On International Missing Children’s Day, GJI salutes the volunteers who offer hope

Children go missing for a wide array of reasons.  Some are parentally kidnapped when relationships between co-parents sour.  Others are trafficked for sexual or labor exploitation.  And still others are sent overseas for the purpose of being forced into early marriage.  Whatever the underlying facts or circumstances, the impact is invariably devastating on children and families.

In 1983 President Ronald Reagan proclaimed May 25 National Missing Children’s Day, a day to commemorate missing and abducted children who have been restored to their families, reaffirm our commitment to making child protection a national priority, and redouble efforts to locate and recover missing children.  The International Community has adopted the same day to observe International Missing Children’s Day.

This International Missing Children’s Day, GJI salutes the many volunteers who donate their time and expertise to help protect and recover internationally missing children.  We celebrate the members of Team HOPE - mothers, fathers, siblings and extended family members, of missing or sexually exploited children – who have turned their personal tragedies into vital lifelines of support for other families.  We honor the adult survivors (formerly missing children) at Take Root who share their experiences to improve America’s missing-child response.  And, we tip our hats to the volunteer lawyers of the U.S. State Department’s Attorney Network who represent low-income left-behind parents of internationally abducted children pro bono in the U.S. courts.

Missing Children’s Day is also an apropos occasion for parents to visit the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children for tips on how to keep kids safe.

Language-access barriers impede democracy

Language Access issues are on the minds of many Californians with the state’s Primary Election less than two weeks away.  Counties are translating election materials into key high-needs languages to ensure that major limited-English-proficient (LEP) voting populations have meaningful access to the polls on Election Day, and advocates are on the lookout for other language-access barriers that have plagued past elections.  Christopher Punongbayan, Deputy Director at the Asian Law Caucus, told New America Media:

The main thing we’re going to be monitoring for, one of the biggest issues that comes up on Election Day, is the availability of bilingual poll workers at the poll sites.  In…2010…there were not an adequate number of bilingual election officials present at the polls. At one polling site, the worker told the voters to come back later because there weren’t enough bilingual poll workers available. So basically the voters were refused their right to wait in line, to get their ballot. The other thing will be the availability of the translated election materials. In some instances in the past, poll sites were set up such that the bilingual materials were not available. At poll sites where the workers are not adequately trained they only put out what they think is needed rather than what the law requires, which is all the materials in all the mandated languages.

According to the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), California is home to the largest foreign-born LEP population in the United States – approximately 5,807,401 persons, to be precise – many of whom are eligible to vote.  46.5% of California’s naturalized U.S. citizens age 5 and older are limited- or non-English-proficient.  A report by the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC) underscores the disparate impact that language-access barriers have on communities of color:

California’s democracy is challenged by low voter participation in communities of color. Poll monitoring efforts…reveal that communities of color, especially those with large populations of new voters and/or limited English proficient voters, must often overcome significant language barriers to voting. A recent Public Policy Institute of California study found that the state’s electorate does not reflect California’s racial diversity, with persons of color making up over half of California’s adult population but only three out of ten likely voters…Many systemic barriers to voting, particularly those faced by new and limited English proficient voters, can be addressed by ensuring compliance with existing federal and state laws mandating language assistance at the polls.

LEP voters whose language groups meet or exceed a minimum threshold percentage of the overall population are entitled, by law, to access the polls at the same level as native English speakers.  Democracy cannot flourish if millions of voters are excluded from participating in the electoral process.

Secretary Clinton pledges to improve U.S. response to international parental abduction

In a somber address during a May 16th Open House on International Parental Abduction, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton pledged her commitment to bring abducted U.S. children home, increase federal interagency collaboration, and push nonsignatory countries to ratify the 1980 Hague Abduction Convention:

I’m sorry that you’ve had this terrible experience of being separated from your child or your children. One day is too long, years is just unthinkable. There’s really not much that I or any of our officials can say that will fill the anger and frustration, disappointment, the big hole in the center of your hearts, but we wanted you to come today so at least you would know what we are trying to do to help you be reunited … I decided that we would redouble, triple our efforts to do everything we possibly could. Assistant Secretary Janice Jacobs was eager to partner with me to try to figure out a path forward.

Less than half of the world’s sovereign states are currently U.S. treaty partners under the 1980 Hague Abduction Convention, and a number of partner countries are not complying with their treaty obligations.  “We believe that The Hague Convention is the best tool for deterring and resolving abductions” said Secretary Clinton, ”so we want more and more countries to join.”  She encouraged left-behind parents to share their ideas about how to improve the U.S. response to international parental kidnapping and bring abducted children home.  Both Secretary Clinton and President Obama have raised individual missing children’s cases at the highest levels during diplomatic visits abroad.

Forced-marriage/torture survivor speaks out

A brave young girl who survived unimaginable abuse in her forced marriage, including rape and torture at the hands of her husband and inlaws, shares her heart wrenching story with CNN: WATCH INTERVIEW.

Tortured Afghan teen on attackers: ‘The same should be done to them’, by Nick Paton Walsh and Ashley Fantz, CNN (11:59 AM EDT, Wed May 9, 2012).

Dutch tackle forced marriage, refuse to recognize underage spouses

According to Dutch News, lawmakers in The Netherlands are cracking down on forced marriage by setting 18 as the minimum legal age to consent to wed:

Ministers have agreed to stop the under-18s getting married in the Netherlands. In addition, officials will only recognise marriages involving minors which were carried out abroad if both partners are 18 when they apply to have their wedding approved in the Netherlands.

The new regulation could discourage parents from forcing their underage children into early marriages or, alternatively, prompt them to strand underage brides abroad – in countries with few or no protections from human rights violations – until they turn eighteen.

READ MORE: Ministers agree new rules to reduce forced marriages, Dutch News (March 23, 2012).

Language access and preliterate limited-English speakers

Many people living in the United States have migrated here from countries where they were denied the access to free public education that we have come to take for granted.  Preliterate non-English speakers can be especially vulnerable to rights deprivations due to lack of access to critical information.  So, how can service providers communicate language access rights and available language services to both preliterate and literate limited-and non-English proficient (LEP/NEP) persons?  Check out this 5-minute video to find out how…

Legal Services of New Jersey produced this video to explain the free language access services that NEP and LEP persons are entitled, by law, to receive from federal agencies and federally-funded organizations.  The video is currently available in two high-need languages, Spanish and Haitian Creole.

And, in order to help legal services providers fulfill their obligations and uphold LEP clients’ langauge access rights, Northwest Justice Project produced this twenty-minute training video with funding from the Legal Services Corporation: Language Access 101: Incorporating Language Access Laws into Your Own Legal Practice.

Kudos to these agencies and others like them who are developing similar resources designed to reach the linguistic communities that they serve.  Equally critical informational resources for LEP/NEP persons with impaired hearing or vision are often lacking.

U.S. Senate reauthorizes VAWA

Kudos to the U.S. Senate for reauthorizing the 1994 Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) with strong bipartisan support!  The renewed and improved VAWA provides critical additional resources for immigrant men, women and children fleeing violence. These include:

• An increased number of visas available to undocumented victims of domestic violence;
• A ban against discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender victims of domestic violence; and
• Increased authority to Native American tribes to address domestic violence.

Vice President Joe Biden, who sponsored the bill when he was a senator, had this to say: “The Senate’s action today reaffirms that addressing this problem is bigger than politics.  In 2012, we should be beyond questioning the need for the Violence Against Women Act.”

“Expanding coverage for domestic violence should never have been controversial,” remarked Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), “Where a person lives, who they love, or what their citizenship status may be should not determine whether or not their perpetrators are brought to justice.”

READ MORE: Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Overwhelmingly Passes Senate, HuffPost (April 26, 2012).

Parental kidnapping – through the eyes of a child

Young Sean Goldman’s first-ever media interview with Dateline’s Meredith Vieira this Friday at 10 p.m. ET/PT is sure to be a reminder of the devastating impact that parental kidnapping has on children and families.  After Sean was abducted from his New Jersey home by his mother and taken to Brazil, Sean’s father, David Goldman, relentlessly pursued his son’s return.  Last May, in his testimony before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Goldman described his agonizing separation from his son:

For five and one half years, I walked in the shoes of the Left-Behind Parent. I lived in a world of despondency and desperation, with a searing pain throughout my entire being. Everywhere I turned I saw an image of my abducted child. Sleep was hard to come by and never restful. If I smiled, I felt guilt. When I saw children, whether it was in the store, a park, on television or even on my charter boat, where clients often take their families for a day on the water, it was more than painful. For the longest time it was too painful to be around my own family members. I couldn’t even be around my nieces and nephews. It was too painful…I felt like a dead man walking.

Reunited with Sean after an epic court battle spanning half a decade and more than four thousand miles, David Goldman shared his story in his book, “A Father’s Love.”  The nonprofit, Bring Sean Home Foundation, co-founded by Goldman following his son’s safe return, is a testament to the fact that Sean’s recovery never lessoned his father’s resolve to advocate on behalf of other parents whose children are still missing.

Parental kidnapping – what’s the harm?

According to KSDK news, police have located five-year-old Porter, a missing St. Louis boy, and safely reunited him with his custodial mother.  Porter was awaiting a heart transplant when his father kidnapped him from the Children’s Hospital.  Felony arrest warrants issued for the boy’s father and grandmother based on charges of kidnapping, custodial interference, and endangering the welfare of a child.  the abduction comes in the midst of a child custody battle.  Officials say that, at the time he was abducted, Porter was wearing an IV bag containing only 48 hours worth of medication.  The case serves as a sobering reminder that parental kidnapping can place children at grave risk of harm.

LEARN MORE: Porter Stone found after St. Louis Children’s Hospital kidnapping, KSDK news, St. Louis (April 2012).

Language access and the presidential campaign

Language access could prove a critical tool for candidates hoping to reach and mobilize a substantial U.S. voter demographic in this year’s presidential election.  Many of the 25 million limited- and non-English proficient (LEP/NEP) persons residing in the United States are registered voters.  Savvy candidates know that Spanish is the second most common language spoken in the United States, home to the world’s fifth largest Spanish-speaking population.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 35 million people – or 12% of U.S. residents – speak Spanish at home.  That’s why Spanish-language campaign ads are increasingly cropping up in key U.S. states.

READ MORE: Obama Por América, TIME (April 18, 2012).

Victim and her cleric husband speak out against early marriage

According to IPS, “It was personal experience that turned Gul Bano and her cleric husband, Ahmed Khan, into ambassadors against early marriage.”  Bano was forced into marriage upon turning fifteen, and became pregnant soon thereafter.  Following a grueling three-day labor, IPS reports, Bano’s baby was stillborn and Bano developed a painful and socially embarrassing medical complication commonly corollary to early childbearing.  The condition, obstetric fistula, allows excretory matter to flow out through the birth canal:

Unable to handle the prolonged labour, Bano’s young body had developed a fistula caused by the baby’s head pressing hard against the lining of the birth canal and tearing into the walls of her rectum and the bladder.

Incontinence, chronic bladder infections, painful genital ulcerations, infertility and kidney failure are common consequences of fistula.  Bano told IPS that, following the delivery, her father refused to visit her because she was constantly wet with urine and reeking of faecal matter.  It was her cleric husband, Khan, who stood by Bano’s side.

Three years and six operations later, Bano has become an advocate, sharing her story with other women and teaching them about the importance of birth spacing, antenatal checkups, and emergency obstetric care.  Bano’s husband, Khan, joins his wife in the movement to eradicate early marriage and the harms that flow therefrom.  Dr. Shershah Syed, a gynecologist at Koohi Goth Women’s Hospital, where fistula victims are treated free, told IPS:

Khan is a cleric and yet he does not conform to the stereotype of a religious person.  He tells parents that fistula can be avoided if they stop marrying off their daughters at a very early age.*

GJI Forced Marriage Prevention Initiative Director, Julia Alanen, cautions against framing harmful marriage practices as exclusive to any one particular ethnic or religious group:

Nearly every ethnic community in the world, and members of nearly every known religion, share a common history of harmful marriage customs… Because religious leaders hold a position of considerable influence and authority in their communities, they are uniquely positioned to shape social mores and marriage practices.  Religious leaders can assume a leadership role in advancing interpretations of religious doctrine that promote gender equality, condemn gender-based violence, and encourage the abandonment of harmful customs and practices, including forced and early marriage.

The first U.S. national forced marriage survey, conducted in 2011 by the Virginia-based Tahirih Justice Center, revealed cases involving families from 56 different countries of origin and a diverse range of religions.

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READ MORE:

Fistula – Another Blight on the Child Bride, By Zofeen Ebrahim, IPS (April 12, 2012).

J. Alanen, A Question of Consent: Forced and Early Marriage in the United States, Children’s Legal Rights Journal (forthcoming, Summer 2012).

‘Honor’-based violence in America

According to CBS News, ‘honor’-based violence is not limited to distant others in developing countries:

Although many Americans may think that phenomena such as forced marriages and so-called “honor killings” exist only overseas, social service agencies, educators, and a growing number of law enforcement personnel know differently.

CBS says U.S. authorities have failed to capture data about ‘honor’-based crimes: “No national or state agency attempts to collect data on any kind of “honor” violence, including murders.  But we know they are taking place…”

Det. Chris Boughey of Arizona’s Peoria Police Department, was the lead investigator in the ’honor’ killing of 20-year-old Noor Almaleki.  According to TIME, Noor’s father ran her down in a parking lot as punishment for allegedly shaming herself and dishonoring her family by abandoning the marriage arranged by her parents and pursuing a relationship with a man of her own choosing.  Det. Boughey told CBS:

We don’t have the mechanisms in place here in the U.S. to take care of these girls. What do we do with a teenager runaway? Ninety-nine percent of the time, we take her home. But some of these girls end up getting killed.

In January, the murders of a Canadian woman and three girls by the girls’ father and brother brought heavy media attention to ‘honor’-based violence in North America. A New York Times article reports that, after the women’s bodies were found submerged in a car, “police wiretaps recorded the [girls'] father, Mohammad Shafia…saying that his daughters had disgraced him by dating and wearing what he thought was inappropriate clothing.”

Last month, 19-year-old Aiya Al-Tameemi was severely punished for refusing to marry the 38-year-old groom that her parents picked out for her.  According to Reuters, Phoenix authorities recently arrested Aiya’s mother on allegations that she padlocked Aiya to a bed and burned her hands and chest.  Aiya’s younger sister was also arrested for allegedly holding Aiya down during the assault.

In response to Aiya’s beating and Noor’s murder, Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, authored an editorial that appeared in the Arizona Republic and USA Today, saying: “For every Noor Al-Maleki and Aiya Al-Tameemi, there are hundreds of other cases of honor abuse, from the mild to the extreme, that are often brought on by things like dating, drinking, [or] dressing ‘immodestly’.”

Videoconferencing technology brings langauge access to litigants

According to The Journal, last Thursday, a court technology demonstration showcased West Virginia’s plan for providing federally-mandated language access services to litigators.  Foreign language interpreters will be piped in via multi-cast videoconferencing.  Chief Judge Eric T. Washington, of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and president of the Conference of Chief Justices, attended the event. Here’s what he had to say:

I think it’s going to be a great benefit as we, the Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of State Court Administrators, convene this fall to discuss how to develop plans to provide language access to those individuals who are limited English proficient… There are a lot of states that have courthouses in rural areas who don’t have ready access to interpreters… Setting up something like this is certainly much less expensive, and we are all facing, as you know, dramatic budget cuts in most state court systems.

READ MORE: Jefferson hosts court demonstration: W.Va. has cost-effective way to provide long-distance interpreters, By Edward Marshall, The Journal (April 6, 2012).

At long last, DHS publishes Language Access Plan

Nearly twelve years after the passage of Executive Order 13166, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has, at long last, published its first Language Access Plan. Tamara Kessler, Acting Officer for the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties says:

At DHS, we recognize the importance of being able to communicate effectively with individuals across our many missions and functions. That’s why I’m proud to announce that DHS has published its first-ever Language Access Plan to address the language needs of persons with limited English proficiency (LEP)…. While we achieved a milestone with the LEP Plan, there is still more work to be done. This year, each DHS Component is required to complete its own language access plan that will further implement the Department’s policy to provide meaningful access for LEP persons.

Few, if any, federal agencies impact more LEP immigrants more profoundly than DHS does.  Read the DHS Language Access Plan and the Guidance on Limited English Proficiency for DHS Recipients.

House Panel Votes to Pass ‘Sean Goldman Act’

This week the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Human Rights unanimously approved The Sean and David Goldman International Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act (H.R. 1940). The Today Show interviews David Goldman.

Click here to read Chairman Chris Smith’s opening remarks.

UN Commission accused of failing women and girls

Advocates are up in arms after the 56th session of the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) came to a close in New York last week without addressing certain critical issues, including forced and early marriage, that profoundly impact millions of women and girls worldwide.  According to RH Reality Check:

This year marked the first time in history that the CSW did not produce ‘Agreed Conclusions’… The most contentious issues, not surprisingly, were related to sexual and reproductive health care, including…early and forced marriage.

Negotiations among member states reportedly broke down due to disagreements over reproductive health and rights.  The Independent observed:

The issues not addressed by CSW negotiators – such as early and forced marriage, female genital mutilation, gender-based violence and basic health care, including reproductive health – are vital to women’s survival and well-being.  They also powerfully affect women’s ability to make critical decisions affecting their lives and to participate in their communities.  These issues are closely intertwined.  A child bride has a much higher chance of becoming pregnant during adolescence and – especially where health services are lacking – of dying in child birth.  Failing to promote and implement women’s human rights contributes to women suffering poor health and even unnecessary deaths and traps women and girls (and the children they bear) in poverty.

RH Reality Check characterized participating diplomats as “completely disconnected from their countries’ realities” and The Independent urged, “We must all do better next time. The world’s poorest girls cannot afford to wait.”

Girl commits suicide after Judge forces her to marry her rapist

According to El Arabiya, a Tangier judge ordered a 16-year-old rape victim to marry the man who raped her:

The court’s decision to forcibly marry Amina to her rapist was supposed to “resolve” the damage of sexual violation against her, but it led to more suffering in the unwelcoming home of her rapist/husband’s family.  Traumatized by the painful experience of rape, Amina decided to end her life by consuming rat poison in the house of her husband’s family.

The Moroccan penal code provision that exempts a rapist from punishment if he agrees to marry his victim – a tradition allegedly intended to safeguard the honor of girls who are raped – in fact shifts the sentence from perpetrator to victim.  El Arabiya reports that many Moroccans, outraged by the ruling, are demanding action against the judge.

READ MORE: Moroccan girl commits suicide after being forced to marry her rapist, El Arabiya (14 March 2012).

Schoolgirls come to aid of forced marriage victim

KENYA: According to the Daily Nation, the outraged classmates of a fourteen-year-old forced-marriage victim ditched class and walked 5 kilometers to barge into the girl’s family home and frog-march the girl’s mother back to the school where they threatened to detain her until she ensured her daughter’s return to class. The head girl, Gladys Sairowua, told reporters:

We were angered by the parents’ move when we heard that our classmate had been married off and that’s why we decided to go for her mother. We are not releasing her until she returns her daughter to continue with education… She was a bright pupil and forcing her into early marriage is going to ruin her future.

The girls released the victim’s mother only after a team appointed by district education officials rescued their classmate.  READ MORE: Pupils detain classmate’s mother, Daily Nation (March 12, 2012).

Israel raises minimum legal marriage age to 18

According to The Jewish Chronicle, in a preliminary vote earlier this week, Israel’s Knesset approved a new law raising the minimum legal age to marry to 18:

An estimated 4,500 minors get married every year in Israel, 90 per cent of them teenage girls. Most of those are in the Israeli-Arab and strictly Orthodox communities. Social services and feminist organisations have been trying to convince the government to raise the age for a decade, claiming that, in many cases, the newlyweds are too young to start family life.

The measure was opposed by Israel’s strictly Orthodox community.  READ MORE: Knesset raises marriage age, The Jewish Chronicle Online (March 8, 2012).

Celebrating International Women’s Day

Millions of women and girls throughout the world are still denied the right to decide whether, when, and whom to marry.  Many are not permitted to work, to own and inherit property, or to move about freely.  They lack equal access to healthcare and reproductive rights and freedoms, and they’re subject to gender-based violence.  March 8th is International Women’s Day, a day designated by the international community to celebrate the achievements of women worldwide and advances in the movement toward global gender equality, and to reflect on the work that has yet to be done.  Today, and every day, GJI celebrates the strength and courage of women and girls everywhere, and the fierce advocates who work tirelessly to protect and empower society’s most vulnerable.