Plan Sistematico

 Miércoles, 16 de noviembre de 2011
La periodista de Página/12 Victoria Ginzberg declaró en el juicio sobre el robo de bebés

Pruebas del plan sistemático

Fue convocada por una nota escrita en 2002 referida a los documentos desclasificados por el Departamento de Estado de Estados Unidos. Uno de los papeles revela que el dictador Reynaldo Bignone reconocía en 1982 la apropiación de bebés y se negaba a devolver a los niños a sus familias.


“Toqué con el embajador el tema de los niños, como los chicos nacidos en prisión o los chicos sacados a sus familias durante la guerra sucia. Mientras los desaparecidos estaban muertos, estos niños estaban vivos y esto era, en un sentido, el más grave problema humanitario. El embajador coincidió completamente y ya había hablado esto con su ministro de Relaciones Exteriores y su presidente. Ellos no rechazaron su visión, pero señalaron el problema de, por ejemplo, quitar los chicos a sus padres adoptivos.” El párrafo fue escrito por Elliot Abrams, de la oficina de derechos humanos de la Subsecretaría de Estado norteamericana. Figura en uno de los documentos desclasificados por los Estados Unidos en 2002 que fue publicado en ese momento por Página/12. Se trata de una prueba de la existencia de un plan sistemático para apropiarse de los hijos de desaparecidos, ya que demuestra que el dictador Reynaldo Bignone estaba al tanto del “tema” de los niños apropiados y se negaba a devolverlos a sus familiares para no “quitar a los chicos de sus padres adoptivos”. La periodista de Página/12 Victoria Ginzberg declaró ayer en el juicio oral que lleva adelante el Tribunal Oral Federal 6 y, además de ratificar el contenido de las notas publicadas en 2002 por este diario, profundizó acerca de las menciones a los niños desaparecidos que hay en los papeles del Departamento de Estado de los Estados Unidos.
Uno de los documentos utilizados en la nota titulada “El embajador y el plan sistemático”, del 23 de agosto de 2002, por la que fue convocada la periodista, da cuenta de que el 3 de diciembre de 1982, a la una del mediodía, el por entonces embajador argentino en Estados Unidos, Lucio Alberto García del Solar, se reunió con Abrams en la confitería Jockey Club, en el hotel Ritz-Carlton de Washington. “Había dos temas principales, la certificación (una especie de certificado de buena conducta) y la cuestión de los desaparecidos”, apuntó el funcionario estadounidense al elaborar el memorándum en el que relató el encuentro.
Luego del análisis político, Abrams introdujo el tema de los niños desaparecidos. En este asunto, obtuvo la simpatía personal de García del Solar pero el rechazo oficial del Gobierno, encarnado en el canciller –que por ese entonces era Juan Ramón Aguirre Lanari– y en quien ocupaba la usurpada presidencia, Reynaldo Benito Bignone.

“Yo sugerí que ese problema debería ser manejado por la Iglesia o por una comisión que incluya a la Iglesia, doctores, etc. Las acciones respecto de estos chicos podrían tener un enorme contenido humanitario y político. Nuevamente el embajador dijo que estaba completamente de acuerdo y que tocaría este punto una vez más con Buenos Aires”, prosigue el documento. El papel contiene un par de párrafos que aún permanecen ocultos, ya que el gobierno norteamericano no autorizó su difusión completa. Como podría contener información sensible para el proceso que llevan adelante los jueces María del Carmen Roqueta, Julio Luis Panelo y Domingo Luis Altieri, los abogados de Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, Luciano Hazan y Alan Iud, pidieron que se solicite la difusión completa de dicho documento.

En agosto de 2002, el Departamento de Estado de los Estados Unidos desclasificó 4677 cables sobre violaciones a los derechos humanos cometidas durante la última dictadura militar en la Argentina. La apertura de esos archivos había sido solicitada dos años antes por Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, Madres de Plaza de Mayo Línea Fundadora y el Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales durante una reunión con la entonces secretaria de Estado Madeleine Albright en Buenos Aires. Uno de los aportes de esos papeles fue mostrar que lo que los militares callaban y aún ocultan en público, lo admitían sin tapujos hace 30 años ante funcionarios de la embajada norteamericana.

- Otros cables del Departamento de Estado citados en la nota publicada el 23 de agosto de 2002 y mencionados por la periodista de Página/12 durante su testimonio describen que en el año 1978 los funcionarios norteamericanos eran escépticos sobre la posibilidad de que los militares argentinos llegaran al punto de secuestrar niños o apropiarse de bebés nacidos durante el cautiverio de sus madres. “Nosotros sabemos que el gobierno argentino cree que los adolescentes son capaces de actividad terrorista y que hubo arrestos de adolescentes. (...) Miembros del gobierno declararon a miembros de la embajada que las operaciones no podían estar limitadas por la edad porque un grupo de adolescentes impresionables es un área fértil para la penetración de terroristas y subversivos. Se reportaron un número de casos de adolescentes desaparecidos. Creemos que fueron estos elementos los que originaron las declaraciones sobre chicos desaparecidos”, se asegura en un documento del 29 de septiembre de 1978.

El tiempo les fue demostrando que estaban equivocados. Durante 1979 se fueron incrementando las denuncias que recibían vinculadas a los niños desaparecidos. En un cable de enero de 1979 se mencionan 22 hechos, entre casos de adolescentes y niños pequeños, como Amaral García, de tres años, Pablo Menna, de dos, y Simón Riquelo, de 20 días. Dos meses después, aparece entre los papeles de interés del Departamento de Estado un informe de Amnistía Internacional de marzo de 1979 en el que se habla no sólo de niños desaparecidos sino también de posibles apropiaciones de bebés nacidos durante el cautiverio de sus madres. “Hay reportes no confirmados acerca de que a chicos secuestrados les fueron dadas nuevas identidades y enviados a adopción. Otro grupo de mujeres, que se hicieron conocidas como Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, están buscando nietos que nunca vieron. Las Abuelas sólo saben que sus hijas o nueras estaban embarazadas cuando desaparecieron”, señalaba el organismo de derechos humanos antes de mencionar los nombres de las mujeres que podían haber dado a luz cuando estaban secuestradas, como Liliana Fontana, Silvina Parodi, Beatriz Recchia, María Claudia García Irureta Goyena, Ana María Lancillotto, Mónica María Lemos, entre otros.

- Según se desprende de otro documento, diecisiete días antes de la reunión entre Abrams y García del Solar, las Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo se habían reunido con funcionarios del Departamento de Estado. María Isabel Mariani –por entonces presidenta de la institución– y Estela de Carlotto –vicepresidenta (aparece como Carloti en el papel)– explicaron el 15 de noviembre de 1982 “que representaban a 117 abuelas cuyos 110 nietos fueron secuestrados con sus padres desaparecidos o que nacieron durante la detención de sus padres”. “Dijeron que hay probablemente 400 niños desaparecidos, pero que otros abuelos tienen miedo de denunciar. Las Abuelas no pudieron obtener ninguna respuesta del gobierno argentino sobre sus nietos. Agregaron que están convencidas de que sus nietos están vivos y que la mayoría están ya ubicados con padres adoptivos.” Finalmente, está el memo de la reunión entre Abrams y García del Solar. Allí ambos dan por sentado que los niños fueron secuestrados, que fueron entregados a “familias adoptivas”, y el embajador informa que el dictador Bignone se resistía a la propuesta del funcionario norteamericano que consistía en dar al tema una “salida humanitaria” (es decir devolverlos a sus familias) con intervención de una junta médica o de la Iglesia. Como es sabido, los represores argentinos no entregaron a los niños buscados por las Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo. En estos 34 años el organismo de derechos humanos logró que 105 niños, hoy jóvenes, recuperaran su identidad. Aún quedan 400 casos sin resolver.

Los documentos del Departamento de Estado en los que se hace mención a las Abuelas y al encuentro entre Elliot Abrams y Lucio García del Solar.



Field Trips

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES IN BUENOS AIRES
and  SOKA UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA

24 LC meeting days


Tuesday, January 10
Morning: Arrive in the morning to Buenos Aires
Afternoon: Discussion of schedule of activities in Buenos Aires. Students work on their assigned annotated bibliography for the website.

Wednesday, 11
Genocide, memory and reconciliation
Day: MALBA museum, Museo Evita:

Screening Tomas' place: Victoria, dir. Adrian Jaime (2008).

Evening: Exposicion 200 anios, 200 libros. Recorridos por la cultura argentina. Centro Cultural de la Memoria Haroldo Conti (hasta las 21 hs.) (confirmed)



Thursday, 12
The economic crisis of 2001 and its impact on the life of children
Morning: Visit to the financial district, Casa Rosada, Plaza de Mayo (confirmed)
Afternoon: Screening, 2-4 p.m. Memoria del Saqueo [Social Genocide], Dir. Fernando "Pino" Solanas (2004) (confirmed)
5:30-7:30 p.m. Meeting with economist for a discussion of the social and financial crisis of 2001 (confirmed)


Friday, 13
Student activism and documenting human rights abuses
Morning: 11:00 a.m. (time to be confirmed) interview with activist and docent Leticia Guindi, Nicolás Avellaneda School (Palermo), where students disappeared in the 1970s.
http://www.derhuman.jus.gov.ar/conti/2011/10/mesa_25/guindi_vives_mesa_25.pdf
Afternoon: Interview with Jorge Edwin Torlasco, judge and lawyer, member of the Tribunal that condemned the military Juntas for crimes committed during the last dictatorship, 4 pm (confirmed)
Screening  9:30 pm. La mirada invisible, Diego Lerman, 2010 (to be confirmed)

Saturday, 14
Morning: 11.00 a.m. Meeting with students of Nacional Nicolás Avellaneda, participants of the workshop on Memory led by Leticia Guindi (confirmed)
Afternoon: Field trip to El Tigre. Mini turismo Bambi (confirmed)
http://www.infotigre.com/es/delta/imagenes.asp?ID=39
Reading Reflections for student website and Annotated Bibliography. Upload first photo essay


Sunday, 15
Morning: ESMA, visit to the Museum, 19 y 20.Diez años. Sala 4, 76.11 Fotos: El otro lado de la camara, Centro Cultural de la Memoria Haroldo Conti (confirmed)
Afternoon: Parque de la Memoria (Costanera Sur) (confirmed)
Late afternoon: Conversation with Lior Zylberman, 6 p.m. at Tomas' place: Comparative analysis of film production between the years of 1984-2007 about the last dictatorship (confirmed)

Monday, 16
History of the Dictatorship: grassroots movements
Morning: Visit to the Asociación Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo
http://www.abuelas.org.ar/english/history.htm (to be confirmed)
Afternoon: Recoleta Cementery

Tuesday, 17
Memory and Forensic Anthropology
Morning: Screening at Tomas' place: Organizaciones Horizontales, Dir. Fausta Quattrini (2004)
Afternoon: San Telmo


Wednesday, 18
Genocide and children in Argentina
Morning: Visit to the Equipo Argentino de Antropología Forense (EAAF)
http://www.eaaf.org/ 11 a.m. Rivadavia 2443, 2ndo Piso (4). (confirmed)
Afternoon: Museo Xul Solar
Screening at Tomas' place, 2 p.m.: Screening, Cautiva, Gastón Biraben (2004)
Night: Tango, La Viruta. http://www.lavirutatango.com/

Thursday, 19
Documenting atrocities and political cinema
Morning: ESMA, Guided visit to the detention center 10:00 a.m. (confirmed)
Afternoon: Workshop with Javier Campo, author of Cine Documental, memoria y derechos humanos and Pablo Piedras, co-editor of  Una historia del cine politico y social en Argentina (Vol.1 and 2). 2 p.m. (confirmed)
Update website (clips and transcription of workshop)
Dancing Mood, Centro Cultural Konex, 8 pm.

Friday, 20
Children appropriation and poverty
Morning: Visit to El Jaguar de María, http://www.eljagueldemaria.com.ar/. Departure 9 a.m. (confirmed)
Afternoon: Free
Evening: Ciclo Cine y Literatura, Nadie, nada, nunca, de Raul Beceyro. Centro Cultural de la Memoria, Haroldo Conti. 20 hs.
Readings, reflection in student website

Saturday 21
Morning: Tigre, boat ride.
Afternoon: Readings, Reflections on Blog. Discussion of topics and subtopics in preparation for LC fair.

Sunday 22
La Boca and San Telmo.
Onda Vaga, Centro Cultural Konex, 8 pm.

Monday, 23
Morning: LC meeting. Students update blog entries. Group discussion about LC fair.
Afternoon: LC group travels to Ezeiza airport to return to Soka.

Tuesday, 24
Morning: Off!
Afternoon: Annotated Bibliography
Reading Reflection in student website

Wednesday, 25
Annotated bibliography. Photo essays are due!

Thursday, 26
Reading Reflection in student website and reading reflection comments

Friday, 27
Meeting at night to select film clips from interviews
 Upload photo essays to the website

Saturday January 28 and Sunday January 29
Final website comments
Final project

Monday January 30 and Tuesday January 31
Final Project due
Work on LC Fair

Wednesday, February 1
LC Fair: 15-minute presentations on materials in the website

Violencia sexual


VIOLENCIA SEXUAL Y DICTADURA

ENTRE LA PERSISTENCIA DE LAS VICTIMAS Y EL FIN DE LA IMPUNIDAD: COMO SE FUE CONSTRUYENDO EL CAMINO QUE PERMITIO QUE LOS ABUSOS SEXUALES SUFRIDOS EN CAUTIVERIO FUERAN CONSIDERADOS DELITOS AUTONOMOS DE LESA HUMANIDAD


Por Sonia Tessa
FEMINISMOS

La política del cuerpo

Por Mabel Bellucci
EXPERIENCIAS

La telonera

Por Laura Rosso
DIEZ PREGUNTAS A MAVI DIAZ *

“Tengo ganas de hablar”

Por Clarisa Ercolano
MONDO FISHION

La retratista fetichista

Por Victoria Lescano
VISTO Y LEIDO

Espiral

Por Paula Jimenez
ENTREVISTA

Los ecos del golpe

Por Luciana Peker
EL MEGAFONO)))

Femicidios trans en los medios

Por Claudia Vásquez Haro
RESCATES

En la trinchera

Por Marisa Avigliano
ADIOS > FANNY EDELMAN, 1911-2011

La bruja mayor

Por Claudia Korol




http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/suplementos/las12/index.html

El país|Domingo, 6 de noviembre de 2011
SARA SOLARZ DE OSATINSKY, TESTIGO CLAVE DEL PLAN SISTEMATICO DE APROPIACION DE BEBES DURANTE LA ULTIMA DICTADURA

Parir en la ESMA

Acompañó a quince embarazadas en la Escuela de Mecánica de la Armada. Relata cada uno de esos partos y cuenta cómo se acondicionó un lugar específico para la “maternidad clandestina”, a la que derivaban prisioneras de otros campos.

Por Alejandra Dandan
/fotos/20111106/notas/na03fo01.jpg
La pieza de las embarazadas. Jorge Luis Magnacco. Una mesa. La asepsia. Una sábana verde. Tres embarazadas que se van, una que pare. Una incubadora, un sietemesino. El papelito en el que escribe todos los nombres. Noviembre de 1978, en la Escuela de Mecánica de la Armada, más exactamente 16 o 17 noviembre, dijo Sara Solarz de Osatinsky. “Trajeron a quien nosotros creíamos que era la esposa de Matías y era Patricia Roisinblit, que dio a luz un varón el 18 de noviembre de 1978, una cosa conmovedora, como todos los partos, por supuesto, pero en este caso, como Patricia había estudiado medicina –participó Magnacco como médico–, y en el momento que dio a luz pidió que no le corten el cordón umbilical y se lo pongan sobre el pecho y decía: ‘No me lo saquen, no me lo saquen’, era lo que la unía, la seguía uniendo a ese bebé que nació, a quien si no me equivoco le puso de nombre Rodolfo.”

Pedida por las parturientas de la Escuela de Mecánica de la Armada, Sara Solarz de Osatinsky estuvo en una enorme cantidad de alumbramientos en el centro clandestino más grande de la Marina. Es una de las personas que pueden darle a ese espacio las características y dimensiones de maternidad clandestina. Declaró en la causa por el plan sistemático de robo de bebés, es la testigo acaso más importante del tramo ESMA y uno de los pilares del juicio. Viuda, mujer de Marcos Osatinsky, dirigente de las FAR, uno de los prófugos de Trelew, asesinado. Madre de Mario y de José, asesinados a los 18 y 15 años. Llegó a la ESMA el 14 de mayo de 1977 y hasta noviembre de 1978 observó el desarrollo de quince embarazos: su voz se sumergió durante la audiencia en esos mundos, restituyendo a esas mujeres al mundo de los vivos.

Para leer el resto de este artículo ir:

http://www.pagina12.com.ar/imprimir/diario/elpais/1-180635-2011-11-06.html

Syllabus

Learning Cluster Syllabus, Winter Block 2012
CHILDREN'S RIGHTS IN ARGENTINA: GENOCIDE, ECONOMIC CRISIS AND THE SEARCH FOR JUSTICE

Course description and goals

Children comprise a considerably neglected area in discourse of the protection of human rights. Children occupy an ambiguous juridical space, since they are deemed too immature to be able to defend themselves and raise demands. Their rights are often associated with the rights of their biological parents, as children do not participate in politics and cannot vote. Governmental institutions often neglect them. Most agree that children have very little control over their lives and cannot advocate for the type of world that they would like to live in.

The purpose of this Learning Cluster is to provide students with an intensive working knowledge of the changes in the conception and protection of the rights of children in Argentina through the last civic and military dictatorship and the economic crisis of 2001. It aims to understand how these two events compel Argentineans to reconsider the importance of the incorporation the UN convention on the rights of children into the national constitution. The hands-on experience of interviewing human rights activists, government representatives, children that were appropriated during the dictatorship and the grandmothers who never gave up hope of finding them, will be an educative experience for students both intellectually and emotionally. It will force them to reconsider some of their own notions of what constitutes the rights of a child.

The following are some of the initial questions we would like to explore in the Learning Cluster: What are some of most basic rights of children? What rights do children have that protect them from exploitation, abuse, trafficking, and appropriation? Are children capable of exercising choices and if so, should children have the right to participate in political reforms? Which institutions should represent children, if any? What occurred during the genocide in Argentina and the subsequent economic crisis that affects children's rights? How are Argentine youths currently involved in the efforts to preserve the memory of the political, cultural and social genocide? How has the youth mobilized to face current socio-political issues in the country? And most importantly, how can we learn from their experiences?

We have chosen to conduct on-site research because Argentina’s recent past demonstrates unprecedented abuses to the traditional rights of children that are embraced by almost every culture in the world. The last military dictatorship in Argentina enacted a genocide that left thousands dead and disappeared. Citizens, political activists, intellectuals were kidnapped and imprisoned in clandestine detention centers. They were often tortured and killed. Pregnant women gave birth in captivity, and their babies were appropriated by military personnel or sympathizers of the regime. As a result of such abuses, grassroots human rights organization like the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo sought the assistance of forensic anthropologists (Equipo Argentino de Antropología Forense, EAAF) and DNA researchers in the United States to create a genetic bank that could help them find their biological grandchildren. Since the late 1980s more than 100 of these missing children have been identified, prompting politicians and members of the legal system to rethink constitutional rights in order to ensure that, even during military conflicts, there are certain rights of children and youth that should be upheld. This painful history has informed the legal debates about the rights of children in Argentina for the last 30 years.

Students will spend the first days in Buenos Aires reading books and articles, and watching films about the issues faced by children (and youth) in Argentina in order to gain a foundational knowledge to aid them in their understanding of the field research. The accompanying faculty has secured a location for class meetings. As part of our field research in Buenos Aires, starting the second week, we plan to interview human rights activists and youth who work in organizations dedicated to the protection of rights of children (see attached syllabus). We will also interview victims of state repression who were taken away after their birth in detention centers and given to military families to be raised under the ideology of the dictatorship. They are around 30 years of age now, and two of them Victoria Donda and Juan Cabandié have recently been elected to the Congress. We also plan to interview filmmakers, lawyers, judges and governmental officials who work to unearth the past and face contemporary problems such as child trafficking. We will visit the genetic bank in Buenos Aires and meet with members of the world-renown EEAF.

Topics and goals
Some of the general topics and goals of the Learning Cluster are:

1. Gain an understanding of the human rights abuses that took place during years of the last dictatorship and the economic crisis. We will research the ongoing trials against genocidal criminals and their impact in national legislation (e.g. the right to identity, Law 23.054)


2. Investigate the youths’ efforts to preserve the memory of genocide and their efforts for reconciliation


3. Research the appropriation of children and that took place during the years of the dictatorship


4. Facilitate and create long lasting relationships between youth activists in Argentina and the students participating in the Learning Cluster to further the cause of the rights of children (and youth)


5. Understand the ways in which children and youth are creating value out of the limitations of their rights, and the ways we can learn from their experiences

Assignments:

4 responses to readings (annotated bibliography, 2 pages each) 45%

Participation 30%

Web development (uploading of photo essays, film clips, newspaper 25%
articles, links to organizations, transcription of interviews, annotated bibliography)

Grading system and Final Project

Upon returning to campus students will discuss the outcome of their research and will collaborate in the creation of a website. This website will be used as a tool to spread awareness on the issues researched in Argentina, and share it with the rest of the campus community during the Learning Cluster Fair (for an example of a website of a previous LC led by Crowder-Taraborrelli go to http://crowderlearningcluster.blogspot.com). 

Disability Issues:
If you require academic accommodations based on a documented disability during this course, please see me early on.


SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Allen, Anita Lafrance. Rights, Children and Education. 1979. Print.
Ang, Fiona. Participation Rights of Children. Antwerpen: Intersentia, 2006. Print.
Archard, David, and Colin M. MacLeod. The Moral and Political Status of Children: New Essays. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2002. Print.
Archard, David, and Colin M. MacLeod. The Moral and Political Status of Children: New Essays. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2002. Print.
Arditti, Rita. Searching for Life: the Grandmothers of the Plaza De Mayo and the Disappeared Children of Argentina. Berkeley: University of California, 1999. Print.
Bouvard, Marguerite Guzman. Revolutionizing Motherhood: the Mothers of the Plaza De Mayo. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1994. Print.
Browning, Don S., M. Christian Green, and John Witte. Sex, Marriage, and Family in World Religions. New York: Columbia UP, 2006. Print.
Holt, John Caldwell. Escape from Childhood: the Needs and Rights of Children. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1975. Print.
Humphrey, Michael. The Politics of Atrocity and Reconciliation: from Terror to Trauma. London: Routledge, 2002. Print.
Jaroslavsky, Andrés. The Future of Memory: Children of the Dictatorship in Argentina Speak. London: Latin American Bureau, 2004. Print.
Jelin, Elizabeth, and Federico Lorenz. Educación Y Memoria: La Escuela Elabora El Pasado. Madrid: Siglo XXI, 2004. Print.
Kaiser, Susana. Postmemories of Terror: a New Generation Copes with the Legacy of the "Dirty War" New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. Print.
Koonings, Kees, and Dirk Kruijt. Societies of Fear: the Legacy of Civil War, Violence and Terror in Latin America. London: Zed, 1999. Print.
LeBlanc, Lawrence J. The Convention on the Rights of the Child: United Nations Lawmaking on Human Rights. Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 1995. Print.
Lessa, Francesca, and Vincent Druliolle. The Memory of State Terrorism in the Southern Cone: Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. Print.
MacCormick, Neil. Legal Right and Social Democracy Essays in Legal and Political Philosophy. Oxford [u.a.: Clarendon, 1986. Print.
O'Neill, Onora, and William Ruddick. Having Children: Philosophical and Legal Reflections on Parenthood : Essays. New York: Oxford UP, 1979. Print.
Purdy, Laura Martha. In Their Best Interest?: the Case against Equal Rights for Children. Ithaca and London: Cornell UP, 1992. Print.
Roht-Arriaza, Naomi. The Pinochet Effect Transnational Justice in the Age of Human Rights. Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania, 2006. Print.
Rutgers, Catherine. Creating a World Fit for Children: Understanding the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. New York: International Debate Education Association, 2011. Print.
Sumner, L. W. The Moral Foundation of Rights. Oxford [Oxfordshire: Clarendon, 1987. Print.
Verhellen, Eugeen. Convention on the Rights of the Child: Background, Motivation, Strategies, Main Themes. Antwerp: Garant, 2006. Print.
Williamson, David. Birthrights. 2002. Print.

SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY

Cautiva, Gastón Biraben (2004)
H.I.J.O.S: el alma en dos, Dir. Carmen Guarini, Marcelo Céspedes (2001)
La mirada invisible, Diego Lerman, (2010)
The Dignity of the Nobodies, Dir. Fernando "Pino" Solanas (2005)



Amnesty International, Rights of Children

[from the Amnesty International website]


CHILDREN AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Across the world children are denied their human rights, including for example, their right to education. They are recruited into armed forces. They are subjected to the death penalty, are disappeared, are punished by cruel and inhumane methods and suffer many other forms of violence.
Child soldiers

Worldwide, hundreds of thousands of children under 18 have been affected by armed conflict.

They are recruited into government armed forces, paramilitaries, civil militia and a variety of other armed groups. Often they are abducted at school, on the streets or at home. Others enlist “voluntarily”, usually because they see few alternatives. Yet international law prohibits the participation in armed conflict of children aged under 18.

It means that in reality girls and boys illegally and under force, participate in combat where frequently they are injured or killed. Others are used as spies, messengers, porters, servants or to lay or clear landmines. Girls are at particular risk of rape and other sexual abuse.

Such children are robbed of their childhood and exposed to terrible dangers and to psychological and physical suffering.
Other forms of violence against children

Children routinely face other violence - at school, in institutions meant for their protection, in juvenile detention centres and too often in their own homes.

Violence against children happens in all parts of the world.

A small - and diminishing - number of countries execute those who were children at the time of their offences. Since 2004, only China, Iran, Pakistan and Sudan have put child offenders to death. Ending the execution of child offenders is a major objective in itself and an important step on the road to total abolition of the death penalty.


THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION

Everyone has the right to education—which should be available free to all at least at the primary level. Education is also indispensable in realizing other human rights.

Across the world many children miss out on their education because:
they are made to work,
they are recruited into armed forces,
their families do not have the means to pay for schooling,
discrimination and racism undermine their chance to receive an education,
they face violence as they pursue their education.

School fees and related costs are a common barrier to education. These charges - which may be called “voluntary” quotas, matriculation fees or examination costs - are a greater burden for children from poor families, and they disproportionately affect those who are racial and ethnic minorities, members of Indigenous communities and migrants.

Girls are more likely to be excluded from school than boys when there isn’t enough money to go round.

Key facts
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted in 1989 to protect the rights of children, is the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history. It encompasses civil rights and freedoms, family environment, basic health and welfare, education, leisure and cultural activities and special protection measures for children.
There are estimated to be between 100 million and 150 million street children in the world, and this number is growing. Of those some 5-10% have run away from or been abandoned by their families.
Under international law, the participation of children under 18 in armed conflict is generally prohibited, and the recruitment and use of children under 15 is a war crime.
Around 4,500 children are currently in detention in Pakistan. More than 3,000 of them have not been convicted of any offence; their trials have either still yet to start or have not yet been completed.

Examples of what Amnesty International is doing
As a member of the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, Amnesty International works to end the recruitment of children into armed forces and to reintegrate former child soldiers back into civilian life.
Amnesty International has recommended that Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia take immediate action to prohibit discrimination against Roma in education, and take further steps towards eliminating discrimination against Romani children and promoting equality in education.
Around the world, Amnesty International members, including its Youth and Student network, are campaigning to prevent the unnecessary imprisonment of children in Pakistan.

Success story
On 25 May 2000, the UN General Assembly adopted the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. This represents a milestone in protecting children from participation in armed conflicts.

107 states were parties to the Protocol including three of the five permanent members of the Security Council (France, UK and USA) but not the Russian Federation and China. Although the Russian Federation has signed the Protocol, it has yet to ratify it and to incorporate it into national law.

To mark the sixth anniversary of the Protocol’s adoption, Amnesty International, together with the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, called on the Russian Federation to ratify it without any further delay and set 18 years as the standard minimum age for voluntary recruitment into its armed forces.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/children