Guest columnist : Verónica Morales, Network for children’s rights (REDIM), Mexico

On June 17th, 2010, the pre-session of the UN Committee on the rights of the child took place in Geneva, Switzerland, with the participation of civil society organizations. During this meeting, the Network for children’s rights (REDIM) presented the “Alternative Report on the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of children in Armed Conflict”.

This inquiry project carried out by REDIM reflects, on the one hand, the current situation experienced by children involved in armed conflict in Mexico, and on the other hand, how violence related to the fight against drug trafficking  in our country, has been affecting thousands of children, not only by taking their lives, but also by modifying their psycho-social surroundings, like in the recent case of school closures in the Nayarit State, due to clashes between public forces and delinquents.

Specialists estimate that about 30’000 children and adolescents are at risk of being used and exploited by organized crime throughout the stages of production and trafficking of substances. For a reminder, as well the Additional Protocol as the Rome Statute of the Criminal Code prohibit the recruiting of minor children – respectively of children under 18 and under 15. That is why it should be possible to invoke those norms in front of Mexican courts, and to have them applied by national authorities.

As recently as Saturday June 12th, 2010, our country experienced its most violent day for the past six years.  In Ciudad Valles, San Luís Potosí, two secondary school pupils caught in crossfire were killed and four teenagers wounded. Another teenager was killed in the Fe y vida Rehabilitation Centre in the Chihuahua State, together with 18 other people, after an armed group made intrusion into the facility.

On June 16th, the killing of an 8-year old and his father was reported :  they were in their Ciudad Juárez home, when armed men drove into the propriety and killed both of them.

Those are only a few of the casualties described in the Report, which occurr in our country, jeopardizing children’s rights.

Moreover, on June 17th, the National Commission for Human rights (CNDH) issued a recommendation emanating from Ombudsman Raúl Plascencia, about the case of Bryan and Martín Almanza Salazar, aged respectively 5 and 9, who were assassinated on April 3rd, 2010, during their family holiday. The recommendation points out that attempts were made to manipulate information, and determines that the children died under the bullets of militaries, and not under crossfire as was argued at the beginning.

So, CNDH observes in the recommendation that the human rights to life, personal integrity and safety, decent treatment, access to justice, legality, and legal security, were violated. Similarly, minors’ right to have their safety protected against acts of life deprivation, arbitrary use of public force, cruel treatment and non-assistance, was also emphasized.  The recommendation points out that moreover, the scene crime was altered, and public function unduly exerted.

In such a context, REDIM voices its utmost worry for the incessant violent cases, and launches an appeal to grant the right to a violence-free environment, and the delivery on international commitments on childhood. 

Link : www.derechosinfancia.org.mx

Disclaimer : The editorial does not necessarily reflect the opinion of IDE Board and team.

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