COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD CONCLUDES EXAMINATION OF INITIAL REPORT OF QATAR

CRC
28th session
2 October 2001
Afternoon





The Committee on the Rights of the Child this afternoon concluded its consideration of an initial report from Qatar on how that country was implementing the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In a preliminary remark, a Committee Expert hoped that the reservations made by Qatar on the Convention would soon be withdrawn or at least that further explanations would be provided to the Committee. The national strategy on children was an important priority action and all actors should be able to participate. It would also be useful for Qatar to draw up further laws regarding child rights in education, health and other social areas. The Expert added that the Government should continue to pay more attention to the well-being of early childhood as it was an important stage in the life of a child.

The Expert further said that the attitude of the society should be changed with regard to child-rights and parents should regularly be informed about the rights of children. More right-related measures should be taken by the Government to inculcate new opinions in the society concerning children.

Over the course of their discussion of the report this afternoon, Committee members raised follow-up questions on issues concerning regulations governing the practice of corporal punishment in schools; the customary and traditional use of juvenile labour in Qatar; the measures taken to prevent children from getting information detrimental to their minds, such as access to video clubs where scenes of sexual acts were shown; the efforts exerted to promote breastfeeding and the nutritional situation of children under 5 years, among other things.

Formal, written concluding observations and recommendations will be issued by the Committee before the end of its three-week session on 12 October.

As one of the 191 States parties to the Convention, Qatar is obligated to submit periodic reports to the Committee on its compliance with the provisions of the treaty.

When the Committee reconvenes at 10 p.m. on Wednesday, 3 October, it will discuss, in closed meeting, its draft concluding observations on country reports already considered this session. It will meet in public at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 4 October to start its consideration of the initial report of Cameroon.


Response of Qatar

In response to questions raised this morning, the members of the delegation said that the courts could decide to whom to entrust the custody of a child in the event of divorce; and in the same manner, the courts could rule ending the custody right of a parent if they found the grounds to do so.

Equality between boys and girls was ensured in the society, however, there was preference for boys in matters of responsibility and inheritance, the delegation said. The principle of non-discrimination did not necessarily lead to equal treatment of individuals; and distinctions were made according to different situations.

Qatar was a State party to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the treaty had become part of national law, the delegation said. On that basis, Qatar did not discriminate against anyone on the basis of his or her race.

Any adolescent charged with an offence or misdemeanour was accompanied by a lawyer of his or her choice, the delegation said. However, imposition of capital punishment, life imprisonment, or flogging on a juvenile was prohibited by the law. A juvenile over 14 but under 16 years of age who committed a felony or a misdemeanour should not be sentenced to capital punishment, imprisonment with hard labour or flogging but should be liable to a term of not more than 10 years' imprisonment.

With regard to foreign children, the delegation said that the State provided facilities for their education in their own communities. The Government had so far provided land and building material for the construction of schools for foreign communities living in Qatar.

Asked if girls were discriminated against in education, the Qatari officials said that girls were encouraged to equally participate in the field of education. Public and private educational institutions provided equal educational opportunities to girls. In addition, the Government had reviewed its educational curricula by paving the way for girls to have access to higher studies without obstacles. The new educational law would also strengthen the equality of girls and boys in that field.

With regard to orphans, in 2001, the number of orphans stood at 539, the delegation said. Of those, only two had lost both parents and were living with relatives, while those children who had lost their father only were living with their mother. There were 113 children born of unknown fathers or parents, and most children of unknown parentage were living with foster families.

In follow-up questions, Committee Experts asked the Qatari delegation to elucidate on a number of issues. What were the regulations governing the practice of corporal punishment in schools? How wide was the customary and traditional use of juvenile labour in Qatar? What measures were taken to prevent children from getting information detrimental to their minds, such as access to video clubs where scenes of sexual acts were shown? What efforts were exerted to promote breastfeeding? What was the nutritional situation of children under 5 years? Were children provided with sex education to prevent adolescent pregnancy? Were there studies carried out on the dangers encountered by child camel jockeys?

Responding to the questions, the delegation said that the percentage of underweight children had increased due to the current practice of in-vitro production of children. Ten percent of all births were underweight babies.

With regards to nutrition, the currently available nutrition indicators showed that the international status of infants was constantly improving, the delegation said. The proportion of children in Qatar weighing 2.5 killogrammes or more at birth had amounted to about 92 per cent in 1991 and 91.7 per cent in 1997, exceeding the international target of 90 per cent.

A study had shown that the percentage of mothers' breastfeeding was low compared to other countries, the delegation said. However, the Government was making efforts to encourage mothers to breastfeed their children for longer periods. A new law would soon be enacted to grant mothers longer maternity leave as an encouragement for breastfeeding.

Higher levels and longer periods of education for women and their devotion to their professional careers had reduced the fertility rate from 4.7 children per woman in 1996 to 3.7 in 1999, the delegation said. At present, the fertility rate was maintained at 3.2 children per woman.

With regard to corporal punishment, the delegation said that there were strict measures which banned the practice of corporal punishment. Any teacher who inflicted any form of beating or corporal punishment could suffer sanctions going up to dismissal.

Asked about sexual education, the delegation said that the Government had tried to study whether to include in the curricula sexual lessons; however, certain aspects of sexual education were included in courses in biology.

The delegation said that a centre for gifted children was set up in 2001 which aimed at offering activities, services and programmes to help them master their intellectual abilities and use them to solve problems and make decisions. The centre also helped educational institutions in Qatar to design, plan and deliver educational services to gifted children.

Camel races were a tradition and no deviation was possible because of the participation of children, the delegation said. A body was monitoring any situation which might harm the health of child jockeys. In addition, a new law was being contemplated to raise the age of the jockeys who participated in the races.

With regard to child labour, the delegation said that the Qatari labour law prohibited the recruitment of children under 15 years. The country had no problem of child labour and the Ministry of Labour supervised the situation. Concerning children between 15 and 18 years, although they could be employed in certain fields, they were restricted from working in hazardous jobs.

There was no real contradiction between the texts of the Convention and the Shari'a, the delegation said, responding to questions raised on the reservations of Qatar on the treaty. However, as in the case of other Islamic societies, the general reservations made on the Convention could be reviewed in line with the exigencies of the treaty.

Qatar had no problem of drug-addiction and no person had so far been arrested on the basis of drug-consumption or selling, the delegation said. However, tobacco smoking was common among the youth.


Preliminary Remark on the Report of Qatar

A Committee Expert, in a preliminary remark, said that the discussion had been fruitful and the members of the delegation had shown their ability in providing the desired information to the Committee.

The Expert hoped that the reservations made by Qatar would soon be withdrawn or at least that further explanations would be provided to the Committee. The national strategy on children was an important priority action and all actors should be able to participate. It would be useful for Qatar to draw up further laws regarding child rights in education, health and other social areas. In addition, the Government should continue to pay more attention to the well-being of early childhood as it was an important stage in the life of a child.

The Expert further said that the attitude of the society should be changed with regard to child-rights and parents should regularly be informed about the rights of children. Further right-related measures should be taken by the Government to inculcate new opinions in the society concerning children.


* *** *