Torture And Abuse To Children Essay Research — страница 5

  • Просмотров 435
  • Скачиваний 5
  • Размер файла 21
    Кб

transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, and girls may become pregnant as a result of rape. It is also necessary to point out the degrading conditions that undergo children of the streets; many of them work like traveling salesmen, opening doors of taxis, or similar jobs because of their family’s financial needs, and are exploited by adults who take advantage of the extreme poverty situation and deficiencies of these youngsters (ONG, 1995). Children forced to live on the streets are particularly vulnerable to arbitrary arrest and ill-treatment. Many survive on begging, petty crime or prostitution, activities which bring them regularly to the attention of the police. Some are detained and ill-treated simply because they are easy prey; others are arrested under laws which make

destitution, vagrancy and begging criminal offences. Many are victims of torture and abuse, and sometimes murder, by police and other authorities. Amnesty International has documented violence against street children in many countries, including Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, India, Kenya, Nepal and Uganda. What these attacks have in common is the almost complete impunity enjoyed by those who perpetrate them (Amnesty International, 2000). III. Children in Detention The detention of children ranks low on the list of criminal justice priorities in most countries, so financial resources and government support for improving conditions tend to be limited. Staffing problems are rife, with severe understaffing, lack of training and low pay a feature of juvenile institutions in

most parts of the world. Children are often detained under conditions that pose a serious threat to their health and safety. Juvenile detention centers are often housed in old and disused adult facilities, with poor heat, light and ventilation; many have no educational or recreational facilities. Conditions are often unsanitary, leaving inmates exposed to disease and other health problems, which can be exacerbated by the often severe overcrowding. Custodial institutions for children seldom have appropriate medical facilities, staff or supplies. In some cases, lack of nourishing food results in malnutrition and, in extreme cases, starvation. Many child detainees are dependent on family members to bring their meals, others have to pay or bribe the authorities just to get adequate

and decent food. Over the years, there has been a steady stream of allegations about physical punishments amounting to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment; including boys being kicked, beaten, suspended upside down, having plastic bags put over their heads, being beaten on the back with a hammer or having their hands and feet scalded. Some reported being denied food, drink, or access to toilets — sometimes for several days. In the USA, children have been held in cruel conditions in overcrowded facilities, where they have also been deprived of adequate mental health care, education, and rehabilitation programs. Some have been subjected to brutal force and cruel punishments, including shackles, chemical sprays and electro-shock devices. Solitary confinement is also a

common punishment in juvenile facilities in the USA, in violation of international standards. In March 2000, the US Justice Department sought an emergency court order to stop ill-treatment of children at the Jena Juvenile Justice Center in Louisiana. Children held there were routinely subjected to excessive force and prolonged isolation, and deprived of shoes, blankets and medical care. Chemical agents were also abused. In November 1999 a CS gas grenade, designed for outdoor use, was used in a dormitory containing 46 children. The children fled outside where they were made to lie face down on concrete, some only in their underwear, for hours. Several were allegedly sprayed in the face with mace while on the ground. The memorandum in support of the injunction noted that “penal

officers at Jena have rubbed inmates’ faces into cement floors, taken away clothing, slammed youths against doors, walls, and floors, and forced naked juveniles to squat with their buttocks in the air while searches are performed … evidence exists showing officers actually have encouraged peer violence.” The situations mentioned above also apply to other institutions such as orphanages and refugee centers that in addition can be vulnerable to a great deal of exploitation by being used like subjects in drug experimentation and undergo cruelty, negligence, confinements and corporal punishment.