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Switzerland is one of the richest countries and therefore invests a lot in child-related projects. However, not all children benefit equally, but money is rather put in projects for Swiss children without special needs. While a free school system and low costs for health services support Swiss children, for children with disabilities, and refugee or sans-papiers children, there is a lot that could be fixed with more money going into the tackling of the problems, for example better early childhood education for children with disabilities or better accommodation for asylum-seeking children.

About 22.000 girls are living in the State party who are affected or threatened by genital mutilation. Therefore, the Committee recommends to continue and strengthen preventive and protective measures to address female genital mutilation, including training of relevant professionals, awareness-raising programmes and the prosecution of perpetrators of these acts.

The Committee is concerned about the inadequate inclusion of those children in mainstream education in all cantons, and the insufficient human and financial resources allocated to ensure the adequate functioning of the system of inclusive education in practice. They recommend to strengthen the efforts to ensure State-wide inclusive education without discrimination. They further recommend to ensure that children with disabilities have access to early childhood education and care, early development programmes and inclusive vocational training opportunities in all cantons, and also address the specific needs of children with autism spectrum disorders in all cantons, and in particular ensure that they are fully integrated into all areas of social life.

While welcoming the reduced health insurance premiums for children by at least 50 per cent for families with low or medium incomes, the Committee is concerned that problems of overweight children and obesity among children are increasing, and advertising of food high in fat, sugar and salt on children’s television programmes is excessive.

To prevent suicides, the Committee recommends that the State party expedite the adoption of the national action plan on the prevention of suicide, which should take into account the specific needs of children and adolescents, and ensure its effective implementation.

The Committee is concerned about the excessive diagnosis of ADHD and other behavioural specificities, and recommends to carry out research on non-drug approaches.

The Committee is concerned that the State party solely relies on voluntary self-regulation of businesses and does not provide a regulatory framework. To improve the situation, the Committee recommends to establish a clear regulatory framework for industries operating in the State party, to ensure that their activities do not negatively affect human rights or endanger environmental, labour and other standards, especially those relating to children’s rights. They should also be legally accountable for violations of children’s rights and human rights.

The Committee recommends to strengthen its efforts to ensure that the right of the child to be heard applies to all judicial and administrative proceedings affecting children and that due weight is given to their views.

The Committee recommends that the State party collect data and undertake a study on the situation of children with a parent in prison in the State party, with a view to ensuring personal relations between children and the parent.

To achieve juvenile justice, the Committee recommends to ensure that children have access to free legal or other appropriate assistance and expedite the process of establishing adequate detention facilities in order to ensure that children are not detained with adults.

Switzerland is one of the wealthiest economies in the world and invests sizeable amounts of resources in child-related programmes. Unfortunately, the Convention is not very well known among children, parents and the public at large.

The Committee is concerned that children born in the State party, who would otherwise be stateless, are not guaranteed the right to acquire Swiss nationality.

The report from Sri Lanka shows that a lot still needs to be done to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The situation is particularly difficult for girls, who do not have the same rights as boys and are exposed to a lot of (sexualized) violence. Another problem is that NGOs and child rights defenders cannot carry out their functions properly. Also, more information about children's rights must be spread to raise awareness in public and among professionals such as teachers or judges.

The Committee recommends to take large-scale awareness-raising measures, including inter alia through mandatory segments in the school curriculum, to remove the strong stigma and fear of acts of reprisal that deter girls who are victims and witnesses from reporting violence and to change persisting patriarchal attitudes and eliminate discriminatory stereotypes that are a major root cause of sexual and gender-based violence and that perpetuate the associated culture of impunity.

Sri Lanka should further increase the number of safe houses for women and child victims, placing a specific focus on ensuring provision of shelter for internally displaced women and girls and provide regular substantive training for relevant groups of professionals on the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act and on standardized, gender- and child-sensitive procedures for dealing with victims and ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice. The State party should also ensure that complaints can be made and that all support is available in all languages to victims of gender-based violence.

The Committee recommends to ban, as currently under discussion, female “circumcision” for girls, a form of genital mutilation practised by the Dawoodi Bohra community, and to carry out awareness-raising activities, including campaigns, on the patriarchal nature of this practice and its negative effects on health. It also recommends to ensure access to safe and confidential abortion without stigmatization and post-abortion care services for adolescent girls, making sure that their views are always heard and given due consideration.

The Committee recommends that the State party adopt a human rights-based approach to disability and set up a comprehensive strategy for the inclusion of children with disabilities in all public policies and programmes as well as undertake awareness-raising campaigns aimed at government officials, the public and families to combat the stigmatization of and prejudice against children with disabilities, promote a positive image of such children and ensure that they are not portrayed as objects of charity, but as rights-holders. Sri Lanka should further collect disaggregated data on children with disabilities of all ages and improve early intervention services and in addition guarantee the right to education for all children with disabilities and promote and strengthen inclusive education.

While noting with appreciation the provision of free health care to all citizens, the Committee recommends that the State party address the regional disparities in terms of health care, increase the number of health personnel, particularly in rural and remote areas, and educate specialists in fields where capacity is currently lacking, especially in mental, sexual and reproductive health services. It further recommends to combat high out-of-pocket health expenses, high prices of medicines and expensive private medical care, with a view to ensuring that each child has equal access to quality public health care.
The committee also recommends to the state party to strengthen their efforts to address the relatively high rates of consumption of tobacco and alcohol among adolescents, by strictly prohibiting the advertising and sale of all forms of those substances to children and by raising awareness at school in that regard.

The Committee recommends to strengthen Sri Lankas efforts to prevent adolescent suicides. The state party should address mental health problems and suicidal tendencies, and carry out campaigns to raise awareness on the issue.

The Committee urges the State party to significantly reduce the very high use of agrochemicals, which are harmful to the health of children, and to establish an effective monitoring system in this regard.

Noting with concern the continuing negative impact of private domestic and foreign business and industries on children, the Committee urges the State party to establish a clear regulatory framework for domestic and foreign businesses, ensuring that they are legally accountable and that their activities do not negatively affect human rights or contravene environmental and other standards, especially those relating to children’s rights. It further recommends to undertake awareness-raising campaigns on the prevention of child sexual exploitation in travel and tourism. To improve the situation, the Committee also recommends to strengthen training for the police on investigative and computer evidence-gathering techniques to identify perpetrators of child sexual exploitation in travel and tourism and chat room paedophiles and ensure that perpetrators of child sexual exploitation are brought to justice.

The Committee urges the State party to further strengthen and implement existing legislation, with a view to ensuring that all hazardous or abusive forms of labour are prohibited for children under 18 years of age, and adopt specific measures to address the situation of child domestic workers. In addition, it urges the State party to increase efforts to ensure that perpetrators of exploitation of child labour and perpetrators of trafficking in children for the purposes of labour exploitation are brought to justice.

The Committee recommends to set the age of criminal responsibility to an internationally acceptable level and provide free, qualified and independent legal aid to all children. Sri Lanka should also adopt a comprehensive policy for juvenile justice, based on restorative practices and guided by the right of the child to have his or her best interests taken into account as a primary consideration as well as expeditiously establish specialized juvenile court facilities and procedures, with adequate human, technical and financial resources, appoint specialized judges for children and ensure that they receive appropriate training. When detention is unavoidable and for transportation to and from court, the Committee recommends to ensure that children are not detained together with adults and that detention conditions comply with international standards, including concerning education and health services.

The Committee encourages the State party to continue to intensify its landmine-awareness programmes and demining activities and its assistance to and rehabilitation services for child landmine victims.

There is little to get excited about in Qatar's concluding observations. There is much gender-based discrimination and violence is used as a punishment for under 18-year-olds. No statement is made about the health system, but adolescent health is discussed.

The Committee recognizes that the State party has initiated steps to expand education for girls, improve their safety and protect them against violence, but remains deeply concerned that they continue to be subject to multiple gender-based discrimination from the earliest stages of life, and throughout childhood and adolescence due to the persistence of adverse and traditional attitudes and norms, and that no systematic efforts have been undertaken, including with religious leaders, opinion makers, and the mass media, to combat and change discriminatory attitudes and practices. The Committee urges the State party to establish a comprehensive domestic violence protection system and adopt specific legislation to criminalize all forms of violence against women and girls, including domestic violence and marital rape, with no exceptions and within a clear time frame.

The Committee recommends that the State party continue to promote a human rights-based approach to disability, paying particular attention to girls with disabilities and children with disabilities living outside of the city, and continue to collect disaggregated data on children with disabilities and develop an efficient system for diagnosing disability, which is necessary for putting in place appropriate policies and programmes for children with disabilities. Also, Qatar should strengthen its measures to ensure that children with disabilities have access to health care, including early detection and intervention programmes.
The Committee further recommends to allocate resources from segregated educational settings towards quality, inclusive education with the provision of reasonable accommodation and individual support, accessible environments and curricula, for all students with disabilities in mainstream schools. It further recommends to establish mandatory in-service training of all teachers and staff in education facilities on quality, inclusive education as well as train and assign specialized teachers and professionals to work in inclusive classes, providing individual support and assistance to children with learning difficulties.

To guarantee every child the right to the highest attainable standard of health, the Committee recommends that the State party decriminalize abortion in all circumstances and ensure access to safe abortion and post-abortion care services for adolescent girls, making sure that their views are always heard and given due consideration as a part of the decision-making process. Qatar should also adopt a comprehensive policy on sexual and reproductive health for adolescents and ensure that sexual and reproductive health education is part of the mandatory school curriculum, targets adolescent girls and boys and focuses in particular on the prevention of early pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. The Committee further recommends to address the incidence of drug use by children and adolescents by, inter alia, providing children and adolescents with accurate and objective information as well as life skills education on preventing substance abuse, including tobacco and alcohol abuse, and develop accessible and youth-friendly drug-dependence treatment and harm-reduction services. Additionally, it recommends that the State Party strengthen its efforts to combat child obesity by regulating the marketing of unhealthy food, especially when such marketing targets children, and regulate the availability of such food in schools and other places.

The Committee recommends to develop community-based mental-health services and strengthen preventive work in schools, the home and care centres.

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

The Committee notes the information provided by the State party on the ongoing review of its juvenile justice system. However, it remains deeply concerned that sentences of life imprisonment, hard labour and flogging may be handed down for a number of offences committed by children over 16 years of age and that no children’s court has been established.
The Committee urges the State party to bring its juvenile justice system fully into line with the Convention and other relevant standards. In particular, it urges the State party to repeal all domestic legal provisions providing for life imprisonment, hard labour and flogging for offences committed by persons under the age of 18 years and establish a children’s court. Also, Qatar should ensure the provision of qualified and independent legal counsel to children in conflict with the law at an early stage of the procedure and throughout the legal proceedings. In cases where detention is unavoidable, Qatar should ensure that children are held separately from adults and that detention conditions are in line with international standards, including with regard to access to education and health services.

The Committee is concerned about the impact of the situation of migrant workers, in particular female domestic workers, on the right of their children in their home countries to a family environment, particularly the fact that the sponsorship system imposed on those workers results in slavery-like working conditions, and that the confiscation of their passports and de facto restrictions on their freedom of movement limit their ability to return to their home countries, thus depriving their children of a family environment.

Concluding observations on the third and fourth periodic reports released on 22 June 2017.
More information: World Data on education Qatar

The Committee recognizes the particularly severe effects of the ongoing armed conflict, political instability and presence of armed groups – some defined as terrorist groups – and the rise of religious extremism in the State party, which lead to grave violations of children’s rights by all parties to the conflict and constitute a serious obstacle to the implementation of the rights enshrined in the Convention. The Committee reminds the State party of the continuity of international human rights obligations and that the rights under the Convention apply to all children at all times, and that the State party bears the primary responsibility to protect children and should therefore take immediate measures to prevent further violence against them. The Committee notes the difficulty in ensuring children’s rights in territories where the State party does not exercise effective control, including the occupied Syrian Golan. The Committee reminds the State party that during any reconstruction efforts it has the obligation to guarantee all rights in the Convention to all children throughout the territory without discrimination, independently of where they live, and to promote a culture of tolerance, peace and reconciliation among all communities.

The report from Syria is dominated by the war in the country. This leads to bombed hospitals and therefore few health services as well as much violence and children killed by weapons.

The Committee urges the State party to ensure that allegations of crimes related to gender-based violence, such as the imposition of religious dress codes, with girls as young as 10 punished with lashings if failing to abide, the denial of freedom of movement of girls without a male relative, the stoning of girls on charges of adultery, and forced marriage of girls to Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant fighters, are independently and thoroughly investigated, and that perpetrators are brought to justice and victims provided with remedies. The State party should provide, on a regular basis, substantive training for judges, lawyers, prosecutors, the police and other relevant professional groups on standardized, gender- and child-sensitive procedures for dealing with those victims.

The Committee is concerned about the impact of the armed conflict on children with disabilities, including with regard to their access to health services and education. 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 organize the collection of data on children with disabilities and develop an efficient system for diagnosing disability, and strengthen referral mechanisms and case management processes.
Syria should also support and encourage family-based care for children with disabilities, accelerate their deinstitutionalization process, and encourage foster care for children who cannot stay with their families as well as develop appropriate policies and programmes for children with disabilities, with their participation, paying attention to children whose disabilities are a result of the armed conflict. Also, Syria needs to ensure that children with disabilities have access to health care and medical rehabilitation services, including early detection, psychosocial support and access to orthopaedic devices.

The Committee is deeply concerned about the devastating impact of the armed conflict on health services, and condemns the attacks carried out against health facilities and medical staff. Therefore, the Committee urges the State party to take prompt measures to halt attacks against medical facilities and personnel by all parties to the conflict, and investigate, prosecute and sanction those responsible for illegal attacks under international humanitarian and human rights law. Also, increase the budgetary allocations to health, giving due priority to health infrastructure and restoration of services; and scale up its efforts for the reconstruction, rehabilitation and equipment of health facilities for children as well as strengthen its efforts to ensure access to health services for all children without discrimination, paying attention to areas again under State control and those under the control of non-State armed groups, and refrain from removing health items and medicine from convoys to besieged areas. The Committee further recommends to strengthen its efforts to ensure the provision of vaccines and medicine to contain outbreaks of preventable diseases such as typhoid, acute diarrhoea and cholera and take the measures necessary to combat child malnutrition.

The Committee notes the steps taken by the State party to provide mental health services to children in its health centres, but is deeply concerned about children suffering from various mental health illnesses as a consequence of the armed conflict and of torture and ill-treatment, sexual violence and abuse, child marriage, gender-based violence, displacement, recruitment by parties to the conflict and use in hostilities. The Committee urges the State party to strengthen its efforts to provide mental health services to children at primary and secondary care level throughout the territory, without discrimination and paying particular attention to children living in areas retaken by the State or previously under siege. Syria also needs to prioritize access to counselling and therapy for children over the use of medication as well as encourage and facilitate access to mental-health services for children in areas controlled by non-State armed groups.

Concerned about the damage to the environment generated and exacerbated by weapons-related contamination, damage to critical infrastructure, including water treatment facilities and sewage systems, and the breakdown of environmental services in the context of the armed conflict and its immediate and long-term risks to children’s health, and the long-term environmental consequences, the Committee recommends that the State party devise and implement a system of response and assistance to enhance protection of the population, especially children, and the environment.

The Committee is concerned about the increased number of children involved in child labour, including in hazardous and vulnerable conditions, noting such involvement as a negative mechanism for coping with the hardships caused by the armed conflict, and recommends that the State party adopt the draft national action plan to combat the worst forms of child labour and strengthen its efforts to effectively implement the memorandum of understanding it signed with the International Labour Organization in that regard.

The Committee recommends that the State party raise the legal age of criminal responsibility; ensure that children in detention are separated from adults; investigate all cases of ill-treatment and abuse and punish the perpetrators; provide legal aid to children in conflict with the law; and ensure that children have access to a confidential, safe and child-sensitive mechanism for complaints related to their deprivation of liberty.

The Committee is deeply concerned about the extensive and consistent reports of cases of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of children detained by government forces and non-State armed groups, and regrets the lack of information on measures taken by the State party.

Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report released on 6 March 2019. The Committee encourages the State party to consider withdrawing its general reservation to the Convention, including its reservation regarding article 14. More information about education in Syria: https://wenr.wes.org

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SABER country report Yemen - school autonomy

SABER country report Yemen on early childhood development

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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