CRC’s 56th Session Concluding Observations
Posted on | February 9, 2011 by Contributor |
The 56th session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child released its concluding observations last week at the end of its session in Geneva. The CRC has been criticized for promoting its General Comments & opinions as obligatory on signatories of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and this session was no different- with numerous reference to General Comments in the Committee’s recommendations to states.
After considering New Zealand’s report, the committee recommended that New Zealand strengthen its provision of reproductive health services for adolescents and increase reproductive health education in schools. Similar recommendations were made to Singapore and Afghanistan, and the committee encouraged all of these countries to follow the guidelines set out in its General Comment No. 4 on Adolescent Health and Development.
The committee recommended that the Ukraine develop an adolescent health strategy that focuses on the prevention of unsafe abortion and reduction of maternal deaths related to teenage abortions. In light of the Ukraine’s current practice that prescribes a joint parent-child decision for girls aged 14-18 who want an abortion, the Committee urged that the “views of the child should always be heard and respected” in such situations, and again cited the guidelines set out in its General Comment No. 4.
Additionally, the committee asked Denmark to strengthen national efforts to promote behaviour in children that is “free of discrimination on any ground, including sexual orientation.”
