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  • ICC Issues Arrest Warrant for Putin Over Alleged War Crimes in Ukraine



    The International Criminal Court on Friday issued international arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova for allegedly abducting Ukrainian children and transporting them to Russia.

    The Hague-based ICC said that there are “reasonable grounds to believe” that Putin and Lvova-Belova bear “individual criminal responsibility” for “the war crime of unlawful deportation” of Ukrainian children “from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.”

    ICC President Judge Piotr Hofmański said in a video statement announcing the warrant that “it is forbidden by international law for occupying powers to transfer civilians from the territory they live in to other territories. Children enjoy special protection under the Geneva Convention.”

    Ukrainian officials accuse Russian forces of taking around 14,000 children from Ukraine to Russia since Putin launched the invasion in February 2022.

    “They change their citizenship, give them up for adoption under guardianship, commit sexual violence and other crimes,” Daria Herasymchuk, the commissioner for children’s rights and rehabilitation for Ukraine, told Euronews.

    According to an Associated Press investigation published last month:

    Russian law prohibits the adoption of foreign children without consent of the home country, which Ukraine has not given. But in May, Putin signed a decree making it easier for Russia to adopt and give citizenship to Ukrainian children without parental care—and harder for Ukraine and surviving relatives to win them back.

    Russia also has prepared a register of suitable Russian families for Ukrainian children, and pays them for each child who gets citizenship—up to $1,000 for those with disabilities. It holds summer camps for Ukrainian orphans, offers “patriotic education” classes, and even runs a hotline to pair Russian families with children from Donbas.

    Lvova-Belova has defended the deportations as “saving” lost or orphaned children.

    The ICC warrants came one day after the United Nations’ Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine published a report detailing Russian war crimes against Ukrainians including “willful killings, attacks on civilians, unlawful confinement, torture, rape, and forced transfers and deportations of children.”

    This post was originally published on Common Dreams.

  • Trinidad and Tobago is failing children locked in Syrian camps – it must bring them home | Kenneth Mohammed

    During Covid, the Caribbean republic shut its borders, stranding citizens overseas; now it has left children vulnerable to illness, death and IS recruitment

    When is it acceptable for a government to lock its citizens out of their country, to leave them stranded overseas, trampling the constitutional and human rights of those who pay their salaries? During a pandemic perhaps?

    When is it acceptable to disown nationals, especially children who are victims of misguided decisions made by their brainwashed parents? When their parents left to join Islamic State perhaps?

    Continue reading…

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

  • Russia is accused of taking Ukrainian children, according to Human Rights Watch

    Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had “devastating” consequences for children in residential institutions. Thousands have been transferred to occupied territories or to Russia, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Monday 13 March.

    HRW’s Bill Van Esveld stated:

    This brutal war has starkly shown the need to end the perils faced by children who were institutionalised.

    Returning children who were illegally taken by Russian forces should be an international priority.

    At least several thousand children have been transferred to Russia or occupied territories, the report said. HRW called for a “concerted international effort” to return forcibly deported children and urged Russia to publish information on their whereabouts.

    Ukraine and human rights groups have spoke out against the forced transfer of thousands of children since the war began, with Russian families said to be fostering Ukrainian children.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week referred to the “kidnapping, forced adoption and re-education of Ukrainian children committed by Russia”, calling this “a war crime and a crime against humanity”.

    In May 2022, Russia’s parliament changed its law, allowing authorities to change Ukrainian children’s nationality to Russian, and in turn the adoption of children by Russian families in Russia.

    Ukraine’s institutionalised children

    HRW said the war highlighted the urgent need for reform in Ukraine, which had over 105,000 children in institutions before the war: the largest number in Europe after Russia. Nearly half were children with disabilities.

    Since 2005, the Ukrainian government has pledged to deinstitutionalise its children. It said that it would instead place them in family settings, but little was done. In fact, the number of children’s institutions actually grew. In 2015, there were 663 institutions, and this figure rose to 727 in 2022. 100 of those institutions – which housed over 32,000 children before 2022 – are now in territories under Russian occupation.

    Many more children will be left orphaned or separated from their parents as a result of the war. HRW stated:

    Children are being newly institutionalised, including children whose parents were killed and wounded, as well as whose parents experienced mental health crises due to the war.

    HRW’s 55-page report also highlighted other problems. These include mental trauma to the displaced children, and neglect and inadequate care due to lack of caregivers. The report stated:

    Many children in institutions had to shelter for weeks from bombardments in basements without electricity or running water, including children with disabilities.

    A group of children from an institution in Mariupol did not speak for four days after they were evacuated to Lviv, in March 2022.

    Task force

    HRW argues that a task force is needed to track down missing children. It said:

    The UN should establish an inter-agency task force dedicated to identifying the whereabouts and ensuring the welfare and return of unaccompanied and separated children who were forcibly transferred within Ukraine or deported to Russia, including children who were illegally adopted and naturalised.

    Ukraine’s children are just some of more than 400 million who live in countries where there is violent conflict. For as long as there is war, children will always be vulnerable to exploitation and trafficking. As nation states continue to use war to pursue power, children will always be the most strongly impacted victims.

    Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse

    Featured image via Unicef / Creative Commons 2.0, resized to 770×403

    By The Canary

  • UN children’s agency ‘deeply concerned’ by planned UK asylum law

    .The United Nations’ children’s agency on Friday joined critics of a proposed British law aimed at stopping migrants arriving by small boats, saying it was “deeply concerned” about its impact on minors.

    Jon Sparkes, head of United Nations Children’s Fund in the UK, said the bill could deny children and families the chance to seek safety:

    For almost all children fleeing conflict and persecution there is no safe and legal route into the UK.

    The bill was presented on Tuesday by PM Rishi Sunak’s Tory government. It would ban people who have arrived in the country illegally from seeking asylum. Sparkes said:

    It is not clear how this bill will be compatible with existing UK government duties to act in the best interests of the child, and it is questionable whether the removal of a child to a third country, following a perilous journey to the UK, could ever be in their best interest.

    Defending children’s rights

    Sparkes called on the British government:

    to urgently clarify how it intends to ensure the safety and well-being of children with this bill, and how it will respect its obligations regarding the defence of children’s rights.

    45,000 migrants arrived in the UK last year by crossing the English Channel on small boats.

    According to official figures, 17% of people who took the Channel route to the UK since 2018 are children and minors. Sparks said:

    UNICEF UK maintains that the creation of safe and legal routes must be part of any compassionate and effective response to reducing the use of unsafe routes

    Britain has obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). It must avoid putting people at risk of torture or other forms of inhuman or degrading treatment. The UK’s own 1998 Human Rights Act also offers asylum-seekers various protections.

    In a note to MPs at the beginning of the 66-page bill, home secretary Suella Braverman herself acknowledged that she was “unable” to assess that its provisions are compatible with the ECHR.

    Now, yet again, the Tories face censure for their inhumane policies towards desperate people – this time, children.

    Featured image via Wikimedia Commons/Alisdare Hickson, cropped to 770 x 403, licenced under CC BY 2.0.

    Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse 

    By Joe Glenton

  • Arkansas Governor Signs Bill Making It Easier to Violate Child Labor Laws

    Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) signed a bill into law on Tuesday that would roll back child labor protections in the state as Republicans across the country wage a campaign to make it easier for employers to violate child labor laws. The law eliminates the requirement for children under 16 to show documentation of their age in order to work. Before this, employers seeking to employ a 14…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Cyclones: Vanuatu children ‘need to see their friends’, educator warns

    By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific reporter

    Tens of thousands of ni-Vanuatu children could be experiencing “stress and trauma” after the double cyclones that tore through the island nation last week, says an educator.

    With widespread damages to infrastructure, many children have lost their homes, had their schools damaged, and neighbourhoods hit hard by tropical cyclones Judy and Kevin.

    Port Vila International School teacher Cassidy Jackson-Caroll told RNZ Pacific it was important to prioritise school-aged children’s wellbeing during these times.

    Jackson-Caroll said that requires all stakeholders to move quickly and restore a sense of normalcy and enable children to return to school.

    “It is quite important [for schools to open],” she said, while noting the large-scale devastation caused by the twin cyclones.

    “One thing I thought is the kids want to see their friends. They have spent a lot of time time at home tucked up with their families, which is very important [during cyclones]. But they also need a little relief to see that their friends are okay.”

    She said no electricity and no running water is an issue across the country which means schools remain affected.

    But she is hoping the situation will improve by next week and those children who can return to school will be able do so.

    “I think it is important even if it is half days or two or three days a week for some kids that is enough because some are going to be traumatiSed,” she said, adding Port Vila International School will have a “soft opening” on Wednesday.

    “Sometimes they might just need to see their friends and go and play some soccer or just have a hug. They just need to laugh away from the anxiety and stress and trauma that they might have at home,” she added.

    The aftermath of cyclones Judy and Kevin in Vanuatu.
    The aftermath of tropical cyclones Judy and Kevin in Vanuatu. Image: VBTC/RNZ Pacific

    Schools, health centres ‘damaged’
    UNICEF estimates up to 58,000 children have been impacted and those in the worst affected provinces of Tafea and Shefa needing urgent assistance.

    The UN agency’s Pacific representative Jonathan Veitch said “with power still out in many places, and boats and planes grounded or damaged, we still don’t have enough information on the impact of children in the outer islands of Tafea.”

    “We know that schools and health centres have been damaged throughout the country.”

    “UNICEF Pacific, in partnership with the government, has begun to support the children and families most affected,” he added.

    Preliminary reports indicate that almost the entire population has been affected.

    World Vision Vanuatu country director Kendra Derouseau said they are expecting similar destruction to Tafea province that occured following Cyclone Pam in 2015.

    “We know that most homes will be partly or completely destroyed,” Derouseau said.

    Food sources scarce
    “The vast majority of the population in Tafea are subsistence agricultural farmers so food sources will be scarce and water sources will be contaminated.”

    She confirmed that there were about 2000 people still in evacuation centres on Efate.

    “People tend to sleep in the evacuation centres, leave vulnerable individuals and a carer in the centres during the day, and then go back to their homes to try and build and repair and then come back to sleep at night.”

    But Derouseau said the number of people in evacuation centres were decreasing as people felt safe to go back to their home.

    Meanwhile, New Zealand has sent relief supplies including water containers, kits for temporary shelters, and family hygiene kits and an initial financial contribution of NZ$150,000.

    Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta said the government was working closely with Vanuatu to support this response, together with France and Australia.

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

    New Zealand Aid to Vanuatu post-cyclones Judy and Kevin.
    New Zealand aid to Vanuatu post-cyclones Judy and Kevin. Image: Hilaire Bule/RNZ Pacific

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Campaigners hail law raising age of marriage to 18 in England and Wales

    Now illegal for 16- and 17-year-olds to marry or enter a civil partnership, even with parental consent

    Campaigners have hailed a new law raising the legal age of marriage in England and Wales as a significant milestone in child protection.

    The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act comes into force on Monday following a five-year campaign and will prevent 16- and 17-year-olds from marrying or entering a civil partnership, even if they have parental consent.

    Continue reading…

  • ‘Egregious’: DOL Finds US Meatpacking Plants Illegally Employed 100+ Children



    Federal investigators revealed Friday that one of the nation’s largest food sanitation companies illegally employed at least 102 children in dangerous jobs at 13 meatpacking facilities across eight states, leading to $1.5 million in fines.

    The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) said its Wage and Hour Division “found that children were working with hazardous chemicals and cleaning meat processing equipment including back saws, brisket saws, and head splitters.”

    The probe determined that children ages 13 to 17 unlawfully worked for Kieler, Wisconsin-based Packers Sanitation Services Inc. at plants in Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Tennessee, and Texas.

    Jessica Looman, principal deputy administrator of the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division, said the child labor violations “were systemic” and “clearly indicate a corporate-wide failure by Packers Sanitation Services at all levels.”

    “These children should never have been employed in meatpacking plants and this can only happen when employers do not take responsibility to prevent child labor violations from occurring in the first place,” Looman charged.

    Michael Lazzeri, the division’s regional administrator in Chicago, said that “our investigation found Packers Sanitation Services’ systems flagged some young workers as minors, but the company ignored the flags.”

    “When the Wage and Hour Division arrived with warrants, the adults—who had recruited, hired, and supervised these children—tried to derail our efforts to investigate their employment practices,” Lazzeri noted.

    The DOL—which found at least three cases where illegally employed children were injured on the job—fined the company $15,138 for each child who was not legally employed, the highest possible penalty under federal law.

    As The New York Times reported:

    Some researchers have criticized the civil monetary penalties, which are set by Congress, as “woefully insufficient” to protect workers and to deter employers from violating labor laws.

    “It’s really shameful that the level of fine is so low,” said Celine McNicholas, director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, a research group that seeks to improve conditions for workers. “It’s not sufficiently toothy enough to prevent the use of child labor in the meatpacking industry.”

    Despite such criticism, Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda framed the case as an example of accountability, delcaring Friday, “The Department of Labor has made it absolutely clear that violations of child labor laws will not be tolerated.”

    “No child should ever be subject to the conditions found in this investigation,” Nanda said. “The courts have upheld the department’s rightful authority to execute federal court-approved search warrants and compelled this employer to change their hiring practices to ensure compliance with the law. Let this case be a powerful reminder that all workers in the United States are entitled to the protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act and that an employer who violates wage laws will be held accountable.”

    In a lengthy statement Friday, Packers Sanitation Services said that it was “pleased to have finalized this settlement figure.”

    “We have been crystal clear from the start: Our company has a zero-tolerance policy against employing anyone under the age of 18 and fully shares the DOL’s objective of ensuring full compliance at all locations,” the statement continued, noting internal audits and the hiring of “a third-party law firm to review and help further strengthen our policies.”

    The statement highlighted that none of the illegally employed children still work for Packers Sanitation Services, and “the DOL has also not identified any managers aware of improper conduct that are currently employed” by the company.

    The revelations come amid a renewed national debate about child labor laws sparked by Republican legislators in Iowa pushing rollbacks to allow children as young as 14 to work in jobs including animal slaughtering, logging, and mining.

    The proposal in Iowa is part of a trend of GOP state lawmakers across the country advocating relaxed child labor laws in recent years.

    This post was originally published on Common Dreams.

  • Human Rights Act could be critical in divisive Queensland youth bail case

    Palaszczuk government’s 2019 laws to be weighed against underlying principles of human rights

    The Queensland government’s appeal against the release of several children detained in police watch houses looms as a test for the state’s controversial youth bail laws and its Human Rights Act, legal experts say.

    Last week Townsville children’s court released 13 children being held on remand in the city’s police watch house. Some had been in the adult holding cells for an extended period due to overcrowding in the youth detention system.

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

  • Nearly 1,000 Migrant Children Separated From Families Under Trump Still Not Reunited



    As some families seek restitution for the suffering caused by former President Donald Trump’s family separation policy, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Thursday acknowledged that nearly five years after the policy was first enforced, 998 children have yet to be reunited with their relatives.

    On the two-year anniversary of the establishment of President Joe Biden’s Interagency Task Force on the Reunification of Families, the DHS said it has reunited more than 600 children who were taken from their families under Trump’s so-called “zero tolerance” policy, which called for the prosecution of anyone who attempted to cross the U.S.-Mexico border without going through official immigration channels.

    Many children were reunited through a court process before Biden took office, but of the nearly 4,000 children who were taken from their families and sent to locations across the country with recordkeeping about their identities and whereabouts that was “patchwork at best,” according to DHS, roughly a quarter of them are still separated.

    “This cruelty happened nearly five years ago,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of the Lutheran Immigration & Refugee Service. “That’s an unimaginably long time for children to go without their parents.”

    Many of the children who were separated arrived at the border from Central American countries, with their parents traveling to the border to seek asylum from violence and conflict—exercising a protected human right under international and domestic law.

    The DHS noted that the number of families coming forward to identify themselves as having been forcibly separated continues to grow.

    “We understand that our critical work is not finished,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. “We remain steadfast in our commitment to fulfill President Biden’s pledge to reunify all children who were separated from their families under the ‘zero tolerance’ policy to the greatest extent possible, and we continue to work diligently to incorporate the foundational principle of family unity in our policies and operations.”

    “The real world human impact of the Trump administration’s depravity still reverberates today.”

    The agency is currently in the process of reuniting 148 children with their families, and has contacted 183 additional families regarding reunification.

    Aside from the attempting to reunite families, the Biden administration said it is also meeting with recently reunified families “to hear directly from them and better understand their experiences and current needs,” including support for the trauma the federal government inflicted on them.

    On Wednesday, the day before the DHS made its announcement, Selvin Argueta and his son, who is now 21, filed a federal lawsuit seeking monetary damages for the forced separation they suffered in 2018 under the policy. Argueta’s son, Selvin Najera, was 16 when they arrived at the border from Guatemala, where they had faced threats from gangs.

    Argueta was deported while Najera was sent to a detention center where, the lawsuit alleges, he faced physical and emotional abuse.

    Father and son were reunited in January 2020 after a federal judge ruled that Argueta’s deportation was unlawful. Their lawsuit seeks restitution for “intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, abuse of process, and harboring a minor.”

    “The real world human impact of the Trump administration’s depravity still reverberates today,” said journalist Ahmed Baba.

    Rights advocates have condemned the Biden administration for continuing other anti-immigration polices including Title 42, under which families are still being separated. The Texas Observer reported in November that between January 2021, when Biden took office, and August 2022, at least 372 cases of family separation were documented by the government.

    “Though family separation is no longer explicitly used as a weapon in U.S. immigration policy,” wrote Erica Bryant at Vera Institute of Justice last June, “it is still a horrifying result.”

    This post was originally published on Common Dreams.

  • ‘This Is a Winnable Fight’: Leaders Across Africa Pledge to End AIDS in Children by 2030



    Declaring the fight against HIV and AIDS infections in children “winnable,” public health officials from across Africa on Wednesday convened in Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania to discuss the steps needed from policymakers and the healthcare sector to eradicate pediatric cases by 2030.

    Representatives from 12 countries including Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Cote D’Ivoire, and Cameroon were joined by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), UNICEF, and other global organizations at the first ministerial meeting of the Global Alliance to End AIDS in Children.

    The alliance was formed last summer, as the United Nations noted that just 52% of children living with AIDS are on lifesaving treatment and warned progress for preventing pediatric cases is stalling. Among adults patients, 76% are receiving antiretroviral treatments.

    The delegates unanimously agreed on Wednesday to the Dar es Salaam Declaration for Action. The declaration’s commitments include:

    • Providing access to universal testing and treatment for all children and adolescents living with HIV and support them to remain virally suppressed;
    • Ensuring access to treatment and care for all pregnant and breastfeeding women and support them to stay in care;
    • Harnessing digital technologies to reach adolescents and young people;
    • Implementing comprehensive, integrated HIV services;
    • Working with and for men, women, and adolescent girls to ensure that mothers are protected from acquiring HIV during pregnancy and breastfeeding;
    • Ending the stigma, discrimination, and gender inequities experienced by women, children, and adolescents affected by HIV; and
    • Working with communities including men to prevent gender-based violence and counter harmful gender norms.

    “We have the tools, the guidance, the policies, and the knowledge we need. Now we must make good on this commitment and move to action,” reads the declaration. “Together we will not fail.”

    “Closing the gap for children will require laser focus and a steadfast commitment to hold ourselves, governments, and all partners accountable for results.”

    The global alliance has stressed since its formation last year that ending pediatric AIDS and HIV infections is an achievable goal, noting the progress that has been made in several African countries with high HIV burdens.

    “By the end of 2021, 12 countries in sub-Saharan Africa reached the target of 95% ART [antiretroviral therapy] coverage in pregnant women and Botswana was the first high prevalence African country to be validated as being on the path to eliminating vertical transmission of HIV,” reads a document released when the initiative was launched.

    Sixteen countries worldwide have also been “certified for validation of eliminating vertical transmission of HIV,” according to UNAIDS.

    But still, 160,000 children acquired HIV in 2021 and children accounted for 15% of all AIDS-related deaths that year, despite the fact that they only make up 4% of the total number of people living with HIV. Across the globe, a child dies of AIDS-related causes every five minutes.

    “Year on year, the same poor progress has been reported towards global and national targets for children and adolescents,” said the alliance last year. “Despite available, affordable, and highly effective tools and programming strategies to diagnose and treat HIV among children, adolescents, and pregnant and breastfeeding women, large service gaps for these populations remain.”

    By meeting the commitments laid out in the Dar es Salaam Declaration, officials said, they will promote active participation of national programs and affected communities, boost existing programs to end AIDS in children, and mobilize resources through “donor coordination and innovative financing.”

    “Closing the gap for children will require laser focus and a steadfast commitment to hold ourselves, governments, and all partners accountable for results,” said John Nkengasong, the U.S. global AIDS coordinator and leader of PEPFAR. “In partnership with the global alliance, PEPFAR commits to elevate the HIV/AIDS children’s agenda to the highest political level within and across countries to mobilize the necessary support needed to address rights, gender equality, and the social and structural barriers that hinder access to prevention and treatment services for children and their families.”

    Philip Mpango, vice president of the United Republic of Tanzania, said the host country “has showed its political engagement” regarding the issue.

    “Now we need to commit moving forward as a collective whole,” said Mpango. “All of us in our capacities must have a role to play to end AIDS in children. The global alliance is the right direction, and we must not remain complacent. 2030 is at our doorstep.”

    This post was originally published on Common Dreams.

  • ‘Free the Books,’ Say Opponents of New Florida Law as Teachers Remove or Cover Libraries



    Teachers in at least one Florida county this week began removing or covering books in their classrooms to avoid running afoul of a new law requiring every volume to be vetted by a state-trained “media specialist”—violation of which could result in felony charges.

    The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports the Manatee County School District has directed teachers to remove all books that have not been approved by a specialist, who will ensure that all titles are “free of pornography,” are “appropriate for the age level and group,” and contain no “unsolicited theories that may lead to student indoctrination.”

    The vetting requirement comes under H.B. 1467, a Republican-sponsored bill signed into law last year by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who stridently hypes Florida as the “freest state in these United States” while banning classroom discussions of systemic racism, gender identity, and even an entire course of college preparatory study.

    Manatee High School history teacher Don Falls, who is involved in a lawsuit against DeSantis’ Stop WOKE Act banning the teaching of critical race theory—a graduate-level discipline not taught in K-12 schools—called H.B. 1467 “not only ridiculous but a very scary attack on fundamental rights.”

    Because few if any books have been screened by media specialists, many Manatee County teachers erred on the side of caution and covered their entire classroom libraries. However, teachers and students found ways of resisting the new law, even as they took action to comply with it.

    “Readers Gonna Read,” read one student-drawn sign taped to swaths of blue construction paper covering one middle school classroom’s library. “Free the Books,” demanded another. “There is no friend as loyal as a book,” asserted a third sign hanging below a notice designating the room’s “safe zone” in case of school shooter attack.

    “A perfect picture of DeSantis’ Florida,” area elementary school teacher Tamara Solum wrote on Facebook.

    Manatee Education Association President Pat Barber told the Herald-Tribune that “it’s a scary thing to have elementary teachers have to worry about being charged with a third-degree felony because of trying to help students develop a love of reading.”

    In a final ironic twist, it’s Literacy Week in Florida schools, which according to the state’s Department of Education “is designed to raise awareness about the importance of reading and to inspire Florida’s students and families to make reading part of their daily routines.”

    This post was originally published on Common Dreams.

  • Utah GOP Excludes Cisgender Teen Breast Implants From Gender-Affirming Care Ban



    A Democrat’s proposed amendment to one of the latest anti-transgender rights bills exposed that Republicans’ efforts to prohibit LGBTQ+ minors from accessing gender-affirming healthcare “is not about protecting kids,” one advocate said Thursday.

    In Utah on Wednesday, state Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla (D-1) proposed an amendment to Senate Bill 16, which would ban gender-affirming surgeries for minors and place a moratorium on medical professionals providing puberty blockers, citing concerns about equal opportunity protections.

    If Republicans such as state Sen. Michael Kennedy (R-14), who sponsored S.B. 16, are as concerned as they say they are about ensuring minors don’t have surgeries when they may not fully understand the long-term ramifications, Escamilla argued that cisgender teenagers should also be blocked from participating in Utah’s plastic surgery boom.

    “If we’re going to target kids and the ability for their parents to make decisions with their providers, then all children should be included.”

    The state ranks second in the nation in per-capita plastic surgeons, and one surgeon estimated in 2005 that teenagers accounted for about 15% of his patients. A number of plastic surgery clinics in the state advertise services for teenagers.

    “We happen to live in a state that loves plastic surgeries,” said Escamilla in a committee hearing on S.B. 16, “and I think we should have an equal opportunity to make sure that no child will ever have access to plastic surgery. If we’re going to target kids and the ability for their parents to make decisions with their providers, then all children should be included and [we should] not be targeting a specific group of kids.”

    Kennedy said he personally did not support plastic surgery such as breast augmentation for teenagers and denied the practice is prevalent in Utah, but said, “If that has been done it’s likely to have been done for decades and decades and decades in this state,” suggesting it should be allowed to continue for that reason.

    As researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine wrote in a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in November, puberty blockers have also “been used safely for decades in children with precocious puberty and endometriosis among other medical indications” and are now endorsed by numerous medical organizations “for youth with gender dysphoria,” but those facts haven’t stopped Kennedy and other Republicans across the country from trying to ban their use.

    The failure of Escamilla’s amendment—which was supported by the two Democrats on the committee and opposed by the five Republicans—proves that the GOP in Utah is “totally fine with targeting trans teens and letting cis teens do what they want,” said rights advocate Erin Reed, who tracks legislative attacks on transgender people.

    S.B. 16 is now expected to be debated on the state Senate floor, and will have “catastrophic” consequences for transgender youth if it passes.

    Numerous studies have shown that gender-affirming care reduces the risk of depression and suicide among transgender teenagers and children, leading the American Academy of Pediatrics to recommend that youths have access to puberty blockers and “when appropriate, surgical interventions.”

    Republicans’ refusal to back Escamilla’s amendment showed that “this is not about protecting kids.”

    “It’s about policing transness,” she wrote, “and making it harder to exist as a transgender person in America.”

    This post was originally published on Common Dreams.

  • Opinion: Basic income wouldn’t lead to adults leaving their jobs and could lift millions of children into brighter futures

    By: Michael W. Howard 

    When the child tax credit, first established in 1997, was expanded for a year in 2021, it was a major political and social win for the country. At a time when the pandemic had worsened many families’ financial distress, the Biden administration’s decision not only added to the amount of the tax credit and converted the payment from a year-end lump sum to monthly payments; it also abandoned the work requirement for parents. This immediately affected one third of all children in the U.S., including 52 percent of Black children and 41 percent of Hispanic children, whose families were formerly excluded because the parents earned too little to qualify for the tax credit. The tax credit expansion lifted 3.7 million children out of poverty by December 2021 without significantly reducing parents’ work participation.

    Then in January 2022, the expanded tax credit expired, which plunged 3.7 million back into poverty, with higher percentage increases in poverty among Hispanic and Black children. The credit showed us that cash assistance could help families stay afloat and, contrary to some political beliefs, parents would not leave the labor system because of it. Even so, the failure to renew the expansion should not negate this important political milestone: Congress came within one vote of abandoning parental work requirements as a condition to get cash assistance for their families.

    The child tax credit expansion is one step toward a universal basic income that could eliminate poverty without increasing unemployment. There are 37.9 million people in poverty in the U.S., according to 2021 Census Bureau figures. Providing a government-funded monthly payment to every individual would broadly lift them out of poverty, while providing millions of children a better chance at a good education, improved health and higher future earnings. With 11.6 percent of people in the U.S. living at or under the poverty line, this payment would benefit millions and save hundreds of billions of dollars by reducing the social costs of poverty. The question becomes: Can we convince our elected officials that poverty is not a moral failing, but a social condition that can be addressed by establishing an income floor below which no one falls?

    A universal basic income, or UBI, is defined as “a periodic cash payment unconditionally delivered to all on an individual basis, without means-test or work requirement,” according to the Basic Income Earth Network. The child tax credit isn’t quite the same, because it is only for families with children; it also phases out at higher income levels and essentially still forces people to prove they are “poor enough” to need help—a means test. A more ambitious bill approaching the idea of UBI introduced by Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Mondaire Jones, would eliminate the means test, thereby creating a universal child allowance. Universal benefits have several advantages over means-tested benefits. They avoid divisions between “us” and “them,” removing the stigma associated with targeted benefits. Uptake by the needy, a persistent problem with targeted benefits, is improved when stigma and bureaucratic hurdles are removed. Universal benefits tend to be more popular and hence are more politically secure and better funded. And universal benefits, dispensing with means testing, are easier to administer. The universal child allowance would enroll all children at birth so no child would be excluded.

    No country has yet introduced a universal basic income sufficient for essential needs. But in the U.S., Alaska has enacted its Permanent Fund Dividend, which is an annual cash payment, averaging around $1,600, that goes to every resident without means test or work requirement. It contributes to poverty reduction and has no negative effect on people’s willingness to work.

    In the U.S., a universal child allowance and Social Security for seniors would mean that the two most vulnerable age groups in our population would have near-universal and unconditional income guaranteed. But of course, extending a basic income to the remaining adults faces serious hurdles. First, no one expects children under the age of 18 to work, and keeping them in poverty is costly for everyone; according to one estimate, social benefits outweigh fiscal costs of universal child allowance by 8 to 1. But there is a widely held expectation that able-bodied adults should work for their income. Empirical evidence from the means-tested minimum income experiments of the 1970s in the U.S. and recent analysis of a similar experiment in Manitoba, among other research, support the idea that few people actually stop working when they are simultaneously receiving a guaranteed income. Such research also shows that those who stop working for wages do so for good reasons, such as finishing high school or taking care of young children, and that a modest guaranteed minimum income can enable people to work who otherwise could not. Even if a few people would take the cash without contributing to society, the benefits may substantially outweigh the costs.

    The norm that every abled person receiving cash payments should be seeking a job can also be challenged. First, holding a job is not the only form of work. Taking care of children and elders is work—work that is performed mostly by women without compensation. A basic income is a way of supporting and recognizing that work without intrusive state monitoring and reinforcement of gendered division of labor.

    Second, research by Belgian political theorists Philippe Van Parijs and Yannick Vanderborght reveals that a significant part of individual income, or the lack of income, results not from labor but rather from luck. This is obvious in the case of income from inherited wealth, but no less true of income connected to jobs in capital-intensive industries or income involving inherited knowledge and technology. On the negative side, many people with unrecognized disabilities fall between the cracks of targeted cash transfer systems. A basic income is one way to equalize such morally arbitrary luck. Universal basic income does not give people something for nothing so much as equalize everyone’s share of the luck. Fair giving and taking would then take place on the basis of a more equitable starting place.

    In addition to the belief that people will quit their jobs under a basic income, the idea faces another hurdle: apparent cost. A basic income of $1,000/month for every person in the U.S. would have a gross cost of about $4 trillion a year. A means-tested minimum income guarantee, which phases out as earned income increases above a threshold, could raise incomes by the same amount for perhaps one sixth of the gross cost of a basic income. However, the net cost to the taxpayers is no greater for basic income than for a means-tested minimum income, because the higher taxes some will pay are offset by the basic income they receive.

    To the extent that the mere fact of “churning”—money going out to everyone, only to be taken back in taxes from some—is an obstacle to political support, the means-tested guaranteed income may be the more politically feasible policy, but it would lose some of the advantages of universal programs.

    In the meantime, if a truly universal child allowance is eventually adopted, that could tip the scale in favor of a basic income further down the road.

    This post was originally published on Basic Income Today.

  • Billions in Global South Face Looming Wave of Austerity in 2023



    The world is confronting multiple, compounding crises, from COVID-19, energy, inflation, debt, and climate shocks to unaffordable living costs and political instability. The need for ambitious action cannot be greater. However, the return of failed policies such as austerity, now called “fiscal restraint” or “fiscal consolidation,” and a lack of effective taxation and debt-reduction initiatives threaten to exacerbate the macroeconomic instability and daily hardships that billions of people are facing. Unless policymakers change course, an “austerity pandemic” will make global economic recovery even more difficult.

    As we show in a recent report, the looming wave of austerity will be even more premature and severe than the one that followed the 2008 global financial crisis. An analysis of IMF expenditure projections indicates that 143 governments will cut spending (as a share of GDP) in 2023, affecting more than 6.7 billion people – or 85% of the world population. In fact, most governments started scaling back public spending in 2021, and the number of countries slashing budgets is expected to rise through 2025. With average spending cuts of 3.5% of GDP in 2021, this contraction has already been much bigger than in earlier shocks.

    Even more worryingly, upwards of 50 countries are adopting excessive cuts, meaning their spending has fallen below their (already low) pre-pandemic levels. This cohort contains many countries – including Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Guyana, Liberia, Libya, Sudan, Suriname, and Yemen – with large unmet development needs.

    The austerity measures that governments are considering or already implementing will be deeply harmful to their populations, and especially to women. Governments are planning to limit social protections for vulnerable populations; cut programs for families, the elderly, and people with disabilities; slash or cap the public-sector wage bill (implying a reduction of frontline workers like teachers and health personnel); eliminate subsidies; privatize transportation, energy, and water services; cut pension benefits; reduce labor protections and employers’ social-security contributions; and decrease health expenditures.

    In parallel, many governments are adopting short-term revenue-generation strategies that will also have detrimental social effects. These include increasing consumption taxes – such as regressive sales and value-added taxes (VAT) – strengthening public-private partnerships, and increasing fees for public services.

    Just in eastern and southern Africa, UNICEF finds that Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, and South Africa are considering or implementing three categories of austerity measures, while Lesotho is pursuing four categories, and Botswana five. Botswana, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia are each applying four or more categories of measures to boost revenue. Including spending cuts and tax increases, Botswana, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, and Zambia are each considering at least seven categories of austerity measures that are known to have adverse social impacts.

    Not only are these governments pursuing painful austerity at a time when the region is dealing with unprecedented droughts and a cost-of-living crisis. They also are showing little willingness to adopt policies – such as higher tax rates for corporations and wealthy individuals – that are critical to reducing their already-high levels of inequality.

    Unless austerity is reversed, people in developing countries will lose social protections and public services just when they are most needed. According to Oxfam, almost half of the global population is already living on less than $5.50 per day. And, lest we forget, trillions of dollars have been mobilized since the start of the pandemic to support corporations, while ordinary people have borne many of the costs of adjustment.

    The dangers of an aggressive austerity approach were made clear over the past decade. From 2010 to 2019, billions of lives were upended by cuts to pensions and social benefits; lower investments in programs for women, children, and the elderly; fewer and lower-paid teachers, health, and local civil servants; and higher prices from basic consumption taxes.

    It doesn’t have to be this way. There are alternatives to austerity. Even in the poorest countries, there are at least nine other financing options that some governments have been using for years, and that are fully endorsed by the United Nations and international financial institutions. These include progressive taxation; debt elimination or restructuring; clamping down on illicit financial flows; increasing employers’ social-security contributions and coverage by formalizing workers in the informal economy; using fiscal and foreign-exchange reserves; re-allocating public expenditures; adopting a more accommodating macroeconomic framework; securing official development assistance; and new allocations of the IMF’s reserve asset, special drawing rights.

    Since fiscal decisions affect everyone, they should be made not behind closed doors, but through inclusive and transparent national dialogues that include trade unions, employer federations, and civil-society organizations. Governments must abandon austerity measures that benefit the few at the expense of the many. Only by exploring alternative approaches can we support people and get back on track to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The world is still suffering one kind of pandemic. There is no need for another.

    This post was originally published on Common Dreams.

  • Right-Wing Media Ramping Up LGBTQ Attacks



    Last summer, while waiting for coffee at a diner in what I’ll just call a small town, I overheard three older men complaining about how schools are forcing children to swap genders. A server responded, “You’re not even allowed to talk about this anymore.” I thought to myself, “A, you’re talking about it right now, and B, where’s my coffee?”

    The exchange has stayed on my mind: How on earth are so many people convinced that children’s lives are being turned upside down by the acceptance of LGBTQ rights in America? And why do they believe they are the ones being silenced, when they clearly aren’t?

    The main reason is that hostility against LGBTQ “grooming”—the false idea that schoolteachers and drag queen story hours at libraries are attempting to train children to be gay and trans, rather than simply acknowledging the existence of gay and trans people, and discouraging hatred and bigoted violence against them—has become a big feature of the social conservative movement. One notable player in that is Chaya Raichik, who runs an anti-trans Twitter account called “Libs of TikTok,” which boasts 1.7 million followers.

    Fox News—arguably the most influential purveyor of the “grooming” narrative—has shown Libs of TikTok consistent support in the past (e.g., 4/20/22, 6/9/22, 6/27/22, 11/21/22), frequently airing clips from the account (Media Matters, 4/1/22). While Raichik’s identity had been revealed by the Washington Post (4/19/22) months ago, she has recently chosen to come out from behind her self-imposed Twitter anonymity—and Fox was happy to offer a platform.

    “Risk of Ostracism”

    Raichik recently appeared on Fox News‘ Tucker Carlson Tonight (12/27/22). using her face and name for the first time, to crank up hateful rhetoric that the LGBTQ community was “evil” and a “cult.” (Video of the interview was made available on the subscription-only Fox Nation streaming service—12/28/22.)

    Raichik is clear about spreading a message designed to stir fear about LGBTQ people coming for your children. Her goal, she told the New York Post (12/31/22), is “dismantling and destroying gender ideology [sic] in America.”

    The Murdoch-owned Post, which at this point is sort of the print subsidiary of Fox, doubled down on Raichik’s appearance on Carlson’s show, making her out to be a David taking on the LGBTQ Goliath. “Sometimes in life, you’re called to do something that isn’t in your nature, compelled nevertheless because you believe it’s the right thing to do,” a Post op-ed (12/29/22) declared of Raichik, because “the risk of ostracism, threats of physical harm and attacks on your character don’t measure up to the guilt you’d feel by ignoring your instinct to act.”

    Laser-focused on Trans Issues

    In the past few years, the right-wing media have become laser-focused on transgender issues, not always attacking trans people individually, but instead claiming that children are being “groomed” to adopt “radical gender ideology,” and that rights for the trans community are infringing on the rights of children, women and Christians.

    For example, the Wall Street Journal (also owned by the Murdoch family) has run numerous pieces worrying about “the wildfire spread of transgender identity” (8/17/22) and how transgender patient rights could infringe on the rights of conservative Christians who wish to discriminate against them (8/25/22), as well as invoking anti-trans positions as a purported defense of women’s rights (3/26/19). The Journal also ran multiple opinion articles defending Yeshiva University’s resistance to allowing an LGBTQ club on its campus (8/29/22, 10/2/22).

    The New York Post has painted a picture of parents who fight to protect their children from a supposed trans “gender cult” (12/22/21, 5/11/22), as well as blasting the use of public money for drag queen story hours (6/11/22).

    Raichik is far from the only one in right-wing media hawking the myth that LGBTQ people are using public resources to push a sinister agenda on children. There’s Matt Walsh of the Daily Wire and Christopher Rufo at City Journal (9/29/22, 10/12/22). And, to a certain extent, Raichik’s comments aren’t new. Anita Bryant fought against gay rights in the 1970s under the banner of “Save Our Children,” and the right has even resurrected that slogan (NBC, 4/13/22; New York Post, 12/22/22). Or consider the long list of anti-gay and anti-trans comments made by Pat Robertson over the years on the Christian Broadcasting Network.

    Tucker Carlson remains one of the top-viewed cable pundits in the United States (Forbes, 12/15/22); as his obsession with demonizing trans people increases, he elevates more fringe transphobes and normalizes their bald bigotry. Many transphobes try to smuggle their hatred through customs by attacking gender fluidity as a threat to women (FAIR.org, 12/16/22), a sort of pseudo-feminism for the right. But Raichik attacks all LGBTQ people in her statement—in the same forum that has invoked white supremacist ideas like the “great replacement theory” (Washington Post, 7/20/22) and “white genocide” (Hatewatch, 10/2/18), suggesting that she wants LGBTQ people to be added to the long list of very bad people.

    Doing Real Damage

    The influence of Raichik and other right-wing pundits on anti-trans policy is clear. The Washington Post (4/19/22) said:

    By March, Libs of TikTok was directly impacting legislation. DeSantis’ press secretary Christina Pushaw credited the account with “opening her eyes” and informing her views on the state’s restrictive legislation that bans discussion of sexuality or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, referred to by critics as the “don’t say gay” bill. She and Libs of TikTok have interacted with each other at least 138 times publicly, according to a report by Media Matters.
    When asked by the Post about her relationship with the account, Pushaw wrote, “I follow, like and retweet Libs of TikTok. My interactions with that account are public,” and added that she’s a strong supporter of its mission.

    And Raichik knows quite well that her rhetoric is doing real damage. Her account has reportedly encouraged the harassment of children’s hospitals, of all places (Washington Post, 9/2/22). Anti–drag queen zealots targeted the home of a gay New York City Council member (Daily News, 12/19/22), and armed protesters have targeted a drag queen story hour in Texas (Advocate, 12/14/22).

    The dangers of dehumanizing LGBTQ people go beyond threats and intimidation. Human Rights Campaign documents crimes directly against trans people, noting that “at least 32 transgender and gender-nonconforming people have been killed in the United States in 2022” (PBS, 11/16/22). The group has “documented at least 302 violent deaths of transgender and gender-nonconforming people since the LGBTQ advocacy organization began tracking such fatalities in 2013.”

    Carlson and the Murdoch media empire are clearly cheering this on, in a cynical ploy to rile up social conservatives to get them to the polls on Election Day. These types of media appearances are meant to create a culture of fear for all LGBTQ people and their allies, a clear attempt to force them back into the shadows and further out of public life. The campaign is meant to intimidate not just those being demonized, but any politician who contemplates defending LGBTQ rights.

    Fueling Tension

    It’s become tired and predictable to hear defenses of these media campaigns as free speech. The relentless transphobia and homophobia being cross-promoted by Fox News and people like Raichik is just as culpable for this anti-trans atmosphere as the nuts who actually go out and terrorize children going to story time.

    At a drag queen story hour at a public library in New York City, more than 30 protesters, including members of the far-right Proud Boys, heckled families on their way inside, calling them “pedophiles,” while several times that many pro-LGBTQ counter-protesters defended the event (Gothamist, 12/29/22). Police broke up fist fights, and one person was arrested after knocking over a barricade. The protesters eventually dispersed on their own, but the tension and anger, fueled by a small group of right-wingers outnumbered by cops and counter-protesters, was palpable.

    As long as Fox News uses the likes of Raichik to spew hate, this tension is only going to grow. And that’s the goal.

    This post was originally published on Common Dreams.

  • ‘An Absolute F**king Disgrace’: Record 6,036 US Kids Killed, Injured by Gunfire in 2022



    With just a few days left until the new year, 2022 has already set a grim record: so far at least 6,036 children across the United States have been killed or injured by gunfire, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

    As of Tuesday, 306 children under age 12 were killed by guns and another 668 were injured nationwide. For those ages 12-17, 1,328 were killed and 3,734 were injured.

    Those figures include the 19 kids—but not the two adults—killed in the May 24 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and come just a few weeks after the nation marked the 10th anniversary of the massacre of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

    Launched in 2013, the Gun Violence Archive (GVA) is an online project that aims “to document incidents of gun violence and gun crime nationally to provide independent, verified data to those who need to use it in their research, advocacy, or writing.”

    GVA’s annual figures for child deaths and injuries go back to 2014. As the group highlighted in a tweet Monday, this year is the first in recorded history that the overall number has topped 6,000—which Project Unloaded called “heartbreaking and preventable.”

    Jacob Sumner, who is pursuing a master’s degree in public administration at Arizona State University as a Sackton fellow, tweeted of GVA’s figures that “we should not and cannot allow that to be normal. We need lifesaving commonsense gun safety measures.”

    Noting ABC News‘ reporting on the record, Brady PAC—a political action committee that supports candidates who champion policies to reduce gun violence—declared that “our children have the right to live.”

    Another ABC reader described the development as “an absolute fucking disgrace.”

    U.S. President Joe Biden—who signed some gun safety reforms into law after the Uvalde shooting—said on the Sandy Hook anniversary that “we have a moral obligation to pass and enforce laws that can prevent these things from happening again.” However, with the GOP set to take control of the U.S. House next week, progress on the issue over the next two years is unlikely.

    This post was originally published on Common Dreams.

  • Congress Decides Corporate Tax Cuts Are Too Expensive If It Means Also Helping Children



    Late Monday afternoon, Congressional leaders announced their long-awaited omnibus spending package which will fund the government through September 2023. The good news: the bill does not include needless corporate tax giveaways. The bad news: it also leaves out any expansion of the Child Tax Credit.

    Ultimately, the conservative position on the credit triumphed. The credit was not worth the cost if it cost, well anything.

    This fall, as lobbyists descended on the Hill to pressure Congress into passing a set of corporate tax breaks before the year’s end, some progressive activists and lawmakers settled on a strategy to make any potential tax package at least mildly palatable: Tax breaks for businesses must be paired with an extension of the Child Tax Credit enhancements that were enacted in 2021.

    Those enhancements increased the credit from $2,000 to $3,000 and to $3,600 for children under age 6, but more significantly, they removed limits on the refundable part of the credit, which helps families who most need it. Under permanent law (the credit that was in effect for years before and after 2021), the tax code actually states that certain families make too little money to receive the full credit. That is, a credit which is supposed to help children is denied to them if they are too poor. Last year, all children could receive the full credit if their family income was less than $150,000 (or less than $112,500 for most single parents). The 2021 credit enhancement also made the credit available to families in monthly installments to help match their normal household expenses rather than as a year-end lump sum.

    The results of the credit enhancements were dramatic and immediate. Child poverty was cut nearly in half. The 2021 credit pulled more people above the poverty line than SNAP and unemployment insurance combined. The enhanced credit was especially important for Black and Hispanic families. As a result of Congress’s failure to extend the credit enhancements, ITEP estimates that 45 percent of Black children and 42 percent of Hispanic children will not receive the full credit next year because the arbitrary limits on the refundable portion of the credit are in effect again.

    Given the enormous success of the 2021 credit, many progressive groups were at least open to an unsavory package of tax breaks for big businesses if lawmakers would in turn help children and families by enhancing the Child Tax Credit. The tax package pushed by corporate lobbyists included a deduction for “research” that was promoted by companies making frozen foods and casino games, an interest deduction that would encourage private equity funds to load up companies with debt, and a bonus depreciation break that would accomplish little aside from allowing big companies to save billions on their tax bills.

    Sen. Sherrod Brown framed the position of many progressives succinctly this September when he said, “No more tax breaks for big corporations and the wealthy unless the Child Tax Credit is with it. I’ll lay down in front of a bulldozer on that one.”

    Conservative lawmakers dutifully expressed their own position on the issue. Cutting child poverty was not worth it if it could even be theorized that rich people might end up slightly less rich. The White House, for its part, signaled that it could be flexible on the details of a CTC expansion that could be part of such a deal.

    But ultimately, the conservative position on the credit triumphed. The credit was not worth the cost if it cost, well anything. That included Republicans giving up their own package of corporate tax breaks. Perhaps they believe they can get a better deal next Congress with the House Republican majority. Let’s hope that Sen. Brown carries his promise into the new year.

    In the end, there should be few tears shed that the corporate lobbyists lost on this one. But there is a certain amount of ire that rises up inside one’s heart knowing the only thing that could kill Congress’ appetite for corporate tax breaks is a simple request that they boost the economic security of children and families as well.

    This post was originally published on Common Dreams.

  • Dozens of child asylum seekers placed in Home Office hotel for adults

    Concerns raised after children classified wrongly as adults were assigned to a hotel where a serious stabbing took place last month

    At least 40 child asylum seekers were placed in a Home Office hotel designated for adults where one of them was a victim of a serious stabbing last month, the Guardian has learned.

    Lawyers and NGOs have repeatedly raised concerns about children being assessed wrongly as adults by the Home Office after arriving in the UK on small boats.

    Continue reading…

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

  • New study shows basic income for kids leads to them having better health

    By:  Richard Sears

    In a new article published in JAMA Pediatrics, William E. Copeland and colleagues explore the long-term effects of childhood family income supplements on mental health and overall functioning in adulthood. The authors used data from 1266 participants recruited into the study at 9, 11, and 13 years of age. They began collecting data on participants’ mental health and adult functioning in 1993 and continued until 2015.

    The study compares participants from members of an American Indian tribe that began cash payments to members in 1996 with participants whose families received no cash payments. At ages 25 and 30, participants whose families received cash payments had less anxiety and depression and fewer issues with cannabis use and risky and illegal behaviors. In addition, those whose families received cash payments showed increased physical health and better financial functioning.

    The authors also note that the families that received larger cash payments and payments for more extended periods enjoyed the most significant benefits. They write:

    “In this natural experiment, a family cash transfer in childhood was associated with positive adult functioning 20 years later. The findings support programs like the child tax credit or universal basic income that provide cash directly to families with children.”

    Many pieces of research have addressed the link between inequality, poverty, and declining mental health, leading numerous experts to conclude that there is a robust connection between access to financial resources and mental health. For example, a 2022 study found that recipients of state mental health services in New York had much more social adversity in their lives than non-recipients. Another piece of research from 2022 showed that college students with fewer financial resources had more depressive symptoms than their more financially secure classmates. Similarly, researchers have found that psychosis in the United States is inseparable from racism and structural inequality.

    Researchers have pointed to income inequality as a critical component of the United States’ current mental health crisis. For example, one study found that poverty rates in counties across the US were predictive of youth suicide risk. While many psy-professionals may recommend therapy to help counteract the effects of inequality, one study found that psychotherapy is less effective and accessible for people living in poverty.

    In 2015, researchers found that cash payments to people with serious mental health issues reduced depression, anxiety, and social isolation while strengthening the sense of self. A 2021 study in rural Kenya investigated the effects of cash payments on mental health by comparing participants that received cash payments, participants that received five weeks of therapy, and participants that received both. The group that received only cash payments showed significant improvement over the group that received only therapy. The therapy-only group showed no improvement over the control group. The group that received both cash and therapy fared similarly to the group that received only cash, indicating again that therapy resulted in no noticeable improvement. The authors noted that the amount of the cash payments given to participants was less than the cost of the therapy they received.

    The current work uses data from the Great Smokey Mountain Study (GSMS), a piece of longitudinal research that began collecting data on mental health, financial well-being, physical health, etc., in the southeastern United States in 1993. In 1996, an American Indian tribe opened a casino in North Carolina and began to make cash payments of about $5,000 per year to each tribal member. This additional financial resource received by some GSMS participants created an opportunity for researchers to study the effect of such cash payments on mental and physical health. The current work compares children whose families received these payments to families that did not receive payments. The researchers followed the children of these families at 25 and 30 years old to determine if these payments made a lasting difference to the recipient’s physical and mental health.

    The participants whose families received these payments when they were children showed fewer mental health issues, better physical health, and better overall functioning at 25 and 30 years old. The group that received cash payments had one-third of the anxiety symptoms and about half the depression and cannabis use symptoms compared to the group that did not receive payments. The cash payment group participated in nearly half the risky/illegal behavior, was about 33% more likely to be physically healthy, and enjoyed better financial functioning than their no-cash payment counterparts. Alcohol use and social relationships did not show significant differences between groups in the current sample.

    Additionally, the current work found that participants from families where both parents were tribal members receiving a cash payment (doubling the overall payments to the family) showed less anxiety, less depression, fewer issues with cannabis use, less risky and illegal behaviors, increased physical health, and better financial functioning than those where only one parent received payments. Participants whose families received payments for extended periods also showed improved physical health and economic functioning and decreased risky and illegal behaviors.

    According to the authors, this data is evidence that direct cash payments improve outcomes for recipients years into the future. The authors note that differences between the cash payment and non-cash payments groups could be explained by improvements made to the tribal community as a result of the casino, the receiving of additional cash payments in adulthood by participants (the cash payment group began receiving their payments at 18), decreased despair due to the economic benefits of the casino, or increased social cohesion as a result of these some combination of these factors. However, none of this would explain the better outcomes associated with lengthier and larger payments within the cash payment group.

    The authors conclude that unconditional cash payments to families with children, such as those that would happen under universal basic income and child tax credit models, result in improved mental and physical health outcomes for those children even years later. They write:

    “There is currently great interest in efforts to reduce childhood poverty via expansion of the child tax credit as well as proposals for a universal basic income. Such proposals based on unconditional transfers have often been critiqued as inefficient compared with targeted assistance. While this intervention did not specifically target families based on economic need, the census tracts that make up the GSMS are generally rated as low or moderate in terms of childhood opportunity levels (including those areas where most tribal members live). Overall, these findings demonstrate the persisting merits of a simple system that provides parents with the resources to foster the health and functioning of their children as best they see fit.”

    ________________________________

    More about the author: Richard Sears teaches psychology at West Georgia Technical College and is studying to receive a PhD in consciousness and society from the University of West Georgia. He has previously worked in crisis stabilization units as an intake assessor and crisis line operator. His current research interests include the delineation between institutions and the individuals that make them up, dehumanization and its relationship to exaltation, and natural substitutes for potentially harmful psychopharmacological interventions.

    This post was originally published on Basic Income Today.

  • Juvenile Sentencing in the U.S. and the Case of Adnan Syed

    By Lauren E. Bartlett Adnan Syed was seventeen years old when he was charged with an adult crime, tried in adult court, and given an adult sentence (life imprisonment plus 30 years). When he walked out of court on September…

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

  • Young and sick children to be first Australians repatriated from Syrian detention camps

    About 60 wives, sons and daughters of slain or jailed IS combatants to be rescued from Roj camp, but some women face arrest upon return to Australia

    The youngest, most unwell and most vulnerable of the Australian children currently held in squalid Syrian detention camps will be the first ones repatriated to Australia. But some of their mothers could face arrest – and potential charges – upon return to the country.

    The Australian government is currently implementing plans to repatriate about 60 Australian women and children – wives, sons and daughters of slain or jailed Islamic State combatants – who have been held for more than three years in the dangerous detention camps in north-east Syria.

    Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

    Continue reading…

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

  • ‘Painful’ Ofsted report in Herefordshire leads to calls for resignations

    General meeting was held to discuss failing children’s services after an inspection slated its social work as ‘inadequate’ in all areas

    Councillors called for heads to roll at an extraordinary general meeting held to discuss Herefordshire’s failing children’s services after an Ofsted inspection slated its social work as “inadequate” in all areas.

    After a slew of damning high court judgments since 2018 that detailed how Herefordshire social workers had breached children’s human rights, the criticisms in a recent Ofsted report were described by councillors as “painful”, “extremely upsetting”, and “harrowing”.

    Continue reading…

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

  • Archie Battersbee family says ‘no parent must go through this again’

    Relatives say they want changes to how life-support cases are dealt with after 12-year-old died following withdrawal of care

    Relatives of Archie Battersbee, who died after his life support treatment was withdrawn on Saturday, have called for change in the way such cases are handled, saying they “want something good to come out of this tragedy”.

    The 12-year-old’s parents fought a bitter legal battle to try to stop doctors, who believed Archie to be brain stem dead, from removing treatment. After that failed, they began a fresh legal challenge – also unsuccessful – for him to be moved to a hospice to die.

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

  • Archie Battersbee dies after parents lose legal battle over life support

    Mother says 12-year-old ‘fought until the end’ following withdrawal of treatment at Royal London hospital

    Archie Battersbee, the 12-year-old boy whose parents fought a long-running legal battle to prevent his life support treatment from being removed, has died, his mother has said.

    Speaking outside the Royal London hospital, Hollie Dance said he had “fought right until the very end”.

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  • Archie Battersbee: ruling on hospice move expected on Friday

    Lawyers had requested that 12-year-old be moved from Royal London hospital to spend his last moments in private

    A ruling on whether 12-year-old Archie Battersbee can be moved from hospital to a hospice to die is expected at the high court on Friday morning.

    Lawyers for the boy’s family took part in an hours-long legal hearing on Thursday, with the court in London sitting until late in the evening.

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  • Archie Battersbee: parents say they will fight to move him to a hospice

    Parents of 12-year-old say they should be allowed to choose where their son takes ‘his last moments’

    The parents of 12-year-old Archie Battersbee have pledged to “fight” to get him moved to a hospice, insisting they should be allowed to choose where he takes “his last moments”.

    After the rejection by the European court of human rights of their last-ditch bid to postpone the withdrawal of Archie’s life support, the family now intends to file an application to the high court in London to transfer him out of the Royal London hospital.

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

  • Archie Battersbee’s parents take case to European court of human rights

    Family submit application to Strasbourg-based court in attempt to postpone withdrawal of life support

    The parents of Archie Battersbee have submitted an application to the European court of human rights (ECHR) in an attempt to postpone the withdrawal of his life support.

    Lawyers acting for Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee, from Southend-on-Sea, Essex, had been given a deadline of 9am on Wednesday to submit the application.

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  • Home Office ‘mistakes and delays’ mean girl, 4, must stay trapped in Ukraine

    Alika has a UK sponsor, and applied for visa in March, but is one of few children left in her Kharkiv neighbourhood

    A four-year-old girl remains stranded in a block of flats on the Ukrainian frontline four months after attempts began to bring her to the UK, a delay campaigners have blamed on a series of government “blunders”.

    Efforts to rescue Alika Zubets from the city of Kharkiv began on 21 March when her UK sponsor applied for a visa under the Homes for Ukraine scheme and expected her to reach north Staffordshire by mid-April at the latest. Instead, she remains one of the few children left in her Kharkiv neighbourhood, with no schools or nurseries open and the constant threat of shelling from Russian forces nearby.

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

  • Victims of historic forced adoption deserve apology, ministers told

    Tens of thousands of unmarried mothers had their babies taken away between 1949 and 1976, aided by public institutions

    Ministers should officially apologise to tens of thousands of unmarried mothers in England and Wales who had their babies taken for adoption through a “brutal and cruel” process, MPs and peers have said.

    The joint committee on human rights (JCHR) estimates that 185,000 children were taken from their mothers between 1949 and 1976, and says the government bears ultimate responsibility for the pain and suffering caused by public institutions and state employees involved in the process.

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