#IRAQ: Law Would Lower Age Of Consent To 9

[world politics news] 

A controversial proposed age of consent law would allow old men in Iraq to marry children as young as nine years old, and "legalize child rape" activists claim. 

Ultra-conservative Shia Muslim parties have launched a bid to pass a new law that would slash the existing age of consent in the nation in half from the existing limit of 18. The changes, proposed by the dominant Shia parties in Parliament.

[FULL STORY HERE]

]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#CHINA: Gov't Limits Children To Three Hours Of Online Gaming Per Week

[world politics news]

The Communist Chinese government has announced far-reaching restrictions on minors playing video games, a move that further exacerbates tensions between the powerful central government and its tech sector.

Under the new regulations unveiled by China’s National Press and Publication Administration Aug. 30, children under 18 will not be allowed to play video games from Monday through Thursday and only between 8pm and 9pm on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday: A maximum of three hours a week. 

The policy only applies to online games and users will need to register using their real names and government identification.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#SOUTHAFRICA: Marriage Law Overhaul By 2024 Will Ban Child Marriage, Include Multiple Genders

[world politics news]

South Africa's Department of Home Affairs has published a paper on marriages for public comment, with the goal of submitting an official bill to parliament by 2024.

The "green paper" aims to work towards the development of a new single marriage bill and will align the country’s marriage laws with the constitutional principle of equality.

It includes proposals on unions of people from all sexual orientations, religious and cultural persuasions. It also proposes the complete removal of child marriage from the nation's laws.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#GERMANY: Law Gives Children A Voice In Decisions Affecting Them

[world politics news]

Last week, the German Bundestag (Federal Parliament) passed the law on the reform of youth protection in the media, presented by Federal Minister for Family Affairs Franziska Giffey. With the new regulations, the participation of children and young people, and thus one of the basic principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, is anchored in the legislative text for the first time.

Article 12, paragraph 1 of the UNCRC states that: “States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child.”

Children and young people will be represented in an advisory board that will be established at the new Federal Agency for the Protection of Minors in the Media, where they will also participate in the regular evaluation of the effectiveness of the law.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#IRELAND: Head Of Gov't To Apologize For 70-Year Unwed Mother Child Abuse Scandal

[world politics news] 

Ireland confronted one of the darkest chapters of its past this week with the publication of a report detailing how 9,000 children died in state-run homes for youngsters born out of wedlock.

The 3,000-page report was the result of an inquiry into "appalling" levels of mortality at Ireland's "mother and baby" homes between the 1920s and 1990s.

The Taoiseach/Prime Minister Mícheál Martin, is expected to make a formal apology to survivors of the homes today. Roughly 15% of the 57,000 children who passed through the homes over the decades died, a figure far higher than wider norms.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#CANADA: Federal Law Would Ban "Gay Conversion Therapy" For Youth

[world politics news]

Canada’s ruling Liberal Party has introduced legislation that would ban therapists from attempting to subject minors and adult dependents to therapy aimed at altering their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The bill would criminalize forcing youth or adults to undergo conversion therapy against their will. But adults who voluntarily consent to the therapy would not be prevented from undergoing it.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#SOUTHAFRICA: Citing Nigerian Author's TED Talk, High Court Says Child Abuse Victims Cannot Be Named While Minors

[world politics news]

Child offenders, child victims and child witnesses may not be named - even in adulthood, the Constitutional Court has ruled.

To sum up their majority ruling, the judges quoted Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who during a TED talk in 2009 said: “Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign. But stories can also be used to empower, and to humanise. Stories can break the dignity of people. But stories can also repair that broken dignity.”

The case was between the Center for Child Law and some of South Africa’s biggest media houses — Media24 and Independent — on if and when child offenders, child victims and child witnesses, can be publicly identified. The mass media houses argued that the prohibition violated freedom of speech and open justice principles.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#CANADA: Ontario New Democrats Pass Resolution To Lower Voting Age To 14

[world politics news]

Delegates and party members of the Ontario New Democratic Party passed a resolution to lower the voting age to 14 at its convention this past weekend.

“Resolution 5-5: Youth Political Engagement” also tackled the engagement of young voters and the need to improve civics education in the province. Currently, Canadian citizens must be 18 years old or older to vote in an election.

National NDP Party Leader Jagmeet Singh was also present at the convention alongside Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, where he unveiled his party’s 2019 election platform.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#UK: Scottish Parliament Bans The Spanking Of Children

[world politics news]

The Scottish parliament has voted by a significant majority in favour of banning the physical punishment of children.

The bill, sponsored by Scottish Green Party MSP John Finnie and supported by the Scottish National Party government, is designed to give children equal protection from violence by removing the defense of “justifiable assault” in Scottish law.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#JAPAN: Cabinet Moves Forward To Ban Parents From Spanking Children After High-Profile Abuse Cases

[world politics news]

The Japanese cabinet has approved legislation banning parents from inflicting corporal punishment upon their own children, an effort intended to curb child abuse at home in light of recent high-profile cases where children were fatally mistreated in the name of discipline. If passed by the ongoing regular Diet session, the amendment would take effect next April.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#SCOTLAND: Legislation Would Make It Illegal To Spank A Child; Church Of Scotland Lends Support

[world politics news]

The Church of Scotland is getting behind legislation to make hitting a child as a form of punishment illegal. The Children Equal Protection from Assault Bill, introduced by Scottish Green Member of Scottish Parliament John Finnie, would create a law to abolish the defense of "reasonable chastisement of a child."

Under current legislation, a person can claim that the physical punishment of a child is justifiable as a parental right or as a right of having charge or care of the child. However, the court does also consider a number of factors such as the nature of the action and duration. The Church of Scotland, and a number of other organisations wrote submissions to parliament's Equality and Human Rights Committee in support of the bill.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#RUSSIA: Proposed Bill Would Fine, Jail, Organizers Of "Unauthorized" Protests That Include Children

[world politics news]

The lower chamber of the Russian parliament has passed a bill setting out punishment for people who involve minors in unauthorized protests, rallies, and demonstrations. In its third and final vote, the State Duma approved legislation under which organizers of unsanctioned public gatherings in which people under the age of 18 participate will face up to 15 days in jail and a fine of up to 50,000 rubles ($750.)

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#VATICANCITY: Top-Ranking Vatican Official Convicted Of Child Sexual Abuse In Australia

[world politics news]

A top adviser to Pope Francis has been convicted of child sex abuse in Australia, the highest-ranking official convicted in the long-running Catholic Church scandal. An jury found Cardinal George Pell, 77, guilty on five charges of "historical child sexual offenses" that go back decades. The 12-member jury gave their unanimous verdict in the County Court of the State of Victoria in Melbourne on Tuesday, Dec. 11.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#JAPAN: PM Abe's Cabinet Begins Process Of Lowering Age of "Adult" To 18 From 20

[world politics news]

The cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has adopted bills to amend the Civil Code and other laws to lower Japan's adult age from 20 to 18. The Abe government plans to introduce the bills, including ones to maintain the ban on drinking, smoking and gambling by people under 20, to the ongoing ordinary session of the Diet for enactment. If the bills are passed into law, the new adult age will be implemented on April 1, 2022, to mark the first change in the definition of adult in the country's modern period.

[FULL STORY HERE]

#PAKISTAN: Senate Rejects Raising Minimum Marriage Age From 16 To 18; Says "Un-Islamic"

[world politics news]

Pakistan’s Senate has struck down legislation governing the minimum age girls can marry, saying a Bill to increase the legal age from 16 to 18 was un-Islamic. The Child Marriage Restraint Bill was rejected after Senator Sehar Kamran, the lawmaker driving the proposal, had her request for a deferment denied on the grounds that she would not be present.

[FULL STORY HERE]

#SCOTLAND: Bill In Scottish Parliament Would Ban Parents From "Smacking" Their Kids

[world politics news]

A Green member of the Scottish Parliament, John Finnie, is supporting legislation to ban parents in Scotland from striking their children. Public consultations on the bill will run through early August. The bill seeks to give children equal protection from assault, says Finnie, and the idea is backed by a number of children's charities and the Church of Scotland.

[FULL STORY HERE]

#KENYA: Legislation Would Give Mothers Of Newborns 6 Months Unpaid Leave

[world politics news]

Working mothers in Kenya could spend at least six months with their newborns if an amendment to the Employment Act that seeks to increase maternity leave is adopted. Buuri MP Kinoti Gatobu is proposing the law to provide for an option to extend maternity leave by another three months without pay.

[FULL STORY HERE]

#NORTHERNIRELAND: Ban On Smoking In Cars With Children Being Planned

[world politics news]

Plans to ban smoking in private vehicles carrying children are to be discussed, the health minister has announced. Michelle O'Neill said it was "inconceivable that we continue to allow children to be exposed to such harm." In February 2016, Assembly members voted in favor of introducing the ban.
Similar legislation came into force in England and Wales in October 2015 and in Scotland in December 2016. In the Republic of Ireland, a ban took effect last year.

[FULL STORY HERE]  

#SCOTLAND: Plan To Appoint Social Worker For Every Child Struck Down By UK Court

[world politics news]

A plan to appoint a social worker ("named person") for every child in Scotland has been struck down by the UK's Supreme Court. Judges said the plan, which was unanimously passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2014, risks breaching the European Convention on Human Rights. The plan would have appointed someone to each child to answer their questions and that of their parents. Religious groups and charities opposed the law on privacy grounds.

Pictured: Middlesex Guildhall, home of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, in London.

#INDIA: Parliament Passes Controversial Child Labor Bill

[world politics news]

India’s parliament on Tuesday approved a controversial law that would allow children to work for family businesses, despite widespread concern by the United Nations and other rights advocates that it will push more children into labor. The bill brings a raft of changes to a three-decade-old child labor prohibition law. The bill now goes for the President’s assent before becoming law.