Month: February 2022

The report from Saudi Arabia shows that girls in particular are not allowed to express their free will and are massively repressed. It is also problematic that children under the age of 18 are punished with death penalty for blasphemy and that violence is not uncommon in penal institutions. For juvenile justice, as well as other areas, no international standards are observed.

The Committee is concerned that judges frequently authorize the marriage of girls who have attained puberty. Therefore, the Committee urges the State party to set, as a matter of priority, the minimum age of marriage at 18 years for both girls and boys. Also, in view of the fact that judges often consider underage marriage as being in the best interests of the girl child, a situation that reveals a misunderstanding of the concept of “best interests” and leads to multiple violations of girls’ rights, the State party is encouraged to develop procedures and criteria to provide guidance to all relevant persons in authority for determining the best interests of the child in every area and for giving them due weight as a primary consideration in order to avoid misconceptions of this right.

Given the fact that the vast majority of children with disabilities continue to receive education in segregated institutions and be deprived of education after middle school, the Committee recommends that the State party adopt and promote a social and human rights-based approach to disability. Such an approach acknowledges that the disabling factors reside in the environmental and attitudinal barriers created by society and that all children with disabilities are subjects of rights and can become active participants in and contributors to society. The State party should set up a comprehensive policy to develop inclusive education and ensure that inclusive education is given priority over the placement of children in specialized institutions, while paying particular attention to children with mental and multiple disabilities.

Taking into consideration that the State party has still not recognized rape and incest as valid grounds for abortion, the Committee recommends that the State party decriminalize abortion in all circumstances and ensure access to safe abortion and post-abortion care services for adolescents. The Committee further recommends that Saudi Arabia adopt a comprehensive sexual and reproductive health policy for adolescents. It also recommends that the State party ensure that sexual and reproductive health education is part of the mandatory school curriculum and targets adolescent girls and boys, with special attention paid to preventing early pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections and fostering responsible sexual behaviour, particularly among boys.

The Committee urges the State party to ensure the effective implementation of the law prohibiting the recruitment of children as domestic workers. The Committee also urges the State party to take measures to ensure that those who exploit children as domestic workers are held accountable.

The Committee expresses its deepest concern that the State party tries children above 15 years of age as adults and continues to sentence to death and to execute persons for offences that they allegedly committed when they were under the age of 18, after trials falling short in terms of the guarantees of due process and a fair trial contained in article 40 of the Convention, especially as concerns the absolute prohibition of torture.
The Committee urges the State party to immediately halt the execution of people who were below the age of 18 at the time of the alleged commission of the offence. The Committee also urges the State party to ensure that children who have not benefited from a fair trial be immediately released and that those among them who were sentenced to death have their sentence commuted in line with international juvenile justice standards.

The Committee expresses deep concern that the State party still does not recognize girls as full subjects of rights and continues to severely discriminate against them in law and in practice and to impose on them a system of male guardianship that conditions their enjoyment of most of the rights enshrined in the Convention, upon the agreement of a male guardian. The Committee is also concerned about the discriminatory application of the concept of “decency” to boys and girls.
The Committee draws the attention of the State party to its obligation to ensure that traditional, historical, religious or cultural attitudes are not used to justify violations of girls’ rights to equality before the law and to equal enjoyment of all the rights enshrined in the Convention. It urges the State party to review as a matter of priority its legislation and practices in order to ensure full respect for the equality of girls and boys and, to this aim, to put an end to the system of male guardianship and to stop imposing a dress code on girls. The State party should prioritize the adoption of a comprehensive strategy to eliminate all forms of discrimination against girls and to address the persistent negative gender stereotypes that lead to discrimination and violence against them.

The Committee urges the State party to ensure respect for children’s right to freedom of opinion and expression as guaranteed by the Convention and, to reach this aim, to repeal laws and regulations that broadly restrict that right, including the vaguely defined offences of “apostasy”, “insulting God or the Prophet” or “corrupting the Earth”, for which children can be condemned to severe sentences, including death penalty.

In Yemen, the overall situation for children is bad. Girls are oppressed by female genital mutilation and patriarchal structures; no protection measures are installed for asylum seeker children and the health system is deficient.

The Committee is deeply concerned that, despite the State party’s efforts to combat female genital mutilation (FGM), that harmful practice is still common in the coastal governorates. It is concerned at reports indicating that FGM is also prevalent in other governorates. Therefore, the Committee urges the State party to expedite the adoption of the draft amendments which explicitly prohibit and criminalize FGM and which set the minimum age of marriage at 18 years as well as combat FGM, child marriage and forced marriage by, among other measures, conducting awareness-raising programmes and campaigns with a view to changing attitudes, and providing counselling and reproductive education with a view to preventing and combating FGM and child marriages, which are harmful to the health and well-being of girls.

The Committee remains concerned about the lack of accurate disaggregated statistical data on children with disabilities. It is also concerned about the lack of information on the extent and quality of services provided to children with disabilities, their actual access to health care, integration and rehabilitation services, education and measures in place to ensure accessibility to public buildings and public transportation.
The Committee recommends to allocate adequate human, technical and financial resources to support their families and ensure the enjoyment of their rights and take the necessary measures to ensure accessibility for children with disabilities in public buildings and on public transport.

The Committee welcomes the decline in the mortality rate of children under 5 years old from 102 deaths per 1,000 births in 2003 to 77 deaths per 1,000 births in 2012 in the State party. However, it notes with concern that, despite the efforts of the State party to, inter alia, increase the number of health facilities and expand its immunization programmes, children’s access to health care and services remains limited and deficient. The Committee expresses its serious concern at the high rates of chronic malnutrition (stunting) and wasting (acute malnutrition) among children, in particular among children under 5 years of age, which are the second highest rates worldwide, and at the lack of an effective mechanism to assess the effectiveness of the campaigns being conducted to raise awareness of the risks of malnutrition and steps taken to promote good practices in feeding infants and young children.

The Committee expresses its serious concern at the negative impact of the 2011 to 2012 conflict on children’s access to health care and services, as it has contributed to, inter alia, the destruction and occupation of health facilities by the parties involved in the conflict, such facilities’ closure, the interruption of immunization programmes and the consequent drop of immunization rates, and the outbreak of communicable diseases, such as cholera.
The Committee urges the State party to strengthen its efforts to develop outreach services, including a network of mobile healthcare facilities in conflict-affected areas, particularly targeting children and pregnant women, as an interim measure, and ensure that healthcare facilities are rehabilitated and not occupied for military purposes by either the Armed Forces or non-State armed groups.

The Committee is concerned that the mental health and well-being of children is at risk due to the extreme violence to which they have been exposed in conflict-affected areas. It is further concerned at the scarcity of information provided by the State party on how it identifies children at risk and what type of support and assistance they are given.
The Committee urges the State party to adopt effective measures to address the mental health condition of children suffering trauma and other psychological disorders in conflict-affected areas. This should include community-based efforts to identify affected children and provide accessible services at local level.

The Committee is seriously concerned at the information provided by the State party, according to which the 11 per cent of all child labourers in the State party are aged between 5 and 11, while 28.5 per cent are aged between 12 and 14. It is also concerned at the inconsistencies in the State party’s legislation and between its legislation and international standards regarding the minimum age for employment. It is also concerned that the majority of children work in the agriculture and fishing sectors or as domestic servants, and at the fact that those children are forced to carry out hazardous work. The Committee is further concerned about the lack of measures to protect child labourers from abuse, including sexual abuse.
The Committee recommends that the State party establish in law the minimum age of employment at 15 years and revise the relevant legislation so as to ensure that children under 18 are not employed in dangerous or harmful professions. Also, Yemen should take effective measures to combat child labour and take urgent measures to remove children from hazardous work in the agriculture and fishing sectors and domestic work.

The Committee notes the efforts made by the State party to strengthen the juvenile justice system, such as the development of a juvenile justice information system in nine governorates and the inclusion of training on children’s rights in the curriculum of the Police Academy and the High Judicial Institute. It is further concerned at the situation of children in conflict with the law between 15 and 18 years, who are treated as adults by the justice system and held in prisons for adults as well as the arbitrary detention of children in conflict with the law, despite having served their sentence, owing to their parents or legal guardians’ inability to pay the relevant fines and/or civil compensation. There are also harsh conditions faced by children detained in police stations or prisons, a lack of adequate alternatives for pretrial and other forms of detention and the non-respect of fair trial guarantees and a lack of adequate human and financial resources of the juvenile justice system.

The Committee is deeply concerned that, although birth registration is free of charge, very low levels of birth registration persist in the State party. It is also concerned at the lack of reporting and monitoring of births taking place in homes, in particular in rural areas, as well as at corruption linked to birth registration, as illegal fees are requested and birth certificates are also counterfeited.

SABER country report Yemen - school autonomy

SABER country report Yemen on early childhood development

New Zealand already implements many children's rights. One of the negative points in the report is the situation of intersexual children, who are still subjected to unnecessary medical treatments. In addition, Maori and Pasifika children are particularly affected by discrimination.

The Committee recommends that the State party strengthen its efforts to provide adolescents with appropriate reproductive health services, including reproductive health education, in school and to promote a healthy lifestyle for adolescents.

The Committee recommends that the State party adopt a comprehensive, child rights-based and participatory approach to the fulfilment of the rights of children with disabilities and strengthen its efforts to combat the marginalization and discrimination of children with disabilities in their access to health, education, care and protection services, and undertake awareness-raising campaigns aimed at government officials, the public and families to combat the stigmatization of and prejudice against children with disabilities and promote a positive image of these children. New Zealand should also set up comprehensive measures to develop inclusive education and ensure that inclusive education is given priority over the placement of children in separated institutions and classes and that families of children with disabilities are aware of the services to which they are entitled. Further, the Committee recommends to implement anti-bullying programmes to prevent the occurrence of bullying in schools and undertake an assessment of district inspectors’ investigations into violations of the rights of children with disabilities placed in compulsory residential care.

To guarantee every child the right to the highest attainable standard of health, the Committee recommends that New Zealand take immediate action to reduce the prevalence of preventable and infectious diseases, including by improving housing conditions. The Committee further recommends to take all appropriate legal and educational measures aimed at adults, to stop children being exposed to second-hand smoke.

The Committee recommends that New Zealand promptly take the necessary measures to ensure adequate access to health services to all children, including age-appropriate mental health services, with particular attention to Maori and Pasifika children.

The Committee is concerned about the harmful impact of climate change on children’s health, especially for Maori and Pasifika children and children living in low-income settings. The Committee therefore recommends that the State party ensure that the special vulnerabilities and needs of children, and their views, are taken into account in developing policies or programmes addressing the issues of climate change and disaster risk management, with special attention to groups of children most likely to be affected by climate change, including Maori and Pasifika children and children living in low-income settings as well as routinely undertake health impact assessments, with particular attention to children, to inform legislation and policies related to climate change.

The Committee recommends that the State party establish and implement regulations to ensure that the business sector complies with international and national human rights, labour, environment and other standards, particularly with regard to children’s rights. New Zealand should also ensure that the provision of child-related essential services by private enterprises is in compliance with the provisions of the Convention and that the Trans Pacific Partnership trade and investment treaty is in compliance with the provisions of the Convention and that its ratification is preceded by consultations with civil society and children to ensure that the best interests of the child are given due consideration.

The Committee urges the State party to ensure that any child, male or female, deprived of liberty is separated from adults in all places of detention. New Zealand should also
intensify its efforts to reduce the detention of children in police custody, improve detention conditions and limit the use of detention to a measure of last resort and for the shortest period of time. Further, the Committee recommends to strengthen its efforts to address the overrepresentation of Maori and Pasifika children and young people in the juvenile justice system, including by improving the police’s cultural capability and by investigating allegations of racial biases.

While welcoming the public debate and attention given to the prevalence of child poverty in the State party, including through the appointment of an Expert Advisory Group on Solutions to Child Poverty, the Committee is deeply concerned about the enduring high prevalence of poverty among children, and the effect of deprivation on children’s right to an adequate standard of living and access to adequate housing, with its negative impact on health, survival and development and education. It is particularly concerned about the continuing disparities faced by Maori and Pasifika children with regard to the enjoyment of these rights. It is further concerned about the impact of recent welfare and benefit sanctions reforms on children living in benefit-dependent households.
The Committee recommends that the State party ensure adequate funding is allocated to mental health and counselling services to children in Canterbury, including in schools, and develop guidelines to take into account children’s rights, including their right to be heard and to have their best interests taken as a primary consideration, in post-disaster recovery and reconstruction efforts.

Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report released on 21 October 2016. The Committee urges the State party to consider withdrawing its general reservation and its reservations to articles 32 (2) and 37 (c) and consider extending the application of the Convention to the territory of Tokelau. More information about education in New Zealand: https://www.education.govt.nz

The Solomon Islands have reproductive health issues with a high number of teen pregnancies. In addition, the outer islands and rural areas are also worse off in terms of health, with higher under-5 and maternal death rates.

The Committee is concerned about the high rate of teenage pregnancies, increased rates of pregnancy-related complications and of sexually transmitted infections among adolescents as well as abortion being a criminal offence without any exceptions for cases of rape or incest. The Committee is further concerned about the limited access of teenage girls to safe reproductive and sexual health education and services, especially in rural areas and the outer islands, and the limited access to birth control methods, also due to fear of stigmatization as well as the limited availability of HIV testing and treatment and high levels of sexually transmitted infections.
Therefore, the Committee recommends that the State party adopt a comprehensive sexual and reproductive health policy for adolescents that pays attention to all aspects of prevention, including sexually transmitted infections and early pregnancies. Solomon Islands also should decriminalize abortion in all cases and ensure access to safe abortion and post-abortion care services, irrespective of whether abortion is legal or not, and ensure that the views of the girl are always heard and respected in abortion decisions.

The Committee is further concerned about the limited access to inclusive education, transportation, public spaces and service delivery in all areas, especially in rural schools and communities.
Therefore, the Committee urges the State party to adopt a human rights-based approach to disability, set up a comprehensive strategy for the inclusion of children with disabilities and strengthen the legislative framework by adopting comprehensive legislation for the protection and promotion of the rights of children with disabilities. Also, the Solomon Islands should improve access to all public buildings, spaces, service delivery and transportation in all areas, especially in rural communities.

The Committee, while noting the progress made in some areas, including on tuberculosis and malaria, is concerned at the high infant, under-5 and child mortality rates due to neonatal causes and preventable causes, such as diarrhoea, malaria and pneumonia as well as the low vaccination coverage, particularly in rural areas and outer islands.
The Committee is further concerned about inadequate funding, the insufficient number of well-trained health workers for children and pregnant women and poor access to health-care services, particularly in rural and remote areas, which all present significant barriers to the improvement of children’s health.
To guarantee every child the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, the Committee recommends that the State party take measures, such as a specific programme for the management of childhood illnesses, to reduce infant, under-5 and child mortality due to preventable diseases, such as malaria and diarrhoea. It also recommends to strengthen its efforts to improve access to basic health-care services for all children, particularly in rural and remote areas, and provide more resources to the mobile clinics so that they are more frequently available and reach a wider population.

The Committee is concerned at the inadequate resources of and poor conditions at the National Psychiatric Unit, lack of rehabilitation services for the mental health of children and insufficient number of personnel specialized in children with mental health issues.
To improve the situation, the Committee recommends that the State party expedite the adoption of the Mental Health Treatment Act and the National Mental Health Policy, specifically providing for the treatment of children with mental health issues. It also recommends that the State party provide sufficient financial and human resources for the mental health of children and take all measures necessary, including regional cooperation, to improve conditions at the National Psychiatric Unit, provide rehabilitation services and increase capacity and the number of personnel specialized in children with mental health issues.

Noting that the State party is particularly vulnerable to climate change, the Committee is concerned that the State party has not included climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in the school curriculum and does not have school-based early warning systems in place. The Committee states that more could be done to include the special needs of children, including children with disabilities, in planning disaster risk reduction preparedness, response and recovery, and that school infrastructure, particularly in remote areas, is not resilient and accessible in case of natural disaster.

The Committee is seriously concerned that there is no policy that addresses child labour and no social programmes to prevent child labour and support children involved in that practice. It is also concerned that cases of child labour have been reported in the logging, tourism and fishing industries and that there is no child-specific complaints mechanism that is able to effectively receive, monitor and investigate reports on cases of child exploitation.
To improve the situation, the Committee urges the State party to develop and adopt a policy on child labour and a hazardous labour list and to take the measures necessary to ensure that no child under 18 years of age engages in hazardous labour, including in the agriculture, logging, tourism and fishing industries, and put in place social programmes that target the elimination or prevention of child labour, especially its worst forms.

The Committee is seriously concerned that there is a lack of specialized judges or system for children in conflict with the law and there is a need for further capacity-building and support in relation to diversion, the police and judiciary for the full implementation of inter-agency protocols for children in conflict with the law. It is further concerned that juvenile detention facilities do not have separated services and spaces from adults, especially for the purposes of health care, sports, leisure and meals.
The Committee urges the State party to bring its juvenile justice system fully into line with the Convention and other relevant standards. In particular, the Committee recommends that the State party increase efforts to ensure that all children in conflict with the law are dealt with by specialized juvenile courts and judges, ensure they receive appropriate training and provide them with adequate human, technical and financial resources. Solomon Islands should further ensure the separate detention of children from adults, and that all legal safeguards for children in such cases are protected and respected.

The Committee notes that the State party has made some progress in birth registration coverage of children. However, it remains seriously concerned at difficulties and delays in registration in part because the registration service is mostly centralized in the capital and because of penalties for late registration. The Committee is also concerned at the accuracy, as acknowledged by the delegation of the State party during the dialogue, of the registration details for children born to unmarried parents and to adolescent mothers.

Concluding observations on the second and third periodic reports released on 28 February 2018. More information about education on Solomon Islands: https://www.mfat.govt.nz

Overlooking the situation in Malta, everything looks very good, but looking deeper in the reports, a lot of problems come up, especially regarding the integration and inclusion of children facing discrimination. But Children’s rights are now included in the nomenclature of the new ministry for Family, Children’s Rights and Social Solidarity, which is a good step towards awareness in the population.

Child marriage and female genital mutilation are prevalent among migrant communities and remain underreported. Between 39 per cent and 57 per cent of 486 girls originating from countries where female genital mutilation is practiced are reported to be at risk of female genital mutilation. Regardless of this, the Committee recommends to decriminalize abortion in all circumstances and ensure access to safe abortion and post-abortion care services for adolescent girls, making sure that their views are always heard and given due consideration as part of the decision-making process.

The Committee recommends to strengthen the implementation of the Policy on Inclusive Education in Schools, with specific measures to ensure that students with disabilities, including students with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities, are provided with reasonable accommodation, and train specialized teachers and professionals to provide individual support and all due attention to children with learning difficulties.

The Committee recommends to develop and implement a comprehensive sexual and reproductive health policy for adolescents, to ensure that sexual and reproductive health education is part of the mandatory school curriculum, to ensure that it is targeted at both adolescent girls and boys and to ensure that adequate sexual and reproductive health services are available for adolescents, in particular access to modern contraception methods.

The Committee recommends to ensure that for children who are diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or attention deficit disorder prescribing drugs is used as a measure of last resort and only after an individualized assessment of the best interests of the child concerned, and that children and their parents are properly informed about the possible side effects of this medical treatment and about non-medical alternatives.

Malta should expedite the implementation of plans to reduce air pollution levels.

The Committee is concerned about the lack of information on measures taken to implement its previous recommendations concerning children’s rights in the business sector.
The Committee recommends that Malta strengthens its international cooperation against sexual exploitation of children in the context of travel and tourism through multilateral, regional and bilateral arrangements for its prevention and elimination and to establish monitoring mechanisms for the investigation and redress of such abuses.

Malta has the possibility of placing asylum-seeking and refugee children in detention as a measure of last resort and of placing unaccompanied children aged 16 years or over in accommodation centres for adult asylum seekers. Therefore, the Committee recommends to prohibit the immigration in law and ensure that such legal prohibition is implemented in practice, and ensure effective alternatives to detention.
Children who allegedly hijacked the vessel that had rescued them off the coast of Libya in March 2019 are being charged with terrorism.

The Committee welcomes the amendments to the Embryo Protection Act that provide for the right of children born through assisted reproduction technologies to have access to information about their origins. The Committee recommends that the State party continue its efforts to ensure that children born through assisted reproduction technologies have their best interests taken as a primary consideration and that, in doing so, it considers providing parents with appropriate counselling and support.
The Committee recommends to remove all exceptions that allow marriage and entering into a civil union under the age of 18 years.

Latvia abolished its Ministry for Children, Family and Integration Affairs in 2009 and distributes its functions among the Ministry of Welfare, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Education and Science. That leads to less of a mandate and resources for the implementation and monitoring of children’s rights. Also, the Committee notes corruption, which affects the implementation of children’s rights. Latvia still struggles from a post-economic crisis in 2008 so the budget is still small and the child rights conversion is not seen as an urgent matter. In general, Latvia’s citizens have a negative and paternalistic attitude towards children and their rights. A lot of trainings happened in the years prior the report for people working with children, for example in detention facilities, in schools or as judges.

The Committee is concerned about the high rates of teen pregnancies (4,6 % in 2016) and limited access to free contraceptives. The state does not pay for abortions. The Committee is further concerned about high drop-out rates among students, in particular girls.

The Committee is concerned about the lack of specific legislation to protect the rights of children with disabilities, the lack of detailed information on the number of children in inclusive education and the stigma and prejudice still endured by children with disabilities.

The Committee is concerned about long waiting lists and limited specialized medical services in the public health sector. The Committee recommends to ensure that all children have free and timely access to adequate medical services, including children living in rural areas and to take measurements to prevent iodine deficiency.
And regardless of the decreasing child mortality, the Committee is concerned about the high rate of child mortality due to suicide, drowning and traffic accidents.

The Committee remains seriously concerned about cases of sexual abuse in institutions for children with mental health disorders and the lack of information on criminal proceedings on those cases.
It recommends to strengthen efforts to prevent suicide among children, including by increasing available psychological counselling services and the number of social workers in schools and communities. The Committee recommends to no longer place adolescents in mental health institutions together with adults.

The Committee recommends to ensure the provision of qualified and independent legal aid to children in conflict with the law at an early stage of the procedure and throughout the legal proceedings and monitor the implementation of alternatives to deprivation of liberty handed down by courts.

The Committee recommends to intensify the efforts to ensure that all children have access to a nationality, including by reviewing the Citizenship Law to automatically grant citizenship to children born in Latvia who would otherwise be stateless, including children of parents with “non-citizen” status and parents who are unable to transmit their citizenship to their child.

Norway is very aware of its problems and tries to overcome them. All recommendations from the Committee correlate with actions the state already works on. The Country also focuses on antidiscrimination.

The Committee recommends to conduct awareness-raising campaigns targeted at children on how to seek help if they fear being sent abroad to be subjected to female genital mutilation or child marriage and how they can attract the attention of border personnel.

The committee notes that girls are sometimes represented in an oversexualized and objectifying manner in the media and children who do not conform to gender stereotypes are subjected to discrimination, bullying, intimidation and violence.

The Committee recommends to further increase its efforts to combat violence against and abuse and neglect of children with disabilities and to ensure that all cases of violence, including sexual violence, against children with disabilities, are systematically registered by the authorities. Norway also should ensure, that, in the light of the outcome of the report of 1 April 2018 on inclusive education by the expert group for children and young people who need special adaptation, that inclusive education becomes more inclusive, more adapted to the needs of children with disabilities and obtains better results with higher quality.

The Committee notes with appreciation the increase in funds for health centres and school health services. The Committee recommends to provide children with an irregular residence status with immediate access to health-care institutions so that they can receive the necessary treatment, independently of considerations regarding their departure date

The Committee is concerned that resources allocated to the mental health sector are insufficient, in particular in the light of the reported increase in the number of children in need of such services. The Committee recommends to improve the diagnosis of mental health problems among children and ensure that any initial diagnosis of ADHD is reassessed.

The Committee recommends to Norway to increase its focus on alternative energy and establish safeguards to protect children, both in the State party as well as abroad, from the negative impacts of fossil fuels.

The Committee recommends that the State party discontinue preventive detention for children and, where detention is unavoidable, ensure that children are not detained
together with adults, both in pretrial detention and after being sentenced.
Also, Norway should strengthen safeguards to ensure that isolation as a preventive measure is avoided to the greatest extent possible and make the necessary legislative amendments to extend the application of the alternative form of sanction, the so-called juvenile sanction, to asylum-seeking children.

The Committee recommends to establish all necessary safeguards to ensure that all children born in the State party are entitled to a nationality at birth if otherwise stateless.

The fiscal policy and withdrawal from the European union have effects contributing to inequality in children’s enjoyment of their rights and child poverty. Discrimination on the grounds of their age is mentioned. Public has a negative attitude towards children and especially adolescents. They try everything to keep young people out of public life. Especially Northern Ireland stands out with various problems concerning education or health.

Great Britain’s courts can issue protection orders to protect potential or actual child victims of female genital mutilation. But there is still a significant number of children who are affected by female genital mutilation. Also, Great Britain has a high prevalence of gender-based violence against women and girls. In addition to that, in Northern Ireland, abortion is illegal in all cases.

Children with disabilities do not see that their views are given weight in making personal decisions in their life. Many children with disabilities are still segregated and attend special schools.

The Committee recommends to focus on eliminating inequalities in health outcome and in access to health service. The committee is concerned that there has reportedly been a significant increase in the prescription of psychostimulants and psychotropic drugs to children with behavioural problems, including for children under 6 years of age. The rate of teenage pregnancies is still higher than the average for the European Union, and higher in more deprived areas.

Significant efforts are undertaken at the national and the devolved levels to improve mental health services. The number of children with mental health needs is nevertheless increasing across the State party, including those related to alcohol, drug and substance abuse. The number of child suicides has been increasing in Northern Ireland.

The Committee is concerned at the high level of air pollution, which directly affects child health in the State party and contributes to the negative impact of climate change affecting various rights of the child.

The Committee recommends to integrate and explicitly focus on children’s rights and establish regulations to ensure that the business sector complies with the rights of the child.

The overall number of children in custody remains high.

The police in Northern Ireland use tasers and energy projectiles against children. Also, children face violence there, including shootings, carried out by non-State actors involved in paramilitary-style attacks, and recruitment by such non-State actors.
The Committee furthermore recommends to ensure that child detainees are separated from adults in all detention settings and that children are not tried by adult courts.
In addition to that, the Committee is seriously concerned that children who are victims or witnesses of crimes have to appear in court to be cross examined.

The Committee is concerned that the powers of the Commissioners for Northern Ireland and Wales are still limited and that the Commissioner for Scotland has not started exercising. The right of the child to have his or her best interests taken as a primary consideration is still not reflected in all legislative and policy matters and judicial decisions affecting children. The Committee notes increasing demands from children for a right to vote from the age of 16 years. The Committee is concerned that pupils are required by law to take part in a daily religious worship which is “wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character”. Due to insufficient cooperation between the courts and the child protection authorities, parents are sentenced to imprisonment and directly incarcerated while their children are left alone without proper care.

Concluding observations on the fifth periodic reports released on 12 July 2016. The United Kingdom has reservations on these Articles: Article 22 to the Cayman Islands, Article 32 to all its dependent territories, except Pitcairn, Article 37 (c) to all its dependent territories.

The report from Malawi is rather short and deals only superficially with many points. Important and more profound are the points about children with albinism and sexual exploitation, both socially deeply rooted topics and very harmful for the affected children.

The Committee expresses its grave concern about the high incidence of sexual violence, including rape and defilement in all settings, including in the family and in schools, and the targeting of girls in vulnerable situations, such as girls with mental disabilities. There is also limited access to justice by child victims, particularly of girls, due to the legal requirement for corroboration of evidence of a child victim before the court. To improve the situation, the Committee urges Malawi to scale up services for child victims of sexual violence, such as psychosocial medical support and access to post-rape health services as well as to revise the requirement for corroboration in sexual offences and modify it to ensure that child victims are not denied justice.

The Committee urges the State party to adopt a human rights-based approach to disability, set up a comprehensive strategy for the inclusion of children with disabilities and ensure that children with disabilities have access to inclusive early childhood care and education, early development programs, healthcare and other services. In addition to that, Malawi should establish national mechanisms for monitoring and reporting on disability, with particular focus on children with disabilities and also adopt measures towards fully inclusive education.

The Committee recommends that the State party scale up immunization and address root causes to identify gaps in immunization, address chronic malnutrition and stunting, and reduce child mortality due to malaria, neonatal conditions and preventable diseases, such as pneumonia and diarrhoea. The State party should also improve the drug and health system management, particularly at the local level, with special attention to remote areas, to address the shortage of drugs, medical supplies, food and medical staff and poor infrastructure.

Concerning adolescent health, the Committee is concerned at a high number of teenage pregnancies and the lack of comprehensive age-appropriate education on sexual and
reproductive health rights and family planning services, as well as the limited access to modern contraceptives. The Committee recommends to improve adolescent girls’ access to reproductive healthcare and related services and increase support for reproductive health and family planning services and access to affordable contraceptives and contraceptive methods. In addition to that, Malawi should adopt a comprehensive sexual and reproductive health policy for adolescents and ensure that sexual and reproductive health education is part of the mandatory school curriculum both in public and private schools with special attention on preventing early pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection.

The Committee recommends that the State party ensure its disaster risk management policy is disseminated and implemented with sufficient budget. Malawi should also document and register the persons affected, particularly vulnerable
groups such as children, as part of the disaster response, to ensure that they receive appropriate and timely health, protection and other services. Also, children’s awareness and preparedness for climate change and natural disasters should be increased, by incorporating it into the school curriculum and teacher training programs.

The Committee recommends to allocate sufficient human, technical and financial resources for labour inspection in order to fully, regularly and effectively implement the laws and policies on child labour, particularly in the agricultural and mining sectors, and prosecute any perpetrators of violations relating to child labour.

The Committee urges the State party to bring its juvenile justice system fully into line with the Convention and other relevant standards and recommends to ensure that juveniles who are deprived of liberty are detained separately from adults and males separately from females. Also, Malawi should improve the conditions in pretrial and post-trial detention and juvenile justice facilities and rehabilitation and integration programs for children in conflict with the law.

While welcoming the measures taken by the State party to protect children with albinism, the Committee is seriously concerned at the significant number of cases of abduction, ritual killings and exhumation of remains of children with albinism and the high rate of school drop outs among children with albinism, due to fear of attacks, poor vision, prohibition from wearing appropriate sun protection clothing, unavailability of specific sun protection tools and insufficient skilled staff trained to meet their needs and ensure their inclusive education. To improve the situation for children with albinism, the Committee urges the State party to ensure that the protection of children with albinism is included in its national policies and that children with albinism can exercise their rights without any discrimination.

Hungary has a violence problem that is structurally anchored in society. This leads to violation of children’s rights in public educational institutions, on the borders or in prison. Positive to mention is that child poverty decreased from 24.9 per cent in 2014 to 15.2 per cent in 2017. The overall situation for children in Hungary could be better.

The Committee is seriously concerned about adolescents’ insufficient access to confidential and child-friendly sexual and reproductive health services, the requirement for adolescents to have parental permission to access sexual and reproductive health services and psychological care and the high levels of pregnancy among adolescents and an approach that aims to unduly influence girls’ reproductive health decisions.

Hungary is urged to rapidly phase out the institutionalization of children with disabilities and urgently close Topház Special Home and other institutions that do not comply with the required standards, while increasing access to community services that are inclusive of children with disabilities, particularly health and rehabilitation services, transport, leisure and sports, in order to promote their inclusion in society. Also, they should ensure that reporting cases of violence, abuse and neglect of children with disabilities is mandatory for all persons working with them.

The Committee recommends that the State party ensure that all children benefit in practice from the mandatory health services free of charge and to ensure that health-care facilities and practitioners, including paediatricians, are available throughout the State party, including in rural areas. In addition to that, the very high rates of alcohol and tobacco consumption and drug use among adolescents are concerning the Committee.

The Committee is seriously concerned about the prevalence of mental health issues, namely anxiety and depression, among adolescents and their insufficient access to support services. To improve the situation, the committee recommends to invest in addressing the underlying causes of mental health conditions among children and adolescents and to promote their awareness of and access to psychological support services.

The Committee recommends to strengthen initiatives aimed at increasing child participation and develop toolkits for consulting children on national policy issues that affect them – in particular the issues that children identified as being of most concern for them, such as education, climate change and security – and ensure that children’s views are taken into account by local and national authorities.

The Committee recommends that the State party bring its child justice system fully into line with the Convention and abolish the practice of sentencing children to prison terms for petty crimes as well as provide children accused of criminal offences with information about their rights and how to report abuses.

The Committee recommends that the State party continue to ensure respect for the child’s right to privacy during political campaigns and prevent the use of children as campaign tools.
There are cases of violence inflicted by border police on children and others staying irregularly in the State party during interception and removal operations.
The Committee is seriously concerned about the lack of information on a national strategy to prevent and address all forms of violence against children.

Concluding observations on the sixth periodic report released on 3 March 2020.