Country | Luxembourg |
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Optional protocol | on the involvement of children in armed conflict, on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, on a Communication Procedure |
Violence | The Committee recommends to accelerate the establishment of a children’s house for child victims and witnesses of violence where children can receive all services in one place. |
Safety | |
Corporal punishment | Corporal Punishment is prohibited in all settings. |
Overview of the child rights situation | Luxembourg has no problems relating to children’s rights in the health sector. In order to fully implement the convention, Luxembourg needs to do more in the area of participation. All in all, Luxembourg has a good situation for children and young people. The concluding observations do not deal with specific points, but rather recommend how improvement of existing measures can look like. |
Situation of intersexual and transsexual children | The Committee recommends to prohibit medically unnecessary surgeries and other procedures on intersex children before they are able to provide their informed consent and to provide families with intersex children with adequate counselling and support. |
Discrimination | |
Situation of children with disabilities | The Committee welcomes the measures taken by the State party during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide support to families with children with disabilities. But the Committee is concerned that girls with disabilities remain at high risk of multiple forms of discrimination, and of being victims of gender-based violence, including domestic violence and sexual exploitation, which are difficult for them to report. In general, Children with disabilities are not asked to express themselves directly in matters that concern them, and often their parents are not consulted either. |
Situation of asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children | The Committee is concerned that The State party’s legislation on immigration and asylum allows the detention of children under certain conditions and in certain circumstances and the maximum length of detention for families with children was extended from three to seven days.<br /> The Committee recommends to establish a special status for the benefit of unaccompanied children who do not apply for international protection, including by providing them with long-term solutions and to provide the resources necessary to prevent unaccompanied children from being placed in centres together with adults. |
Education | |
Free kindergarten | Yes |
Free primary and secondary school | Yes |
Digital possibilities | The Committee recommends to take legislative and administrative measures to protect children from violence in the digital environment, including regular review, updating and enforcement of robust legislative, regulatory and institutional frameworks that protect children from recognized and emerging risks of all forms of violence in the digital environment. |
Health | |
physical health | The Committee recommends that Luxembourg takes measures to train health professionals, and engage them, especially in high schools. |
Relation to other countries | |
mental health | The Committee recommends that the State party evaluate the implementation of the National Suicide Prevention Plan and develop a new plan that will take into account the results of such evaluation. In doing so, the State party should ensure the provision of adequate human, technical and financial resources for parents and professionals working with or for children to address the issue of suicide and its related root causes. |
Situation of juvenile justice | The Committee is concerned that children above the age of 16 can be referred for trial by ordinary courts and child protection legislation does not differentiate between child victims of offences and children in conflict with the law. On top of that, it is still permit that a child is detained in an adult penitentiary centre. To improve the situation, the Committee recommends to ensure that all children below the age of 18 years are treated within the child justice system by specialized judge, and that the State party take measures to separate protection measures aimed at child victims or children at risk of becoming victims of offences and measures aimed at children in conflict with the law. |
Specific observations | The distinction between children of married and unmarried parents continues to exist, regardless of new legislations. Also, children are sometimes placed in foster families abroad, creating difficulties for some of them to stay in contact with their biological families. |
Additional Background | Concluding observations on the fifth and sixth periodic reports released on 21 June 2021. |
Last Updated (date) | 2nd of March, 2022 |