Fri, 27 Oct 2023 04:22:30 +1100
Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>
<https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/09/human-rights-watch-usa-child-abuse-labor-report.html>
"A new Human Rights Watch report paints a damning portrait of children’s rights
in the United States. That is, children here have remarkably few rights and are
particularly ill-treated in the conservative states that claim the mantle of
“family values.” According to HRW, “Children in the US can be legally married
in 41 states, physically punished by school administrators in 47 states,
sentenced to life without parole in 22 states, and work in hazardous
agriculture conditions in all 50 states.” Over and over again, the worst states
for children are clustered around the “pro-life” Bible Belt, and the map of the
states that are the worst for children looks a lot like a map of red-state
America. (Liberal states, too, have a long ways to go when it comes to
protecting kids, but they generally do a bit better.)
The report doesn’t look at forced births, but the U.S. states that ban abortion
also routinely force children, including child rape victims, to carry
pregnancies to term and become young (sometimes very young) mothers against
their will.
The report also doesn’t look at outcomes like child poverty and child hunger,
but we know that states that restrict abortion tend to have higher rates of
children living in poverty, have lower spending on K–12 education, and make it
harder for kids in poor families to get health care.
Most U.S. states also allow for some form of child marriage. The widely
accepted international human rights standard is to mandate that people be 18
before they can marry. But the report states that in the U.S., more than a
quarter of a million children were married off between the years 2000 and 2018,
and some of them were girls as young as 10. Most of these child marriages were
between underage girls and adult men.
Only nine U.S. states require a person to be a legal adult before they marry.
Nearly half of U.S. states allow 16-year-olds to legally marry, and six states
have no minimum marital age at all. When activists have tried to raise the
minimum marriage age, Republican politicians have opposed them. And,
disappointingly, the ACLU and Planned Parenthood have opposed child marriage
reforms in some states.
Most of the U.S. also allows adults to assault children at school. Only three
states fully ban corporal punishment at both public and private schools; 25
make it illegal in public schools, but allow private school teachers to use
physical force as punishment for students. Twenty-two states don’t ban corporal
punishment in schools at all. And not a single state bans corporal
punishment—adults committing acts of violence against children—in the home.
Nearly 50 percent of American children experience corporal punishment—child
abuse—at home, and it’s perfectly legal, so long as those children aren’t
seriously injured."
Via Whuffo, Kenny Chaffin and also Kevin O'Brien.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
"A new Human Rights Watch report paints a damning portrait of children’s rights
in the United States. That is, children here have remarkably few rights and are
particularly ill-treated in the conservative states that claim the mantle of
“family values.” According to HRW, “Children in the US can be legally married
in 41 states, physically punished by school administrators in 47 states,
sentenced to life without parole in 22 states, and work in hazardous
agriculture conditions in all 50 states.” Over and over again, the worst states
for children are clustered around the “pro-life” Bible Belt, and the map of the
states that are the worst for children looks a lot like a map of red-state
America. (Liberal states, too, have a long ways to go when it comes to
protecting kids, but they generally do a bit better.)
The report doesn’t look at forced births, but the U.S. states that ban abortion
also routinely force children, including child rape victims, to carry
pregnancies to term and become young (sometimes very young) mothers against
their will.
The report also doesn’t look at outcomes like child poverty and child hunger,
but we know that states that restrict abortion tend to have higher rates of
children living in poverty, have lower spending on K–12 education, and make it
harder for kids in poor families to get health care.
Most U.S. states also allow for some form of child marriage. The widely
accepted international human rights standard is to mandate that people be 18
before they can marry. But the report states that in the U.S., more than a
quarter of a million children were married off between the years 2000 and 2018,
and some of them were girls as young as 10. Most of these child marriages were
between underage girls and adult men.
Only nine U.S. states require a person to be a legal adult before they marry.
Nearly half of U.S. states allow 16-year-olds to legally marry, and six states
have no minimum marital age at all. When activists have tried to raise the
minimum marriage age, Republican politicians have opposed them. And,
disappointingly, the ACLU and Planned Parenthood have opposed child marriage
reforms in some states.
Most of the U.S. also allows adults to assault children at school. Only three
states fully ban corporal punishment at both public and private schools; 25
make it illegal in public schools, but allow private school teachers to use
physical force as punishment for students. Twenty-two states don’t ban corporal
punishment in schools at all. And not a single state bans corporal
punishment—adults committing acts of violence against children—in the home.
Nearly 50 percent of American children experience corporal punishment—child
abuse—at home, and it’s perfectly legal, so long as those children aren’t
seriously injured."
Via Whuffo, Kenny Chaffin and also Kevin O'Brien.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
