The Rights Of The Child 1t1p1n

Introduction Children are humans with rights that are entitled to respect and protection. Their age and size do not diminish these rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) declares that children are entitled to special care and assistance, owing to their vulnerability, dependence, and inability to speak out. Sometimes, adults take children for granted, belittle their opinions, or worse treat them as properties, robots, or toys. There are many cases of parents dictating their children and where communication is a one-way traffic. There are also instances where misfit parents take advantage of the inexperience of children in order to further their less than noble agenda of greed, vanity, or redemption at perceived personal failures. Thus, we see children married of to foreigners or forced to work as domestics for debt bondage in order to “raise the family,” children forced to pursue a life which the parents wanted for themselves but failed to achieve, or very little children who are forced to beauty contests and all kinds of contests for the perceived glamour that they are supposed to bring to the parents. Background On September 20, 1990, the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) entered into force. It defines a child as a person under 18 years of age, unless he attains majority earlier under a law applicable to him, and declares that “the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including the appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth.” The Convention advocates the following principles: a. The best interest of the child shall be the primary consideration in actions concerning children: b. States parties shall ensure the maximum extent possible for the survival and development of the child, and recognizes the child’s right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health; c. A child has the right to express his/her views freely in all matters affecting him/her and the views of the child shall be given due weight in accordance with his/her age and maturity; d. The child shall have the right to freedom of expression (subject to certain restrictions); e. States shall respect the rights of the child to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion; f. States Parties recognize the rights of the child to freedom of association and the freedom to peaceful assembly; g. No child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his/her privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his/her honour and reputation; 1

h. The child has the right to education and standard of living adequate for his/her development; i. The child has the right to rest and leisure and to be protected from economic exploitation. The Philippines is a member of the Convention of the Rights of the Child, together with 191 other countries. This convention is the most-ratified treaty, with only the United States and Somalia as the remaining states which have not ratified CRC. Philippine laws and regulations concerning children Among the Philippine laws ed for the protection of children are: 1. The Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act (RA 9344); 2. Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act (RA 7610); 3. Act Providing for the Elimination of Worst Forms of Child Labor (RA 9231); 4. Anti-Child Pornography (RA 9775); 5. Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children Act (RA 9262); 6. Anti-Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children (RA 9208). RA 9344- The Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act Minors exempt from criminal liability The following Children In Conflict with the Law (CICL) are exempt from criminal liability: 1. Those who are fifteen (15) years old or below; 2. Those who are over fifteen (15) years old and under eighteen (18) years old, when acting without discernment; 3. Those who committed acts punished under Article 202 of the Revised Penal Code; 4. Those who committed acts punished under PD 1563; 5. Those who committed acts punished under PD 1619. RA 7610- The Anti-Child Abuse Law This is a landmark legislation for the protection of children from abuses. Many of the crimes incorporated under this law are already punished in the Revised Penal Code, but when the victim is a child, special laws and rules apply. The penalties are higher, if only to stress the greater need to protect from cruelty and abuses. 2

“Child abuse” refers to the maltreatment, whether habitual or not, of the child which includes any of the following: 1. Psychological and physical abuse, neglect, cruelty, sexual abuse, and emotional maltreatment; 2. Ant act by deeds or words which debases, degrades, or demands the intrinsic worth and dignity of a child as a human being; 3. Unreasonable deprivation of his basic needs for survival, such as food and shelter; or 4. Failure to immediately give medical treatment to an injured child resulting in serious impairment of his growth and development or in his permanent incapacity or death. RA 9321- Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor The International Labor Organization (ILO) adopted the Convention Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor (also known as C-182 or Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention) in 1999. This convention was ratified by the Philippines on November 28, 2000. On December 19, 2003, Republic Act 9231 entitled, “An Act Providing for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor and Affording Stronger Protection for the Working Child,” was approved. The said law enumerated and defined the worst forms of child labor, the working age of children and the persons whom they can work for, the hours of work, the ownership, usage and management of the working child’s income, and penal provisions for violations of the law. The phrase “worst forms of child labor” shall refer to any of the following: “(1) All forms of slavery, as defined under the “Anti-trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, or practices similar to slavery such as sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labor, including recruitment of children for use in armed conflict; or “(2) The use, procuring, offering or exposing of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances; or “(3) The use, procuring or offering of a child for illegal or illicit activities, including the production and trafficking of dangerous drugs and volatile substances prohibited under existing laws; or

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“(4) Work which, by it’s nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is hazardous or likely to be harmful to the health, safety or morals of children, such that it: “(a) Debases, degrades or demeans the intrinsic worth and dignity of a child as a human being; or “(b) Exposes the child to physical, emotional or sexual abuse, or is found to be highly stressful psychological or may prejudice morals; or “(c) Is performed underground, underwater or at dangerous heights; or “(d) Involves the use of dangerous machinery, equipment and tools such as power-driven or explosive power-actuated tools; or “(e) Exposes the child to physical danger such as, but not limited to the dangerous feats of balancing, physical strength or contortion, or which requires the manual transport of heavy loads; or “(f) I performed in an unhealthy environment exposing the child hazardous working conditions, elements, substances, co-agents or processes involving ionizing, radiation, fire, flammable substances, noxious components and the like, or to extreme temperatures, noise levels, or vibrations; or “(g) Is performed under particularly difficult conditions; or “(h) Exposes the child to biological agents such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, protozoans, nematodes and other parasites; or “(i) Involves the manufacture or handling of explosives and other pyrotechnic products.” RA 9975- Anti-Child Pornography “Child pornography” refers to any representation, whether visual, audio, or written combination thereof, by electronic, mechanical, digital, optical, magnetic or any other means, of child engaged or involved in real or simulated explicit sexual activities. The Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009 not only protects children who are victims of pornographic exhibitions, but also those who, regardless of age, are presented or portrayed as a child in such exhibitions. Section 3 provides that the term “Child” refers to a person below eighteen (18) years of age or over, but is unable to fully take care of himself/herself from abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation or discrimination because of a physical or mental disability or condition.

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For the purpose of this Act, a child shall also refer to: (1) A person regardless of age who is presented, depicted or portrayed as a child as defined herein; and (2) Computer-generated, digitally or manually crafted images or graphics of a person who is represented or who is made to appear to be a child as defined herein.” Violations of the law carry heavy penalties. The law also requires the inspection and regulation of internet cafes and kiosks by local government units in order to safeguard the children who are using these commercial establishments. Internet service providers, internet content hosts, mall owners and other establishments are required to stop child pornography activities committed in their premises and notify the authorities immediately, under pain of penalty. RA 10363- Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children The Philippines is currently in Tier 2 in the US Global Trafficking in Persons Report, a standing which is deemed an improvement of it’s previous Tier 2 Watchlist ranking in 2009 and 2010. This means that the country has complied with the minimum standards set by the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act, but that human trafficking still persists. The ranking comes with financial aid from the United States, which could have been diminished if not totally withheld if the country retained it’s Tier 2 Watchlist for a certain period. As a country sending roughly ten percent (10%) of it’s population abroad to live and/or work, the Philippines is one of the biggest source of trafficked victims. It is also, to a lesser extent, a transit point and a destination. The domestic cases of trafficking vary from commercial sexual exploitation, to mail-order bride schemes, to organ trafficking and debt bondage. RA 10364, which was approved by President Benigno S. Aquino III on February 6, 2013, defines trafficking in persons as “the recruitment, obtaining, hiring, providing, offering, transportation, transfer, maintaining, harbouring, or receipt of persons with or without the victim’s consent or knowledge, within or across national borders by means of threat, or use of force, or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or of position, taking advantage of the vulnerability of the person having control over another person for the purpose of exploitation which includes at a minimum, the exploitation or the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery, servitude or the removal or sale of organs.

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The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, adoption, or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation or when the adoption is induced by any form of consideration for exploitative purposes shall also be considered as ‘trafficking in persons’ even if it does not involve any of the means set forth in the preceding paragraph.” (Section 3, RA 10364) RA 10364 punishes four (4) classes of acts, namely: a) Acts of human trafficking under Section 4; b) Acts that promote human trafficking under Section 8; c) Causing the publication of the identity of the victim in a human trafficking case by the media under Section 10; d) Use of trafficked persons under Section 13. Acts which fall under the category of Qualified Trafficking under Section 6 of RA 10364 carry the penalty of life imprisonment and a fine of not less than Two million pesos (P 2, 000, 000.00) but not more than Five million pesos (P 5, 000, 000.00). Under the 2013 expanded law on trafficking, accomplices and accessories also incur criminal liability. A new section on the extraterritorial application of the law on trafficking is provided, as follows: - “The State shall exercise jurisdiction over any act defined and penalized under this Act, even if committed an offense at the place of commission, the crime being a continuing offense, having been commenced in the Philippines and other elements having been committed in another country, if suspected or accused: “(a) Is a Filipino citizen; or “(b) Is a permanent resident of the Philippines; or “(c) Has committed the act against a citizen of the Philippines. “No prosecution may surrender or extradite persons accused of trafficking in the Philippines to the appropriate international court if any, or to another State pursuant to the applicable extradition laws and treaties.” Section 23, RA 10364).

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Conclusion In the Philippines, children enjoy little by way of autonomy, much less individual rights. They are viewed simply and strictly as of a family, which is presumed to always be acting for the good of all. Bur experience and lurid headlines and TV/movie dramas tell us a different story. In many families, children are viewed as “property” to be exploited as their parents see fit. Examples extend from beggars carrying infants and very young children, who may or may not be their own children, in the hot sun and braving heavy traffic, the better to attract sympathy; to parents consenting to, if not actively pimping, their children to pedophiles or sexual entrepreneurs. We also know of children used as unpaid labor on farms or households, most probably with their own consent, to help out the family in dire straits. There had been also cases involving parents committing incestuous acts against their minor children. The places of commission of these crimes would reveal that pornographic exhibitions in the media, the usual scapegoat, could not have been the major influence because of the remoteness of those places and their inaccessibility to most forms of media. Rather, it is highly probable that ignorance, lack of understanding of parental responsibility, lack of respect for children as individuals, and twisted sense of sexuality were the factors that contributed to their commission. On a different plane, the Supreme Court, by way of an amendment to the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law, prohibited health center personnel from providing family planning advice, supplies or services to minors unless they can present written consent from their parents. This is problematic from the point of view of practically alone, but more so when we consider how adolescents are still viewed as being under the authority of their parents, unable to decide for themselves whether and how they will access knowledge and the services they need to ensure their health and well-being, if not their future altogether.

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