COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS REVIEWS REPORT OF LUXEMBOURG ON COMPLIANCE WITH COVENANT

CESCR
30th session
7 May 2003




The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights today reviewed the third periodic report from Luxembourg, questioning a Government delegation, among other things, on the situation of foreigners, the health system, educational opportunities and equality between women and men.
Introducing the report, Alphonse Berns, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Luxembourg to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said that the Government was looking into the situation to ensure that the country's wealth was distributed equitably among all its citizens and inhabitants.
In the course of their consideration of the report, Committee Experts raised a number of questions on the justiciability of the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; the independence of the human rights institutions in the country; the situation of asylum-seekers and if they had access to the full range of economic, social and cultural rights; the delay in constitutional reforms, which would improve the rights of women; and the distinction between "legitimate" and "natural" children at the level of the Civil Code, among other things.
Other members of the delegation of Luxembourg were Joseph Faber, from the Ministry of Labour; Mady Kries, from the General Inspection of Social Security; Patrick Thoma, from the Ministry of Family, National Solidarity and Youth; and Anne Goedert, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Committee will issue its observations and recommendations on the report of Luxembourg at the end of its three-week session, which concludes on 23 May.
As one of the 148 States parties to the International Covenant, Luxembourg is obligated to submit periodic reports to the Committee.
When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 8 May, it will meet in private. It is scheduled to take up the initial report of Brazil (E/1990/5/Add.53) at 3 p.m.

Third Periodic Report of Luxembourg
The report (E/1994/104/Add.24) provides information on the implementation of articles 6 to 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on an article-by-article basis. Concerning the right to work, the Constitution of Luxembourg provides that the law shall guarantee the right to work and assure to every citizen the exercise of this right. Under the country's law, the right to work is a fundamental freedom, embracing free choice of employment, free access to employment and freedom from discrimination.
Concerning the right to just and favourable conditions of work, the report says that the minimum social wage is determined by the legislature in the light of economic circumstances. The minimum social wage is reviewed at least every two years in order to ensure that wage earners share the benefits of the country's economic growth. The review is subject to the general state of economic development and income growth.
With regard to the right to freedom of trade unions, the report notes that the law guarantees freedom of association in all fields, and any attempt to limit freedom of association is considered a criminal offence. On the right to social security, the report says that the country's legislation provides for compulsory social insurance for the whole of the working population.
On the issue of education, the report says that the State and the communes work on a complementary basis to ensure primary education in Luxembourg. Compulsory schooling currently extends over a period of 11 years and begins at the age of 4. Concerning health services, the report notes that endemic and epidemic diseases are not matters of major concern in the country. Medical attention is provided for everyone by the doctors practising in Luxembourg.

Presentation of Report
ALPHONSE BERNS, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Luxembourg to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said that the Government was looking into the situation to ensure that the country's wealth was distributed equitably among all its citizens and inhabitants. Since the country was surrounded by a number of nations, it was normal that foreigners lived and worked in Luxembourg. The country was therefore composed of different ethnic groups that cohabited peacefully.

Discussion
Responding to written questions prepared by the Committee's Experts in advance, the officials of the Government of Luxembourg said that since 1950, all international instruments ratified by the State prevailed over domestic laws, including the country's Constitution. The provisions of any conventions pertaining to human rights were frequently invoked before national courts.
The Government had so far ratified nine International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions and was also preparing the legal ground to ratify others, the delegation said. The Government was considering ratification of ILO Convention 174 on the Employer's Insolvency and it was expected to do so soon. Luxembourg had not yet ratified ILO Convention 118 on Social Security.
Asked about the State's position on the draft optional protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which would provide for the consideration of individual communications, the delegation said that the authorities were still considering the issue before they definitively decided on it.
The Government had created in May 2000 a Consultative Commission on Human Rights to provide advisory services to the Government on the protection and promotion of human rights, the delegation said. The creation of an office of the Ombudsman was envisaged in the very near future to receive complaints by individuals on the violation of their rights by public officials.
After hearing the responses, Committee Experts raised a number of questions, particularly on the direct effect and applicability of the International Covenant; case laws on justiciability of the provisions of the Covenant; the situation of foreigners coming from outside the European Union; the independence of the human rights institutions in the country; the situation of asylum-seekers and if they had access to the full range of economic, social and cultural rights; the reaction of the State on respect of human rights following the 11 September attacks; and the right to housing, among other things.
Responding, the delegation said Luxembourg was a regular contributor to development programmes around the world. Since the 11 September attacks, it was additionally convinced that contribution to development programmes was among the remedies to resolve the problem of terrorism.
There were no statistics on cases of justiciability of the rights enshrined in the International Covenant, the delegation said; however, at least 20 cases had been dealt with by directly invoking the treaty.
The delegation said that 38 per cent of the population of Luxembourg was composed of foreigners; however, nationals of the European Union were not considered as "foreigners" but as non-nationals. In addition to the foreigners living in the country, a high number of foreigners crossed the border each day to come and work. Two-thirds of the country's labour force was composed of foreigners coming from France, Belgium and Germany.
Concerning the security issue after 11 September, the delegation said that the Government had taken all the necessary precautions to deal with the issue and had not attempted to curtail the human rights of the inhabitants. The Government had taken measures to prevent any terrorist activities from taking place in the country; and recently some individuals had been expelled because their activities were incompatible with the exigencies of the law.
Because of the lacunae in the law, some individuals from the Balkans had sought asylum in Luxembourg, the delegation said. However, the Government had realized that many of them were seeking asylum for economic reasons and had taken measures to repatriate them voluntarily to their respective countries. When a request for asylum was rejected by the authorities, the individual could take his or her case to court. Children of asylum-seekers were provided with educational and health care facilities. The candidates for asylum also had the right to work.
The delegation said that discrimination against women had been completely eliminated from the legal system over the course of the last 30 years. The law of December 1981 had formally prohibited any form of discrimination against women and had guaranteed equal opportunity for both men and women in employment, wages and professional promotion. Any discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation, colour or origin had been made an offence punishable by a 1997 law.
Disabled persons were given special attention by the Government, and a new law would be enacted to strengthen the professional integration of those categories of persons, the delegation said. The salaries of disabled persons depended on the kind of work they produced, and there was no discrimination concerning salary payments. Persons with a high degree of disability who could not work could receive social benefits from the Government.
Since 1979, children born out of wedlock were considered as equals with children born within a legal marriage, the delegation said. The Civil Code provided that the rights of children born outside marriage were the same as the rights of children born within a legal marriage. The country's jurisprudence had rejected the old civil code provisions that discriminated against natural children in favour of legitimate ones as being contrary to international conventions on human rights.
Asked why Luxembourg had not ratified the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, the delegation said that 40 years after the Convention had been adopted, it had been ratified only by 26 States and rarely by European countries. Luxembourg was still waiting to see the evolution of the level of accession to the Convention, particularly by European countries, before ratifying it.
The delegation was asked about why asylum seekers were not entitled to family reunification during the asylum request procedure, which might be lengthy. The officials said that there was no international document that obliged States to do so. Since the outcome of the procedure of asylum request of an individual could not be determined in advance, the right to family reunion could not be satisfied.
Committee Experts continued to raise further follow-up questions. They asked, among other things, if there was discrimination against foreign workers concerning salaries; the delay in constitutional reforms which would improve the rights of women; and the distinction between "legitimate" and "natural" children at the level of the Civil Code.
Responding, the delegation said that the constitutional revision which would guarantee equality between men and women would be carried out before the end of 2004. Constitutional reforms in Luxembourg took time because of the complicated procedure of legal revisions.
The members of the delegation continued to provide responses on questions concerning the right to work and to just and favourable conditions of work. They said that the Employment Administration had been given the task of promoting the maximum use of the labour force by coordinating the economic and social policies of the country. In addition, a national commission for employment, functioning under the Ministry of Labour, had been charged with advising the Government in defining policies on employment.
The national plan of action on employment had been designed in 1999 to improve the competitiveness of enterprises, the delegation said. Following the 1994 agreement of the national tripartite coordinating committee, the plan sought to improve the modalities of collective bargaining among the social partners. The plan also focused on how to tackle the problem of unemployment in the face of economic slow down.
The Government had taken a series of measures to address the disparities between wages of men and women with the view to guaranteeing equal work of equal value, the delegation said. The Ministry of the Advancement of Women had officially launched a project in February 2002 on the equality of wages between men and women. The project aimed at redressing the situation and changing the practice and policy of wage disparities.
On paid annual leave, the delegation said that the annual leave was fixed at 28 working days, or 32 days for workers who had reached 55 years of age. The annual leave could be taken in full or partially. Only cases necessitating the presence of the worker could affect the period of the annual leave of the individual. In addition to the regular annual leave, workers could be absent because of weddings, birth of a child, death of a relative or change of address for a few days.
Forced labour in prisons had been avoided for a long time, the delegation said. Prisoners could consent to voluntarily work in order to increase their income. A new laundry was being built for hospitals and other institutions in which prisoners would be employed.
Child labour was prohibited in Luxembourg, the delegation said. Only children above the age of 15 could work during a limited period of time with the approval of their parents. Adolescents up to the age of 18 years could not be engaged in work that was hazardous to their health. The employment of minors in such places as abattoirs, cabarets and bars was also prohibited. Children under the age of 15 could not be employed for any type of work.
As a State party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Luxembourg was committed to protect children from any form of sexual exploitation and violence, the delegation said. The Criminal Code provided for severe penalties against such crimes. With the view to fighting paedophilia, the protection of minors against such crimes had been strengthened, thanks to the new law of 1999 which penalized trafficking in persons and sexual exploitation of children. The law also had extra-territorial effect concerning crimes committed abroad by persons. The judicial authorities were competent to try any person who committed crimes abroad but who was found in the national territory.
There was a draft law before the parliament designed to combat domestic violence and to enhance awareness of this issue among the population, the delegation said. According to the new draft law, police would be authorized to intervene and remove the perpetrator from the house where the couple lived.
The distribution of pornographic publications involving minors was prohibited in the country, the delegation said. The situation might be aggravated if the publication and the distribution involved children under the age of 18. The 1999 law had provided penalties against those who detained and distributed such publications. Article 383 of the Criminal Code had made a criminal offence the production, possession and distribution of pornographic materials for commercial purpose.
The country's law prohibited the commercial sexual exploitation of children under the age of 16 years, the delegation said. Article 372 of the Criminal Code provided for penalties to persons who entertained sexual relations, without violence or threat, with children under 16 years. If the victim was a child under 11 years of old, the penalty might be life imprisonment.
Committee Experts continued to ask questions. They asked, among other things, about the delay in adopting the law on spousal violence; if cases of sexual tourism were dealt with by the country's courts; the efforts of the State in the fight against tobacco and drug abuse; the rate of suicide among the youth; the international development assistance by the State party; medical attention for illegal immigrants; and the position of the State on abortion and reproductive health.
In response, the Luxembourg delegation said that the draft act against domestic violence was an additional provision aimed at strengthening the situation. The various penal provisions under the Criminal Code remained operational and were applied against those who were involved in domestic violence. However, the Government had found it necessary to strengthen the existing legal provisions in order to tackle the phenomenon effectively. The new act would also give certain rights to victims of domestic violence.
Prostitution was not prohibited in Luxembourg, the delegation said, adding that what was criminalized was the act of inciting others to prostitute for commercial purposes. Persons who were guilty of inciting children to prostitute were severely repressed.
The social security system was based on insurance contributions, the delegation said. In addition, health insurance was obligatory for all people in the territory. The new social security branch would be funded by a compulsory 1 per cent charge on earnings and income from assets of persons holding sickness insurance, plus an equivalent contribution from the State.
In follow-up questions, Committee Experts asked about the situation in Luxembourg concerning HIV/AIDS; the social protection of persons between 18 and 25 years; programmes on sexual and reproductive health; and the rate of abortion, among other things.
Responding, the delegation said that abortion was prohibited in the country and for that reason the rate of abortion was unknown. Concerning the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the Government had taken preventive measures.
The Government had taken steps to combat poverty and exclusion by injecting additional social measures to increase the income of young people between 18 and 25. In many cases the minimum social income could be inferior to the minimum wage, which might be compensated by the State subsidy to encourage young workers.
Luxembourg offered financial assistance to persons desiring to pursue higher studies, the delegation said.
Compulsory education was nine years and after the age of 15 years, young people were sent to various centres for vocational training, the delegation said. Existing higher studies in the country were free of charge. However, postgraduate studies at the Luxembourg School of Finance required a payment of 17,500 Euros to obtain a Master of Science and Banking. Currently, a "University of Luxembourg" was under construction in the country, and the exemption of the right to registration fees would be considered when the university was operational.
Committee Experts continued to raise further questions, among other things, about the cultural encouragement given to non-nationals and to second generation non-nationals or foreigners; the rate of school dropouts; and why students were not encouraged to go to university.
Responding, the delegation said that the use of Luxembourgise, French and German languages had made the country unique. There was also a heavy presence of Portuguese, with many official documents written in that language. Fifteen per cent of the population was of Portuguese origin.
The age of 15 was not the end of compulsory or secondary education, which could go on until 18, the delegation said. There were, however, a high number of minors who did not complete their secondary schools, as they were tempted to go into the labour market without the required qualifications.



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