Violence and death threats directed at the accused must be considered when assessing the criminal liability of the accused. The address of a women’s shelter must not be disclosed in the reasons of a judgment.
Facts of the Case
The Children’s Act 2005, as amended by the Children’s (Amendment) Act 2016, is the main children’s rights statute in The Gambia, incorporating many provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child into domestic law. The Act defines a child as any person under the age of 18, and establishes rights to protection from abuse, neglect, exploitation and harmful practices, rights to education, health, and development.
The Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act (Act 7 of 2023) repeals and replaces the Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act of 2005 while retaining the core prohibition on all forms of human trafficking. Section 2 defines trafficking through the recruitment, transport, transfer, harboring, or receipt of a person for exploitation, using force, coercion, deception, abuse of power, or payments made to a person controlling the victim.
The Domestic Violence Act of Trinidad and Tobago provides legal protection to victims of domestic violence, including physical, psychological, and financial abuse. Victims may apply to the court for a protection order if the abuse is occurring, has occurred, or is likely to occur. A protection order can include restrictions on approaching or contacting the victim, entering their residence, or taking their property. It may also require the respondent to leave the home or pay interim financial support.
The Family Violence Act (the “FVA”) broadly defines family violence to include physical, sexual or psychological abuse by a person in a family relationship with the victim, which includes spouses (including domestic partners), family members or household members. The definition of family violence expressly includes dowry abuse. The object of the FVA is to stop and prevent perpetrators of family violence and to keep victims, including children, safe from family violence.
In 2003, a father murdered his seven-year-old daughter Andrea during a court-approved parental visitation. Ángela González, Andrea’s mother, had previously reported instances of physical abuse to the police on numerous occasions and sought court-ordered restraining orders against him to protect herself and her daughter. The father had refused to accept supervised visitations with his daughter. After killing his daughter, the father committed suicide. The mother brought suit in national court against Spanish authorities.
The Law Prohibiting Corporal Punishment Against Children bans all forms of inhuman treatment, including corporal punishment of children in Haiti. It defines inhuman treatment as any act likely to cause bodily or emotional harm, such as striking or inflicting punishment that could harm a child's personhood, with or without objects or excessive force. The law requires that all persons and institutions responsible for children treat them in ways that promote their safety and development.
The Law on the Prohibition and Elimination of All Forms of Abuse, Violence, Ill Treatment, or Inhuman Treatment of Children in Haiti annulled Chapter 9 of the Labour Code regarding “children in service.” The law prohibits all forms of abuse, violence, and exploitation of children, including trafficking, forced labor, sexual exploitation, use in criminal activities, organ removal, harmful work, and recruitment for armed conflict. The law allows children to be placed in foster families, requiring that they are given equal treatment and privileges as other children of the families.
In the case Putman v. Kennedy (2007), the plaintiff sought a restraining order under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 46b-15 on behalf of her two minor sons following a physical altercation with the defendant, her ex-husband, during a custody exchange.
