violence against children WORLD REPORT ON - CRIN

188Violence against Children in care and justice institutionsneurs or enterprises. The forms of violence canbe horrific. In care institutions in Jordan, childrenhave been reportedly subjected to beatingswith hands, sticks and hoses, and havingtheir heads hit against the wall. 61 In care institutionsin Qatar, a study found that childrenwere often beaten with sticks by institutionstaff, including teachers, supervisors, guardsand social workers. 62Violence in the guise of treatmentIn residential institutions for children with disabilities(including brain injuries, developmentaldisabilities, and psychiatric disabilities), childrenmay be subjected to violence as part of theirpurported ‘treatment.’ For example, in Turkey,a two-year investigation found that in psychiatricinstitutions, children as young as nine weresubjected to electroconvulsive or ‘shock’ treatment(ECT) without the use of muscle relaxantsor anaesthesia. Such treatment is extremelypainful, frightening and dangerous. 63Electric shocks are also used as an ‘aversivetreatment’ to control children’s behaviour insome institutions. For example, the SIBIS (SelfInjurious Behaviour-Inhibiting System) deviceis a commercially available remote-controlledelectric shock device marketed almost exclusivelyfor administering shocks to childrenwith disabilities. One facility in the UnitedStates devised its own ‘substantially stronger’device when it found that electrical shocksfrom the SIBIS device “lost much of (their)effectiveness” over a period of a few months. 64Drugs may also be used, not for medical treatment,but to control children’s behaviour andmake them more ‘compliant.’ This may haveother implications; for example when childrenwith disabilities are heavily medicated by staffin institutions and hospitals (often as a way ofcoping with staff shortages), they are unableto defend themselves from physical violence orsexual assault. 65A further example of State-authorised violenceis the practice of performing medical interventionsto limit reproductive functions – forexample, giving hysterectomies to young girlswith intellectual impairments or mental healthconcerns. There have been reports of this violationof human rights on girls as young as sevenor eight. 66 There is no medical justificationfor such operations. However, several reasonshave been given, including that the operationwill prevent the girls from menstruating, thusavoiding demands that would otherwise beplaced on caregivers; and that it will ensurethat the young girl will not become pregnant.Such concerns reflect the problems of understaffedinstitutions and the lack of sexual andreproductive health education and services forgirls with disabilities, as well as the lack ofadequate protection against the assumed riskof rape for young women both in institutionsand the community.Lack of care as a form of violenceWherever children are living, including whenthey are in the custody of the State, Governmentsare required to ensure that basic needs aremet. However, conditions in many residentialinstitutions are often so poor that they put thehealth and lives of children at risk. Institutionsare often overcrowded, unsanitary, and lacking