COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD EXAMINES REPORT OF DJIBOUTI
The Committee on the Rights of the Child today reviewed the second periodic report of Djibouti on how that country is implementing the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Nimo Boulhan Houssein, Minister for the Advancement of Women, Social and Family Affairs of Djibouti, introducing the report, said that, in October 2005, the Government had launched a national policy on comprehensive early childhood development, which aimed to give Djiboutian children the opportunity for good health, a psychologically and socially stimulating education and the healthy conditions needed to flourish. One of the objectives of that policy was to ensure the promotion of birth registration. The Government planned to formulate policies and plans in most sectors that would help improve children's enjoyment of their rights, notably in the sectors of health, with the National Health Plan 2008-2012; education, with the Master Plan for Education 2000-2010; and with the National Youth Policy. Child disease coverage, health care centres, and access to drinking water had been strengthened. Special protective measures taken by the Government also included data collection to better assess the plight of vulnerable children, particularly, orphans, street children, and children with special needs.
In preliminary concluding remarks, Dainius Puras, the Committee Expert serving as co-Rapporteur for the report of Djibouti, said there was a political will to change the situation of children in Djibouti. Djibouti should both quantitatively and qualitatively improve its use of existing resources so that they reached children and families through transparent and evidence-based policies, based on a child rights approach. Better coordination – nationally and regionally – was needed in efforts to formulate and implement childhood and youth policies. The Government should also adopt the National Plan of Action on Childhood and should strengthen the National Human Rights Commission, ensuring that it was an independent body according to the Paris principles. Djibouti might be an example of success, but in comparison with the rest of the world and the rest of the African continent, Djibouti was still at the starting gate and needed to catch up.
Main concerns of Experts centred on, among other things, conditions of the detention of the child; the fight against female genital mutilation; extreme poverty; access to education and health services for children living in rural areas; forced marriages; child health in view of the HIV/AIDS pandemic; the status of children born out of wedlock; a national census for the purpose of collecting up to date statistics; and the strengthening of the National Human Rights Commission.
The Committee will release its formal, written concluding observations and recommendations on the periodic report of Djibouti to the Convention on the Rights of the Child towards the end of its three-week session which will conclude on Friday, 3 October.
Djibouti's delegation, which presented the report, included representatives from the Ministries of the Promotion of Women and Family Affairs; Justice; Education; and Health; and a country representative for the United Nations Children's Fund.
As one of the 193 States parties to the Convention, Djibouti is obliged to present periodic reports to the Committee on its efforts to comply with the provisions of the treaty.
When the Committee reconvenes on Thursday, 18 September at 10 a.m., it will begin consideration of the initial report of Lithuania under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (CRC/C/OPSC/LTU/1).
Report of Djibouti
Significant progress has been achieved in implementing the provisions of the Convention says the second periodic report of Djibouti (CRC/C/DJI/2), notably through the increase in the school enrolment ratio, the reduction in the infant and child mortality rates, the raising of awareness of the problems encountered in protecting vulnerable children, the reduction of gender disparities in primary schools, and the decline in illiteracy. The Government has overseen the launching of several studies, including the Household Poverty Survey and the Demographic Survey on Family Health 2002; an analysis of the situation of orphans and vulnerable children and of street children, 2005 and 2002; a literacy and non-formal education needs analysis; the national Millennium Development Goals report 2005; the study on the knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of young persons in Djibouti; and the follow-up report on the implementation of the Plan of Action to create “A world fit for children”, 2006. The Government also developed and implemented various policies and strategies aimed at better protecting children, among others, the Strategic Framework for Poverty Reduction, under implementation since 2004; the Plan of Action for Education, 2001-2005; the Strategy for the Abandonment of All Forms of Excision, 2005; and the Programme to Combat HIV/AIDS, 2003-2007.
Djibouti was the sponsor of the subregional conference entitled “Towards a political and religious consensus against female genital mutilation” in January 2005. The Conference constituted a key step in the recognition of female genital mutilation as a political, economic, social, cultural and human rights issue and in securing the implementation of the Cairo and Nairobi declarations on the elimination of the practice. Djibouti ratified the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women (the Maputo Protocol) and undertook to do its utmost to bring about the abandonment of female genital mutilation. In addition, the Government has undertaken numerous training and awareness-raising initiatives and has financed, with the support of development partners and donors, the building and equipping of infrastructure to fight poverty, reduce infant and maternal mortality, increase school enrolment, improve children's health and quality of life, and combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Presentation of Report
NIMO BOULHAN HOUSSEIN, Minister for the Advancement of Women, Social and Family Affairs of Djibouti, introducing the report, said that significant progress had been made since the presentation of Djibouti's initial report. The comments and recommendations of the Committee had been incorporated into the country programme of action. That was a driving force for the Government in improving the promotion and protection of children's rights in Djibouti. General measures for the implementation of the Convention on the right of the child included the harmonization of national legislation, policies, the coordination of actions to improve child welfare, and increasing awareness on the Convention and its Optional Protocols within communities. The 2002 Family Code and the Code on Personal Status had also provided an opportunity to codify family law within the country.
With respect to coordination efforts – a key element to the improvement of the welfare of children – the Government had been taken a number of steps to work with relevant partners to better address that issue, but it remained a challenge, Ms. Houssein said. Such challenges included, among others, the strengthening of coordinating machinery, and the system for collecting and disseminating information. The Government of Djibouti had increased community awareness of the text of the Convention, with the translation of the text into the national languages, and its broad distribution across the country.
On the steps taken by Djibouti to comply with the principles of non-discrimination, Ms. Houssein observed that the Government had embarked on actions to improve basic social services, launched the National Programme of Action, and increased services to orphans, incorporating the best interests of the child. Newly emerging activities at the national level included and focused on increased awareness of street children and children with special needs.
In October 2005, the Government launched a national policy on comprehensive early childhood development, which aimed to give Djiboutian children the opportunity for good health, a psychologically and socially stimulating education and the healthy conditions needed to flourish. One of the objectives of that policy was to ensure the promotion of birth registration. The Government planned to embark on an information and publicity campaign aimed at limiting the period of time between the registration of birth and the dissemination of birth certificates. Ms. Houssein further noted that a national study in 2006 showed that nearly 90 per cent of children's births had been registered.
Ms. Houssein said the rights of the child had also been taken into account in the Government's social policy, as set forth in the National Social Development Initiative, and in the sectoral policies of the technical ministerial departments – education, health, employment, advancement of women, youth, Muslim affairs, justice – not to mention the role played by non-governmental organizations and civil society. The Government has sought to formulate policies and plans in most sectors that would help improve children's enjoyment of their rights, notably in the sectors of health, with the National Health Plan 2008-2012; education, with the Master Plan for Education 2000-2010; and with the National Youth Policy.
Among areas of concern was the development of professional training programmes, which was a component of the Master Plan for Education for the period of 2008-2010, Ms. Houssein added. Child disease coverage, health care centres, and access to drinking water had also been strengthened.
Ms. Houssein, citing a number of statistics, said Djibouti had made progress in the reduction of the under-five mortality rate, with a 35 per cent reduction between 2002 and 2006, and malnutrition among children had been reduced from 20.7 per cent in 2006 to 17 per cent in 2007. Djibouti's performance in the area of reducing the practice of female genital mutilation cases had gone from 98 per cent in 2002, to 93 per cent in 2006, among women between the ages of 15 and 49.The rate of parent-to-child transmission of HIV had also been stabilized to 2.3 percent in 2007, thanks to Government policies and support from partners.
Moreover, the federal education budget allocation had increased from 16 per cent in 2000 to 24.8 per cent in 2006, reflecting the priority given to education for all, Ms. Houssein underscored. Special protective measures taken by the Government of Djibouti further included data collection to better assess the plight of vulnerable children, particularly, orphans, street children, and children with special needs.
Remaining issues affecting children that had been considered a priority for Djibouti, and which required the most urgent attention with regard to the implementation of the Convention, included updating and amending the legislation on birth registration for all children born in Djibouti, regardless of their origin; identification of child vulnerability and poverty (with a poverty assessment already under way); care for orphans and vulnerable children; the creation of a juvenile justice system; and collecting a general population census. However, Ms. Houssein noted, thus fear the Government had allocated a total of $560,000 for orphans and vulnerable children, and another $560,000 was also granted to programmes aimed at supporting the continuation of schooling, access to schools and teachers, and increasing school materials and resources such as cafeterias, to children in rural areas.
Ms. Houssein said that a number of new developments have taken place since the submission of the report, among other things, the creation of the National Social Assistance Development Programme; the creation of National Human Rights Commission; the new centre for refugees in Loyada (at the border with Somalia); and the transfer of competencies to the territorial communities.
Oral Questions raised by Experts
HATEM KOTRANE, the Committee Expert serving as country Rapporteur for the report of Djibouti, said that, bearing in mind the concluding observations of the initial report, Djibouti had made efforts in terms of legislation, to harmonize policies, and efforts on education, to make education compulsory and free. Protective measures tailored to persons living with HIV/AIDS had also been established in 2007.
Also welcome was the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women without any reservation. He noted that Djibouti was the only Muslim country to ratify that Convention without reservations. It had therefore been surprising that, in its written replies, Djibouti had indicated that it would now take a reservation, saying that it did not believe that it recognized the freedom of children as set out in articles 14 (on freedom of thought, conscience and religion) and 21 (on adoption) of the Convention, which was felt to be against sharia (Islamic) law. State parties could not make new reservations. Moreover, there was trend by Islamic countries towards withdrawing their reservations on articles 14 and 21, as Egypt had done.
Djibouti had also noted that the provisions of the Convention had not been directly applied in domestic law. Did the international treaty prevail over domestic legislation in other cases? Was it directly applicable before the courts, and had the judges been trained on the Convention? Mr. Kotrane suggested that progress remained to be achieved in this area.
Mr. Kotrane also asked what had to be done in order for the Government to ratify the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography and the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, which had both been signed by Djibouti in 2006?
Another concern was the harmonization between civil law, Muslim law and customary law, and Mr. Kotrane asked what the Government doing to overcome that issue. Here, he welcomed that Djibouti had changed the legal marriage age for boys and girls to 18 years.
With respect to the issue of discrimination, Mr. Kotrane asked what the status of children born out of wedlock was. Did such children have the right to know who their parents were? And what were their rights of inheritance?
Committee Experts then asked a number of questions. On the issue of budgetary allocations, while an Expert welcomed the fact that the budget allocations for education, health and social welfare had been increased from 38 to 44 per cent, he asked if social spending had been increased in favour of children? Also, it was noted with concern that the Ministry of Youth and the Ministry of the Advancement of Women had been left behind.
Experts also asked about the status of the national census; measures to ensure children in rural areas received the same services; further details on the National Human Rights Commission, including the time line for the establishment of a subcommission on children's rights; what percentage of foreign aid was allotted to the improvement of the welfare of children; and what was the role of civil society in the implementation of national programmes.
On coordination, was there a national committee on the rights of the child to ensure there was a crosscutting and comprehensive policy, an Expert asked? More information would also be welcome regarding the Children's Parliament. Several Experts raised the issue of corporal punishment in schools, and asked about legislation and attitudes in this area.
Response by Delegation
Responding to questions, with regard to the status of the Convention, the delegation said that all international instruments which Djibouti had ratified were directly applicable. Children, parents, legal practitioners and anyone interested were able to invoke the provisions of the Convention before the courts. Specifically in cases where a lawyer invoked a provision of an international convention, then the judge was bound to take into account that provision before the law. The Constitution provided that if a domestic law was found to be in contradiction with the provisions of the Convention, then such law would be considered unconstitutional.
Turning to the coexistence of different legal systems in Djibouti, the delegation stressed that, in all countries under colonial administration, particularly French, there was a duality of legal systems. Djibouti had acted quickly to harmonize its legal systems. The time taken to harmonize legislation was a not an easy task, considering the limited resources and the shear size of the country.
On the issue of corporal punishment, under the Penal Code corporal punishment was a punishable offence. There was a severe penalty when such a punishment was carried out, especially if the person involved was a child. Thus far, there had been no cases recorded of such a punishment used on a child. Despite that, violence against children by other people was a daily occurrence, the delegation said.
Regarding reservations to the Convention, the delegation said Djibouti, like other States, had made a declaration at the time of its ratification of the Convention. [The Government of Djibouti had declared that it “shall not consider itself bound by any provisions or articles that are incompatible with its religion and its traditional values”.] Since presenting its initial report, the Government had been thinking about the importance of that declaration. It had consulted and felt it appropriate to restrict the general reservation, through reservations directed at provisions, which seemed to entail difficulties owing to the country's social system. That was the reason why the Government replied in an official letter to the Secretary-General that the need to apply article 14 (on freedom of thought, conscience and religion) and 21 (on adoption) was not necessary. Djibouti did not take a closed position on this and encouraged collaboration with the Committee on this particular point.
The rules with respect to corporal punishment in the education sphere had been made clear throughout the community. Harmful and acts of violence were prohibited in the regulations for primary and secondary education. Proceedings had been instituted against teachers due to violence against children, where the Ministry of Education acted, and where the parents or relatives had not been involved.
The National Human Rights Commission had just recently been established. Its membership and structure reflected the Paris Principles (for independent national human rights institutions). It was established through a decree, which had been carefully discussed. There was an independent structure. Given the competence and the views of the members of the Commission, suggestions and amendments had been welcomed.
The creation of a subcommission on the rights of the child was under way. It was seen as playing a vital role in the task of furthering the rights of the child in Djibouti. Given the short period of time since the establishment of the Commission, Djibouti had yet to submit the treaty for the Commission to be accredited by the Paris Principles, and would do so in due course.
Further Oral Questions posed by the Committee
In a second round of questions, Experts asked about the situation of international adoption in the country; how adoption procedures respected the rights of the child; reports that many children worked as domestic servants, and efforts to eradicate child labour and child exploitation; and whether measures had been taken to ensure that children were detained separately from adults in detention situations.
On health issues, an Expert was concerned that about high infant mortality and low levels of vaccinations, and that the HIV/AIDS level was approaching that of a pandemic. There were further concerns about the workforce in the health sector, with shortages in doctors and other medical staff. What was being done to ensure the human and financial resources to keep the system running effectively? Also, what was the strategy to address children abusing harmful substances? Other health concerns included continuing high levels of malnutrition in children, and whether health information was available to adolescents, including on reproductive health.
Experts also asked about plans to ratify the United Nations Convention on Disabilities; whether there were community-level support programmes for the neediest families; and what had been the results of the psychosocial programmes that had already been implemented for children? A number of questions were asked on asylum-seeking and refugee children, given the huge influx of refuges from Somalia in Djibouti. More information was requested on the legal criteria for determining refugee status, on the procedures, and whether Djibouti was receiving international assistance to provide for the many refugees there.
Other concerns by Experts included whether vocational training programmes were provided for youth; the practice of forced marriages, and steps to eradicate that practice; manipulation of religion by religious leaders to oppress women; the need to take the dialogue on female genital mutilation outside the sphere of religion; if there was any mechanism or institution to support and collect resources in cases where women and children had been abandoned; and concern about discrimination against children born out of wedlock.
Response by Delegation to Further Oral Questions
In response to those questions and others, regarding combating poverty, the delegation underscored that that was a priority for the Government. The poverty eradication programme was an intersectoral policy, with all sectors taking part in the development of policies and indicators.
On access to education and inequalities between the rural and urban areas, the delegation said that 11 new schools had been built in the rural areas, and numerous teachers had been trained to try and fill the gap between the rural and urban areas. Djibouti has seen considerable increases in the number of children enrolled in schools.
Today all inhabited areas had schools. A major priority was more focus on the poorer areas to assist the most vulnerable and in need. Schooling for special needs children was also being addressed, with an extensive programme to train teachers to cope with children with slight psychological health ailments. With respect to education for nomads, schools were financed by the Government and other donors, either through mobile schools or boarding centres, the delegation added.
There was no focus on the origin of teachers; rather the focus was based on financial incentives to go out to remote areas. Teachers in rural areas were provided housing or additional bonuses; they received more than the teachers in the urban areas. The few persons recruited on a contractual basis were recruited directly from Djibouti. Children in the fifth and ninth year of schooling took a national test, which had showed that there was no significant difference in performance between the children in rural and urban areas. In 1989, fewer than 30 per cent of children between the ages of 6 and 11 were going to school, and now that figure was up 78 per cent. The Government was committed to achieving 100 per cent.
For older children, the statistics showed the number of students who transitioned between middle and secondary school as 3 per cent in 1990, compared to 38 per cent in 2006, the delegation reported. There was a vocational training programme, which targeted young people. Moreover, this year, formal language training had been instated in the curricula of primary schools.
The delegation observed that nowhere in the world was education completely free. In terms of materials, such as textbooks, writing instruments and notebooks, those resources were provided free of charge. In the nomadic and poorer areas, free clothing was also provided. School canteens provided at least one balanced meal for children in the poorer areas. In terms of higher education, school supplies were no longer free of charge, with the exception of girls. Secondary school was not mandatory and as a result fees were not waived. Private schools existed in areas where a public school did not exist. The funds had been primarily provided by the Ministry of Education.
The delegation said that the Ministry for the Advancement of Women, Family Well-Being and Social Welfare was new a ministry. For the past six months, the focus was primarily on preparing an organizational audit to identify the needs of this new ministry, and drawing up the national plan of action for women, which was also to have a budgetary plan. This was scheduled to happen in November 2008. With regard to the Ministry of Youth, it had also prepared a Plan of Action, which also was to prepare a budget.
There was currently no national plan of action for children, the delegation said. Therefore, a global approach was being used. With respect to the coordination of national policies for children, that was to be one of the first measures to be acted upon. The subcommission on children of the National Human Rights Commission was designed to deal with follow-up only.
Civil society was relied on heavily, said the delegation, as they were responsible for the grassroots work and the implementation of activities firsthand. Civil society had been an active participant in the creation of Djibouti's second periodic report, and would continue to be an integral participant in the follow-up.
A human rights-based community programme had been up and running for one year now. It had been successful in increasing awareness in the community on human rights. Female genital mutilation was not mentioned specifically in that programme; the members of the community realized that that was an infringement on human rights. A conference in 2005 had showed that that practice was controversial within the religious community and its leaders. As a result, a programme to work with religious leaders in this vein was established, in cooperation with UNICEF. A national strategy on gender violence was also under way, which also included the issue of female genital mutilation. The main priority of the Government was to reduce the demand of practitioners of female genital mutilation through educational campaigns aimed primarily at parents.
The Family Code stipulated the legal age for men and women to marry was 18 years of age. However, under some circumstances judges were able to grant the legal union despite the required legal age. Here the delegation observed that prohibition by decree did not work. However, more and more, the ideas in society were evolving. More and more people, parents particularly, had not allowed forced marriages.
Regarding the issue of “moral abandonment” in the Family Code, the delegation said that had become an issue due to the increasing numbers of males who had deliberately abandoned their families. The father had a moral obligation to his family. The penalty for those found guilty of moral abandonment was the imposition of a fine or imprisonment depending on the case. However, criminal penalties were not frequently applied. Such penalties had only been applied in extreme cases or if the victim filed an official complaint.
Concerning support agencies available for abandoned children and women, the delegation said that the concept of extended family support was still practised in Djibouti. The whole neighbourhood was expected to step in in cases where children and women had been abandoned.
For children in difficulty living both outside of and in the family environment, the delegation said that public bodies and non-governmental organizations provided special protection and assistance to such children. That particularly vulnerable group was essentially composed of refugee children living outside refugee camps and on the streets, and orphans and children from very underprivileged families. Owing to their vulnerability, those children were more affected by inhumane work, sexual exploitation, problems of drugs and delinquency and difficulties in accessing basic social services. The Orphans Reception Centre in Balbala (a suburb of Djibouti city) made an important contribution to enabling 750 children to make a better start in life. Another centre, strictly aimed at girls, had been established in 1978 and could hold up 350 children. Currently, the children living at centre were between the ages of 0 and 33 years. The centre provided education, health and other services, acting as an orphanage. There was also a centre for boys, set up by a Kuwaiti non-governmental organization, which accommodated up to 700 children.
With respect to the linkages between children born out of wedlock and their fathers, the delegation agreed that it was a weak part of the Family Code which needed to be addressed. The Family Code had been drafted in 2000, and was a first draft which was evolving with time when tested against reality. This particular issue was currently being discussed in the Ministry of Justice. Each child had the right to enjoy the rights of all children despite how they had been born. A child's rights to inheritance and maintenance was an ongoing discussion.
On polio vaccinations, the delegation said that there was a 12 per cent vaccination rate among children, but a lot had been done to address this issue, namely with the set up of units at the community level. These community units were responsible for identifying and bringing children who had not been vaccinated to health centres. They were provided with motorbikes to do so, and were no more than 5 kilometres away from health centres. In addition, 703 health paramedics and numerous doctors had recently returned from training, and had been integrated in to the health system. However, retaining health specialist remained a challenge.
HIV/AIDS mother-to-child transmission was being addressed, the delegation said. In April 2003, a programme had been set up in two areas where the prevalence of HIV/AIDS cases was the highest. In 2005 the programme had been extended to 19 more areas. In rural areas, there was only a 2.3 per cent prevalence of the rate of transmission from mother to child. In addition to the educational programmes set up, social support was also provided to people living with HIV/AIDS, including the mother and the entire family. Further support was provided in the form of subsidies, and there were general awareness campaigns both at the local and national level.
Concerning acute malnutrition, the delegation said that, according to a study in 2004, 24 per cent of children in Djibouti suffered from acute malnutrition, but that rate had fallen to 7.6 per cent today. It was hoped that through information campaigns on proper nutrition the rate would decrease further. In 2006, a qualitative study had been conducted which showed that grandmothers had an influential role to play in encouraging mothers to breastfeed. As a result, a programme was set up to work with grandmothers to actively participate in a nation wide programme, with five pilot centres currently in place and with plans for it to be expanded across the country. In 2007, a decree was issued to forbid the marketing of breast milk substitutes. Unfortunately, the law was never applied. The current Government was trying to have that decree properly implemented.
With respect to children detained in prison, the delegation said that these children were not detained with adults.
Preliminary Concluding Observations
DAINIUS PURAS, the Committee Expert serving as co-Rapporteur for the report of Djibouti, said that the dialogue had been extensive, intensive, open and fruitful. There was a political will to change the situation of children in Djibouti. In a country where 43 per cent of the population were children younger than 15 years of age – which meant that more than half of the population was younger than 18 years – resources should be invested in children first. In its concluding observations the Committee would recommend that Djibouti both quantitatively and qualitatively improve its use of existing resources so that they reached children and families through transparent and evidence-based policies, based on a child rights approach. The Committee would also urge the continuation of dialogue with civil society, including children, whether as individuals or as groups and organizations – as that was a prerequisite for effective solutions, to consult always with clients, with users of services, with citizens, and especially with young citizens.
Mr. Puras noted that Committee Experts had suggested better coordination – nationally and regionally – in efforts to formulate and implement childhood and youth policies; that the Government adopt the National Plan of Action on Childhood; and that it strengthen the National Human Rights Commission, ensuring that it was an independent body according to the Paris principles. The Committee supported the Government's efforts in investing in the most rational way in health and education services – as had been done in the past years, with considerable success – but a lot remained to be done. Reflecting on the situation in Djibouti made it clearer that differences between countries and even continents were not so big as often perceived. The human rights approach should never be forgotten, especially in the countries which had limited resources, as was the case in Djibouti. Djibouti might be an example of success, but in comparison with the rest of the world and the rest of the African continent, Djibouti was still at the starting gate and needed to catch up.
For use of the information media; not an official record
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