effects. After presenting examples of these practices in various countries, this article examines the human rights implications when students are banned from using their home language at school, by referring to the international instruments in force regarding children’s rights in education, with a focus on the European context and its relevant framework. We find that such practices violate the right to education, freedom of speech, and the right to be protected against direct and indirect racial and language-based discrimination. The Language Friendly School is introduced as a new initiative with the explicit aim of ending language-based punishment in education by 2030, the ‘deadline’ of the Sustainable Development Goals. While schools are the primary location where these practices take place, tackling the deep inequalities in education cannot be left to schools alone. We end our analysis with a call to action on governments to redress these violations of children’s rights, and to human rights educators, advocates and lawyers to hold them accountable. Key words: right to education; language-based exclusion and punishment; ethnolinguistic minorities; racial discrimination; mother tongue education; multilingual education
  • Item
    Rohingya children in Bangladesh: Safeguarding their health-related rights in relation to the available healthcare system
    (Global Campus of Human Rights, 2020) Das Gupta, Sudipta ; Zaman, Maliha Samiha ; Begum, Korima
    As at March 2020 Bangladesh hosted approximately 859 160 Rohingya people of which 54 per cent were children. The magnitude of their health problems is undeniable and uncertainty about the consequences of these health issues persists. Although Bangladesh is not a state party to key treaties in international refugee law, several human rights treaties to which Bangladesh is party (and some provisions of its Constitution) entail that the state should safeguard the basic human rights of the Rohingya people in its territory. This includes special protection for Rohingya children, particularly in relation to access to essential services. This article analyses whether the healthcare services and provision in one of the 34 camps set up in the Cox’s Bazar district are sufficient to safeguard the health-related rights of Rohingya children. The article employs a qualitative research methodology, on the basis of field work conducted in September and October 2019. In parallel, the authors look at the healthcare system available for Rohingya children from a human rights-based approach, which should inform possible public health interventions. Their analysis illustrates that for different reasons the existing system struggles to provide adequate protection of the health-related rights of these children. In exposing the critical situation related to the ability of Rohingya children to enjoy their rights on Bangladeshi territory, the article suggests that sustainable solutions to safeguard these rights can be found only if the relief distribution, healthcare services, healthcare procedures and related conditions work concurrently in an effective way as they are all interrelated. If a single component does not function well, the affected rights cannot be secured and children’s unhealthy living conditions in the camps are exacerbated.