QUNO Geneva's newsletter for July to October 2010. Featured stories:

• The Dangerous Lure of "Climate Change and ..."
• BMS 4: Modest progress on Small Arms
• Children of Prisoners on the Agenda at the UN
• Stalemated Conference on Disarmament Under Scrutiny
• Conscientious Objection: Amicus brief
• Update from QUNO New York: The Trouble with Elections
• Staff Changes

In this oral statement delivered at the 14th session of the Human Rights Council, Quakers welcome the progress made in developing new draft UN Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-Custodial Measures for Women Offenders, noting that they did addressed only a limited aspect of the problem. The submission highlights QUNO’s draft Framework for Decision-Making in Relation to Children of Offenders, requesting comments. It also welcomes proposed EU research on the issue of children in prison, to fill critical gaps in knowledge.

See also: Children of (Alleged) Offenders: Revised Draft Framework for Decision-Making.

In this submission to the 14th session of the Human Rights Council, Quakers highlight the problem of children of incarcerated parents, and some of the progress made on the issue in the international arena. It also highlights QUNO’s range of research, studies and publications on the issue. The submission includes specific recommendations for the UN Human Rights Council in moving the issue forward.

Since 2003, QUNO has worked on the issue of women in prison and children of imprisoned mothers, raising awareness about various issues arising from maternal incarceration. This study, by contrast, looks at the impact of paternal incarceration on children, exploring the similarities and differences between these situations and those where it is a child’s mother that is imprisoned.

One of QUNO’s earlier studies on the effects of parental imprisonment on children.  All through the criminal justice system, which focuses almost exclusively on the offender from arrest to post-release, the best interests of children are rarely taken into account. The paper highlights some of the experiences of children with an imprisoned parent and identifies some good practices that offer “well-considered and holistic solutions to particular problems.”

In the course of QUNOs work on the situation of women in prison, it became clear that imprisonment of women had an enormous impact upon children. This publication concerns babies and young children who stay in prison with their mothers. There are no obvious right or wrong answers to several of the dilemmas raised: neither separating babies and young children from their mother nor imprisoning them with their mother is desirable. This research tries to outline what the rights of the child in such a situation are, and how they can best be protected.  Some examples of strategies and good practices have been included. Also included are guidelines and suggestions for drafting legislation, regulations, policies and programmes regarding babies and small children residing in prisons.