The Committee on the Rights of the Child continue its examination of the report of Luxembourg

HR/CRC/98/33
2 June 1998

The Committee on the Rights of the Child continued this afternoon its examination of a report presented by Luxembourg, focusing on issues in connection with family environment and alternative care, corporal punishment, institutional placement and adoption.

The experts underlined the relatively high number of children in institutions and foster families. Despite the efforts to address the situation, the existing system had some deficiencies and the demands for places in institutions outnumbered the places available.

The delegation of Luxembourg acknowledged the need to review the exustubg legislation on the transfer of parental authority to receiving institutions. With respect to adoption, Luxembourg was about to ratify the 1993 Hague Convention on the Protection of Child and International Adoption.

Tomorrow, the Committee will finish examining the report of Luxembourg and will formulate its preliminary observations and recommendations. The final conclusions remarks of the Committee will be adopted in private session and will be made public at the end of the current session on Friday, 5 June 1998.

Discussion

Committee members underlined the persistence of discrimination in legal texts, in particular those texts relating to children born to unmarried parents and gender discrimination. They asked what protection would benefit natural children born to unmarried parents which represented a high percentage of the population in 1993.

Some members asked for information on how the views of the child were taken into account in the family and at school. They noted that Luxembourg's law denied children born under anonymity, 'under X', the rights guaranteed by the Convention, in particular the right to known the identity of the parents.

Experts noted that Luxembourg's Penal Code did not include a legal definition of torture. In that respect, they asked what would be the follow-up to the 1992 recommendation of the Committee against Torture. They also asked for information on corporal punishment.

The experts noted the relatively high number of children in institutions and foster families. Despite the efforts to address the situation, the existing system had some deficiencies and the demands for places in institution outnumbered the places available.

With respect to adoption, one expert noted that about 60 children from foreign countries were adopted annually, while there were only four national adoptions annually.

In response to questions by members of the Committee, the delegation of Luxembourg indicated that minors under the age of 16 had no criminal responsibility while minors between the ages of 16 and 18 were judged by the youth tribunal. At the moment of ratifying the Convention, an amendment to the Civil Code had been introduced offering the minor the possibility of requesting a 'garde' measure. This article gave the judge the means to
directly help the minors, in particular when they were the victims of ill-treatment or exploitation by their parents.

Minors had the right to consult a doctor without parental consent. The doctor could bill the parents without violating the confidentiality of the consultation. Non-governmental organizations developed actions to address issues of current relevance such as AIDS prevention.

The terms 'illegitimate child' or 'natural child' were still used in Luxembourg's law, the delegation said. 'Illegitimate' children benefited from the same guarantees as legitimate children except in the cases mentioned in the safeguards. With respect to the minimum age for marriage which was 18 years for men and 16 for women, the delegation of Luxembourg said that this inequality continued. No other legal problems seemed to exist with respect to gender equality.

Educational institutions seemed to be more active than families on the issue of children participation and the taking into account of their opinions. According to one member of the delegation, the real problem was the denial to the child born of anonymous birth of the right to know his/her parents. A reform of the current legislation should be envisaged in that regard.

With respect to the protection of handicapped children, Luxembourg had developed a policy of prevention of handicaps by means of detection and had increased the benefits to handicapped people. The debate continued on the question of whether specialised schools should be re-enforced or rather a policy of integration be promoted to avoid marginalization.

Corporal punishment was strictly forbidden in schools. However, cases of ill-treatment could occur and sanctions were provided for in the law. A telephone line was available to victims of ill-treatment. There existed a slogan in Luxembourgeois: 'Children, you don't beat them'. Parents associations were vigilant in this area.

On the question of placement in institutions, the delegation indicated that the mediation centre inaugurated in January 1998 was overwhelmed with demands after three months. Mediators tried to solve disputes in order to avoid non-needed placements. A worrying fact was the increase in placements requested by judges.

With respect to adoption, Luxembourg was about to ratify the 1993 Hague Convention on the Protection of the Child and International Adoption. Additionally, a law passed at the beginning of 1998 defined the obligations of the adoption services. International adoptions prevailed since the rate of population increase was very low in Luxembourg.

With respect to schooling, the delegation explained that education was compulsory for children up to 15 years of age and that all efforts were made for children to learn French and German. This linguistic requirement might be conducive to children abandoning school.

Luxembourg's law provided for a period of maternity leave of eight weeks before birth and eight weeks after birth during which the whole salary was paid. The State had recently decided to grant a paid parental leave of six months, which could be taken by either parent.