Month: February 2022

The report from Australia shows good implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in many areas, such as physical health. However, there is no free education, although the country is very wealthy. Also, Australia has big issues with mental health, many diagnosed ADHD patients and suicides. In addition, many previous recommendations have not been implemented and the attitude towards Asylum seekers is terrible.

The Committee recommends that the State party strengthen measures to prevent teenage pregnancies among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders girls, including by providing culturally sensitive and confidential medical advice and services. It also recommends to continue providing children with education on sexual and reproductive health as part of the mandatory school curriculum, paying special attention to preventing early pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

The Committee welcomes the establishment of the National Disability Insurance Scheme in 2013. It further recommends that the State party make clear the eligibility criteria and the types of support covered by the Scheme and ensure that the Scheme has the human, technical and financial resources necessary for its optimal and timely implementation. It also recommends to conduct 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 such children.

The Committee urges the State party to prohibit by law the sterilization of girls with disabilities without their prior, fully informed and free consent.

To guarantee every child the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, the Committee urges the State party to promptly address the disparities in health status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island children, children with disabilities, children living in remote or rural areas and children in alternative care. Australia should also address the increasing rate of child obesity.

The Committee urges the State party to invest in addressing the underlying causes of suicide and poor mental health among children, to improve knowledge about mental health with a view to promoting children’s awareness and access to support services and to ensure that the Fifth National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan has a clear focus on children and that children’s perspectives are included in the development of the response services provided. It also urges Australia to prioritize mental health service delivery to children in vulnerable situations, in particular Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, children with disabilities, children in alternative care, homeless children, children living in rural and remote areas, asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children, children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex children. Australia further should strengthen measures to ensure that psychostimulant drugs are prescribed to children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder only as a measure of last resort and only after an individualized assessment of the best interests of that child and to ensure also that children and their parents are properly informed about the possible side effects of this medical treatment and about non-medical alternatives.

The Committee is very concerned about the State party’s position that the Convention does not extend to protection from climate change. The Committee emphasizes that the effects of climate change have an undeniable impact on children’s rights, for example the rights to life, survival and development, non-discrimination, health and an adequate standard of living. It is also concerned that the State party has made insufficient progress on the goals and targets set out in the Paris Agreement and about its continuing investment in extractive industries, in particular coal. The Committee expresses its concern and disappointment that a protest led by children calling on government to protect the environment received a strongly worded negative response from those in authority, which demonstrates disrespect for the right of children to express their views on this important issue.
The Committee urges the State party to ensure that children’s views are taken into account in developing policies and programmes addressing climate change, the environment and disaster risk management and to increase children’s awareness and preparedness for climate change and natural disasters. It also urges Australia to promptly take measures to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases by establishing targets and deadlines to phase out the domestic use and export of coal and to accelerate the transition to renewable energy, including by committing to meeting 100 per cent of its electricity needs with renewable energy.

The Committee recommends that the State party ensure the legal accountability of Australian companies and their subsidiaries for violations of children’s rights, including in relation to the environment and health, committed within the State party or overseas by businesses domiciled in its territory, and establish mechanisms for the investigation and redress of such abuses. It also recommends to require companies to undertake assessments and consultations and to make full public disclosure of the environmental, health-related and children’s rights impacts of their business activities and their plans to address such impacts. Australia should further undertake campaigns to raise the awareness of those working in the tourism industry and the public at large on the harmful effects of the sexual exploitation of children in the context of travel and tourism and widely disseminate the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism of the World Tourism Organization.

The Committee again regrets that its previous recommendations have not been implemented and remains seriously concerned about the enduring overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children as well as children with disabilities and their parents and carers in the justice system. It is also concerned about the high number of children in detention, both on remand and after sentencing, and that children in detention are not being separated from adults.
The Committee urges the State party to bring its child justice system fully into line with the Convention and to explicitly prohibit the use of isolation and force, including physical restraints, as a means of coercion or to discipline children under supervision, promptly investigate all cases of abuse and maltreatment of children in detention and adequately sanction the perpetrators. The Committee further urges Australia to ensure that children are detained in separate facilities and, for pretrial detention, to ensure that detention is regularly and judicially reviewed as well as to ensure that children with disabilities are not detained indefinitely without conviction and that their detention undergoes regular judicial review. Also, Australia should provide children in conflict with the law with information about their rights and how to report abuses.

Australia needs to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children as well as children living in remote areas and children in child protection services are registered at birth and receive free birth certificates. Children born through international surrogacy arrangements should be able to obtain Australian nationality through uniformly applied rules through the country. These children also have to be able to access information about their origin.

In addition, the Committee urges the State party to address the high rate of homelessness among children, particularly focusing on children leaving alternative care, and to include children under 12 years of age in the Reconnect Programme.

Concluding observations on the fifth and sixth periodic reports released on 27 September 2019. More information about education in Australia: https://www.goodschools.com.au and https://www.dese.gov.au

Turkey has not implemented many of the Committee's recent recommendations and must change this behaviour to implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child in its territory. Nevertheless, progress has been made in the areas of birth registration, children in street situations, and education.

While noting the State party’s efforts in combating gender-based violence, including “honour killings” and social pressure resulting in suicide, the Committee remains concerned that such practices continue and the significant number of victims are women, including girls. The Committee is also concerned about the insufficient number of shelters to host and protect women and children who are in danger of such practices. The Committee also recommends that the State party introduce a comprehensive system of data collection to obtain statistics on violence against women, including domestic violence and honour killings.

The Committee recommends that the State party adopt a comprehensive adolescent and reproductive health policy and take the necessary measures to educate children on reproductive health and the measures for preventing STDs. The Committee recommends that a multidisciplinary study be undertaken to understand the scope of adolescent health problems in the State party in order to be able to develop adequate policies and programmes.

Despite the State party’s efforts to provide children with access to education, the Committee is concerned that a large number of school-age children with disabilities do not enjoy their rights to education, and a high percentage of children with disabilities remain in special education programmes. Furthermore, the Committee regrets that the State party did not provide sufficient information as to whether support for children with disabilities reaches children everywhere, whether such support is adequate and whether the goal of integrating children with disabilities into the community is sufficiently attained.
The Committee recommends that the State party intensify its efforts to ensure that children with disabilities fully enjoy their rights. The Committee also recommends that the State party further encourage inclusion and integration of children with disabilities in society and the regular educational system, respectively, including by providing special training to teachers and by making schools more accessible.

The Committee welcomes the significant progress made by the State party in reducing maternal and infant mortality rates, improving immunization coverage and children’s access to treatment with the introduction of the Green Card scheme. However, the Committee is concerned about the significant disparities in the rates of maternal and infant mortality, malnutrition and stunting, as well as neonatal care, between the western regions and the socio-economically least developed Eastern regions.
The Committee encourages the State party to eradicate regional disparities and address maternal and infant mortality targeting the Eastern regions of the country. It also recommends that the State party continue its efforts to eradicate malnutrition, especially stunting, as well as improve neonatal care with special emphasis on the Eastern regions.

The Committee is concerned at the potential impact on children’s rights of the construction of the Ilisu and other dams, especially with regard to the negative effect on children and their families of forced evictions, resettlement and displacement, and other impacts on their cultural heritage and the environment. Therefore, the Committee recommends that Turkey ensure that impact assessments of human rights, including child rights, are conducted prior to the conclusion of trade agreements with a view to ensuring that measures are taken to prevent the occurrence of child rights violations.

The Committee urges the State party to increase the number of professionals working in the juvenile justice system and take measures to provide incentives for lawyers to work on cases involving children. In addition, the Committee recommends that Turkey should expedite the investigation and trial process in cases involving children, so as to reduce the number of children in pretrial detention, as well as ensure enforcement of the amendments to the Counter-terrorism Law and ensure that children detained and charged under this law are provided with all basic legal guarantees. The Committee further recommends to investigate allegations of rape and ill-treatment of children in detention.

The Committee takes note of the significant progress made in improving birth registration rates in the country. However, it remains concerned that there are still a number of children who are not registered or not immediately registered, in particular in rural and disadvantaged areas of the Eastern regions as well as children of mothers who do not have formal education.
The Committee recommends that the State party strengthen its efforts to ensure complete and immediate birth registration, in particular by improving birth registration systems, and providing information and raising awareness in rural areas of the Eastern regions and among mothers who do not have formal education.

The Committee notes with regret that several of these concluding observations have not been significantly addressed.

Concluding observations on the second and third periodic reports released on 20 July 2012. The Committee reiterates its concern about the reservations to articles 17, 29 and 30 of the Convention.

The report from the Republic of Korea shows that there is still much to be done, especially in the areas of education and administration of child justice, to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The education system is overburdened and offers little time for recreation, driving many children to suicide. The impact of climate change on South Korea is not addressed at all.

The Committee recommends to effectively address adolescent pregnancy, including by strengthening sexuality education at school, support services during pregnancy and childbirth and postnatal care, ensuring parenting support and promoting equally shared parenting.
The Committee is concerned about the lack of adequate and age-appropriate education on sexuality, in the context of adolescent pregnancies and increased HIV prevalence. It therefore recommends to provide age-appropriate sexual education, pay special attention to preventing adolescent pregnancies and HIV/AIDS, adequately cover sexual orientation and gender identity, and remove discriminatory and gender stereotypical language from the national standard on school sexual education.

The Committee notes the adoption of a comprehensive plan for people with disabilities and the increase in education professionals, in training and in the budget allocated to meeting the needs of children with disabilities. To further improve the situation, the Committee urges the State party to review legislation and policies to adopt a rights-based approach to disability and ensure the inclusion of all children with disabilities as well as to ensure that early detection and intervention programmes, including rehabilitation treatment, appropriate welfare and medical support, are provided countrywide to all children with disabilities, including asylum-seeking and migrant children with disabilities. Republic of Korea should also provide inclusive education for all children with disabilities, including by ensuring the presence of reasonable accommodations in the school infrastructure, in places for sport and leisure, in school transportation, in training and by assigning specialized teachers and assistants to provide individual support. Also, the State party should undertake awareness-raising campaigns to promote a positive image of children with disabilities and combat stigmatization and prejudice.

The Committee welcomes the extension of vaccinations to undocumented children. The Committee recommends to increase the health budget and strengthen local hospitals and
ensure universal access to national health insurance, especially for economically vulnerable groups of children and migrant children. Further, the State party should improve the accessibility of vaccinations for migrant children and strengthen health-care assistance in nurseries and schools, including for diabetic and obese children.

Concerning adolescent health, the Committee recommends to strengthen the prevention and treatment of substance abuse, including narcotic drug abuse and harmful use of alcohol. The Committee further recommends to strengthen prevention measures of obesity, smoking and drinking, including by imposing stricter regulations on alcohol advertising, increasing the number of smoke-free spaces, promoting sports and physical activities and encouraging children’s participation in life-skills education on preventing substance abuse.

While noting the establishment of a national action plan for suicide prevention, the Committee is seriously concerned that the high rates of child suicide, due in particular to problems in the family, depression, academic pressure and bullying, represent a leading cause of death among children. It notes with concern the lack of a systematic approach and a dedicated budget for addressing suicides and their root causes. The Committee urges the State party to strengthen its efforts to effectively prevent suicides among children and to address their root causes, as previously recommended, through comprehensive policies, psychological, educational and social measures and therapies for children, families and the public at large.

The Committee is concerned about reports of children’s rights violations resulting from business activities by companies of the Republic of Korea operating domestically and abroad. The Committee urges the State party to establish a child protection framework for companies in the State party operating domestically and abroad. Such a framework should include mechanisms for conducting child rights impact assessments and monitoring and evaluation mechanisms, in order to report and address children’s rights violations, and should make it clear that all stakeholders are responsible for fulfilling and protecting children’s rights.

The Committee welcomes the amendment to the Juvenile Act making it possible to count the period spent in a juvenile reformatory as part of the final sentence. However, it is concerned about the existence of two parallel systems for processing and reports of violations of children’s fair trial rights, including the non-involvement of guardians from the investigation onwards, the use of forced confessions, the lack of access to evidence and appeal, breaches of the presumption of innocence and the right to defend oneself, publicity of the trial and making conditional the right to legal assistance. In addition, there are higher detention rates among children compared with adults and the conditions of detention are inappropriate, including overcrowding and insufficient medical assistance, education, training, leisure and food, especially for girls; restrictions on communications, petitions and outdoor exercise. There are also cases of children detained together with adults and the lack of non-custodial measures to prevent reoffending.

To improve the situation, the Committee recommends, among other things, to establish a system with adequate resources of specialized child justice courts for all cases involving children in contact with the law and ensure that specialized judges for children and professionals working with children in conflict with the law receive appropriate education and continuous training on the rights of the child. The State party should also ensure that detention conditions, including for temporary detentions, comply with international standards, including with regard to personal space, equally for boys and girls, access to food, education, physical and mental health services, exercise, leisure, communication with the family and complaints mechanisms and that children deprived of their liberty are held in facilities close to their place of residence; and that detention facilities, including child welfare institutions, undergo continuous monitoring.

The Committee welcomes the adoption of the Special Act on the Promotion of the Normalization of Public Education and Regulation of Prior Learning, which aims to eradicate the practice of prior learning (i.e., the taking of private classes at the preschool level in preparation for school), the extension of the school admission quota for vulnerable groups of children, the introduction of the “free semester system” and the provision of support to out-of-school children. However, it remains deeply concerned about the excessive academic burden, accompanied by sleep deprivation and high levels of stress, which is a leading cause of suicide among children in the State party. It is also seriously concerned about the highly competitive education conditions, which virtually deprive children of their childhood, and also about the severe lack of time and of free and safe facilities for leisure, play and physical exercise for children, which, coupled with social pressure to excel academically, contributes to smartphone overuse for recreation.

Concluding observations on the fifth and sixth periodic reports released on 24 October 2019.More information about education in Korea: http://english.moe.go.kr/sub/info.do?m=020104&s=english and http://english.moe.go.kr/sub/info.do?m=020103&s=english

In Bulgaria, the situation is particularly difficult for children from Roma families, as they often do not enjoy health care, have no access to education and are exposed to exploitation. Violence in various forms takes up a large part of the report and poses a threat to many children in Bulgaria. The living situation and the implementation of children's rights for children who suffer from discrimination, i.e., children who are not Bulgarian citizens or have a disability, are very poor.

The Committee recommends to ensure unimpeded access to sexual and reproductive health services, including confidential counselling and modern contraception, and make the conditions for abortion less restrictive.

Pregnant girls placed in correctional facilities are often deprived of adequate living conditions, including a safe environment, adequate food and nutrition and a lack of access to appropriate medical care, and separation of mother and child after birth is apparently common place.

The Committee urges the State Party to give priority to measures that facilitate the full inclusion of children with disabilities, including those with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, in all areas of public life, including leisure activities, community-based care and provision of social housing with reasonable accommodation. Also, Bulgaria should guarantee all children with disabilities the right to inclusive education in mainstream school, independent of parental consent.

The Committee is concerned at the high rate of infant mortality in some parts of the country owing to a lack of adequate health care, poverty, inadequate nutrition and the existence of harmful traditional practices.
To improve the situation, Bulgaria should ensure availability of and equitable access to quality primary and specialized health and dental care for all children, particularly those from socially and economically disadvantaged groups, including Roma children and children with disabilities. Further they need to strengthen efforts to ensure that access to adequate health care, including prenatal care for uninsured pregnant women, is extended to families living in the most vulnerable situations, particularly those living in marginalized and remote areas.

The Committee recommends that community-based mental health services be made readily available and preventive work in schools, the home and care centres be strengthened. It also recommends that the number of child psychiatrists and psychologists be increased.

The Committee is concerned that children living in vulnerable situations, particularly Roma children, continue to be exposed to harmful and exploitative work in the informal economy, mainly in agriculture, tourism, retail and domestic work.

The Committee is deeply concerned at reports indicating that children in juvenile detention centres suffer from disproportionate punishment, including physical beatings, arbitrary periods in solitary confinement and limited food rations. In addition to that, children as young as 8 years of age continue to be deprived of their liberty in correctional facilities.

The Commission for the Protection against Discrimination does not have a special unit to deal with cases of discrimination against children.

The committee recommends to provide all the support necessary to parents who may be at risk of neglecting their children, with particular emphasis on the situation in Greenland. In Greenland, the rates of sexual abuse and online sexual abuse of children are particularly high. Other than in mainland Denmark, child poverty remains high on Faroe Islands and in Greenland.

Denmark is on a good way and the points listed are by far less bad than in other states. There was hardly any usable material for the fact sheets, which is very good.

The committee poses that safeguards to identify girls who are at a risk for female genital mutilation are insufficient. The Committee also recommends that the State party align its legislation on abortion in the Faroe Islands with that in mainland Denmark, with a view to ensuring equal access of girls to safe and legal abortion.

In addition to that, 46 per cent of women in Denmark have experienced some form of physical, sexual or psychological violence before the age of 15. Therefore, the Committee recommends to introduce mandatory elements at all levels of the school curriculum on the unacceptability of violence against women and girls.

Forced treatment and the use of restraint by staff in institutions is legal. Education is insufficiently inclusive; schools and other public facilities are not always fully accessible and the proportions of children with disabilities in primary school who take their final exams and those attending upper secondary education are significantly below the corresponding figures for children without disabilities. Children born deaf with cochlea implants are prevented from learning and communicating in sign language.

The Committee recommends that the State party allocate adequate resources to ensure that all areas of Greenland have sufficient and healthy food reserves and to provide adequate benefits to low-income families.

The Committee recommends to ensure that access to psychological assistance is not dependent on a family’s economic mean.

While noting with appreciation that the proportion of children in conflict with the law has reduced, and welcoming the efforts made by the State party to prevent juvenile delinquency, including the initiatives aimed at strengthening youth resilience against extremism, the Committee nonetheless urges the state party to abolish court-ordered solitary confinement of children. Additionally, the Committee recommends to implement a system focusing on prevention.

While noting with appreciation the many efforts made by the State party to effectively combat child trafficking, the Committee urges the State party to take effective measures to safeguard the rights of children in their territory, especially those of unaccompanied children, to ensure that they do not fall prey to trafficking. In so doing, the Committee urges the State party to continue its efforts to establish adequate and coordinated mechanisms for the identification and protection of child victims of trafficking, reduce bureaucracy and ensure systematic and timely information-sharing among relevant officials, and strengthen the capacity of police officers, border guards, labour inspectors and social workers to identify child victims of trafficking as well as to ensure that child victims are not, under any circumstances, treated as offenders, such as for migration offences, provide child victims with free legal aid and the support of child psychologists and social workers, including through the provision of adequate human, technical and financial resources, and ensure that all child victims have access to child- and gender-sensitive complaints mechanisms and to adequate procedures for seeking, without discrimination, compensation and redress.

The Committee recommends that the State party consider withdrawing the reservation made to article 40 (2) (b) of the Convention. Concluding observations on the fifth periodic reports released on 26 October 2017.

In Vietnam, hidden education fees keep children from education. In addition, migrant children are not considered equal to Vietnamese children and therefore have less access to education and health services and live in poorer households. Girls are structurally disadvantaged and female foetuses are deliberately aborted.

The Committee is concerned about societal discrimination against girls who consequently drop out of school and engage in early marriage, especially in the mountainous areas, and such discrimination also resulting in the practice of aborting female foetuses. Also, the Committee recommends that the State party raise awareness and provide access to services for adolescents in relation to sexual and reproductive health, respond to the increasing number of teenage pregnancies and abortions, and facilitate access to contraceptives, as well as to quality reproductive health services, assistance and counselling.

To improve the situation, the Committee recommends that the State party review existing policies and programmes to develop a rights-based approach in relation to children with disabilities, and effectively implement inclusive education and free-tuition policies in order to further facilitate children with disabilities in having access to school. The Committee further recommends to provide all schools with sufficient numbers of teachers who have skills in inclusive education so that all children with disabilities can enjoy access to high-quality inclusive education, with a particular focus on children with disabilities living in rural areas. Vietnam should also raise public awareness, and include children with disabilities in these awareness-raising and social-change interventions, to address widespread stigma and discrimination. In addition, the Committee recommends that the State Party reduce the trend to institutionalize children with disabilities and seek community-based child care solutions.

The Committee recommends that the State party take immediate steps to
promote common standards in health-care services for all children in all regions, and develop nutrition strategies, policies and legislation relating to positive infant and young-child feeding practices, aimed at reducing regional disparities relating to acute and chronic undernutrition. In addition, the Committee recommends to increase the resources available for district health centres and commune health stations and ensure that they have adequate human and material resources, particularly in relation to maternal health care and care of new-borns, infants and preschool children, and take measures, including awareness-raising campaigns and the expansion of service delivery, to increase immunization rates among infant and preschool children, paying special attention to ethnicity and geographic location.

The Committee is highly concerned that child labour remains widespread in the State party, in particular in the informal sector, and that labour inspections outreach is limited. Also, child inmates in drug detention centres are obliged to work and thus subject to forced labour.
Therefore, the Committee recommends that the State party take immediate and effective measures to eliminate child labour in unacceptable conditions, including at an early age and under dangerous conditions. The Committee also recommends that Vietnam implement effective measures to address the deep-rooted socioeconomic factors that push children into the workforce, in particular to increase the school attendance rate and reduce the school dropout rate with a view to avoiding child labour.

In spite of progress in certain areas of juvenile justice, the Committee expresses its concern about the lack of a comprehensive juvenile justice system, including the absence of a juvenile court, and the rising number of young offenders and the State party’s punitive system of dealing with young offenders. The Committee urges the State party to establish a specialized juvenile court and specialized police-protection units for children and to allocate adequate human, technical and financial resources to the juvenile justice system to ensure a focus on diversion and other alternative measures to deprivation of liberty, and ensure the provision of rehabilitation and reintegration programmes.

While welcoming the significant efforts made by the State party to reduce poverty, which have decreased the rate of poor households by 2 per cent per year, and while noting that Viet Nam moved from the group of poorest countries to the group of lower middle- income countries in 2010, the Committee is deeply concerned at the high number of children who still live in poverty in the State party. In addition, while noting the national target programme on clean water and rural sanitation currently under way, the Committee expresses its concern about serious gaps in the supply of safe drinking water, and about the inadequate sanitation facilities in the home and at schools, which affect the health of the child and the ability to retain children in schools.

Concluding observations on the third and fourth periodic reports released on 22 August 2012.More information about education in Vietnam: https://www.aljazeera.com

Tuvalu is a middle-income country, but it still uses too little money to effectively implement children's rights. Organizations and government institutions such as the National Advisory Committee on Children's Rights need more human, technical and financial resources, and all processes, especially budgeting, must include children. Other problems include increasing poverty and climate disasters, which threaten a healthy future. The children on the outer islands are much worse off than those living more centrally.

The Committee recommends that the State party decriminalize abortion 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, as well as strengthen its programmes on sexual and reproductive health education and expand them across the country, targeting adolescent girls and boys, with special attention paid to preventing early pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. Tuvalu should also provide free, confidential and adolescent-responsive sexual and reproductive health services to all adolescents.

The Committee is concerned that the laws and policies regarding children do not sufficiently take into account the rights of children with disabilities. It is also concerned about the lack of information on the situation of children with disabilities and the insufficient progress made in ensuring their access to specialized health care and services and to inclusive education.
Therefore, the Committee urges the State party to harmonize national legislative and policy frameworks with the human rights model of disability to uphold the rights of children with disabilities, including by setting up a comprehensive strategy for the full inclusion of children with disabilities into society, and undertake a study on the situation of children with disabilities, including their access to services and support, and use the findings to inform the implementation of the Convention and its national legal and policy frameworks. It further urges Tuvalu to ensure access for children with disabilities, including those with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, to inclusive education in mainstream schools, with adequately trained teachers and professionals to provide individual support to them as well as provide support and services in the community to enable families to care for children with disabilities. Tuvalu should also take measures to improve the accessibility of public buildings, facilities, services and transportation for children with disabilities to facilitate their inclusion in society on an equal basis with others.

While welcoming the decline in infant and under-5 mortality rates, the high coverage of pre- and postnatal health care for mothers and the efforts to deploy medical personnel on every island, the Committee remains concerned about the disparities in health services between Funafuti and the other islands and at the reliance on government-funded overseas treatment schemes, which leads to less budget funding being allocated to strengthening the State party’s primary and preventive health-care system. The Committee is also concerned that anaemia is affecting 61 per cent of children under 5 years of age, alongside 29 per cent of pregnant women.
To guarantee every child the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, the Committee recommends that the State party strengthen and expand its primary and preventive health-care system, and address disparities between the islands in access to quality health care and services, including by allocating sufficient financial resources and ensuring the availability of qualified health-care staff across the country. It also recommends to strengthen measures to eliminate preventable infant and under-5 mortality and undertake a study on the causes of anaemia among young children and pregnant women and, based on the findings, formulate and implement programmes to address the issue, and inform the Committee of the outcomes in the next periodic report.

The Committee recommends that the State party ensure that the special vulnerabilities and needs of children, as well as their views, are taken into account in developing policies and programmes addressing the issues of climate change and disaster risk management and that Tuvalu collect disaggregated data identifying the types of risk faced by children in the occurrence of a variety of disasters, in order to formulate international, regional and national policies, frameworks and agreements accordingly. Tuvalu should also strengthen the implementation of national policies for sustainable safe water supplies and sanitation, including the sustainable and integrated water and sanitation policy, with a view to increasing access to sufficient safe drinking water and providing adequate sanitation, including in the outer islands and strengthen measures to increase children’s awareness and preparedness for climate change and natural disasters, including by strengthening climate change education in schools across the country. In addition, Tuvalu should provide opportunities for children to effectively participate in discussions and decision-making related to climate action.

The Committee notes the low number of cases in which children under 18 years of age have been formally charged with offences under the Penal Code, mainly owing to conflicts being addressed through community mediation. However, the Committee is concerned that cases of child offenders are dealt with in the general criminal justice system without the protections provided by the Convention.
To improve the situation, the Committee urges the State party to provide systematic training for judges, prosecutors, police officers and other professionals on the provisions of the Convention. It also recommends to expedite the coming into force of the child welfare and protection bill and enforce its child justice provisions that explicitly prohibit the corporal punishment and life imprisonment of child offenders.

The Committee is concerned about the low rates of birth registration, especially in the outer islands, the fees imposed on late registrations, the lack of effective measures to ensure the registration of the births of children of unmarried parents and the low level of public awareness of the importance of birth registration.
The Committee recommends that the State party intensify its efforts to ensure that all children in its territory, including the children of unmarried parents and children in the outer islands, have access to birth registration, including through setting up mobile registration units, abolishing all birth registration fees and raising awareness among the general public of the importance of birth registration.

Concluding observations on the second to fifth periodic reports released on 31 March 2020. More information about education: Situation of children in Tuvalu

In Canada, Aboriginal and African Canadian and Immigrant children are particularly exposed to discrimination. Furthermore, the cost of education is high. However, the basic needs of the majority of children in the State party are met.

The Committee is concerned about the number of pregnant girls and teenage mothers who drop out of school, which leads to poorer outcomes for their children.

The Committee urges the State party to establish as soon as possible a system of global and disaggregated data collection on children with disabilities, which will enable the State party and all its provinces and territories to establish inclusive policies and equal opportunities for all children with disabilities. The Committee also urges to ensure that all children with disabilities have access, in all provinces and territories, to inclusive education and are not forced to attend segregated schools only designed for children with disabilities.
Canada should also ensure that children with disabilities, and their families, are provided with all necessary support and services in order to ensure that financial constraints are not an obstacle in accessing services and that household incomes and parental employment are not negatively affected. Canada should take all the necessary measures to protect children with disabilities from all forms of violence.

The Committee notes as positive the free and widespread access to high-quality health care within the State party. However, the Committee notes with concern the high incidence of obesity among children in the State party and is concerned at the lack of regulations on the production and marketing of fast foods and other unhealthy foods, especially as targeted at children.
The Committee recommends that the State party address the incidence of obesity in children, by, inter alia, promoting a healthy lifestyle among children, including physical activity and ensuring greater regulatory controls over the production and advertisement of fast food and unhealthy foods, especially those targeted at children.

The Committee recommends that the State party strengthen and expand the quality of interventions to prevent suicide among children with particular attention to early detection, and expand access to confidential psychological and counselling services in all schools, including social work support in the home. In addition, Canada should establish a system of expert monitoring of the excessive use of psycho stimulants to children, and take action to understand the root causes and improve the accuracy of diagnoses while improving access to behavioural and psychological interventions. The Committee also recommends that the State party consider the establishment of a monitoring mechanism in each province and territory, under the ministries of health, to monitor and audit the practice of informed consent by health professionals in relation to the use of psychotropic drugs on children.

The Committee recommends the consultations with companies on their plans to address environmental and health pollution and the human rights impact of their activities and their disclosure to the public.

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 child rights. In particular, it recommends that the State party ensure the establishment of a clear regulatory framework for, inter alia, the gas, mining, and oil companies operating in territories outside Canada to ensure that their activities do not impact on human rights or endanger environment and other standards, especially those related to children’s rights. The Committee further recommends the monitoring of implementation by companies at home and abroad of international and national environmental and health and human rights standards, and that appropriate sanctions and remedies are provided when violations occur with a particular focus on the impact on children.

The Committee urges the State party to ensure that no person under 18 is tried as an adult, irrespective of the circumstances or the gravity of his/her offence, and it urges Canada to ensure the protection of privacy of children within the juvenile justice system. Canada should also develop guidelines for restraint and use of force against children in arrest and detention for use by all law enforcement officers and personnel in detention facilities, including the abolishment of use of tasers.
In addition, the Committee urges Canada to conduct an extensive study of systemic overrepresentation of Aboriginal and African Canadian children and youth in the criminal justice system and develop an effective action plan towards eliminating the disparity in rates of sentencing and incarceration of Aboriginal and African Canadian children and youth, including activities such as training of all legal, penitentiary and law enforcement professionals on the Convention. Further, Canada should ensure that girls are held separately from boys and that girls are monitored by female prison guards so as to better protect girls from the risk of sexual violence and exploitation.

The Committee is concerned that income inequality is widespread and growing and that no national strategy has been developed to comprehensively address child poverty despite a commitment by Parliament to end child poverty by 2000. The Committee is especially concerned about the inequitable distribution of tax benefits and social transfers for children. Furthermore, the Committee is concerned that the provision of welfare services to Aboriginal children, African Canadian and children of other minorities is not comparable in quality and accessibility to services provided to other children in the State party and is not adequate to meet their needs.

The Committee welcomes the recent return of Omar Kadr to the custody of the State party. However, the Committee is concerned that as a former child soldier, Omar Kadr has not been accorded the rights and appropriate treatment under the Convention. In particular, the Committee is concerned that he experienced grave violations of his human rights, which the Canadian Supreme Court recognized, including his maltreatment during his years of detention in Guantanamo, and that he has not been afforded appropriate redress and remedies for such violations.

Concluding observations on the third and fourth periodic reports released on 6 December 2012. While the Committee positively acknowledges the State party’s efforts towards removing its reservations to article 37(c) of the Convention, the Committee strongly recommends to withdrawal of its reservation to article 37(c).

In Greece, children from minority groups or refugee children enjoy fewer rights than Greek children. Children with disabilities are also not fully accepted by society. Another major problem is the high level of poverty and the associated restrictions on health services.

The Committee urges Greece to enhance the availability of contraceptive services and promote sex education targeted at adolescents, with special attention to the prevention of early pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

The Committee notes that the State party has adopted laws and established services and institutions with the aim of supporting children with disabilities, promoting their social participation, including joint learning in schools, and developing their independence. However, the Committee remains concerned that deep-rooted discrimination still exists and that measures for children with disabilities are not carefully monitored, as well as that statistical data on children with disabilities in the State party is still unavailable. It is deeply concerned at the widespread use of institutionalization, which is mainly because of a lack of day-care and community services for children with the most serious forms of disabilities. The Committee is further deeply concerned about the recently reported case of the Children’s Care Centre in Lechaina, regarding children with disabilities living under inhumane and unacceptable conditions, including being systematically sedated and subject to practices such as being tied to their beds, and the use of cage beds due to a shortage of staff. Therefore, the Committee inter alia recommends to make every effort to provide programmes and services for children with disabilities with adequate human and financial resources and periodic monitoring of placement of children with disabilities, and to adopt, as a matter of priority, measures to ensure that no children with disabilities are placed under such inhumane conditions. Furthermore, placement in residential institutions should be the last resort, depending on the needs of the child.

The Committee is concerned that the right to health and access to health services is not respected for all children, with regard to the fact that some health services have to be paid in cash and in advance.
The Committee recommends that the State party ensure that all children have access to health care. The Committee further recommends that the State party collect data on its basic national health indicators, and strengthen its health infrastructure, including through the recruitment of additional nurses and social workers. The Committee notes with concern the limited knowledge among adolescents about reproductive health; persistent problems of youth suicides, and alcohol, drug and tobacco use by adolescents in the State party.

The Committee is concerned at the revelation of the identity of either victims or perpetrators of crimes in the media through the publication of data from the court records of cases involving minors, while their cases are being examined by court, and through the publication of images or information concerning the personal situation of children accommodated in child-protection institutions.

The Committee urges the State party to decriminalize begging by children while taking steps to ensure that such a change would not be exploited by adults who may use children to beg and to adopt specific legal provisions in order to provide protection for minors 15-18 years of age in the juvenile justice system. Greece should also conduct a thorough analysis of the overrepresentation of foreign and Roma children in the juvenile justice system and provide these children with the necessary legal safeguards.

The Committee notes that the recession and the current financial and economic crisis are taking their toll on families and on public social investment, including on the prospects of implementing the Convention, especially with regard to article 4 of the Convention. In this respect, the Committee reminds the State party that, in time of fiscal constraint, efforts must be made to sustain and expand social investment and social protection of those in the most vulnerable situations and to employ an equitable approach, giving priority to children.

The Committee notes that youth unemployment in the State party is running at 40 per cent, one of the highest rates in Europe, and rising as the economy rapidly shrinks, and that school drop-out rates are increasing among all children, but especially among Roma children, with uncertain development prospects for children neither in school nor working.

Concluding observations on the second and third periodic reports released on 13 August 2012.More information about education in Greece: https://eacea.ec.europa.eu

The report from Andorra does not provide information on health care or accessibility to education in the country. Unequal treatment of children from Andorra and refugee children can be identified and must be reduced in order to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The Committee is concerned about the existing patriarchal attitudes, practices and stereotypes that discriminate against girls. The Committee is also concerned about the punitive abortion law that could lead adolescents to seek other alternative solutions in the neighbouring countries. The Committee also regrets the lack of information on adolescent health, including on reproductive and sexual health of adolescents, in the State party’s report.
The Committee recommends that the State party review the provisions of the Penal Code concerning abortion to decriminalize abortion under certain circumstances, such as pregnancies as a result of rape, with a view to guaranteeing the best interests of pregnant teenagers. The Committee further urges the State party to increase the availability of confidential and youth-friendly health services throughout the country, to enhance the availability of contraceptive services, including in all educational institutions, and to promote sex education targeted at adolescent girls and boys, with special attention to the prevention of early pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

The Committee notes with appreciation the significant legislative, institutional and policy measures taken to ensure that children with disabilities enjoy the same protection and rights as other children in the State party. However, it is concerned that children with disabilities continue to experience social discrimination.
To improve the situation, the Committee recommends that the State party reinforce efforts to raise awareness and sensitize the public about rights and special needs of children with disabilities to help remove cultural and social barriers. Andorra should increase budget allocations to provide children with disabilities with equal access to adequate social and health services, including psychological support, counselling services, parental guidance for families of children with disabilities, and tailored services for children with learning difficulties and behavioural disorders, and raise awareness about all services available.

The Committee recommends that the State party take all measures to ensure that the involvement of children in all contexts is in full compliance with the international child labour standards, in terms of their age, working hours, their working conditions, their education and health. Andorra should also impose applicable sanctions against persons violating the existing legislation on child labour.

The Committee notes as positive the information provided by the State party that the child detainee, who was the only one deprived of liberty in 2012, was fully separated from adults.
Noting that very few numbers of children are incarcerated in detention centres, the Committee recommends that the State party ensure that children are accompanied and cared by professionals, and that they are always held entirely separate from the adult detainees, including when they are permitted to use common areas of the detention facility.

The Committee notes with concern the information provided by the State party that the impact of the economic crisis on families, particularly the rise in unemployment, has put pressure on families and led to a significant increase in incidents of domestic violence against children and women. In particular, the Committee is concerned by the State party’s findings that the number of cases of children at risk of abuse and negligence has increased in recent years. The Committee is further concerned that the child protection system is still insufficient to provide proper prevention, identification, reporting, referral, investigation, treatment, rehabilitation and follow-up on all cases of child abuse and neglect.

Concluding observations on the second periodic report released on 3 December 2012.More information about education in Andorra: https://all-andorra.com