COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD CONCLUDES CONSIDERATION OF REPORT OF AUSTRIA ON COMPLIANCE WITH CONVENTION

The Committee on the Rights of the Child this morning concluded its consideration of the initial report presented by Austria on how that country promotes and protects the rights of children.

In preliminary concluding observations and recommendations, the Committee experts expressed concern about the disadvantaged social situation of Romas and other minorities in Austria. They recommended that the federal Ombudsman system should be given more importance to enable it to carry out its responsibilities in protecting the rights of Austrian children.

The Committee will offer its final recommendations towards the end of its three-week session which concludes on 29 January.

As one of the 191 States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Austria must provide the Committee with periodic reports on how it is implementing the provisions of the treaty.

When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 14 January, it will take up the report of Belize. It will discuss in private its methods of work when it meets at 3 p.m. this afternoon.

Discussion

Committee members raised additional questions on such issues as mentally handicapped persons, measures to protect children from domestic violence, granting of Austrian nationality, and training programmes for persons implementing the Convention, among other things.

In response to queries raised yesterday and this morning, the delegation said that Austria had not so far adopted the Hague Convention of 1993 on Protection of Children and Cooperation with Respect to Inter-country Adoption. Nevertheless, the Government had made all necessary preparations for the ratification of the Convention in the near future. A total of 753 requests for adoption were effectively granted in 1994, according to the Austrian officials.

The delegation said that in September 1997, a comprehensive list of measures against violence in the family and society were adopted to protect victims. Some of those measures were still in the making while others had already been implemented.

On violence against juvenile prisoners, the delegation said that the Government had taken measures to train personnel in juvenile detention centres in order to improve the situation.

With regards to an allegation made by one of the experts concerning the case of a child who was abducted from Michigan, United States, to Austria by its mother, the delegation said that this was an individual case which should not be introduced in the debate. The father of the child should find an appropriate arrangement in order to settle the case. The expert said Austrian courts had ordered the child's return according to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, but the child had never been returned. According to the delegation, although the Austrian law enforcing mechanism was responsible in that case, it could not be carried out because of the fact that the mother had disappeared with the child, making it difficult for authorities to carry out the court orders.

In response to a question on forced-sterilization, the delegation said that sterilization had been practised against mentally handicapped minors with the consent of their parents. A new law was being drafted to alter the situation. In the past, social experts had held the view that mentally disabled girls might suffer psychologically if they found themselves pregnant.

On the establishment of an effective federal Ombudsman, the delegation said that efforts were being made to integrate federal and states' Ombudsmen in order to attain the desired goals in promoting and protecting the rights of children and to see that all rights were equally implemented at the national level. In 1991, a federal Ombudsman had been established with the responsibility to set up offices of Ombudsmen at states’ levels.

The delegation said that children under the age of 18 were not drafted into the armed forces except if they volunteered at the age of 17. However, female recruits under the age of 18 were not allowed to volunteer for military services.

One expert commented that despite the legal and administrative provisions to promote and protect the rights of the child, the rate of suicide among youth in many European countries was alarmingly on the rise. The expert asked if Austria was aware of the phenomenon and whether protective measures were in place to reduce the suicide rate within the society.

An expert queried the delegation on special courts dealing with juvenile law offenders. How many children were actually detained for offenses? What were the major offenses they were tried for? What was the number of children under pre-trial proceedings?

Another Committee member observed that the report did not mention the existence of breast-feeding in Austria. The expert said that the Government should encourage breast-feeding of mothers during the early age of their children.

A question was asked about how children with AIDS were treated. An expert asked the delegation whether the Government had taken measures to protect students infected with AIDS virus and to allow them to pursue their education under normal circumstances.

Quoting the report, a Committee member said that a large number of children in Austria, many of them under the age of 15, were living on the edge of poverty, according to a study carried out in 1994 by the Government. This was despite the fact that Austria had an extensive and fairly effective system of family support. The expert also asked why Austria was not party to International Labour Office (ILO) Convention No.138 on the minimum age to work.

Preliminary Observations and Recommendations

In their preliminary observations and recommendations, Committee members said that the report was well written, easy to read and organized within the guidelines of the Committee. However, some experts regretted the report's late submission.

The Committee urged the Government of Austria to lift its reservations on articles 13 and 15 of the Convention, concerning the right to freedom of expression and freedom of association, in order to allow the implementation of the provisions in their entirety.

The Committee was concerned about the status of the Convention within domestic law. It recommended that the federal Ombudsman system should be given more importance to enable it to carry out its responsibilities in protecting the rights of Austrian children which were enshrined in the Convention. The age of marriage was also of concern for the Committee because of the fact that girls were allowed to marry earlier than boys.

The Committee said it was concerned about the disadvantaged groups of Romas and other minorities in Austria. It encouraged the Government to do all it could to increase benefits for minorities and to take measures to prevent discrimination against those segments of the society.

The Committee also encouraged the Government to take action to protect children from exposure to pornography and child prostitution. It encouraged the Government to continue with its good work towards the well-being of all Austrian children.