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Children's Rights as Human Rights

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Michael Garcia Bochenek
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Extract

The image of Aylan Kurdi, a three-year-old Syrian boy who drowned on September 2, 2015, as he tried to cross the Mediterranean with his family to seek safety in Europe, may finally shock Europe and the world into offering greater protection to refugees fleeing from war and persecution in Syria and elsewhere. Aylan's death was a tragedy of a kind that has become all too familiar. In 2015 alone, thousands of people have died trying to reach European shores in unseaworthy, overcrowded boats. Many of those who drowned were children—including in a single instance an estimated one hundred children (out of a total of some eight hundred fatalities) lost in a shipwreck off the coast of Libya in April.

Type
Review Essays
Information
Ethics & International Affairs , Volume 29 , Issue 4 , Winter 2015 , pp. 473 - 488
Copyright
Copyright © Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs 2015 

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References

NOTES

1 Anne Barnard and Karam Shoumali, “Image of Drowned Syrian, Aylan Kurdi, 3, Brings Migrant Crisis Into Focus,” New York Times, September 3, 2015.

2 Judith Sunderland, “Brussels’ Personae Non Gratae,” Human Rights Watch and Foreign Policy online, April 29, 2015.

3 John Sifton, “Asia's Watery Graveyard for Asylum Seekers,” The Diplomat online, May 16, 2015.

4 “Southeast Asia: Accounts from Rohingya Boat People,” Human Rights Watch online, May 27, 2015.

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6 Animal Político, CIDE, “Programa Frontera Sur: Cacería de Migrantes en México,” Centro de Investigación Periodística (CIPER), April 28, 2015.

7 Kenneth Roth, “The Refugee Crisis That Isn't,” Huffington Post online, September 3, 2015.

8 “Children and Armed Conflict,” Report of the UN Secretary-General to the General Assembly and Security Council, May 15, 2014, UN document A/68/878-S/2014/339.

9 Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, “Afghanistan: Night letters [Shab Nameha, Shabnamah, Shabnameh], including appearance (2010–2015),” February 10, 2015, document AFG105047.E.

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12 Arana, Ana, “How the Street Gangs Took Central America,” Foreign Affairs 84, no. 3 (2005)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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14 “Intentional Homicides (per 100,000 People),” The World Bank online. See http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/VC.IHR.PSRC.P5.

15 Frances Robles, “Fleeing Gangs, Children Head to U.S. Border,” New York Times, July 9, 2014.

16 Oscar Martínez, “Why the Children Fleeing Central America Will Not Stop Coming,” Nation online (July 30, 2014) and in print (August 18–25, 2014 issue).

17 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)/Oficina del Alto Comisionado de las Naciones Unidas para los Refugiados (ACNUR), Arrancados de Raíz (Mexico City: UNHCR/ACNUR, 2014).

18 UNHCR Regional Office for the United States and the Caribbean, Children on the Run (Washington, D.C.: UNHCR, March 2014).

19 “Council Decision (CFSP) 2015/778 of 18 May 2015 on a European Union Military Operation in the Southern Central Mediterranean (EUNAVFOR MED),” Official Journal of the European Union, May 19, 2015, document L 122/31.

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22 The lawsuit was still ongoing as of this writing, although the federal court denied a request for a preliminary injunction against the state in late October. See Molly Hennessy-Fiske, “Judge: State Can Deny Birth Certificates for U.S.-Born Children of Some Immigrants,” Los Angeles Times, October 20, 2015, http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-texas-immigrant-birth-certificate-20151016-story.html; Manny Fernandez, “Immigrants Fight Texas’ Birth Certificate Rules,” The New York Times, September 17, 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/09/18/us/illegal-immigrant-birth-certificates.html; and Molly Hennessy-Fiske, “Immigrants Sue Texas over State's Denial of Birth Certificates for U.S.-Born Children,” Los Angeles Times, July 18, 2015, www.latimes.com/nation/immigration/la-na-texas-immigrant-birth-20150718-story.html.

23 “8 U.S. Code § 1229b - Cancellation of removal; adjustment of status,” Legal Information Institute of the Cornell University Law School, www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1229b.

24 U.S. Department of State, “2015 Trafficking in Persons Report,” www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2015/index.htm.

25 Alba Morales, Branded for Life: Florida's Prosecution of Children as Adults Under Its “Direct File” Statute (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2014), pp. 14–18; Ian Kysel, Growing Up Locked Down: Youth in Solitary Confinement in Jails and Prisons Across the United States (New York: Human Rights Watch and American Civil Liberties Union, 2012), pp. 11–14.

26 Márcio Falcão, “Comissão da Câmara aprova proposta de redução da maioridade penal,” Folha de S. Paulo, March 31, 2015; Aditi Malhotra, “Indian Cabinet Gives Nod to Change in Juvenile Age for Serious Crimes,” Wall Street Journal, April 23, 2015.

27 For More on the Paris Principles, see https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/our-work/paris-principles/.

28 On the Brink of Death: Violence against Women and the Abortion Ban in El Salvador (London: Amnesty International, 2014); She Is Not a Criminal: The Impact of Ireland's Abortion Law (London: Amnesty International, 2015); The Total Abortion Ban in Nicaragua: Women's Lives and Health Endangered, Medical Professionals Criminalized (London: Amnesty International, 2009); “Paraguay: Raped 10-Year-Old Girl Continues to Be Denied the Option of an Abortion Despite National and Global Outrage,” Amnesty International online, May 8, 2015; “Poland Must Implement Landmark European Court Ruling on Abortion,” Amnesty International online, October 31, 2012.

29 Kim Gilmore, “The Birmingham Children's Crusade of 1963,” Biography.com, February 14, 2014.

30 “Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District,” Oyez Project at Chicago-Kent College of Law, www.oyez.org/cases/1960-1969/1968/1968_21.

31 Nathan Heller, “Amos Yee: YouTube Star, Teen-Ager, Dissident,” New Yorker online, April 10, 2015.

32 Rafael Marques de Morais and Susana A. Moreira, “Angola's Youth Lead the Way to Unseat President Dos Santos,” Guardian, September 29, 2011.

33 “National Day of Silence: The Freedom to Speak (or Not),” Lambda Legal online, http://www.lambdalegal.org/publications/fs_2015_day-of-silence-faq.

34 “Russia: Court Hearing Against LGBT Group,” Human Rights Watch online, April 2, 2015.

35 Thoreson, Ryan, “From Child Protection to Children's Rights: Rethinking Homosexual Propaganda Bans in Human Rights Law,” Yale Law Journal, vol. 124 (2014–2015), pp. 1327–1344 Google Scholar.

36 Elizabeth Calvin, My So-Called Emancipation: From Foster Care to Homelessness for California Youth (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2010).