It's Time to Stop Torture

Hidden scandal, hidden shame: The torture and ill-treatment of children

1. Overview 2. Children 3. Corporal Punishment 4. Impunity 5. Juvenile Justice 6. Sexual Identity 7. Women & Girls

Photo: A father crouches with his two children beside a soldier in Kashmir, India. Children have not been spared in a conflict marked by torture, "disappearances" and killings with impunity. © Martin Adler, PANOS.

"THEY SHOT MY FATHER RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. They came to our house and told him they had orders to kill him because he allowed me to go to school. The Mujahideen had already stopped me from going to school, but that was not enough. They then came and killed my father. I cannot describe what they did to me after killing my father." These are the words of a 15-year-old girl who was repeatedly raped by leaders of an armed faction in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1994.

The torture of children should be unthinkable. Every society recognizes that children need a safe environment in which to grow up. And because of the dependency and vulnerability of children, international human rights laws and standards call for special protections to ensure their safety and welfare. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child -- which prohibits all forms of torture of children -- has been accepted by virtually all governments.

But despite these ideals, torture is a very real danger for children around the world who are suspected of crimes, caught up in wars, locked away in inhumane prisons, or under the control of violently repressive institutions.

• Children are most often tortured for the same reasons as adults: they are accused of breaking the law, they are on the "wrong side" in a war, or they belong to an ethnic or religious group likely to suffer discrimination.
• Sometimes, children are specifically targeted because they are the most vulnerable members of their community. They areabused by the authorities in order to force a parent or family member to provide information or to turn themselves in.
• Children who are active in student groups or opposition movements can be detained and ill-treated for activities such as joining demonstrations, distributing leaflets or attempting to organize in their schools and workplaces.
• Children may also be torturedby private individuals – often in the home, where it is “hidden” and therefore difficult to investigate and punish.

Torturers act in secrecy and are rarely brought justice for their crimes. Children are often too scared to report abuses against them and may not be listened to if they do come forward. But governments may also tolerate, or even condone the torture of children, particularly if the victims are seen as criminals, trouble makers, or part of an enemy community, rather than as children.

(Please note that throughout this article the term 'child' is used to refer to anyone under the age of 18. This is the standard use of the term in international human rights law.)