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Category: #children

  • Profile in Persecution: Haider Ebrahim Mulla Hasan

    Haider Ebrahim Mulla Hasan was a 16-year-old Bahraini child and a student completing his education in school when he was arrested by Bahraini authorities in 2015. He is the youngest of three detained brothers, Mohamed and Hussain. Bahraini authorities forcibly disappeared him and tortured him to extract a forced confession. He was sentenced to 23 years imprisonment with revocation of his nationality. He is still in the New Dry Dock Detention Center, which is designated for imprisoned individuals under the age of 21. Haider currently suffers from several health problems due to medical negligence by the prison administration and his denial of treatment. Some of these problems have not yet been diagnosed due to negligence, which makes his health condition worse.

    On 29 November 2015, officers in civilian clothes arrested Haider without an arrest warrant on the street in the village of Sanabis when he was only 16 years old. Then they took him to the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) and forcibly disappeared him for three months, during which they interrogated him without a lawyer and tortured him. They subjected him to various methods of torture to extract a confession, including physical beatings with batons, slapping in the face, beatings in sensitive areas, and exposure to electric shocks. He was also subjected to intimidation, threats, and insults. As a result, Haider suffers from several health problems, including poor vision in one of his eyes, complete hearing loss in one of his ears, and respiratory problems due to his broken nose. He was transferred to Salmaniya Hospital following torture, but these were only visits to the doctor, and he was not provided adequate treatment.

    On 1 February 2018, Haider was sentenced to 23 years imprisonment with revocation of his nationality, fined 2,784 Bahraini Dinars, and had his belongings confiscated on charges of 1) illegal assembly, 2) assaulting an intelligence officer, and 3) participating in the Karranah bombing. He was unable to reach his lawyer during interrogation, was not brought before a judge within 48 hours of his arrest, and was not provided with adequate time to prepare for trial. Although he and his family desired to appeal the ruling, they were unable to do so because they couldn’t afford the expensive costs of a lawyer. His citizenship was later reinstated through a royal decree issued in April 2019.

    Authorities intermittently held Haider in solitary confinement throughout his detention and incarceration. In March 2018, he was held in solitary confinement for more than two months as punishment for refusing to sign a document without knowing its contents. When he asked when his solitary confinement would end, the guards refused to answer. Haider believes that the extended solitary confinement caused him psychological harm. He then went on a hunger strike to protest the punitive use of extended solitary confinement and other abuses in the prison system. At that time, the prison administration deducted more than 25 minutes from the one-hour visit period allocated to his family members. They were permitted to see Haider 10 minutes after the visit began, but they were arbitrarily kicked out 15 minutes before its scheduled end as an additional form of retaliation against him. 

    While serving his sentence, Haider went on several hunger strikes to protest the periodic retaliation against him by placing him in solitary confinement. During one of these strikes, in August 2019, his family noticed while visiting him in the Dry Dock Detention Center that he was suffering from swelling in one of his eyes as a result of beatings and torture. He told them about being beaten, punched, kicked, and pepper-sprayed by officers in the prison to force him to end the strike.

    On 9 January 2022, after not hearing from Haider for more than ten days, his family received a phone call from him, in which he reported that he had been detained in solitary confinement for a week without knowing the reasons. The family expressed their deep concern for his safety and asked the prison administration to allow him the right to call to check on him.

    Haider suffers from several other health problems that are getting worse due to medical negligence against him and his deprivation of medical care by the prison administration, as the last time he saw a specialist doctor was in July 2022 at Salmaniya Hospital. On 2 November 2022, after suffering for a long time from stomach pain and the deterioration of his health condition, He was supposed to undergo an endoscopy and colonoscopy, but the prison administration did not transfer him to the hospital to undergo the operation.

    On 25 December 2022, Haider indicated in a call with his parents that he continues to suffer from an internal medical problem, which he does not know whether it is in the stomach or colon due to the ongoing medical neglect of his health, as when he is transferred to the prison clinic, he is only given painkillers without diagnosing the problem or dispensing a treatment. In detail, He indicated that he vomits and defecates blood at least 3-4 times a month. He also confirmed that he is unable to eat and suffers from severe pain in his head and difficulty breathing. In addition, Haider suffers from a problem with his teeth, as eight of them were removed without installing the replacements they promised him, which hindered his ability to chew his food.

    Haider’s arbitrary detention when he was a minor,  torture,  unfair trial, exposure to solitary confinement and enforced disappearance as retaliatory measures, as well as medical neglect, constitute a violation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), to which Bahrain is a party.

    Therefore, Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) calls on Bahrain to fulfill its human rights obligations by ensuring a fair retrial for Haider and by investigating all allegations of his arbitrary arrest when he was a child, torture, ill-treatment, and his exposure to an unfair trial, solitary confinement, and enforced disappearance with the aim of reprisal. It also calls on Bahrain to investigate the allegations of medical negligence while holding the perpetrators accountable. ADHRB also sounds the alarm about the deterioration of Haider’s health due to the continued medical negligence against him, which has reached the point of refraining from diagnosing one of the health problems he suffers from, calling on Bahrain to diagnose his health problems as soon as possible and to urgently provide him with appropriate treatment, holding the Government of Bahrain responsible for any further deterioration in his health condition.

    The post Profile in Persecution: Haider Ebrahim Mulla Hasan appeared first on Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain.

    This post was originally published on Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain.

  • Thousands of lone child asylum seekers left in limbo by Home Office, data shows

    Since 2020 more than 7,500 children in UK have waited more than a year for initial asylum decision – and 57 for more than five years

    Thousands of lone child asylum seekers have been left in limbo by the Home Office without a decision on their protection claims, with dozens waiting more than five years, official data has revealed.

    Home Office data shows that over the past three years more than 7,500 children who travelled alone to the UK waited more than a year for an initial decision on whether or not to accept their asylum claim.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Young convicts in the Dry Dock: ongoing violations and delayed justice

    On 17 September 2023, approximately 28 young Bahraini detainees in the Dry Dock Detention Center began a new hunger strike in protest against the continued violations committed against them by the prison administration, and the neglect of the relevant state institutions to carry out their duties, notably the National Institution for Human Rights, and the Ombudsman.

    The rights of children detained in the Dry Dock Detention Center are subject to serious violations, as most of the arrests are based on political backgrounds, and the victims are subjected to unfair trials. In 2011, the state security institutions launched a series of arbitrary arrest campaigns that affected various Bahraini regions and towns and included citizens of different age groups, including children who were not over the legal age at the time of their arrest, for participating in peaceful demonstrations in the movement demanding reform and democracy. Since that date, the scene has been repeated as part of the policies of suppressing freedom and encouraging impunity in Bahrain.

    Due to the lack of transparency in the Ministry of Interior’s data, there are no accurate statistics on the number of detained children. However, investigative reports have previously revealed that Bahrain detains about 150 children, 10 of whom are in Jau Prison – which is designated for adults – while the remaining 140 are divided into two wards. One ward is designated for children aged between 15 and 18 years old, and the other is designated for solitary confinement. Despite these reports, the Bahraini government claims that it has no children in detention, stating instead that those arrested from the age group of 15 to 18 years are serving their sentence in a private reform center.

    Young convicts in the Dry Dock Detention Center are exposed to many human rights violations, including fundamental rights guaranteed by international laws and conventions. Their most prominent demands relate to the following:

    – The right to education;

    – The right to medical treatment;

    – The right to obtain diverse and healthy diets;

    – The right to communicate with the outside world;

    – The right to family visits;

    – The right to have appropriate clothing; and

    – The right to benefit from the Law on Restorative Justice and the Protection of Children from Mistreatment.

    The Law on Restorative Justice for Children and their Protection from Mistreatment was approved on 15 February 2021 and came into effect on 18 August 2021. However, its effects were not reflected on the conditions of young convicts in the Dry Dock Detention Center, nor on those who were arrested after the enactment of this law. These include:

    •       notifying the child’s guardian or person responsible for him – as the case may be – in the legally prescribed ways of every decision or action taken against the child;
    •       ensuring that detained children are treated without discrimination and with an equal degree of decent and humane treatment and ensuring that all necessary rights and needs are met, and that there is no criminal liability on the child who was not more than fifteen full calendar years of age at the time of committing the crime;
    •       that the child victim or witness, in all stages of investigation and trial, must have the right to be heard, his demands must be understood, and he must be treated in a way that preserves his dignity and guarantees his physical, psychological, and moral integrity;
    •       that there be no discrimination between child prisoners on the basis of gender, origin, language, religion, or belief;
    •       The periodic medical examination of all children;
    •       The provision of academic and practical study curricula helping develop their intellectual abilities;
    •       the observation of the child’s right to freedom of practice of religion; and
    •       that, in the event that a child was subjected to physical or sexual mistreatment by the person responsible for him, the specialized prosecution should appoint someone to legally represent the child to carry out all the procedures stipulated in the law, including submitting a complaint, objection, grievance, and appeal against all procedures taken regarding the child.

    Since its passage, this law has been subjected to numerous criticisms, as the government of Bahrain exploits its promulgation to promote the reforms that it has carried out. Unfortunately, its application is still limited to a very small number of young convicts in the Dry Dock Detention Center, despite the fact that many of them meet the conditions of the law and almost all of them demand the right to benefit from it.

    As well, the law fails to guarantee children’s fundamental rights to due process. The law does not prohibit questioning or interrogating children without the presence of a lawyer or their guardians. Article 66 states that “health, social, legal and rehabilitative services must be provided to accused children” at “all stages”, including during “arrest and investigation.” However, Article 67 stipulates that a child has no right to a lawyer until after the child’s case reaches trial. The law also fails to clearly stipulate the child’s right to appeal his deprivation of liberty, while Article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child states that every child in conflict with the law has the right to “immediate access to legal assistance.”

    International human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, have previously condemned the failure of this law to protect the fundamental rights stipulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as it legitimizes arbitrary detention on charges of exercising the right to peaceful assembly, and allows the interrogation and investigation of children without the presence of their parents or attorney.

    The prison for young convicts fails to uphold the most fundamental rights, and detainees on charges related to the right to expression are subjected to ill-treatment, torture, and reprisal. They are deprived of healthy meals and clothing, are denied family visits, and are denied means of entertainment, which exposes them to psychological and health risks and harms, and which is inconsistent with human and moral principles and values.

    As a result of all of this mistreatment, many of the children have undertaken repeated hunger strikes, despite the dangers that such actions pose to their health. Recently, they announced their hunger strike on 17 September 2023, in protest against the Public Prosecution’s neglect of their right to benefit from the Law on Restorative Justice as a means that may help them get escape these violations. Among them is Hussein Ahmed Habib, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison; he was less than 16 years old at the time his alleged offense was committed. He submitted more than five requests to more than one public prosecutor representative, demanding his retrial before the Children’s Court, but to no avail. Also, Mujtaba Abdul Hussein Abdulla, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison when he was 17 years old, is demanding his retrial before the Children’s Court, but the public prosecution rejects his repeated requests.

    Instead of children being behind their school desks, they are deprived of the right to education. This violation does not stop there – it destroys their future even after the end of their sentence, as they are deprived of job opportunities due to the denial of “good conduct” certificates for political prisoners.

    Among them is Ali Isa Jasim, one of the young convicts who was deprived of his fundamental rights, after he was arrested when he was fifteen years old. He went on two hunger strikes in one month, protesting the denial of his right to education. Despite the promises he has received from the prison administration to provide him with an education, he has yet to be given access to learning resources. His suffering is shared by Khalil Ebrahim Sabah, who resorted to a hunger strike to protest the deprivation of his fundamental rights, including education, for two years. They are therefore waiting to be transferred to Jau Prison to obtain this right.

    In addition to the torture, forced disappearance, solitary confinement, and psychological threats they endure, many child detainees also face deprivation of the necessary treatment and medical care. They are denied medical visits, and the prison administration ignores the conditions of those suffering from illnesses and in need of constant follow-up. On 17 June 2023, six young convicts, including Khalil Sabah and Fares Salman, declared a hunger strike to protest against their deprivation of health care for their scabies disease, which they contracted while in prison due to squalid conditions. Further, Haidar Ebrahim Mulla Hasan, who was arrested at the age of 16 and sentenced to 23 years in prison in three different cases, did not suffer from any health problems before his arrest, but as a result of torture and the dire conditions in prison, including medical neglect, he began to suffer from severe stomach pains to the point of vomiting and defecating blood. He continues to suffer from severe headaches, difficulty breathing, and a dental problem. Despite this, the prison administration refuses to refer him to a doctor for a diagnosis of his condition, and he has not received any treatment yet. In fact, the last time he was presented to a doctor was over a year ago.

    Following the crackdown on popular protests that the country witnessed in 2011, criticism prompted Bahrain to establish three bodies affiliated with the Ministry of Interior: the Prisoners and Detainees Rights Commission (PDRC), the Ombudsman, and the Special Investigation Unit in the Public Prosecution, but the lack of independence of these bodies and their political affiliations has rendered them unfit for purpose. Since their establishment, complaints raised by detainees, especially young convicts, have not been investigated, and the security forces responsible for torturing political prisoners have not been held accountable.

    By exposing young convicts to violations, including forced detention, torture, denial of medical care, and of the right to education, Bahrain is violating the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Nelson Mandela Rules, which stress the rights of Prisoners, including:

    •       Treat all prisoners with respect because of their inherent dignity and value as human beings.
    •       The prohibition of subjecting any prisoner to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, and all prisoners should be protected from this.
    •       The right to obtain legal representation and to investigate all cases of death in custody, disciplinary action, and punishment.
    •       The prison system should strive to minimize the differences between prison life and free life.

    Hence, Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) calls on the Bahraini authorities to:

    •       Stop exposing young convicts to ongoing violations, including forced detention and torture.
    •       Grant young convicts their right to education, medical care, and other fundamental human rights.
    •       Protect minors from ill-treatment, investigate allegations of torture, and stop the policy of impunity that has been practiced until now.
    •       Respond to the demands of young people, and not renounce the promises made to them.
    •       Held them a retrial in accordance with the fair trial procedures that apply to children in order to obtain their immediate and unconditional release, guarantee all their civil rights, and compensate them. 

    The post Young convicts in the Dry Dock: ongoing violations and delayed justice appeared first on Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain.

    This post was originally published on Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain.

  • Young convicts in the Dry Dock: ongoing violations and delayed justice

    On 17 September 2023, approximately 28 young Bahraini detainees in the Dry Dock Detention Center began a new hunger strike in protest against the continued violations committed against them by the prison administration, and the neglect of the relevant state institutions to carry out their duties, notably the National Institution for Human Rights, and the Ombudsman.

    The rights of children detained in the Dry Dock Detention Center are subject to serious violations, as most of the arrests are based on political backgrounds, and the victims are subjected to unfair trials. In 2011, the state security institutions launched a series of arbitrary arrest campaigns that affected various Bahraini regions and towns and included citizens of different age groups, including children who were not over the legal age at the time of their arrest, for participating in peaceful demonstrations in the movement demanding reform and democracy. Since that date, the scene has been repeated as part of the policies of suppressing freedom and encouraging impunity in Bahrain.

    Due to the lack of transparency in the Ministry of Interior’s data, there are no accurate statistics on the number of detained children. However, investigative reports have previously revealed that Bahrain detains about 150 children, 10 of whom are in Jau Prison – which is designated for adults – while the remaining 140 are divided into two wards. One ward is designated for children aged between 15 and 18 years old, and the other is designated for solitary confinement. Despite these reports, the Bahraini government claims that it has no children in detention, stating instead that those arrested from the age group of 15 to 18 years are serving their sentence in a private reform center.

    Young convicts in the Dry Dock Detention Center are exposed to many human rights violations, including fundamental rights guaranteed by international laws and conventions. Their most prominent demands relate to the following:

    – The right to education;

    – The right to medical treatment;

    – The right to obtain diverse and healthy diets;

    – The right to communicate with the outside world;

    – The right to family visits;

    – The right to have appropriate clothing; and

    – The right to benefit from the Law on Restorative Justice and the Protection of Children from Mistreatment.

    The Law on Restorative Justice for Children and their Protection from Mistreatment was approved on 15 February 2021 and came into effect on 18 August 2021. However, its effects were not reflected on the conditions of young convicts in the Dry Dock Detention Center, nor on those who were arrested after the enactment of this law. These include:

    •       notifying the child’s guardian or person responsible for him – as the case may be – in the legally prescribed ways of every decision or action taken against the child;
    •       ensuring that detained children are treated without discrimination and with an equal degree of decent and humane treatment and ensuring that all necessary rights and needs are met, and that there is no criminal liability on the child who was not more than fifteen full calendar years of age at the time of committing the crime;
    •       that the child victim or witness, in all stages of investigation and trial, must have the right to be heard, his demands must be understood, and he must be treated in a way that preserves his dignity and guarantees his physical, psychological, and moral integrity;
    •       that there be no discrimination between child prisoners on the basis of gender, origin, language, religion, or belief;
    •       The periodic medical examination of all children;
    •       The provision of academic and practical study curricula helping develop their intellectual abilities;
    •       the observation of the child’s right to freedom of practice of religion; and
    •       that, in the event that a child was subjected to physical or sexual mistreatment by the person responsible for him, the specialized prosecution should appoint someone to legally represent the child to carry out all the procedures stipulated in the law, including submitting a complaint, objection, grievance, and appeal against all procedures taken regarding the child.

    Since its passage, this law has been subjected to numerous criticisms, as the government of Bahrain exploits its promulgation to promote the reforms that it has carried out. Unfortunately, its application is still limited to a very small number of young convicts in the Dry Dock Detention Center, despite the fact that many of them meet the conditions of the law and almost all of them demand the right to benefit from it.

    As well, the law fails to guarantee children’s fundamental rights to due process. The law does not prohibit questioning or interrogating children without the presence of a lawyer or their guardians. Article 66 states that “health, social, legal and rehabilitative services must be provided to accused children” at “all stages”, including during “arrest and investigation.” However, Article 67 stipulates that a child has no right to a lawyer until after the child’s case reaches trial. The law also fails to clearly stipulate the child’s right to appeal his deprivation of liberty, while Article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child states that every child in conflict with the law has the right to “immediate access to legal assistance.”

    International human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, have previously condemned the failure of this law to protect the fundamental rights stipulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as it legitimizes arbitrary detention on charges of exercising the right to peaceful assembly, and allows the interrogation and investigation of children without the presence of their parents or attorney.

    The prison for young convicts fails to uphold the most fundamental rights, and detainees on charges related to the right to expression are subjected to ill-treatment, torture, and reprisal. They are deprived of healthy meals and clothing, are denied family visits, and are denied means of entertainment, which exposes them to psychological and health risks and harms, and which is inconsistent with human and moral principles and values.

    As a result of all of this mistreatment, many of the children have undertaken repeated hunger strikes, despite the dangers that such actions pose to their health. Recently, they announced their hunger strike on 17 September 2023, in protest against the Public Prosecution’s neglect of their right to benefit from the Law on Restorative Justice as a means that may help them get escape these violations. Among them is Hussein Ahmed Habib, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison; he was less than 16 years old at the time his alleged offense was committed. He submitted more than five requests to more than one public prosecutor representative, demanding his retrial before the Children’s Court, but to no avail. Also, Mujtaba Abdul Hussein Abdulla, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison when he was 17 years old, is demanding his retrial before the Children’s Court, but the public prosecution rejects his repeated requests.

    Instead of children being behind their school desks, they are deprived of the right to education. This violation does not stop there – it destroys their future even after the end of their sentence, as they are deprived of job opportunities due to the denial of “good conduct” certificates for political prisoners.

    Among them is Ali Isa Jasim, one of the young convicts who was deprived of his fundamental rights, after he was arrested when he was fifteen years old. He went on two hunger strikes in one month, protesting the denial of his right to education. Despite the promises he has received from the prison administration to provide him with an education, he has yet to be given access to learning resources. His suffering is shared by Khalil Ebrahim Sabah, who resorted to a hunger strike to protest the deprivation of his fundamental rights, including education, for two years. They are therefore waiting to be transferred to Jau Prison to obtain this right.

    In addition to the torture, forced disappearance, solitary confinement, and psychological threats they endure, many child detainees also face deprivation of the necessary treatment and medical care. They are denied medical visits, and the prison administration ignores the conditions of those suffering from illnesses and in need of constant follow-up. On 17 June 2023, six young convicts, including Khalil Sabah and Fares Salman, declared a hunger strike to protest against their deprivation of health care for their scabies disease, which they contracted while in prison due to squalid conditions. Further, Haidar Ebrahim Mulla Hasan, who was arrested at the age of 16 and sentenced to 23 years in prison in three different cases, did not suffer from any health problems before his arrest, but as a result of torture and the dire conditions in prison, including medical neglect, he began to suffer from severe stomach pains to the point of vomiting and defecating blood. He continues to suffer from severe headaches, difficulty breathing, and a dental problem. Despite this, the prison administration refuses to refer him to a doctor for a diagnosis of his condition, and he has not received any treatment yet. In fact, the last time he was presented to a doctor was over a year ago.

    Following the crackdown on popular protests that the country witnessed in 2011, criticism prompted Bahrain to establish three bodies affiliated with the Ministry of Interior: the Prisoners and Detainees Rights Commission (PDRC), the Ombudsman, and the Special Investigation Unit in the Public Prosecution, but the lack of independence of these bodies and their political affiliations has rendered them unfit for purpose. Since their establishment, complaints raised by detainees, especially young convicts, have not been investigated, and the security forces responsible for torturing political prisoners have not been held accountable.

    By exposing young convicts to violations, including forced detention, torture, denial of medical care, and of the right to education, Bahrain is violating the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Nelson Mandela Rules, which stress the rights of Prisoners, including:

    •       Treat all prisoners with respect because of their inherent dignity and value as human beings.
    •       The prohibition of subjecting any prisoner to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, and all prisoners should be protected from this.
    •       The right to obtain legal representation and to investigate all cases of death in custody, disciplinary action, and punishment.
    •       The prison system should strive to minimize the differences between prison life and free life.

    Hence, Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) calls on the Bahraini authorities to:

    •       Stop exposing young convicts to ongoing violations, including forced detention and torture.
    •       Grant young convicts their right to education, medical care, and other fundamental human rights.
    •       Protect minors from ill-treatment, investigate allegations of torture, and stop the policy of impunity that has been practiced until now.
    •       Respond to the demands of young people, and not renounce the promises made to them.
    •       Held them a retrial in accordance with the fair trial procedures that apply to children in order to obtain their immediate and unconditional release, guarantee all their civil rights, and compensate them. 

    The post Young convicts in the Dry Dock: ongoing violations and delayed justice appeared first on Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain.

    This post was originally published on Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain.

  • Met to increase intelligence gathering in London schools amid Gaza tensions

    Exclusive: Human rights groups voice alarm as letter to headteachers reveals plan for more visible patrols

    Metropolitan police officers have been instructed to increase intelligence-gathering activities at London schools in response to the Israel-Hamas war, ramping up concerns among human rights groups about the surveillance of children.

    Officers were briefed to “increase their visible patrols” at schools and engage with school staff in order to obtain information about “community tensions”, according to a letter sent to headteachers.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • More Than 1,000 Gazan Children Are Dead. How Can We Even Begin to Mourn?

    My husband and I are 100 percent Palestinian from Gaza. We live in diaspora in the United States with my 5-month-old daughter. My husband’s entire immediate family is in Gaza. They live in the now-devastated Rimal neighborhood and are among the hundreds of thousands internally displaced in Gaza within the past seven days. This displacement is both due to airstrikes flattening more than 1,300…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • ‘You Have To Give Birth’: Children Help Ukrainian Mother Cope With Loss Of Three Family Members


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • UN experts: Xinjiang expanding forced separation of Uyghur children

    Experts from the United Nations have expressed “grave concern” over allegations that Chinese officials in Xinjiang have expanded a government-run boarding school system that forcibly separates Uyghur and other minority Muslim children from their families and communities.

    The experts were also concerned that the boarding schools teach almost exclusively in China’s official language of Mandarin “with little or no use of Uyghur as medium of instruction,” according to a statement released by the U.N.’s human rights office on Tuesday.

    “The separation of mainly Uyghur and other minority children from their families could lead to their forced assimilation into the majority Mandarin language and the adoption of Han cultural practices,” the U.N. experts said.

    Scholars as well as previous RFA reporting have found that thousands of Uyghur children whose parents have been detained have been sent to camps, boarding schools and orphanages.

    Efforts to assimilate Uyghurs at younger ages gathered steam after the Chinese government undertook a mass detention and internment campaign in 2017 that saw up to 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities incarcerated in a network of detention camps.

    The U.N. experts said on Tuesday that they were recently informed of an “exponential increase” in recent years in the number of boarding schools for other Muslim and minority children in Xinjiang, the statement said. They’ve also learned that local schools where Uyghur and other minority languages were used for instruction have been closed. 

    The Chinese government’s actions are a violation of minorities’ right to education “without discrimination, family life and cultural rights,” the experts said.

    “The massive scale of the allegations raises extremely serious concerns of violations of basic human rights,” they said.

    ‘Deserves more attention’

    In response to the statement, the Uyghur Human Rights Project called on U.N. member states to vote against China’s upcoming bid for re-election to the U.N. Human Rights Council.

    “Uyghur children are torn from their parents as state policy,” the organization’s executive director, Omer Kanat, said. “It’s past time for U.N. member states to recognize this is a genocide.”

    Also on Tuesday, the United States government said it had determined that “genocide and crimes against humanity continued to occur” in China’s Xinjiang region in 2022. 

    That announcement came as Washington blacklisted three more companies located in Xinjiang because of their use of forced Uyghur labor – a move that bans American companies from importing their goods. 

    Xinjiang region expert Adrian Zenz, who first reported on the boarding schools in 2019, said he was “grateful” for the U.N. experts’ statement. 

    “But I’m also wondering why it took so long – and why did it take the U.N. so long?” he told Radio Free Asia.

    The U.N. should write its own report summarizing existing research on the issue, and the U.N. Human Rights Council could follow up with a resolution condemning China, he said.

    “It just deserves more attention,” he said. “The international community has really paid no attention to this.”

    The U.N. experts are Fernand de Varennes, a special rapporteur on minority issues, Alexandra Xanthaki, a special rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, and Farida Shaheed, a special rapporteur on education.

    Edited by Matt Reed.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Uyghur.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • NZ election 2023: Green Party pledges to double Best Start payment

    RNZ News

    New Zealand’s Green Party says it will double the Best Start payment from $69 a week to $140 — and it will also make it available for all children under three years.

    Greens co-leader Marama Davidson announced the policy today, saying it is part of a “fully costed plan” paid for with a fair tax system.

    “One in 10 children are growing up in poverty. For Māori, it is one in five. How is it possible that in a wealthy country like ours, there are thousands of children without enough to eat, a good bed, warm clothes, and decent shoes?,” she asked.

    “That is why the Green Party would ensure all families have what they need for these early years, by doubling Best Start from $69 a week, to $140, and make it universal for all children under three years.”

    Currently, families can receive the $69 weekly Best Start payment until their baby turns one, no matter the income.

    However, they do not get that payment while they are receiving the paid parental leave payment. After the first year, only families earning under $96,295 are eligible to receive the payment until their child turns three.

    The doubling of the Best Start payment is part of the Green Party’s Income Guarantee plan.

    “This universal payment for the first three years recognises that just like in our older years through superannuation, the very first years of a new baby’s life are a time when every family needs extra support,” Davidson said.

    Fairer Working for Families
    “Under this plan we’ll also reform Working for Families into a simpler, fairer system.

    “This will provide a payment of up to $215 every week for the first child, and $135 a week for every other child, in addition to the Best Start payments.

    “With the Green Party in government, we can take action to guarantee every whānau has enough to get by no matter what.

    “There is no reason for any child in Aotearoa to go hungry or to live in a damp, cold house. Poverty is a political choice.

    “Our plan will provide lasting solutions that will guarantee everyone has what they need to live a good life and cover the essentials — even when times are tough.”

    Since 2021, the Labour government has increased the Best Start payment from $60 to $69 a week.

    • Monday night’s Newshub-Reid Research poll gave the Greens a boost, rising to 14.2 percent, as the Labour Party dipped slightly to 26.5 percent.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Louisiana Parents Work to Invest State Resources Into Kids, Not Incarceration

    After nearly a year of public outrage and advocacy efforts, detained youths were finally transferred from the former death row unit of Louisiana’s State Penitentiary into a separate juvenile detention center. These youth — most of whom are Black — suffered solitary confinement, inadequate schooling, inedible food and water, and extreme heat conditions in what’s considered the largest maximum…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Baby product business to teach Māori children pride in culture

    TE WIKI O TE RĒO MĀORI: By Aroha Awarau

    Last year Joelle Holland invested all of the money she had saved for a home deposit and put it into a baby product business called Hawaiiki Pēpi.

    The sole focus of Hawaiiki Pēpi is to teach Māori children to be proud of their culture and language.

    Hawaiiki Pēpi has already reached more than $100,000 in sales, but most importantly for its owner, it has delivered on its promise to encourage and normalise all things Māori.

    TE WIKI O TE RĒ0 MĀORI | MĀORI LANGUAGE WEEK 11-18 September 2023

    “I don’t have any experience in business at all. But what I do have is a passion for my culture and the revitalisation of our language,” she says.

    “This venture was a way for me to express that and show people how beautiful Māori can be.”

    Holland (Tainui, Tūhoe, Ngāti Whātua) came up with the idea after giving birth to her children Ivy-āio, three, and Ryda Hawaiiki, one.

    The online business that Holland manages and runs from her home, creates Māori-designed products such as blankets for babies.

    Proud to be Māori
    “When my eldest child was in my puku, I was trying to find baby products that showed that we were proud to be Māori. There weren’t any at the time. That’s how the idea of Hawaiiki Pēpi came about,” she says.

    With the support of her partner Tayllis, Holland decided to take a risk and enter the competitive baby industry.

    To prepare for her very first start up, Holland took business courses, conducted her own research and did 18 months of development before launching Hawaiiki Pēpi at the end of last year.

    “The aim is to enhance identity, te reo Māori and whakapapa. We are hoping to wrap our pēpi in their culture from birth so they can gain a sense of who they are, creating strong, confident and unapologetically proud Māori.”

    Holland grew up in Auckland and went to kohanga reo and kura kaupapa before spending her high school years boarding at St Joseph’s Māori Girls College in Napier.

    She says that language is the key connection to one’s culture. It was through learning te reo Māori from birth that instilled in her a strong sense of cultural identity. It has motivated her in all of the important life decisions that she has made.

    ‘Struggled through teenage years’
    “I struggled throughout my teenage years. I was trying to find my purpose. I was searching for who I was, where I came from and where I belonged.

    “I realised that the strong connection I had to my tupuna and my people was through the language. Everything has reverted back to te reo Māori and it has always been an anchor in my life.”

    Holland went to Masey University to qualify to teach Māori in schools, juggling study, with taking care of two children under three, and starting a new business.

    This year, she completed her degree in the Bachelor of Teaching and Learning Kura Kaupapa Māori programme. The qualification has allowed Holland to add another powerful tool in her life that nurtures Māoritanga in the younger generation and contributes to the revitalisation of te reo Māori.

    “I loved my studies. Every aspect of the degree was immersed in te reo Māori, from our essays, presentations to our speeches. Although I grew up speaking Māori, I realised there is still so much more to learn,” she says.

    For now, Holland will be focusing on growing her business and raising her children before embarking on a career as a teacher.

    “My end goal is to encourage all tamariki to be proud of their Māoritanga, encourage them to speak their language and stand tall.”

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

  • When Child Care Centers Close, Entire Communities Are Effected

    When a teacher called in sick one Thursday in July, administrator Holly Denman realized she’d have to close her center for the day. Then it was two days. Giggles & Wiggles Daycare Center was as short staffed as it could be: six teachers, including Denman, for 34 students with absolutely no reserves or substitutes to tap into. One teacher out meant automatic closure. By the next Sunday…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Rosa Jimenez Is Exonerated of a Crime That Never Took Place After 20 Years

    Rosa Jimenez Is Exonerated of a Crime That Never Took Place After 20 Years

    08.07.23

    Rosa Jimenez in downtown Austin, Texas, on March 4, 2021.

    Rosa Jimenez in downtown Austin, Texas, on March 4, 2021.

    (Aug. 7, 2023 — Austin, TX) Rosa Jimenez was exonerated today after the Travis County District Attorney moved to dismiss a 2003 murder charge against her, based on testimony from leading pediatric airway experts that affirmed the death at the center of the case was a tragic accident and not murder. 

    Ms. Jimenez, who has always maintained her innocence, was convicted of murder after a 21-month-old child she was babysitting choked on paper towels and suffered a severe brain injury due to oxygen deprivation. He passed away three months later.

    Prior to today’s dismissal, Ms. Jimenez was released from prison in 2021 after Judge Karen Sage of the 299th Criminal District Court in Austin, Texas recommended that Ms. Jimenez’s habeas petition be granted, finding that, “There was no crime committed here … Ms. Jimenez is innocent.” The decision came after the Travis County District Attorney’s Office conducted an in-depth review of the evidence through its trial division, special victims unit, and conviction integrity unit. The evidence included reports and testimony of numerous pediatric airway experts who unanimously concluded that the choking incident was the result of a tragic accident. At Ms. Jimenez’s original trial, the State presented faulty testimony stating it would have been physically impossible for the child to have accidentally choked. In May 2023, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned her 2005 conviction, ruling that the State had used false and misleading testimony to obtain her conviction. Support for Ms. Jimenez’s innocence has been widespread, particularly among Travis County state legislators. Over the years, four Texas judges who have reviewed her case in federal and state courts have all concluded that Ms. Jimenez is likely innocent and the child’s death was an accident.

    “Rosa was the mom to a one-year-old girl and seven months pregnant when this ordeal began. She was forced to give birth to her son in jail, shackled, while awaiting trial. For the past 20 years, she has fought for this day, her freedom, and to be reunited with her children.” said Vanessa Potkin, director of special litigation and Ms. Jimenez’s attorney. “Her wrongful conviction was not grounded in medical science, but faulty medical assumptions that turned a tragedy into a crime — with her own attorney doing virtually nothing to defend her. I wish we could say that what happened to Rosa was an isolated occurrence, but we have a real, pervasive problem in our country when it comes to how the criminal legal system treats the caregivers of children who are hurt or die. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent caregivers and parents in prison today based on faulty, unscientific medical testimony misclassifying accidents or illness as abuse.”   

    A decade into her incarceration at 33 years old, Ms. Jimenez was diagnosed with kidney disease, which progressed to end-stage during her wrongful incarceration. Months after her release in 2021, she began dialysis and is now in need of a life-saving kidney transplant. “Just when Rosa can finally close the chapter on her 20-year fight to prove her innocence, she has to take on a new battle — the fight for her life,”  Ms. Potkin said. Ms. Jimenez is being evaluated by Weill Cornell hospital for a kidney transplant and is hoping to find a living donor. 

    Help save Rosa’s life

    Ms. Jimenez’s case has garnered attention from local and national leaders, including San Antonio Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich. “I’ve been following Rosa’s case since she was released two years ago and moved to San Antonio,” Coach Popovich said. “It’s heartbreaking — a tragic miscarriage of justice. DA Garza and his team deserve great credit for helping the Innocence Project establish Rosa’s innocence with new scientific evidence. Rosa is just 41, endured nearly 20 years wrongly incarcerated, and desperately needs a live donor so she can get a kidney transplant. Please check out the micro site Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York has established for kidney donors Kidney4Rosa.com. Help save her life.”

    “Just when Rosa can finally close the chapter on her 20-year fight to prove her innocence, she has to take on a new battle — the fight for her life.”

    “Just when Rosa can finally close the chapter on her 20-year fight to prove her innocence, she has to take on a new battle — the fight for her life.”

    Vanessa Potkin
    Director of Special Litigation and Ms. Jimenez’s attorney

    Rosa Jimenez holding her daughter Brenda. (Image: Courtesy of Rosa Jimenez)

    Rosa Jimenez holding her daughter Brenda. (Image: Courtesy of Rosa Jimenez)

    A Crime That Never Occurred

    In January 2003, Ms. Jimenez was caring for her 1-year-old daughter Brenda and the 21-month-old year-old boy, whom she regularly babysat, when the toddler approached her choking. She immediately tried to remove the blockage, but, when she was unable to do so, she rushed to a neighbor’s house for help and they called 911. The child was resuscitated by paramedics, but the lack of oxygen resulted in severe brain damage, and he died three months later. 

    After the accident, Ms. Jimenez, who was pregnant with her second child and did not speak much English, was questioned for over five hours by an allegedly bilingual police officer whom Ms. Jimenez described as barely able to speak Spanish. While trained interpreters are provided at trials, an interpreter is not constitutionally guaranteed during a law enforcement interrogation. Although Ms. Jimenez had difficulty understanding the officers, she consistently maintained her innocence and repeatedly explained that the child had accidentally choked. Ms. Jimenez, who regularly cared for children in her community, had no criminal record, and there was no history or evidence of abuse in the child’s death. Despite this, she was arrested and charged later that night. Ms. Jimenez’s situation is not uncommon among wrongly convicted women. According to the National Registry of Exonerations, 40% of female exoneres were wrongly convicted of harming children or other loved ones in their care.

    Rosa Jimenez holding her daughter Brenda. (Image: Courtesy of Rosa Jimenez)

    Rosa Jimenez holding her daughter Brenda. (Image: Courtesy of Rosa Jimenez)

    • “I wish we could say that what happened to Rosa
    • was an isolated occurrence,
    • but we have a real, pervasive problem in our country
    • when it comes to how the criminal legal system
    • treats the caregivers of children who are hurt or die.”

    Vanessa Potkin
    Director of Special Litigation and Ms. Jimenez’s attorney

    Rosa Jimenez (left) who was released from prison after serving 17 years for a crime she did not commit is hugged by her attorney Vanessa Potkin. Today, Judge Karen Sage issued a decision in Jimenez's habeas petition granting her relief based on false forensic testimony and inneffective assistance of council at her 2005 trial in the death of a 21-month-old child in her care.

    Rosa Jimenez (left) who was released from prison after serving 17 years for a crime she did not commit is hugged by her attorney Vanessa Potkin.

    The Danger of Faulty Medical Evidence

    At trial, the State relied on faulty medical testimony contending that it was impossible for the toddler to have accidentally choked on the paper towels, which he’d put in his own mouth, and that Ms. Jimenez must have forced them into his mouth. Ms. Jimenez’s appointed attorney never presented any credible expert witnesses to rebut the State’s faulty claims, and she was convicted and sentenced to 99 years in prison.

    After the Innocence Project took on Ms. Jimenez as a client, her lawyers sought out top medical airway experts to evaluate the case evidence. Four top pediatric airways specialists from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and Stanford University Lucile Salter Packard Children’s Hospital independently reviewed the case and issued a consensus report concluding that all the medical evidence indicated that the child accidentally choked, and that Ms. Jimenez had been wrongly convicted of a crime that never occurred.

    Nearly 71% of female exonerees were convicted of crimes that never took place. As with Ms. Jimenez, such “crimes” include incidents later determined to be accidents according to the National Registry of Exonerations.

    A Woefully Inadequate Defense

    At her 2005 trial, Ms. Jimenez’s court-appointed attorney failed to present a meaningful defense in response to the State’s unfounded medical testimony. The principal issue addressed at trial was whether this was an accidental choking. Ms. Jimenez’s trial counsel failed to present qualified experts to counter the State’s false testimony that it was impossible for this to have been an accident. 

    Ms. Jimenez’s attorney called only one expert who was fully discredited on cross-examination, who went on an explosive and harmful rant, and, at one point, yelled expletives at the prosecution. A state court habeas judge in 2010 who first recommended that Ms. Jimenez receive a new trial noted that in his “30 years as a licensed attorney, [and] 20 years in the judiciary, [he had] never seen such unprofessional and biased conduct from any witness, much less a purported expert,” adding that the expert had left Ms. Jimenez’s case in greater jeopardy than before he testified.  

    In September 2018, a federal district court also ruled that Ms. Jimenez’s conviction should be vacated because she was denied her constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel.  That ruling was under appeal by the Texas Attorney General’s office, and, at that time, the Travis County District Attorney’s Office initiated a review of the new medical evidence.  

    “As prosecutors, we have an obligation to ensure the integrity of convictions and to seek justice,“ said Travis County District Attorney José Garza. “In the case against Rosa Jimenez, it is clear that false medical testimony was used to obtain her conviction, and without that testimony under the law, she would not have been convicted. Dismissing Ms. Jimenez’s case is the right thing to do.”Our hearts also continue to break for the Gutierrez family. In this case, our criminal justice system failed them, and it also failed Rosa Jimenez.  Our hope is that by our actions today, by exposing the truth that Ms. Jimenez did not commit the crime for which she was accused, we can give some sense of closure and peace to both families.”

    40%

    of female exoneres were wrongly convicted of harming children or other loved ones in their care.

    71%

    of female exonerees were convicted of crimes that never took place.

    Rosa Jimenez and her son Aiden. (Image: Vanessa Potkin)

    Rosa Jimenez and her son Aiden. (Image: Vanessa Potkin)

    A Family Reunites 

    Ms. Jimenez was seven months pregnant at the time of her arrest. She gave birth to her son Emmanuel in jail while awaiting trial. She held him for a total of five hours before he was taken from her and placed in foster care along with her daughter. During Ms. Jimenez’s incarceration, her children grew into young adults. Although they visited her over the years in prison, Ms. Jimenez was never allowed to hold or make physical contact with them because she had been convicted of harming a child. Upon her release in 2021, Ms. Jimenez reconnected with both Emmanuel (who now goes by Aiden) and Brenda, whose wedding Ms. Jimenez was able to attend shortly thereafter. She now looks forward to becoming a grandparent in August.

    Ms. Jimenez now faces another fight: to find a kidney donor and receive a life saving transplant. “The past 20 years, I have been fighting for my freedom, my innocence, and my children. Now I have a second fight,” said Ms. Jimenez. ”I want to have a long, healthy life with my family, who I waited so long to be with again. I want to see my grandchildren grow up. I have come so far, and I will keep fighting for as long as it takes.”Ms. Jimenez is represented by Vanessa Potkin at the Innocence Project; current and former Foley & Lardner LLP trial lawyers Rachel O’Neil, Sara Brown, Sadie Butler, and Joanne Early and Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

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    The post Rosa Jimenez Is Exonerated of a Crime That Never Took Place After 20 Years appeared first on Innocence Project.

  • Landmine kills 4 children in Myanmar’s Bago region

    Four children died when a landmine exploded as they played in a field in Myanmar’s central Bago region, residents told RFA Thursday.

    They said the mine went off in Phyu township’s In Pin Thar village on Tuesday, killing five-year-olds Poe La Pyae, Wa Than Moe and Nga Pauk, and 12-year-old Aye Chan Maung.

    Six-year-old Htein Lin and 50-year-old Min Naing were injured in the blast.

    “Right at the top of In Pin Thar village, there is a small library,” said a resident who didn’t want to be named for fear of junta reprisals. 

    “The children were hit while they were playing behind the wall where there are bushes and a drinking water pot.”

    The local said junta troops often enter In Pin Thar village which is about 3.2 kilometers (2 miles) from their base in Hpa Yar La Har village

    He said the landmine was planted and left behind when the junta troops were last in the village, but RFA has not been able to confirm this independently.

    RFA’s calls to the Bago region junta spokesperson, Tin Oo, went unanswered Thursday.

    Myanmar’s youngsters continue to be the victims of indiscriminate shelling and landmine blasts.

    On July 22, three people, including a 12-year-old child, were critically injured when a junta shell exploded in a village in Bago region’s Kyauktaga township, according to locals.

    The fighting is also leading to an increasing number of internally displaced people. Nearly 100,000 residents of eastern Bago have fled their homes since the Feb. 1, 2021 coup, according to the United Nations Office for the Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

    Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Burmese.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • “Cobalt Red”: Smartphones & Electric Cars Rely on Toxic Mineral Mined in Congo by Children


    This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • “Cobalt Red”: Smartphones & Electric Cars Rely on Toxic Mineral Mined in Congo by Children

    Seg2 cobalt mines congo 2

    The Democratic Republic of the Congo produces nearly three-quarters of the world’s cobalt, an essential component in rechargeable batteries powering laptops, smartphones and electric vehicles. But those who dig up the valuable mineral often work in horrific and dangerous conditions, says Siddharth Kara, an international expert on modern-day slavery and author of Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives. In an in-depth interview, he says the major technology companies that rely on this cobalt from DRC to make their products are turning a blind eye to the human toll and falsely claiming their supply chains are free from abuse, including widespread child labor. “The public health catastrophe on top of the human rights violence on top of the environmental destruction is unlike anything we’ve ever seen in the modern context,” says Kara. “The fact that it is linked to companies worth trillions and that our lives depend on this enormous violence has to be dealt with.”


    This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • 2023 University of Arkansas Law Review symposium on “Children at Work.”

    The University of Arkansas Law Review invites authors to submit proposals for papers for its 2023 symposium on “Children at Work.” In recent months, the U.S. Department of Labor has reported a substantial increase in serious child labor law violations….

    This post was originally published on Human Rights at Home Blog.

  • Ukraine’s Stolen Children | VICE on Showtime Season 4 #shorts

    This content originally appeared on VICE News and was authored by VICE News.

  • GOP Is Trying to Slash Food Aid to Kids Who Are Already Struggling to Access It

    A crucial form of federal nutritional assistance failed to reach the majority of eligible young children in recent years, even as conservative lawmakers have tried to smear public benefits recipients and further curtail their access to food aid. A study published last month by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) found that in 2018, 53.4 percent of kids between the ages of 1 and 4 weren’t…

    Source

  • ‘These Bills Will Make Children Less Safe, Not More Safe’ – CounterSpin interview with Evan Greer on Kids Online Safety Act

     

    Janine Jackson interviewed Fight for the Future’s Evan Greer about the Kids Online Safety Act for the June 9, 2023, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript.

          CounterSpin230609Greer.mp3

     

    Janine Jackson: Louisiana just banned abortion at six weeks, before many people even know they’re pregnant, while also saying 16-year-old girls are mature enough to marry.

    PBS: Some lawmakers propose loosening child labor laws to fill worker shortage

    PBS NewsHour (5/25/23)

    Arkansas says there’s no need for employers to check the age of workers they hire. As one state legislator put it, “There’s no reason why anyone should get the government’s permission to get a job.”

    And Wisconsin says 14-year-olds, sure, can serve alcohol. Iowa says they can shift loads in freezers and meat coolers.

    Simultaneously and in the same country, we have a raft of legislation saying that young people should not be in charge of what they look at online. Bone saws: cool. TikTok: bad.

    The way this country thinks about young people is odd, you could say. “Incoherent” would be another word.

    When it comes to the online stuff, there seem to be some good intentions at work. Anyone who’s been on the internet can see how it can be manipulative and creepy. But are laws like the Kids Online Safety Act the appropriate way to address those concerns?

    We’ll talk about that now with Evan Greer, director of the group Fight for the Future. She joins us now by phone. Welcome back to CounterSpin, Evan Greer.

    Evan Greer: Thanks so much for having me. Always happy to chat.

    Cyberscoop: Fight over Kids Online Safety Act heats up as bill gains support in Congress

    Cyberscoop (5/2/23)

    JJ: Let’s start specifically with KOSA, with the Kids Online Safety Act, because it’s a real piece of legislation, and there are things that you and other folks are not disputing, that big tech companies do have practices that are bad for kids, and especially bad for some vulnerable kids.

    But the method of addressing those concerns is the question. What would KOSA do that people may not understand, in terms of the impact on, ostensibly, those young people we’re told that they care about?

    EG: Yeah, and I think it’s so important that we do start from the acknowledgement that big tech companies are doing harm to our kids, because it’s just not acceptable to pretend otherwise.

    There is significant evidence to suggest that these very large corporations are engaging in business practices that are fundamentally incompatible with human rights, with democracy, but also with what we know young people, and really everyone, needs, which is access to online information and community, rather than having their data harvested and information shoved down their throat in a way that enriches companies rather than empowering young people and adults.

    And so when we look at this problem, I think it is important that we start there, because there is a real problem, and the folks pushing this legislation often like to characterize those of us that oppose it as big tech shills or whatever.

    It’s hard for me not to laugh at that, given that I’ve dedicated the better part of my adult life to confronting these big tech companies and their surveillance-capitalist business model, and working to dismantle it.

    But I think it’s important that we say very clearly that we oppose these bills, not because we think that they are an inappropriate trade off between human rights and children’s safety. We oppose these bills because they will make children less safe, not more safe.

    And it’s so important that we make that clear, because we know from history that politicians love to put in the wrapping paper of protecting children any type of legislation or regulation that they would like to advance and avoid political opposition to.

    It is, of course, very difficult for any elected official to speak out against or vote against a bill called the Kids Online Safety Act, regardless of whether that bill actually makes kids safer online or not. And so what I’m here to explain a bit is why this legislation will actually make kids less safe.

    It’s important to understand a few things. So one is that KOSA is not just a bill that focuses on privacy or ending the collection of children’s data. It’s a bill that gives the government control over what content platforms can recommend to which users.

    Conversation: What is surveillance capitalism and how does it shape our economy?

    Conversation (6/24/19)

    And this is, again, kind of well-intentioned, trying to address a real problem, which is that because platforms like Instagram and YouTube employ this surveillance-advertising and surveillance-capitalist business model, they have a huge incentive to algorithmically recommend content in a way that’s maximized for engagement, rather than in a way that is curated or attempting to promote helpful content.

    Their algorithms are designed to make them money. And so because of that, we know that platforms often algorithmically recommend all kinds of content, including content that can be incredibly harmful.

    That’s the legitimate problem that this bill is trying to solve, but, unfortunately, it would actually make that problem worse.

    And the way it would do that is it creates what’s called a broad duty of care that requires platforms to design their algorithmic recommendation systems in a way that has the best interest of children in mind.

    And it specifies what they mean by that, in terms of tying it to specific mental health outcomes, like eating disorders or substance abuse or anxiety or depression, and basically says that platforms should not be recommending content that causes those types of disorders.

    Vanity Fair: 22 Republican States Sue Biden Admin for the Right to Discriminate Against LGBTQ+ School Kids

    Vanity Fair (7/28/22)

    Now, if you’re sticking with me, all of that sounds perfectly reasonable. Why wouldn’t we want to do that? The problem is that the bill gives the authority to determine and enforce that to state attorneys general.

    And if you’ve been paying attention at all to what’s happening in the states right now, you would know that state attorneys general across the country, in red states particularly, are actively arguing, right now today, that simply encountering LGBTQ people makes kids depressed, causes them to be suicidal, gives them mental health disorders.

    They are arguing that providing young people with gender-affirming care that’s medically recommended, and where there is medical consensus, is a form of child abuse.

    And so while this bill sounds perfectly reasonable on its face, it utterly fails to recognize the political moment that we’re in, and rather than making kids safer, what it would do is empower the most bigoted attorneys general law enforcement officers in the country to dictate what content young people can see in their feed.

    And that would lead to widespread suppression, not just of LGBTQ content, or content related to perhaps abortion and reproductive health, but really suppression of important but controversial topics across the board.

    So, for example, the bill’s backers envision a world where this bill leads to less promotion of content that promotes eating disorders.

    In reality, the way that this bill would work, it would just suppress all discussion of eating disorders among young people, because at scale, a platform like YouTube or Instagram is not going to be able to make a meaningful determination between, for example, a video that’s harmful in promoting eating disorders, or a video where a young person is just speaking about their experience with an eating disorder, and how they sought out help and support, and how other young people can do it too.

    In practice, these platforms are simply going to use AI, as they’ve already been doing, more aggressively to filter content. That’s the only way that they could meaningfully comply with a bill like KOSA.

    And what we’ll see is exactly what we saw with SESTA/FOSTA, which was the last major change to Section 230, a very similar bill that was intended to address a real problem, online sex trafficking, that actually made it harder for law enforcement to prosecute actual cases of sex trafficking while having a detrimental effect for consensual sex workers, who effectively had online spaces that they used to keep themselves safe, to screen clients, to find work in ways that were safer for them, shut down almost overnight, because of this misguided legislation that was supposed to make them safer.

    Evan Greer

    Evan Greer: “This is cutting young people off from life-saving information and online community, rather than giving them what they need, which is resources, support, housing, healthcare.”

    And so we’re now in a moment where we could actually see the same happen, not just for content related to sex and sexuality, but for an enormous range of incredibly important content that our young people actually need access to.

    This is cutting young people off from life-saving information and online community, rather than giving them what they need, which is resources, support, housing, healthcare. Those are the types of things that we know prevent things like child exploitation.

    But unfortunately, lawmakers seem more interested in trampling the First Amendment, and putting the government in charge of what content can be recommended, than in addressing those material conditions that we actually have evidence to suggest, if we could address them, would reduce the types of harms that lawmakers say they’re trying to reduce.

    JJ: Thank you. And I just wanted to say, I’m getting Reefer Madness vibes, and a conflation of correlation and causality; and I see in a lot of the talk around this, people pointing to research: social media use drives mental illness. 

    So I just wanted ask you, briefly, there is research, but what does the research actually say or not say on these questions?

    EG: It’s a great question, and there’s been some news on this fairly recently. There was a report out from the surgeon general of the United States a couple weeks ago, and it is interesting because, as you said, there is research, and what the research says is basically: It’s complicated. But unfortunately, our mainstream news outlets and politicians giving speeches don’t do very well with complicated.

    CNN: Social media presents ‘profound risk of harm’ for kids, surgeon general says, calling attention to lack of research

    CNN (5/24/23)

    And so what you saw is a lot of headlines that basically said, social media is bad for kids, and the research certainly backs that up to a certain extent. There is significant and growing evidence to suggest that, again, these types of predatory design practices that companies put into place, things like autoplay, where you just play a video and then the next one plays, or infinite scroll, where you can just keep scrolling through TikToks forever and ever, and suddenly an hour has passed, and you’re like, “What am I doing with my life?”

    There is significant evidence that those types of design choices do have negative mental health effects, for young people and adults, in that they can lead to addictive behaviors, to anxiety, etc.

    There’s also evidence in that report, that was largely ignored by a lot of the coverage of it, that showed that for some groups of young people, including LGBTQ young people, there’s actually significant evidence to suggest that access to social media improves their mental health.

    And it’s not that hard to understand why. Anyone who knows a queer or trans young person knows online spaces can provide a safe haven, can provide a place to access community or resources or information, especially for young people who perhaps have unsupportive family members, or live in an area where they don’t have access to in-person community in a safe way. This can be a lifeline.

    And so, again, there is research out there, and it is important that we build our regulatory and legislative responses on top of actual evidence, rather than conjecture and hyperbole.

    But, again, I think what’s important here is that we embrace the both/and, and recognize that this is not about saying social media is totally fine as it is, and leave these companies alone, and we can all live in a cyber-libertarian paradise.

    That’s not the world we’re living in. These companies are big, they are greedy, they are engaging in business practices that are doing harm, and they should be regulated.

    But what we need to focus on is regulating the surveillance-capitalist business model that’s at the root of their harm, rather than attempting to regulate the speech of young people, suppress their ability to express themselves, and take away life-saving resources that they need in order to thrive and succeed in this deeply unjust and messed-up world that we are handing to them.

    JJ: All right then. We’ve been speaking with Evan Greer. She’s director of Fight for the Future. They’re online at FightForTheFuture.org. Evan Greer, thank you so much for joining us this week on CounterSpin.

    EG: Anytime. Thanks for having me.

    The post ‘These Bills Will Make Children Less Safe, Not More Safe’ appeared first on FAIR.


    This content originally appeared on FAIR and was authored by Janine Jackson.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Gillian Anderson and Stanley Tucci back calls to rescue British families in Syria

    Estimated 60 children among those trapped in detention camps since Islamic State collapse

    A group of celebrities including Olivia Colman, Stephen Fry and Gillian Anderson have called on ministers to rescue and bring home British families trapped in detention camps in north-east Syria.

    The stars, along with various NGOs including War Child UK and Human Rights Watch, the Tory peer Sayeeda Warsi and several national security experts, have signed an open letter to the UK government appealing for the rescue of approximately 25 British families, including an estimated 60 children most of whom are under 10 years old, who are languishing in the camps.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • “If you Love your Children you need to do Something before it’s too Late” | Just Stop Oil


    This content originally appeared on Just Stop Oil and was authored by Just Stop Oil.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • We Still Haven’t Learned the True Price of War



    The Russian aggression against Ukraine shows that we have not learned the lessons of history and are paying a high price for it. Future generations will also pay a significant price for our generation’s sins: fractured and destroyed families; poor social and health services; and a polluted environment. Children with mental and developmental problems are the clearest examples of the intergenerational effects of war.

    The tremendous stress of war increases the chances of interpersonal violence, particularly against women. When the victims of violence are pregnant women, the intergenerational effect manifests as the increase of still births and premature births among them. Mothers who were the children of Holocaust survivors were shown to have higher levels of psychological stress and less positive parenting skills. During the siege of Sarajevo, perinatal mortality and morbidity almost doubled, and there was a significant increase in the number of children born with malformations.

    By analyzing the number of people killed indirectly by the “War on Terror” in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen, a report by the Costs of War Project at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs estimates that the war in those countries resulted in 3.6 to 3.7 million indirect deaths, while the total death toll in those same countries could reach at least 4.5 to 4.6 million, and counting.

    “Wars often kill far more people indirectly than in direct combat, particularly young children.”

    Stephanie Savell, the Costs of War’s co-director and author of the report states, “wars often kill far more people indirectly than in direct combat, particularly young children.” Almost all the victims, says Savell, are from the most impoverished and marginalized populations. Most indirect war deaths are due to malnutrition, pregnancy, and birth-related problems, and infectious and chronic diseases.

    According to the report, more than 7.6 million children under five in post-9/11 war zones are suffering from acute malnutrition. Malnutrition has serious long-time effects on children’s health. Among those effects are increased vulnerability to diseases, developmental delays, stunted growth, and even blindness, reports UNICEF. Those children affected with malnutrition are also prevented from achieving success in school or having meaningful work as adults.

    Although using doctors, patients, and civilians as a human shield is a war crime, they are frequent targets of uncontrolled violence. Now in Sudan, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reports that their staff in multiple locations have been repeatedly confronted by fighters entering health facilities and stealing medicines, supplies, and vehicles. It is estimated that 70% of health facilities in areas in conflict are out of service, and 30 among them are targets of attacks.

    In U.N.-sponsored health missions, I was able to see the consequences of war in countries such as Mozambique, Malawi, Angola, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, a sobering experience that left painful memories. The sadness and feeling of helplessness I saw in the eyes of women and children still haunt me.

    Repeated violence has numbed us to its consequences, our senses overwhelmed by cruelty. Faced with the tragic complexity of life, we are unable to savor its sweet moments of care and tenderness. Eager to escape brutal reality, we watch the latest TV news and then mindlessly change the channel to a baking show.

    But does war only produce negative effects? What we see now in Ukraine is that the Russian aggression against people of all ages—both soldiers and civilians—has produced millions of displaced people, but it has also given rise to the solidarity of Ukraine’s neighbors, who at high personal and social cost have provided refuge to tens of thousands of families fleeing the war.

    Ukrainian women of all ages have also taken up arms to defend their country from Russian aggression. Currently, more than 60,000 Ukrainian women serve in the military, while tens of thousands more are helping their country as journalists, paramedics, teachers, and politicians. At the same time they continue being the center of support for their families. Because men are on the front lines, women must keep hospitals, schools and even villages themselves in operation, often without basic supplies.

    Although these actions are an example of the best of the human spirit, they do not erase the harrowing cruelty of war.

    This post was originally published on Common Dreams.

  • Settlers Get Away With Terrorizing Palestinian Children Under Israeli Apartheid

    Palestinian children living in the occupied West Bank cannot walk to school without a military escort, assuming their classrooms have not been demolished or confiscated by Israelis in the first place. Palestinian kids face constant attacks and harassment from violent Israeli “settlers” pushing to colonize the West Bank with illegal settlements, if not wipe Palestine off the map altogether.

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • UN experts warn UK government over trafficking risk faced by asylum seeker children

    OHCHR express concern over fate of missing, unaccompanied children and breach of international law

    UN experts have warned the UK government that its treatment of unaccompanied asylum seeker children is increasing the risk they could be trafficked and is breaching international law.

    A statement from the UN office of the high commissioner for human rights (OHCHR) expressed concern about the fate of the missing children and urged the UK government to do more to protect them.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • North Dakota Republicans Vote to Boost Own Meals After Nixing Free School Meals

    Last week, Republicans in the North Dakota Senate killed a bill that would have expanded a program to provide children living close to the federal poverty line access to meals at school for free. The vote was met with outcry over its cruelty, as one Senate Republican asked, “Is [children going hungry] the problem of the state of North Dakota?” This week, 13 of the Republicans who voted to kill the…

    Source

  • AOC Calls Biden Reversal on Protections for Trans Athletes a ‘Disgrace’



    Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Thursday was among the progressives denouncing the Biden administration’s newly proposed rules for transgender student athletes, which critics said would open the door to discrimination at all age levels despite the U.S. Department of Education’s statement that “categorically” banning trans athletes from teams that align with their gender identity would be illegal under the rule.

    Elementary age students would generally be permitted to play on sports teams according to their gender identity rather than their sex assigned at birth, but universities and K-12 schools would be given “flexibility to develop team eligibility criteria that serve important educational objectives, such as ensuring fairness in competition or preventing sports-related injury,” according to the Education Department.

    “Considerations may be different for competitive high school and college teams,” which would be given discretion to limit participation of transgender students, the department said.

    Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called the proposed policy, a reversal of an executive order President Joe Biden signed on his first day in office in 2021, “indefensible and embarrassing,” and urged the administration to promptly “walk this back.”

    Biden’s earlier order said that under the U.S. Constitution children “should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports,” noting that Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation at schools that receive federal funding.

    “To put it mildly, this is extraordinarily disappointing and a total reversal from a position the Biden administration has taken since Day One,” said Slate journalist Mark Joseph Stern.

    Some advocacy groups applauded the administration for prohibiting blanket bans on transgender athletes, with GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) saying the rule “affirms the importance of giving transgender students the chance to play sports.”

    “The proposed rule prohibits the kind of categorical bans adopted in too many states that are hurting transgender students and that send a dangerous message to all students,” said Jennifer Levi, senior director of transgender and queer rights at GLAD.

    But Lambda Legal, which represented a transgender girl who the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday should be permitted to play on her school’s girls’ cross country and track team for the time being, raised concerns that the so-called “flexibility” given to schools under the law would not “properly eliminate the discrimination that transgender students experience due to the pervasive bias and ignorance about who they are.”

    “These students must have full and equal chances to participate because participation in athletics provides many long-term benefits for young people, including important health benefits, and chances to develop leadership skills, discipline, and self-confidence,” said Sasha Buchert, senior attorney at Lambda Legal. “Given the importance of the opportunity to participate in athletics to students’ educational experience, we look forward to submitting comments and working with the administration to further remove those remaining bigotry-based barriers to full and equal participation by transgender youth.”

    Buchert told The New York Times that anti-transgender lawmakers “would absolutely seek to apply this across the board… whether we are talking about a 6-year-old playing soccer or someone playing varsity volleyball”—a fear that Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz confirmed as he told the newspaper, “This won’t fly in Florida. We will never allow boys to play in girls’ sports.”

    Emma Grasso Levine, Title IX policy and program manager for the Know Your IX project at Advocates for Youth, called on the Biden administration to ensure that, following a 30-day public comment period, “the final version of this Title IX regulation goes farther to eliminate discriminatory practices in schools.”

    “In alignment with Title IX’s promise, it is the responsibility of the Biden administration to eliminate all transphobic, discriminatory barriers that are currently taking root in school policies,” said Levine.

    Alejandra Caraballo of the Harvard Law Cyberlaw Clinic said the proposed policy “is worse than [the Biden administration] doing nothing” about transgender sports bans.

    The policy was proposed as at least 20 states have passed laws barring transgender students from playing on sports teams according to their gender identity, and right-wing lawmakers across the nation are seeking to bar transgender youths and adults from accessing gender-affirming healthcare, which medical experts say significantly reduces depression and suicidal ideation in transgender people.

    This post was originally published on Common Dreams.

  • UN Rapporteur on Iran comes with devastating assessment

    Patrick Wintour, Diplomatic editor of the Guardian, reported on Monday 20 March 2023 that the he UN rapporteur on Iran, Javaid Rehman, has said the scale and gravity of Iran’s violations of human rights amount to a crime against humanity. Javaid Rehman, a special rapporteur on Iran, told the United Nations Human Rights Council on Monday the country was experiencing the most serious violations in four decades.

    Rehman warned Iran was experiencing the most serious violations in four decades. He also claimed the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman, in September 2022 resulted from beatings by the “morality police”. Iran has said she died from a pre-existing neurological disorder, but Rahman said reliable medical sources pointed to state culpability. He said Iran had refused to conduct an impartial or transparent inquiry into her death, including the allegations that she was beaten up and tortured.

    “The scale and gravity of the violations committed by Iranian authorities, especially since the death of Ms Amini, points to the possible commission of international crimes, notably the crimes against humanity of murder, imprisonment, enforced disappearances, torture, rape and sexual violence, and persecution,” he said.

    Drawing on evidence, including eyewitness testimony and comments from reliable medical sources, the report said it was clear she had died on 16 September “as a result of beatings by the state “morality police”.

    “I would like to stress that her death was not an isolated event but the latest in a long series of extreme violence against women and girls committed by the Iranian authorities,” Rehman said. He said “the responsibility of top senior officials in instigating this violence can … not be ignored.”

    The UN human rights council decided last November – despite protests from Beijing and Tehran itself – to launch a fact-finding mission into the repression of peaceful demonstrators after protests erupted around Iran. A fact-finding team has been appointed but has been denied access to Iran. See: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2022/11/23/un-human-rights-council-holds-special-session-on-iran-on-24-november/

    “Protesters including children were beaten to death,” Rehman said, adding that “at least 527 people, including 71 children were killed, and hundreds of protesters severely injured.”He also said dozens of protesters “have lost their eyes because of direct shots to the head”, while Iranian doctors had reported that women and girls participating in the demonstrations “were targeted with shotgun fire to their faces, breasts and genitals”.

    He said: “Children released have described sexual abuses, threats of rape, floggings, administration of electric shocks and how their heads were maintained underwater, how they were suspended from their arms or from scarves wrapped around their necks.”

    The EU says it has now imposed sanctions on 204 individuals and 34 entities in six waves of sanctions. The UK announced it was putting sanctions on five members of the board of directors of the IRGC Co-operative Foundation. This organisation funnels money into the Iranian regime’s repression, the UK Foreign Office said.

    He voiced outrage at the executions of at least four people associated with the protests “after arbitrary, summary, and sham trials marred by torture allegations”. He added: “These summary executions are the symbols of a state ready to use all means to instil fear and quash protests,” pointing out that at least 17 other protesters have so far been sentenced to death and more than 100 others face charges that carry the death penalty.

    See also: //humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/03/13/women-human-rights-defenders-from-iran-and-pakistan-explain-why-women-resisting-are-a-force-to-be-reckoned-with/

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/20/iran-rights-violations-crime-against-humanity-un-expert

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • Calls Mount for US to Provide Free School Meals to All Children



    Minnesota last week became just the fourth U.S. state to guarantee universal free school meals, triggering a fresh wave of demands and arguments for a similar federal policy to feed kids.

    “Universal school meals is now law in Minnesota!” Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, who represents the state, tweeted Monday. “Now, we need to pass our Universal School Meals Program Act to guarantee free school meals to every child across the country.”

    Omar’s proposal, spearheaded in the upper chamber by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), “would permanently provide free breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack to all school children regardless of income, eliminate school meal debt, and strengthen local economies by incentivizing local food procurement,” the lawmakers’ offices explained in 2021.

    Congressional Republicans last year blocked the continuation of a Covid-19 policy enabling public schools to provide free breakfast and lunch to all 50 million children, and now, many families face rising debt over childrens’ cafeteria charges.

    “The school bus service doesn’t charge fares. Neither should the school lunch service.”

    Matt Bruenig, founder of the People’s Policy Project, highlighted Monday that while children who attend public schools generally have not only free education but also free access to bathrooms, textbooks, computer equipment, playgrounds, gyms, and sports gear, “around the middle of each school day, the free schooling service is briefly suspended for lunch.”

    “How much each kid is charged is based on their family income except that, if a kid lives in a school or school district where 40% or more of the kids are eligible for free lunch, then they are also eligible for free lunch even if their family income would otherwise be too high,” he detailed. “Before Covid, in 2019, 68.1% of the kids were charged $0, 5.8% were charged $0.40, and 26.1% were charged the full $4.33… The total cost of the 4.9 billion meals is around $21 billion per year. In 2019, user fees covered $5.6 billion of this cost.”

    Bruenig—whose own child has access to free school meals because of the community eligibility program—continued:

    The approximately $5.6 billion of school lunch fees collected in 2019 were equal to 0.7% of the total cost of K-12 schooling. In order to collect these fees, each school district has to set up a school lunch payments system, often by contracting with third-party providers like Global Payments. They also have to set up a system for dealing with kids who are not enrolled in the free lunch program but who show up to school with no money in their school lunch account or in their pockets. In this scenario, schools will either have to make the kid go without lunch, give them a free lunch for the day (but not too many times), or give them a lunch while assigning their lunch account a debt.

    Eligibility for the $0 and $0.40 lunches is based on income, but this does not mean that everyone with an eligible income successfully signs up for the program. As with all means-tested programs, the application of the means test not only excludes people with ineligible incomes, but also people with eligible incomes who fail to successfully navigate the red tape of the welfare bureaucracy.

    The think tank leader tore into arguments against universal free meals for kids, declaring that “hiving off a tiny part of the public school bundle and charging a means-tested fee for it is extremely stupid.”

    Bruenig pointed out that socializing the cost of child benefits like school meals helps “equalize the conditions of similarly-situated families with different numbers of children” and “smooths incomes across the lifecycle by ensuring that, when people have kids, their household financial situation remains mostly the same.”

    “Indeed, this is actually the case for the welfare state as whole, not just child benefits,” the expert emphasized, explaining that like older adults and those with disabilities, children cannot and should not work, which “makes it impossible to receive personal labor income, meaning that some other non-labor income system is required.”

    Conservative opponents of free school lunches often claim that “fees serve an important pedagogical function in society to get people to understand personal responsibility” and because they “are means-tested, they serve an important income-redistributive function in society,” he noted. “Both arguments are hard to take seriously.”

    Pushing back against the first claim, Bruenig stressed that right-wingers don’t apply it to other aspects of free schooling such as bus services. He also wrote that the means-testing claim “is both untrue and at odds with their general attitudes on, not just redistribution, but on how child benefit programs specifically should be structured.”

    A tax for everyone with a certain income intended to make up the $5.6 billion in school meal fees, he argued, “would have a larger base and thus represent a smaller share of the income of each person taxed and such a tax would smooth incomes over time,” while also eliminating means-testing—which would allow schools to feed all kids and ditch costly payment systems.

    As Nora De La Cour reported Sunday for Jacobin: “The fight for school meals traces its roots all the way back to maternalist Progressive Era efforts to shield children and workers from the ravages of unregulated capitalism. In her book The Labor of Lunch: Why We Need Real Food and Real Jobs in American Public Schools, Jennifer Gaddis describes how early school lunch crusaders envisioned meal programs that would be integral to schools’ educational missions, immersing students in hands-on learning about nutrition, gardening, food preparation, and home economics. Staffed by duly compensated professionals, these programs would collectivize and elevate care work, making it possible for mothers of all economic classes to efficiently nourish their young.”

    Now, families who experienced the positive impact of the pandemic-era program want more from the federal government.

    “When schools adopt universal meals through community eligibility or another program, we see improvements in students’ academic performance, behavior, attendance, and psychosocial functioning,” wrote De La Cour, whose reporting also includes parent and cafeteria worker perspectives. “Above all, the implementation of universal meals causes meal participation to shoot up, demonstrating that the need far exceeds the number of kids who are able to get certified.”

    Crystal FitzSimons, director of school-based programs at the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), told Jacobin, “There is a feeling that we can’t go back.”

    This post was originally published on Common Dreams.

  • ‘Beautiful’: Minnesota Becomes 4th State to Provide Free School Meals to All Kids



    Surrounded by students, teachers, and advocates, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Friday afternoon signed into law a bill to provide breakfast and lunch at no cost to all of the state’s roughly 820,000 K-12 pupils regardless of their household income.

    The move to make Minnesota the fourth U.S. state to guarantee universal free school meals—joining California, Maine, and Colorado—elicited praise from progressives.

    “Beautiful,” tweeted Stephanie Kelton, a professor of economics and public policy at Stony Brook University.

    “No child should go hungry for any reason, period.”

    UC-Berkeley professor and former U.S. labor secretary Robert Reich wrote on social media: “Let this serve as a reminder that poverty is a policy choice. In the richest country in the world, it is absolutely inexcusable that millions of our children go to school hungry because they are living in poverty.”

    An estimated 1 in 6 children in Minnesota don’t get enough to eat on a regular basis. But 1 in 4 food-insecure kids live in households that don’t qualify for the federal free and reduced meal program, leading to “mounting school lunch debts in the tens of thousands of dollars,” Minnesota Public Radio reported.

    Tens of thousands of children are set to benefit from Minnesota’s new law, which could be operational as early as summer school in July. Some of them were there to thank Walz at the signing ceremony, where the sense of elation was palpable.

    “As a former teacher, I know that providing free breakfast and lunch for our students is one of the best investments we can make to lower costs, support Minnesota’s working families, and care for our young learners and the future of our state,” Walz said. “This bill puts us one step closer to making Minnesota the best state for kids to grow up, and I am grateful to all of the legislators and advocates for making it happen.”

    The Minnesota House—led by the Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party, the state’s Democratic affiliate—first passed the bill in February in a 70-58 party-line vote. The state Senate—where the DFL holds just a single-seat advantage—approved it on Tuesday by a 38-26 margin. The state House rubber-stamped an amended version of the bill on Thursday.

    In a now-viral clip from the state Senate’s debate over the bill earlier this week. Sen. Steve Drazkowski (R-20) questioned whether hunger is really a problem in Minnesota—even as the state’s food banks reported a record surge in visits last year, months before federal lawmakers slashed pandemic-era Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

    “I have yet to meet a person in Minnesota that is hungry,” Drazkowski said before voting against the bill. “I have yet to meet a person in Minnesota that says they don’t have access to enough food to eat.”

    During Friday’s signing ceremony, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (DFL) said, “To our decision-makers who believe they have never met someone who is experiencing or has experienced hunger: Hi, my name is Peggy Flanagan, and I was 1 in 6 of those Minnesota children who experienced hunger.”

    “By providing free breakfast and lunch to all of our students, we are removing barriers and removing stigma from the lunch room,” said Flanagan. “We are helping family pocketbooks, especially for those 1 in 4 who don’t qualify for financial assistance with school meals. We are leading with our values that no child should go hungry for any reason, period.”

    “This is an investment in the well-being of our children, as well as an investment in their academic success,” Flanagan added, calling the “generation-changing” bill “the most important thing” she’s ever worked on in her life.

    “By providing free breakfast and lunch to all of our students, we are removing barriers and removing stigma from the lunch room… This is an investment in the well-being of our children, as well as an investment in their academic success.”

    As Minnesota Reformer reported: “The majority of Minnesota schools receive federal funding from the National School Lunch Program, which reimburses schools for each meal served, though it doesn’t cover the cost of the entire meal. Under the new law, schools are prohibited from charging students for the remaining cost, and the state will foot the rest of the bill—about $200 million annually.”

    MPR noted that “the legislation is similar to a program that was introduced during the pandemic to provide meals for all students, but was discontinued at the end of last year.”

    Last month, The Star Tribune editorial board opined that providing free breakfast and lunch to all of Minnesota’s students, including affluent ones, is “excessive.”

    Pushing back against this argument for means-testing, Darcy Stueber—director of Nutrition Services for Mankato Area Public Schools and public policy chair of the Minnesota School Nutrition Association—asserted that meals should be guaranteed to all kids at no cost, just like other basic learning necessities.

    “We don’t charge for Chromebooks and desks and things like that,” she told MPR. “It’s a part of their day and they’re there for so many hours. It just completes that whole learning experience for the child.”

    Minnesota Rep. Sydney Jordan (DFL-60A), the bill’s lead author, made the same point to counter GOP lawmakers’ complaints following the initial passage of the legislation.

    “We give every kid in our school a desk,” Jordan said last month. “There are lots of kids out there that can afford to buy a desk, but they get a desk because they go to school.”

    Walz, for his part, stressed Friday that his administration is “just getting started” when it comes to boosting education funding.

    “The big stuff,” said the governor, “is still coming.”

    This post was originally published on Common Dreams.