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Since the Committee's reporting, Russia has used its influence in the Donbass region, an annexed part of Ukraine, to militarize children and education for its own purposes. Reports from December 2018 indicate that more than 5,000 children have passed through militarized patriotic camps and are being used as soldiers. The big refugee wave currently waiting to enter the EU between Belarus and Poland is also co-initiated by Russia.

The Committee remains concerned about the large number of cases of sexual exploitation and abuse of children in the State party and the lack of cooperation between law enforcement agencies and the social system to prevent such offences or to rehabilitate victims of sexual violence and sexual abuse.
The Committee recommends that the State party establish interdepartmental cooperation, in particular between law enforcement agencies and social services structures, in order to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse of children and to provide timely and effective rehabilitation to victims of such crimes. The Committee also recommends that the State party take urgent measures to investigate all information relating to sexual abuse of children, including LGBTI children, and prosecute and punish the perpetrators of such crimes.

The Committee urges the State party to ensure the conformity of its legislation, policies and practices with the aim of effectively addressing the needs of children with disabilities in a non-discriminatory manner. Furthermore, the Committee recommends that the State party take all the necessary measures to prevent mass institutionalization of children with disabilities and ensure sufficient alternative family- and community-based care options for children with disabilities deprived of a family environment, by educating the public and providing all the necessary support to families with children with disabilities. Russia should employ independent medical experts to monitor and review the diagnosis of children with mental disabilities, especially children without family care, and their placement in special care institutions by boards of psychological, medical and educational specialists. Additionally, Russia should provide education and developmental activities to children with mental disabilities on a regular basis and stop the practice of categorizing children as “unteachable”.

The Committee is concerned about the increasing number of children with chronic pathologies and disabilities, especially among children without parental care and children in difficult situations. It is also concerned about the frequent occurrence of malnourishment, especially among children of migrant workers, and the significant obstacles faced by such children and asylum-seeking children in obtaining medical assistance, including preventive health care and emergency assistance.
To improve the situation, the Committee recommends that the State party take measures to regularly assess the health conditions of children deprived of parental care and children in difficult situations in order to prevent irreparable damage to their health. The Committee also recommends that the State party take measures to provide all children, irrespective of their legal status in the country, with access to medical assistance, in particular preventive health care and emergency assistance, without any discrimination.

The Committee is concerned about the negative impact of coal extraction and the production of asbestos on children’s health, especially those living in the Kemerovo and Ural regions.
The Committee recommends that Russia establishes and implements regulations to ensure that the business sector complies with international and national human rights as well as labour, environmental and other standards. In particular, it urges the State party to establish a clear regulatory framework for the oil and gas industries and coal-extraction businesses operating in the State party to ensure that their activities do not negatively affect human rights or endanger environmental and other standards, especially those relating to indigenous children’s rights. Also, Russia should curtail the production of asbestos and raise the public’s awareness of the toxicity of asbestos and its effect on health and provide timely reparation to limit ongoing and future damage to the health and development of children affected and compensate for any damage that has occurred.

The Committee urges the State party to establish a juvenile justice system in full compliance with the Convention. In particular, the Committee recommends that the State party expedite the adoption of the laws establishing a juvenile justice system, including juvenile courts with specialized staff and a restorative justice approach, to follow up on the positive decrease in the number of children sentenced to deprivation of liberty and prevent the unlawful detention of children and ensure that legal safeguards are guaranteed for children detained. Russia should also ensure that children who reach the age of majority while in detention can stay in institutions for juvenile offenders until they reach their mid-twenties as a rule. Furthermore, Russia should develop comprehensive rehabilitation and reintegration measures for all children in conflict with the law.

The Committee is seriously concerned about reports that children born to Roma, refugee and asylum-seeking mothers with non-Russian passports or without identity documents are denied birth registration and are issued with only a hospital certificate indicating merely their sex, height and weight. The Committee is concerned that this practice gives rise to a new generation of undocumented persons, whose rights are limited in all areas of life.
Therefore, the Committee urges the State party to ensure that all children born in its territory, irrespective of the status of their parents, are registered on the same terms as children born to Russian citizens and are issued with a standard birth certificate.

Concluding observations on the fourth and fifth periodic reports released on 25 February 2014. More information about education in Russia: http://www.rbth.com

The report from Belarus was finalized in 2020, shortly before the post-presidential election protests resulted in massive change in the country. Violence in Belarus, including against children, has increased enormously and an estimated two hundred minors have been arbitrarily detained for political reasons. Violence and torture are likely during incarceration. Parents are also threatened with deprivation of custody if their children misconduct. The report from Belarus makes clear that not all children have equal access to education and health services, and that the country has a widespread problem of violence that runs throughout society.

The Committee urges, bearing in mind the increase of child sexual exploitation, to conduct awareness-raising activities to alert society, parents and schools about the harmful effects and possible criminal nature of any sexual relationships between children and adults and about online risks.

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 further strengthen early identification of disability and age-appropriate rehabilitation interventions, improve information outreach for parents of children with disabilities and develop programmes to support children with disabilities in transition to adulthood to help them start an independent life.
The Committee further urges to ensure that all children with disabilities progressively have access to inclusive education, and ensure inclusive education in integrated classes.

The Committee welcomes the progress made in reducing mother and child mortality and in eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV and congenital syphilis. Next, the State party should remove all barriers for the admission of children living with HIV to educational institutions and to health recovery, including by revising relevant regulations. The State party should also increase its healthcare budget and intensify its efforts in the area of prevention, early detection and timely treatment of thyroid conditions and other diseases related to, inter alia, nuclear contamination.

In the field of adolescent health, Belarus needs to strengthen its efforts to prevent and address the incidence of alcohol and tobacco addiction, including by providing children and adolescents with accurate and objective information and life skills education on preventing substance abuse, and develop specialized accessible and youth-friendly drug-dependence treatment and harm-reduction services.
Another point is to introduce sexual and reproductive health education into the mandatory school curriculum, with a focus on non-discrimination and sexual and reproductive rights, directing special attention to preventing adolescent pregnancy, high-risk sexual behaviour, HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections and to the issues of sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Committee notes that children between the ages of 15 and 17 experience high mental distress and that the incidence of mental health issues and suicide in this age group increased between 2015 and 2017, with suicide being the main cause of adolescent mortality. They recommend to develop, based on the results of a research, a suicide prevention strategy, paying particular attention to children, that focuses on reducing stress, improving mental well-being, promoting healthy lifestyles and physical activity and strengthening social protection and community services, and that takes into account best practices implemented in other countries.

In Belarus, violent and degrading means of discipline are widely used, which contributes to peer and intergenerational violence.

The Committee recommends to establish and implement regulations to ensure the compliance of the business sector with international human rights and children’s rights, enact the law on legal responsibility for corporations and adopt a corporate responsibility index.

The State party should establish a comprehensive system of child justice with specialized courts, procedures and trained judges, lawyers and law enforcement professionals. The Committee also urges to maintain the single minimum age of criminal responsibility for all offences and ensure that children below that age are not treated as offenders and are never placed in closed institutions. Belarus should also strengthen the prevention of crime and reoffending among children, paying particular attention to girls.

The children’s right to privacy and personal information is insufficiently protected.

The Committee recommends that the State party strengthen its efforts to guarantee the child’s right to rest and leisure and sufficient time to engage in play and recreational activities that are safe, accessible, inclusive, reachable by public transport, smoke-free and age-appropriate. It also recommends that the State party expand the offer of cultural activities in Belarusian.

Concluding observations on the fifth and sixth periodic reports released on 28 February 2020. More information about education in Belarus: https://www.belarus.by/en/about-belarus/education
https://www.belarus.by

Kenya's report reveals a poor overall situation for children in the country. This is especially true for the many children who are affected by discrimination. In addition, there are armed conflicts in which children, in particular those who belong to certain socially and economically marginalized religious or ethnic groups, are repeatedly forced to participate due to their catastrophic living conditions.

The Committee urges the State party to intensify efforts to eliminate discrimination, particularly patriarchal attitudes and gender stereotypes, and ensure that a wide range of stakeholders, including girls and all sectors of society, are involved in such efforts so as to facilitate social and cultural change and to create an environment that promotes equality.

The Committee is concerned that despite its legal prohibition, harmful practices such as female genital mutilation, child marriage and “beading” of girls are still persistent. The Committee is further concerned that the medicalization of female genital mutilation has reportedly increased.

The Committee recommends to Kenya to decriminalize abortion and enforce effectively the prohibition of female genital mutilation, including that practiced by health practitioners, child marriage, and other forms of harmful practices.

There is a lack of disaggregated data that are necessary for designing a comprehensive strategy for the inclusion of children with disabilities. Furthermore, many mainstream schools are not equipped for inclusive education and specialized schools are not available, accessible or affordable. Therefore, the Committee recommends to Kenya to intensify measures, including awareness-raising, to combat stigma against children with disabilities and give priority to inclusive education at mainstream schools over special schooling.

Costs for health-care services remain a barrier and child immunization coverage is declining, partly due to objections against child vaccination campaigns by some members of the Catholic Church. To guarantee the highest attainable standard of health for every child, the Committee urges the State Party to progressively expand the coverage of free health care for children to children above 5 years of age and increase the overall national and county budget allocations to the health sector.

Concerning adolescent health, the Committee is concerned that the level of drug and substance abuse among young people is high and that the rates of early pregnancy and of maternal mortality among adolescents, including due to unsafe abortions, remain high.

The Committee is concerned about evictions of indigenous peoples from their lands under the pretext of national development and resource conservation, which have resulted in serious violations of the rights of indigenous children, aggravated by poverty, insecurity and conflict among indigenous communities.

The Committee is also concerned about illegal dumping of toxic wastes and other forms of environmental pollution, which have a serious impact on children’s health.

The Committee is concerned that the weak regulation of activities of business enterprises results in illegal acquisition of public lands, including the premises of public schools, by private individuals and business enterprises.
Also, there is a prevalence of child labour, including the commercial sexual exploitation of children, and human trafficking for child labour.
To improve the situation, the Committee recommends to establish a clear regulatory framework for business enterprises operating in the State party to ensure that their activities do not negatively affect child rights or breach environmental, health or labour standards, especially those relating to children. Furthermore, the Committee recommends that the State party monitor the compliance of business enterprises with such regulations, as well as with international and national environmental, health and labour standards, and sanction appropriately and provide remedies when violations occur.

The Committee notes as problems in Kenya's juvenile justice system that there is insufficient information on legal assistance provided to children in conflict with the law and children are still treated as adults and held together with adults. The Committee recommends that the State party ensure that adequate facilities exist for children in conflict with the law, and that detention conditions are compliant with international standards, including with regard to access to education and health services. Also, Kenya should adopt a holistic and preventative approach to addressing the problem of children in conflict with the law and the underlying social factors, with a view to supporting children who are vulnerable due to poverty and social exclusion, including by expanding intervention programmes, vocational training and other outreach activities.

The Committee welcomes the establishment of the Kenya Children’s Assembly at national, county and sub-county levels. Nevertheless, the Committee is concerned that the Children’s Assembly is not open or accessible to certain groups of children, such as refugee children and children with disabilities.
Additionally, the Committee is seriously concerned about killings of, and trafficking of, children with albinism for body parts, including about such acts that are committed by family members.

Concluding observations on the third to fifth periodic reports released on 21 March 2016.More information about education in Kenya: https://www.education.go.ke

In the Costa Rica report, it becomes clear that the implementation of the child rights perspective in general legislation in insufficient. Costa Rica needs to allocate more financial, human and technical resources to the implementation of laws that uphold children's rights. Similarly, the overall societal approach to children's rights is paternalistic and adult-oriented, and children's rights are not prioritized. There is also a lack of child-friendly, compliant mechanisms in any official context. In addition, measures to prevent gang violence and drug trafficking must be implemented. In addition, 34 percent of children live in poverty and 12 percent even live in extreme poverty.

Persisting stereotypes against girls heighten the risks of sexual violence and exploitation, early pregnancies and the imposition of barriers in access to education and sexual and reproductive health. Patriarchal ideologies need to be removed in education and family. 15 percent of femicides registered between 2004 and 2014 affected adolescent girls. Abortion is criminalized.

Measures to identify violence and improve accessible health-care services need to be implemented for children with disabilities. In addition, the Committee recommends to ensure that legislation on children’s rights and gender-equality legislation and public policies are responsive to and include the rights of children with disabilities, and promote participation of children with disabilities in public decision-making. Also, Costa Rica should ensure that all cases of violence, including sexual violence, against children with disabilities, are systematically registered by the authorities, and provide children with adequate access to redress, including psychosocial counselling, and support services.

The Committee recommends to ensure access to health services by indigenous and Afro-descendent children living in rural and coastal areas. Also, Costa Rica should ensure sufficient budget allocation for universal coverage of health care, including by establishing and strengthening partnerships with local governments.

There are high rates of suicides among adolescents. The Committee recommends to strengthen the work and coverage of the interdisciplinary mental health teams working at the local level, and adopt a strategy focused on the prevention of suicide.

The Committee, noting with concern information about the worst forms of child labour, in particular of girls in domestic work and adolescent children in the informal sector, recommends that the State party strengthen its measures to identify and prevent child labour, through continuous labour inspections, mechanisms of complaint by children, and awareness-raising campaigns against domestic work of adolescent girls.

The Committee recommends to the state party to bring its child justice system fully into line with the Convention and raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 years. Also, Costa Rica should discontinue preventive detention of children. Furthermore, the Committee recommends that the State party take measures to ensure the identification of instances of ill-treatment of children by the police, and measures to improve infrastructure and conditions of detention in Zurquí and Ofelia Vicenzi juvenile centres need to be adopted.

Costa Rica's concluding observations are one of the few that include intersectional discrimination.

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.

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.
The Committee recommends to take immediate measures to ensure that children with disabilities have access to health care and reasonable accommodation in all settings, including at school and in leisure centres.

The Committee recommends that Luxembourg takes measures to train health professionals, and engage them, especially in high schools.

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.

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.

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.
Furthermore, the Committee welcomes the measures taken by replacing the guaranteed minimum income scheme, the reform of parental leave and changes in benefits and other measures taken to combat poverty, including affordable meals for children in secondary school and free meals for asylum-seeking children. Concerned that the child poverty rate remains higher than that of the general population and continues to grow, the Committee recommends to take targeted measures and provide adequate financial support and free and accessible services without discrimination. In addition to that, the State party should ensure that the legislation provides clear procedures for managing and storing data regarding children’s origins. Furthermore, the Committee recommends that the State party institutionalize a children’s Parliament as a regular event and ensure that it is provided with a meaningful mandate.

In Belgium, a remarkable law passed on vote in 2014, which removed all age restrictions from euthanasia. The dealing with unaccompanied children needs improvement as well as the dealing with females and girls’ self-determination.

Sexual harassment in public spaces is commonplace and sexual abuse by religious personnel in the Catholic church is persistent. Also, Child marriage and female genital mutilation, which is prevalent among populations with a migrant background, remains underreported.

The Committee urges the State party to establish protection schemes and care programmes for victims of child marriage and female genital mutilation.

The Committee urges Belgium to improve the collection of data on children with disabilities and to improve providing inclusive education for all children with disabilities.

The Committee reminds the State party of the need to ensure the fullest possible review and control of decisions on euthanasia in relation to children, including by a judge, to guarantee that such decisions are not the subject of undue influence or misapprehension.
The Committee recommends to strengthen the efforts to prevent and combat obesity and the incidence of substance abuse, particularly of cannabis, tobacco and alcohol. The Committee urges the State party to raise the legal age for buying tobacco to 18 years.

The Committee is deeply concerned at the growing number of children suffering from psychological problems, such as stress, and at the high prevalence of suicide in children. Seeking mental health care is negatively perceived in Belgium.
The Committee further recommends to address the increased diagnosis of ADHD and other behavioural specificities, and the use of drug treatments for the children diagnosed.

The Committee notes a high level of air pollution, particularly from road transport and its negative impact on the climate and on children’s health, contributing to an increase in asthma and respiratory diseases.

A national forum on the topic the Children’s Rights and Business Principles was established.

The Committee welcomes the extension of the right to legal assistance to every suspect from the first interrogation and the establishment of the family and youth court. Meanwhile, it is concerned that the age for imposing penalties was lowered from 16 to 14 years old, and that new penalties were introduced.
The Committee recommends to eliminate all possibility that a child is tried in an adult court or detained with adults and recommends to ensure that accessible and qualified legal assistance is provided without delay.

The Committee recommends to carry out a legislative review to consider access to information of children born through assisted reproduction about their origins.

Several problems in the implementation of the Convention lay on formal level, for example in missing data, missing legislations or not enough funding for the implementation of children’s rights, and not on a substantive level.

In Portugal, there is a low level of awareness of child sexual abuse.
The Committee recommends to continue to provide preventive and protection measures to address female genital mutilation. The State party should also ensure safe abortion and post-abortion care services for adolescent girls.

The Committee recommends to adopt a new comprehensive strategy for the inclusion of children with disabilities in all areas of life. It further recommends to train teachers and professionals, including in early childhood education.

The State party should enhance its efforts to effectively implement legislation guaranteeing free access to health care to every child. Therefore, the Committee recommends to increase the financial resources allocated to the health sector and to take measures to guarantee the assignment of a family doctor to every child.

The Committee recommends to the State party to address the increased diagnosis of ADHD and other behavioural specificities, and the use of drug treatments for the children diagnosed.

The Committee recommends to establish monitoring mechanisms for the investigation and redress of violations of children’s rights, with a view to improving accountability and transparency.

Portugal should prohibit and abolish the use of solitary confinement to punish children. Existing custodial precautionary measures need to be reviewed to ensure that child detention is only used in exceptional circumstances.

The Committee recommends to set the minimum age for bullfighting at 18 years.
Regarding an adequate standard of living, the Committee recommends to strengthen measures to ensure that families with children have access to adequate and affordable housing, that provides physical safety, adequate space, protection against threats to health and structural hazards, including cold, damp, heat and pollution, and accessibility for children with disabilities, as well as access to safe drinking water, sanitation and electricity services.

The report describes structural discrimination of children based on their age as a problem that affects society as a whole. The report also draws attention to the necessity that children’s inclusion and participation should not be just symbolic, but that children’s views must be meaningfully listened to and given due consideration. Furthermore, there is a lack of safety precautions against fire and the overcrowding of public institutions such as prisons, which have already led to serious accidents and deaths.

Noting with concern the barriers that adolescents continue to face in access to sexual and reproductive health-care services and education, the high incidence of teenage pregnancy and elevated risks of maternal mortality among adolescent mothers, and the insufficient access to modern methods of contraception and family planning, the Committee recommends that the State party decriminalize abortion and ensure that sexual and reproductive health education is part of the mandatory school curriculum.

The Committee is concerned about multiple and intersectional discrimination against children with disabilities in all areas of life and lack of access by those children to community services. Also, children with disabilities face a high risk of abuse, neglect and violence in all its forms. Therefore, the Committee recommends to immediately set up a comprehensive strategy aimed at ensuring full access by children with disabilities to inclusive education, and develop guidelines aimed at providing support for children with disabilities in education.

Guatemala has high neonatal, infant and child mortality rates, in particular among children born to indigenous families. Additionally, a large number of children under 5 years of age is suffering from chronic malnutrition, which is frequently leading to deaths of these children. The Committee is concerned about the absence of measures to tackle this phenomenon.

The Committee recommends to intensify the efforts to ensure access to health services by children of indigenous and Afro-descendent peoples living in rural areas and children with disabilities, and ensure sufficient and continuous provision of medicine and medical supplies, infrastructure and equipment.

The Committee recommends to establish mental health services and programmes for children with a particular focus on suicide prevention, including the establishment of a helpline accessible 24 hours per day, seven days per week.

The Committee recommends that the State party ensure that the needs and views of children living in the “dry corridor” area are taken into account in developing policies and programmes to address the impact of climate change and in developing disaster risk management strategies.

The Committee recommends to require companies to undertake child-rights due diligence, in particular to carry out periodic child-rights impact assessments, consultations and full public disclosure of the environmental, health-related and human rights impact of their business activities and their plans to address such impact.

Overcrowded and deficient living conditions in juvenile detention facilities and prisons, which can amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of children, as well as incidents of violence and riots are a big problem in Guatemala. To improve the situation, the Committee recommends to strengthen its efforts to curb overcrowding, provide socio-educational and recreational programmes to children in detention facilities and promote the reintegration of those children into society. Also, the Committee recommends that the State party establish specialized juvenile court facilities across the country, in particular in remote and rural areas.

Because of intersectional discrimination, the State party should ensure that antidiscrimination legislation and policies include measures to tackle multiple and intersectional discrimination against children with disabilities.
Also, the Committee is concerned about the deplorable living conditions and maltreatment of, and reports of disappearances and trafficking of, violence against and abuse of, children in public care centres. To improve the Situation, the Committee recommends to adopt a comprehensive strategy to end all abuse of children in institutional care settings, systematically monitor the situation of children in institutions and prioritize investigations of all instances of violence, ensuring the identification and immediate removal of staff responsible for violence and abuse.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a mid-range State in implementing children’s rights. Very high rates of unemployment, poverty and the discrimination of Roma children are unacceptable and the Children’s rights situation in these areas must be improved.

The Committee recommends to establish accessible, confidential, child-friendly and effective channels for children, their family and staff working with and for children to report cases of sexual exploitation and abuse. Furthermore, the Committee recommends to provide specialized support for child victims of sexual exploitation and abuse, including psychological counselling, rehabilitation and social integration assistance, and encouraging courts to make use of the child-friendly and multi-agency arrangement for obtaining testimony from children.

The Committee also recommends to ensure equal access to sexual and reproductive services for adolescent girls and boys, particularly those in marginalized groups, such as Roma children, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex children and children with disabilities, across the State party.

The Committee recommends to ensure that children with disabilities, including children with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, have equal access to appropriate services, including health care, early detection and intervention programmes.

The Committee recommends to raise awareness of the importance of vaccinations, ensure that health professionals and staff are trained to work with children and establish effective communication with their parents and family. The policies and programmes on the nutrition of children need to be monitored, paying particular attention to Roma children. The Committee further recommends to expand the scope of the national policy of sexual and reproductive health and rights to ensure that sexual and reproductive health education is part of the mandatory school curriculum and age-appropriate, with special attention paid to preventing early pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, in all territories of the State party. The Committee, among other things, recommends that the State party strengthen its efforts to improve school transportation, ensure free textbooks for all children in the State party and provide financial support to parents for educational costs to reduce school dropout at all levels of education.

The maximum concentration of air pollution should be regulated and all sites containing uranium need to be cleaned up.

The Committee recommends to establish a clear regulatory framework for the business sector operating in the State party to ensure that its activities do not negatively affect human rights or endanger environmental and other standards, especially those relating to children’s rights.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has an inadequate number of specialized juvenile judges. Children are detained together with adults. The Committee recommends to promote non-judicial measures for children accused of criminal offences, including diversion, mediation and counselling and the use of non-custodial sentences for children, such as probation or community service, wherever possible.

The Committee recommends to remove all exceptions that allow marriage under the age of 18 and to provide special support to illiterate or undocumented persons in order to facilitate birth registration of their children. Closer attention for children in street situations is necessary to provide alternative opportunities for them, including vocational training and employment opportunities, and reintegration with their families or placement in alternative care, based on the best interests of the child.

The Committee recommends to address the negative impact of stereotyping and discriminatory attitudes on children’s rights and ensure that the media is sensitized to this stigmatization of children, particularly children in disadvantaged situations, including by encouraging the media to adopt codes of conduct.

The Committee is concerned at the still low enrolment rate in preschool, particularly among children in rural areas and those belonging to disadvantaged groups, and the lack of sufficient budgetary means to implement policies and programmes to improve preschool education.

Children in the Caribbean part of the State party (Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten, as well as Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba) do not enjoy the same rights as children in the European part of the Netherlands.

The Netherlands' report also makes clear that refugee and undocumented children have more difficulties in accessing health care. Furthermore, the country needs to improve its regulations for companies from the Netherlands regarding child labour as well as participation opportunities for children.

The Committee is concerned that, despite some improvements, the numbers of teenage pregnancies remain high, especially in Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten, as well as Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba.
To improve the situation, the Committee recommends that the State party adopt a comprehensive sexual and reproductive health policy for adolescents and ensure that sexual and reproductive health education be part of the mandatory school curriculum and targeted at adolescent girls and boys, paying special attention to preventing early pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

The Committee is concerned that a high number of children with disabilities or learning and behavioural difficulties have spent significant time out of school in earlier years and there is no information on the number in the present school year. 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, ensure sufficient places for all children with disabilities in the mainstream education system and provide access to inclusive education without delays.

The Committee welcomes the State party’s positive efforts aimed at improving children’s health and promoting a healthy lifestyle, particularly in Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten, as well as in Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba. Nevertheless, the Committee is concerned about the high incidence of infant mortality in the State party and significant numbers of overweight and obese children throughout the State party, as well as limited access to health-care services for children with low economic or social status.
To improve the situation, the Committee recommends to ensure that all children, including children without documentation, have access to basic health care free of charge without limitations owing to language.Concerning adolescent health, the Committee is concerned that large numbers of children in the State party continue to engage in tobacco, alcohol and marijuana abuse.

Regarding improvements in the mental health section, the Committee recommends to examine the diagnosis of ADHD and other behavioural specificities, and make sure that parents and children are informed about the negative effect of drug treatments for the children diagnosed. Also, the Committee suggests to undertake a study on the root causes of the increase in suicides among adolescent children and provide children at risk with easy access to necessary psychological care.

The Committee is concerned about reports of violations of the rights of children by activities of Netherlands businesses abroad, in particular in the oil extracting industry in Nigeria and the Barro Blanco Dam construction in Panama.
In addition to that, the Committee recommends that the State party strengthen the work of labour inspectorates in order to ensure the implementation of its labour regulations, in particular to ensure that children below the age of 18 years are not allowed to work in hazardous conditions. The Committee also recommends that the State party apply sanctions against all the employers who fail to comply with the minimum age standards and other labour regulations relating to children.

The Committee urges the State party to further amend the laws relating to the juvenile justice system in order to ensure that all children below the age of 18 years are treated under the juvenile justice laws irrespective of the gravity of the charges pressed upon them. Furthermore, the Committee urges the State party to ensure that children are not detained together with adults and that detention conditions comply with international standards, including with regard to access to education and health services. No child below the age of 18 years should be held in an adult penitentiary institution irrespective of the nature of the conviction.

The Committee is concerned about the limited opportunities for children to participate in decisions and policies that affect them, especially in the Caribbean part of the State party.

The Committee inter alia recommends to take the measures necessary to improve the quality of education, and provide quality training for teachers, in order to address differences in development among pupils appropriately. Furthermore, the Netherlands should take measures to address the root causes of school dropouts by adopting targeted policies to support and reinstate such children in the education system. Also, the Committee recommends to monitor the quality of home-schooling and ensure that such children do not lag behind their peers in regular schools.