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COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD EXAMINES REPORT OF ERITREA
02 June 2008
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Committee on the Rights
of the Child
2 June 2008
The Committee on the Rights of the Child today reviewed the combined second and third periodic reports of Eritrea on how that country is implementing the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Introducing the report, Askalu Menkerios, Minister of Labour and Human Welfare of Eritrea, noted that despite the "no-war no-peace" situation rooted in Eritrea's border dispute with Ethiopia that continued to beleaguer her country, the Government had been able to register remarkable progress in its national development endeavours, among others, in the economic and social sectors. All those interventions were expected to improve the welfare of Eritrea children. Moreover, the Government had enacted a proclamation prohibiting and severely punishing the practice of female genital mutilation/cutting, and had drawn up a national plan of action to implement it; and had designed a national plan of action to combat the commercial exploitation of children through preventive and rehabilitation approaches. In the health sector, mother-and-child health-related programmes had been carried out, and the morbidity and mortality rates of children had been substantially reduced. Considerable effort and resources had also been channelled to child protection, and important steps had been undertaken to promote juvenile justice.
Moushira Khattab, the Committee Expert serving as co-Rapporteur for the report, said that, in the Committee's concluding observations, Eritrea would be asked to review its legislation to ensure closer harmony with the Convention, in particular with regard to customary law, and early marriages; to strengthen the coordinating committee on the rights of the child, and to provide it with more resources; to set up a national independent body or committee established to monitor the situation of children in accordance with the Paris Principles; and that more resources be allocated to children's issues. A database system should also be implemented so that the most vulnerable could be targeted by the Government's programmes. Eritrea was encouraged to work closely with civil society, and more space should be given to them, whether they be national or international organizations. While the Committee acknowledged gains made in the health sphere, more needed to be done to combat female genital mutilation, discrimination against the girl child and the gender gap in enrolment; and the Government also had to do more for children affected by armed conflict and to eliminate child labour.
Lothar Krappmann, the Committee Expert serving as Rapporteur for the report of Eritrea, did not wish to repeat what had been said by Ms. Khattab, and confined himself to thanking the delegation and wishing them well.
During the course of the meeting, other Experts raised a series of questions on a number of issues pertaining to, among others, the need for an independent monitoring body for the implementation of the Convention; the incorporation of the principle of the best interests of the child in Government's policies and legislation; children's right to participate in decision-making and to be heard; whether birth registration was tied to religious affiliation and whether it was free; whether the draft criminal code had been adopted; whether corporal punishment was prohibited in all settings; how the implementation of the Convention could be ensured in view of customary law provisions; whether the Convention had been directly invoked in court cases; what programmes were in place for children suffering from sexual abuse; whether there was a 24-hour telephone hotline for children's complaints; and whether it was true that children 15 years and over were treated as adults in legal proceedings.
The Committee will release its formal, written concluding observations and recommendations on the combined second and third periodic reports of Eritrea towards the end of its three-week session, which will conclude on 1 February 2008.
The delegation of Eritrea also included other representatives of the Ministry of Labour and Human Welfare, as well as from the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, and the Permanent Mission of Eritrea to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
As one of the 193 States parties to the Convention, Eritrea is obliged to present periodic reports to the Committee on its efforts to comply with the provisions of the treaty. The delegation was on hand throughout the day to present the report and to answer questions raised by Committee Experts.
When the Committee reconvenes in public on Friday, 6 June, at 12.30 p.m., it will make public its concluding observations on the reports it has considered over the past three weeks before formally closing its forty-eighth session.
Report of Eritrea
According to the combined second and third periodic reports of Eritrea (CRC/C/ERI/3), one of the main achievements in the period covered has been increased coordination of polices and monitoring mechanisms. In 2002, the Government established the Eritrean Integrated Early Childhood Development Programme in collaboration with the World Bank and Italian cooperation to ensure an integrated approach across the spectrum of government policies and programmes for children. Other areas where substantial activities have taken place since the consideration of Eritrea’s first report are child protection, health and education. The programmes designed to address vulnerable children have achieved remarkable results: 40,000 orphans were reintegrated with their extended families and 15,600 vulnerable host families were provided with income-generating assets. The Government’s de-institutionalization policy for orphanages has been successfully implemented and as a result, the number of orphans cared for in institutions has decreased to 523 in 2005 from 1,500 in 2002. Equal access and opportunities for children with disabilities has been achieved in 27 sub-regions where the Community Based Rehabilitation programme is being implemented. Eight thousand children with disabilities have been rehabilitated in their respective communities and 3,500 children with disabilities have been reintegrated into formal schools with the support of assistance devices and provision of school stationery. The street children prevention and rehabilitation programme has been successfully implemented in that 16,207 high risk and street children have been reintegrated into formal schools with the support of school stationery. One thousand, one hundred and ninety-eight street children took skills training, 713 families of street children benefited from the income-generating scheme, of which the majority (80 per cent) were female-headed households.
In order to address concerns relating to children in conflict with the law, the Government has established a separate detention centre and youth rehabilitation centre. The Government has also formulated a programme for the establishment of a probation service, which attempts to provide counselling for children in conflict with the law. The Ministry of Justice has established child-friendly chambers where cases concerning children in conflict with the law are heard separately from adult offenders. Therapeutic feeding centres introduced by the Government have been able to reach 46 per cent of the malnourished children and as a result the fatality rate declined from 10.6 per cent in 2002 to 5.7 percent in 2005. The death rates from 2003 onwards have been below the acceptable death rate of less than 10 per cent, showing the positive impact of the intervention. Other significant measures that the Government introduced are salt iodization and food fortification where children and women are getting benefit from the two measures. Since the consideration of Eritrea’s first report by the Committee, the Government has made antiretroviral therapy available to persons living with AIDS. As a result of the integrated approach, the overall HIV prevalence appears to be at least stabilizing and the country has been able to prevent the spread of the epidemic to rural areas.
Presentation of Report
ASKALU MENKERIOS, Minister of Labour and Human Welfare of Eritrea, highlighting the current situation in Eritrea, noted that the "no-war no-peace" situation rooted in Eritrea's border dispute with Ethiopia continued to beleaguer her country. Albeit that very serious situation, the Government had been able to register remarkable progress in its national development endeavours, among others, in the economic and social sectors. Mention should also be made that the Government had prepared and was seriously pursuing a Food Security Strategy. All those interventions were expected to improve the living standards of the population in general, and the welfare of Eritrea children in particular.
Since the Committee's consideration of Eritrea's first report, the Government had continued to take appropriate steps to implement the Convention, Ms. Menkerios continued. In that regard, the Government had enacted a proclamation prohibiting and severely punishing the practice of female genital mutilation/cutting. It had also drawn up a national plan of action to implement it. The Government had also issued a proclamation to provide for tobacco control that prohibited any person in Eritrea from offering tobacco to minors, as well as selling tobacco products in educational institutions.
Ms. Menkerios said that, on 16 February 2005, the Government had signed the two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, namely, on the involvement of children in armed conflict, and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. The Government had designed a national plan of action to combat the commercial exploitation of children through preventive and rehabilitation approaches.
Moreover, there had been increased coordination of policies and monitoring mechanisms in the implementation of the Convention at the national, regional and sub regional levels, Ms. Menkerios underscored. At the national level, a Committee composed of the Ministry of Labour and Human Welfare, the Ministries of Justice, Health and Education, the National Union of Eritrean Women and the National Union of Eritrean Youth and Students was in full swing to ensure an integrated approach across the spectrum of Government policies and programmes for children in general, and with regard to the Convention in particular. All regions and sub regions had been staffed and social workers provided training to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the Convention. Moreover, 12 Child Well-Being Committees had been established at the sub regional level on a pilot basis to monitor and respond to child-right issues.
In the health sector, mother-and-child health-related programmes had been carried out both at health facility and community levels, and had been incorporated into the newly prepared five-year Strategic Development Plan for the health sector. As a result, the morbidity and mortality rates of children had substantially been reduced, Ms. Menkerios highlighted. Moreover, the Government had been engaged in a comprehensive transformation of its educational system, aimed at increasing access, improving quality and reducing waste. To address those issues, it had prepared a holistic and integrated five-year Education Sector Development Programme, which had been implemented starting in 2005. Considerable effort and resources had also been channelled to child protection, and important steps had been undertaken to promote juvenile justice.
Questions by Experts
LOTHAR KRAPPMANN, the Committee Expert serving as Rapporteur for the report of Eritrea, noted both the strong will to prevail against the adverse conditions and developments that had shaken Eritrea, as well as the Eritrean President's insistence on the self-reliance of Eritrea. That was a very honourable position. However, Eritrea was not a country blessed by natural resources, it was suffering from destruction, displacement, flight and resettlement, all with their detrimental, devastating repercussions. Moreover, Eritrea was a desperately poor country, and the intermediate Millennium Development Goal report assessed that progress in the eradication of poverty was insufficient.
What was beyond his understanding was that, in such a critical situation, a Government should expel humanitarian organizations, including a United Nations organization, from the country, and severely impede the activities of national organizations, so that they hindered the provision of help to poor, deprived and undernourished children. Comment was needed, Mr. Krappmann felt. These problems had been an issue in the Committee's concluding observations in 2003, and since then the restrictions put on international organizations and non-governmental organizations had been massively expanded.
There had been positive developments: decreases in child mortality, increased vaccination rates, some growth in school enrolment, and reduction of the gender gap, at least in some regions. Additionally, the report and the written replies presented a lot of information demonstrating improvements with regard to services for children with disabilities, support for children below the poverty line, for orphans and for street children. But often they had no data for children or families reached by those programmes; when they spoke of some hundreds or even thousands who benefited from a measure, that number might represent a low percentage of those in need of urgent help, Mr. Krappmann observed. There was a need to establish an effective statistical data system.
The report was also extremely poor with regard to budget figures, Mr. Krappmann continued. Either the figures were entirely missing or they were not child-specific, and were not related to either the entire Government budget or to the gross domestic product, which would allow the Committee to consider to what extent Eritrea was complying with the Convention's obligation that States parties take all measures of rights implementation "to the maximum extent of ... available resources".
MOUSHIRA KHATTAB, the Committee Expert serving as co-Rapporteur for the report of Eritrea, began by appreciating the number of conferences related to children that Eritrea had held at both the African and regional levels.
Turning to questions, Ms. Khattab asked for more information about the Committee that was in charge of coordination of the implementation of the Convention, as well as the Child Well-Being Committees. She also felt that members of those Committees should be here today, participating in this dialogue.
Child mortality rates had been halved from 1990 to 2005, which was admirable. Ms. Khattab hoped that by the next report the figure would have fallen to the single digits.
Given the world food crisis, Ms. Khattab wondered how the Government planned to ensure children had access to adequate food.
On the issue of non-discrimination, Ms. Khattab noted that the incidence of female genital mutilation was still very high. That practice was one example of discrimination against the girl child, as was the practice of early marriage. Another area where discrimination was felt against girls was in the literacy rate, where girls trailed behind boys. Other children who felt discrimination were orphans and those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
Moreover, there were marked regional disparities in regard to provision of services, Ms. Khattab said. In the health sector, there were 17 State and two private hospitals in the country. Both of the private and four of the State hospitals were in Asmara. The health care facilities in regions outside the capital were poor. What was being done to address those regional disparities and to ensure that health care was decentralized so that remote and underprivileged areas were not discriminated against?
Other Experts then raised a series of questions and made comments pertaining to, among other things, what measures were in place to ensure independent monitoring of the Convention, and whether Eritrea had plans to develop an independent national human rights institution; whether the principle of the best interests of the child informed the Government's policies, and whether the term "best interests of the child" appeared in legislation and policy instruments; whether children were encouraged to participate in decision-making, and if there were social pressures acting counter to the children's right to have participate in decisions concerning them; were there any laws that protected children's right to be heard in the legal sphere and with regard to health; more details of female genital mutilation prevention programmes; and information on efforts to raise awareness among children of their rights.
Other questions were asked on the issues of birth registration, including whether registration was tied to religious affiliation, as registration was often carried out by religious bodies, and whether birth registration was free; and whether there was freedom of religion, as it appeared that there were only four "recognized" religions in Eritrea and religions outside of those four appeared not to share the same freedoms.
Further questions involved legislation: whether the draft Penal Code had been adopted; whether corporal punishment was prohibited in all settings; contradictions between customary and statutory law, and how the implementation of the Convention could be ensured in view of customary law provisions; whether the Convention had been directly invoked in court cases; and whether judges and other legal staff were trained in the provisions of the Convention.
Response by the Delegation
Responding to these questions and others, the delegation was surprised by many of the Experts' comments; it seemed the Committee did not appropriately appreciate the difficult situation in the country, as well as the advances that had been made. They had heard from many of their partners that Eritrea was "on the right track" in implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Eritrea was not so poor or hopeless as the Committee Rapporteur had made it seem, the delegation protested. Eritrea was not without resources, they had lots of natural resources they could exploit. In the years following independence, they had seen rapid growth in gross domestic product by 8 per cent. Since the conflict broke out again, resources had been diverted it was true, they had to make sure that the sovereignty of the country was ensured. There did not appear to be adequate understanding of that.
On internally displaced persons, most of the programmes that had been put in place had been successful. Over 80,000 persons had been expelled, and, through the programmes, they had been reintegrated. That should be appreciated, the delegation underscored.
Eritrea's Food Security Programme had been very appreciated by its partners. It was true that Eritrea wished to stand on its own feet, but that did not mean it did not accept external assistance. Economic reconstruction efforts in the country had moved many miles along the road to development and to ensure food security. They were happy about implementation and the miles they had covered in a very short time, including the construction of dams and roads, which was helping to eradicate or at least minimize poverty in the country.
The delegation recognized the difficulties surrounding data collection in the country. They had not established the necessary system as yet. They had set up a Data Collection Committee to look into the matter, but it had not taken off. As for the contribution of the United Nations Children's Fund to that Committee, that had not been significant.
As for discrepancies in the report itself, the delegation conceded they found some discrepancies as well. This was owing to the very short time frame allowed for preparing the report. They were willing to correct the statistics and resend them.
On the budget, the delegation took issue with the Expert's statement that most of the budget was going to the military and being diverted from programmes that could help children. The social protection budget was the biggest in the country. The delegation would get back to the Committee in writing with these figures.
There was an awareness-raising programme on the Convention in the country, via radio, television and newspapers. The Convention itself was translated into the various languages of the different ethnic groups in the country. Judges were presented with those texts so that they could give them to those who came before them.
With regard to corruption, the delegation said it would be happy to respond to any specific criticism, but in general they could say comfortably that the country was corruption free.
On International Labour Organization Conventions Nos. 138 and 182, those were before the appropriate authorities for ratification. There had been a hold up for technical reasons, but the delegation assured the Committee that they should be ratified soon, and that there were no contradictions whatsoever between those texts and Eritrean law, rather they reinforced it.
Concerning the comments about non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the delegation said that they had only expelled NGOs that had not complied with certain national standards, as set out in a proclamation. No NGOs had been expelled for any other reasons. Indeed, the Government paid the taxes for other NGOs that had remained in the country. As for international organizations, the relocation of USAID was outside the competence of the Committee. Human rights were of fundamental importance, but there were competing priorities, which sometimes meant that they had to prioritize. National sovereignty and the continued existence of the State had to be of primary importance.
As for the 23,400 disabled children in the country, the report set out comprehensively the measures that were being taken to help them. And, contrary to assertions that orphans and children with HIV/AIDS suffered from discrimination, the programmes that had been put in place to address the situation of such children, and their good success rate, proved otherwise, the delegation said.
Regarding a national human rights institution, there were many options available – such as an Ombudsman, a Human Rights Commission and others – the delegation noted. Eritrea was a young State, only 17 years old. Those options had to be studied so that it could select the appropriate option for its particular situation that would allow for the development of a real independent monitoring body for Eritrean children. Responding to a follow-up question as to whether Eritrea had the political will to pursue this, the delegation said they hoped to do something about this in the immediate future.
Concerning child protection, and juvenile justice, the right to a hearing was something that was accepted nowadays. In urban settings children were now regularly being heard as much as possible given the resources, the delegation said.
The new criminal and civil codes had been drafted by experts of international stature. Child issues were incorporated in these codes. The best interests of the child were laid down in those codes in black and white. Where children's rights were not adequately covered, they had amended the legislation. For example, corporal punishment and flogging had had to be suspended, the delegation said. As for marriage, customary laws had been superseded by the various provisions in the new civil code and penal code unless, they were specifically mentioned in those laws, the delegation said.
Responding to a follow-up question on the status of these legal codes, the delegation said there was no legal vacuum in Eritrea. The transitional codes were in place until new laws were enacted. The transitional civil code that they were using in Eritrea, as amended, was being used and implemented. But the minute they came up with their new law codes, those would take over.
On religion, Eritrea had Christianity, in two or three forms, and Islam. Those "old" religions were recognized in the Constitution. In the Constitution any religion and the right to believe in any religion were recognized. Concerning practice of those religions, there was no problem with regard to the "old" religions. But there was right now an apparent explosion in religions in the country, blown in from abroad – which split, amoeba-like into something like 25,000 of these "new" religions, whose funding was "very fishy". Some of those "new" religions had at times been found to be delving into politics, which they were not allowed to do, just as the State was not allowed to delve into religious matters. It was prohibited for religious institutions to delve into politics, for which they would be held accountable, in particular if they incited hatred of other groups.
Concerning corporal punishment, only "light beating", to encourage a child to study, was allowed, but abuse or heavy beating was prohibited, the delegation said.
Responding on birth registration questions, the delegation noted that three organs ensured birth registration: the local government; the Ministry of Health; and religious groups. There were no unregistered children in the country. Birth registration was very well taken care of and it was mainly free.
On regional discrimination, the delegation said it wished to correct some misperceptions. Hospitals were not concentrated in Asmara. In the past few years, the Government had constructed one new hospital in Asmara, and six in other regions. All regions had adequate health facilities, and the Government had ensured equitable access to quality health services in all regions.
Further Questions by Experts
During the second round of questions, the co-Rapporteur, Ms. Khattab, while noting the prohibition against the practice of female genital mutilation, and the five-year strategic plan to eradicate harmful traditional practices, said figures of female genital mutilation were still high, and she wished to hear why this was so. Further, what was being done to combat poverty, and to address child poverty in particular? On child labour, did the Ministry of Labour have any estimates on the phenomenon or any plans to survey the number of children working, and were there any plans in place to prevent and combat this?
Mr. Krappmann, the Rapporteur, said that, despite efforts, enrolment rates for children were still not satisfactory. One of the reasons girls did not attend school was that the majority of schools had no clean water, and more than half had no toilets. Not only did fewer girls enrol in school, dropout rates for girls were higher, and that trend was more marked in certain regions. Finally, he had heard that, in order to graduate from high school, children had to spend time in military training in a military camp. Was that true?
Other Experts asked further questions on topics including, among others, training and recruitment of doctors and health workers, and incentives to ensure that rural and remote health centres would be adequately staffed; and what programmes were in place for children suffering from sexual abuse. As for children and armed conflict, could children under 18 work at or otherwise be involved in the life of military camps?
On parenting, an Expert wondered what programmes were available for parent training and awareness-raising, in particular with a focus on improving low enrolment rates. In cases of neglect and abuse, how did the procedure work, in terms of referral and rehabilitation of children and programmes for the family. Regarding corporal punishment, which was legal to "the extent that it did not affect the child's mental and physical development", how was that standard measured? An Expert asked if there were a child hotline, accessible 24 hours a day, for complaints. With respect to juvenile justice, an Expert was concerned that children 15 years old and over that were in conflict with the law were treated like adults. On the HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis programme, for which Eritrea had help from the World Bank, an Expert asked for specific information on that programme.
Response by the Delegation
Responding, the delegation said that, with regard to questions about regional disparities in the education sphere, discrimination was probably not the right term to use. The levels of development differed tremendously and the sheer scope of the efforts needed to address those differences would require some time. There was a proclamation on decentralization, which had devolved more power to the regional authorities, which now had more authority for administering education and were able to follow more closely developments in their areas. Contrary to what Experts had said about budgeting in the social services sector, the budget for education had grown fourfold since 2002.
As for programmes targeting girls' enrolment, the delegation noted that the Government was continuously carrying out awareness-raising programmes and, as part of a plan to bring schools closer to girls, they were building many more schools. High dropout rates for girls were owing to many different factors, among them the issue of the long journeys needed to attend school for many children. There was an issue about inadequate or non-existent lavatory facilities in schools, which had a disproportionate effect on girls' enrolment. The Government was working to address that, and all new schools were built with latrines and running water.
Moreover, the Government was producing new textbooks, with the goal of being able to provide each child with their own textbooks, and efforts were being deployed to train more and better teachers, the delegation continued. The first goal was to be able to meet the huge demand for teachers. As the teacher shortage decreased, they would concentrate on improving the training for teachers entering the system, and on upgrading the qualifications of existing teachers through additional trainings.
On the issue of the military camps and education, the case referred to in which students in their last year had finished their schooling in a military camp could be explained. It was a case of a lack of school facilities, and they had had to make use of existing facilities that happened to be in a military camp. Those children were not involved in any kind of military training in any way. Indeed, now the camp had been moved elsewhere and the existing facilities were fully converted to educational ones.
Children under 18 were not involved in military activities in any manner, the delegation stressed. National service was for those over 18 years old, and there were no children involved in the military today in Eritrea. There was a summer work programme for children, but that focused on soil conservation and reforestation work. There was also a summer programme as part of National Service for those who had finished high school and were over 18 years old, and that did contain a military training component. National service was compulsory. However, the emphasis in National Service today was no longer on military training, but was on other areas of national service.
Concerning female genital mutilation, the delegation said that as part of the programme to combat the phenomenon the Government had televised a debate in which some 400 religious leaders had participated to spread awareness about the dangers of the practice. The trouble was that many women were doing this in secret, in their homes. It was not thought that it would be eradicated any time soon, but they were working for change.
There was no child labour in Eritrea, the delegation said. If a child helped his family, such as raising chickens, that was not considered child labour. Also light labour was not considered harmful in Eritrea, such as working in a teashop after school to contribute to the family income. Here, an Expert recalled that, in 2003, the Committee had expressed its concern about the large number of children working in the street or in the agriculture or domestic sectors in Eritrea. Were they to understand that that situation had now been taken care of?
The delegation replied that the Department of Labour was currently organizing a labour force survey together with certain United Nations agencies. When that came out, they would have a clearer picture of whether child labour was a problem or not.
On juvenile justice issues, two new facilities had been built for children, but they were not operational yet, with minor adjustments still to be done. The children's court had also not been established yet. For the moment, children who committed crimes were directed to the juvenile justice centre, and released when they reached 18, except for cases involving very serious crimes. Generally, for someone 15 to 18 years old, the general regulations of the court applied, but there were certain conditions and issues that were taken into account, such as whether they would be considered as criminally responsible or not, the delegation said.
There was a trend moving away from institutional care for children in big institutions, the delegation said, with attention being focused on programmes for family reunification, foster care and adoption. The figure of 18,000 children orphans and vulnerable children helped by programmes cited in the written answers included all of those in care situations. Big institutions were no longer used, and most children who could not be otherwise cared for were now placed in local group homes, where 12 children were cared for by three "mothers" and one "father". The group homes were directly under the Ministry of Labour and Human Welfare.
Turning to how doctors and other health workers were motivated to work in areas outside the capital, the delegation said that, happily the Eritrean people were very civically minded; the motivation of the people was there already. To be more motivated, a special course was provided.
With regard to demobilization in relation to HIV/AIDS, troops were checked before being demobilized and if they tested positive they were provided with care, and counselling was provided for them and their families. There was also staff dedicated to follow-up on these cases. Antiretroviral drugs were available to 100 per cent of all HIV-positive children. While there was no legal framework, there was a clear policy laid out with regard to how children under-five with HIV/AIDS should be cared for to ensure that they were not stigmatized.
The delegation said that there were programmes for rehabilitating former sex workers, and a programme for rehabilitating street children. Those programmes contained a family support element, in cases where a lack of money was found to be the root cause of the problem.
Because of the creation of new colleges, it was true that Asmara University was no longer accepting new students, the delegation said. All the teachers and other resources from Asmara University had been deployed to the other colleges and Asmara University was no longer running at all. That was all tied up with the reform of tertiary education that the Government was undertaking. It should be understood that there were limited resources and that Asmara University had only had a capacity of 5,000 to 6,000 students, whereas the new colleges had already started to accommodate more than 18,000 students, and that number was expected to grow.
Preliminary Concluding Observations
MOUSHIRA KHATTAB, the Committee Expert serving as co-Rapporteur for the report of Eritrea, in preliminary concluding observations, expressed her gratitude that the dialogue with the delegation had become warmer and franker as it had continued. The Committee was very cognizant of the situation that Eritrea found itself in. No matter what the challenges facing the State, children should be the priority, if for no other reason than that they would give the highest return.
In the Committee's concluding observations they would ask Eritrea to review their legislation to ensure closer harmony with the Convention, in particular with regard to customary law and early marriages. Eritrea would be asked to strengthen the coordinating committee on the rights of the child, and to provide it with more resources; that a national independent body or committee be established to monitor the situation in accordance with the Paris Principles; that more resources should be allocated to children's issues; and that a database system be implemented so that the most vulnerable could be targeted by the Government's programmes.
Civil society was helping governments more and more, Ms. Khattab commented, and Eritrea was therefore encouraged to work closely with civil society, both in the formulation of its plans and programmes and in carrying them out, and that more space be given to them, whether they be national or international organizations. Discrimination against vulnerable groups or regional discrimination had to be eliminated. Children had to be listened to and all actions had to be guided by the best interests of the child. Furthermore, follow up should be undertaken to the Secretary-General's Study on Violence against Children and its recommendations.
The Committee acknowledged gains made in the health sphere, but more needed to be done to combat female genital mutilation, early marriage, discrimination against the girl child, education, and gender gap in enrolment. The government also had to do more for children affected by armed conflict and to eliminate child labour, Ms. Khattab concluded.
Ms. Khattab ended with a plea for Eritrea to draw upon all available resources, from international donors, the United Nations, non-governmental organizations and others to help its children.
LOTHAR KRAPPMANN, the Committee Expert serving as Rapporteur for the report of Eritrea, said he would not repeat what had been said by Ms. Khattab. It merely remained for him to thank the delegation and to wish them well.
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For use of the information media; not an official record
of the Child
2 June 2008
The Committee on the Rights of the Child today reviewed the combined second and third periodic reports of Eritrea on how that country is implementing the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Introducing the report, Askalu Menkerios, Minister of Labour and Human Welfare of Eritrea, noted that despite the "no-war no-peace" situation rooted in Eritrea's border dispute with Ethiopia that continued to beleaguer her country, the Government had been able to register remarkable progress in its national development endeavours, among others, in the economic and social sectors. All those interventions were expected to improve the welfare of Eritrea children. Moreover, the Government had enacted a proclamation prohibiting and severely punishing the practice of female genital mutilation/cutting, and had drawn up a national plan of action to implement it; and had designed a national plan of action to combat the commercial exploitation of children through preventive and rehabilitation approaches. In the health sector, mother-and-child health-related programmes had been carried out, and the morbidity and mortality rates of children had been substantially reduced. Considerable effort and resources had also been channelled to child protection, and important steps had been undertaken to promote juvenile justice.
Moushira Khattab, the Committee Expert serving as co-Rapporteur for the report, said that, in the Committee's concluding observations, Eritrea would be asked to review its legislation to ensure closer harmony with the Convention, in particular with regard to customary law, and early marriages; to strengthen the coordinating committee on the rights of the child, and to provide it with more resources; to set up a national independent body or committee established to monitor the situation of children in accordance with the Paris Principles; and that more resources be allocated to children's issues. A database system should also be implemented so that the most vulnerable could be targeted by the Government's programmes. Eritrea was encouraged to work closely with civil society, and more space should be given to them, whether they be national or international organizations. While the Committee acknowledged gains made in the health sphere, more needed to be done to combat female genital mutilation, discrimination against the girl child and the gender gap in enrolment; and the Government also had to do more for children affected by armed conflict and to eliminate child labour.
Lothar Krappmann, the Committee Expert serving as Rapporteur for the report of Eritrea, did not wish to repeat what had been said by Ms. Khattab, and confined himself to thanking the delegation and wishing them well.
During the course of the meeting, other Experts raised a series of questions on a number of issues pertaining to, among others, the need for an independent monitoring body for the implementation of the Convention; the incorporation of the principle of the best interests of the child in Government's policies and legislation; children's right to participate in decision-making and to be heard; whether birth registration was tied to religious affiliation and whether it was free; whether the draft criminal code had been adopted; whether corporal punishment was prohibited in all settings; how the implementation of the Convention could be ensured in view of customary law provisions; whether the Convention had been directly invoked in court cases; what programmes were in place for children suffering from sexual abuse; whether there was a 24-hour telephone hotline for children's complaints; and whether it was true that children 15 years and over were treated as adults in legal proceedings.
The Committee will release its formal, written concluding observations and recommendations on the combined second and third periodic reports of Eritrea towards the end of its three-week session, which will conclude on 1 February 2008.
The delegation of Eritrea also included other representatives of the Ministry of Labour and Human Welfare, as well as from the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, and the Permanent Mission of Eritrea to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
As one of the 193 States parties to the Convention, Eritrea is obliged to present periodic reports to the Committee on its efforts to comply with the provisions of the treaty. The delegation was on hand throughout the day to present the report and to answer questions raised by Committee Experts.
When the Committee reconvenes in public on Friday, 6 June, at 12.30 p.m., it will make public its concluding observations on the reports it has considered over the past three weeks before formally closing its forty-eighth session.
Report of Eritrea
According to the combined second and third periodic reports of Eritrea (CRC/C/ERI/3), one of the main achievements in the period covered has been increased coordination of polices and monitoring mechanisms. In 2002, the Government established the Eritrean Integrated Early Childhood Development Programme in collaboration with the World Bank and Italian cooperation to ensure an integrated approach across the spectrum of government policies and programmes for children. Other areas where substantial activities have taken place since the consideration of Eritrea’s first report are child protection, health and education. The programmes designed to address vulnerable children have achieved remarkable results: 40,000 orphans were reintegrated with their extended families and 15,600 vulnerable host families were provided with income-generating assets. The Government’s de-institutionalization policy for orphanages has been successfully implemented and as a result, the number of orphans cared for in institutions has decreased to 523 in 2005 from 1,500 in 2002. Equal access and opportunities for children with disabilities has been achieved in 27 sub-regions where the Community Based Rehabilitation programme is being implemented. Eight thousand children with disabilities have been rehabilitated in their respective communities and 3,500 children with disabilities have been reintegrated into formal schools with the support of assistance devices and provision of school stationery. The street children prevention and rehabilitation programme has been successfully implemented in that 16,207 high risk and street children have been reintegrated into formal schools with the support of school stationery. One thousand, one hundred and ninety-eight street children took skills training, 713 families of street children benefited from the income-generating scheme, of which the majority (80 per cent) were female-headed households.
In order to address concerns relating to children in conflict with the law, the Government has established a separate detention centre and youth rehabilitation centre. The Government has also formulated a programme for the establishment of a probation service, which attempts to provide counselling for children in conflict with the law. The Ministry of Justice has established child-friendly chambers where cases concerning children in conflict with the law are heard separately from adult offenders. Therapeutic feeding centres introduced by the Government have been able to reach 46 per cent of the malnourished children and as a result the fatality rate declined from 10.6 per cent in 2002 to 5.7 percent in 2005. The death rates from 2003 onwards have been below the acceptable death rate of less than 10 per cent, showing the positive impact of the intervention. Other significant measures that the Government introduced are salt iodization and food fortification where children and women are getting benefit from the two measures. Since the consideration of Eritrea’s first report by the Committee, the Government has made antiretroviral therapy available to persons living with AIDS. As a result of the integrated approach, the overall HIV prevalence appears to be at least stabilizing and the country has been able to prevent the spread of the epidemic to rural areas.
Presentation of Report
ASKALU MENKERIOS, Minister of Labour and Human Welfare of Eritrea, highlighting the current situation in Eritrea, noted that the "no-war no-peace" situation rooted in Eritrea's border dispute with Ethiopia continued to beleaguer her country. Albeit that very serious situation, the Government had been able to register remarkable progress in its national development endeavours, among others, in the economic and social sectors. Mention should also be made that the Government had prepared and was seriously pursuing a Food Security Strategy. All those interventions were expected to improve the living standards of the population in general, and the welfare of Eritrea children in particular.
Since the Committee's consideration of Eritrea's first report, the Government had continued to take appropriate steps to implement the Convention, Ms. Menkerios continued. In that regard, the Government had enacted a proclamation prohibiting and severely punishing the practice of female genital mutilation/cutting. It had also drawn up a national plan of action to implement it. The Government had also issued a proclamation to provide for tobacco control that prohibited any person in Eritrea from offering tobacco to minors, as well as selling tobacco products in educational institutions.
Ms. Menkerios said that, on 16 February 2005, the Government had signed the two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, namely, on the involvement of children in armed conflict, and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. The Government had designed a national plan of action to combat the commercial exploitation of children through preventive and rehabilitation approaches.
Moreover, there had been increased coordination of policies and monitoring mechanisms in the implementation of the Convention at the national, regional and sub regional levels, Ms. Menkerios underscored. At the national level, a Committee composed of the Ministry of Labour and Human Welfare, the Ministries of Justice, Health and Education, the National Union of Eritrean Women and the National Union of Eritrean Youth and Students was in full swing to ensure an integrated approach across the spectrum of Government policies and programmes for children in general, and with regard to the Convention in particular. All regions and sub regions had been staffed and social workers provided training to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the Convention. Moreover, 12 Child Well-Being Committees had been established at the sub regional level on a pilot basis to monitor and respond to child-right issues.
In the health sector, mother-and-child health-related programmes had been carried out both at health facility and community levels, and had been incorporated into the newly prepared five-year Strategic Development Plan for the health sector. As a result, the morbidity and mortality rates of children had substantially been reduced, Ms. Menkerios highlighted. Moreover, the Government had been engaged in a comprehensive transformation of its educational system, aimed at increasing access, improving quality and reducing waste. To address those issues, it had prepared a holistic and integrated five-year Education Sector Development Programme, which had been implemented starting in 2005. Considerable effort and resources had also been channelled to child protection, and important steps had been undertaken to promote juvenile justice.
Questions by Experts
LOTHAR KRAPPMANN, the Committee Expert serving as Rapporteur for the report of Eritrea, noted both the strong will to prevail against the adverse conditions and developments that had shaken Eritrea, as well as the Eritrean President's insistence on the self-reliance of Eritrea. That was a very honourable position. However, Eritrea was not a country blessed by natural resources, it was suffering from destruction, displacement, flight and resettlement, all with their detrimental, devastating repercussions. Moreover, Eritrea was a desperately poor country, and the intermediate Millennium Development Goal report assessed that progress in the eradication of poverty was insufficient.
What was beyond his understanding was that, in such a critical situation, a Government should expel humanitarian organizations, including a United Nations organization, from the country, and severely impede the activities of national organizations, so that they hindered the provision of help to poor, deprived and undernourished children. Comment was needed, Mr. Krappmann felt. These problems had been an issue in the Committee's concluding observations in 2003, and since then the restrictions put on international organizations and non-governmental organizations had been massively expanded.
There had been positive developments: decreases in child mortality, increased vaccination rates, some growth in school enrolment, and reduction of the gender gap, at least in some regions. Additionally, the report and the written replies presented a lot of information demonstrating improvements with regard to services for children with disabilities, support for children below the poverty line, for orphans and for street children. But often they had no data for children or families reached by those programmes; when they spoke of some hundreds or even thousands who benefited from a measure, that number might represent a low percentage of those in need of urgent help, Mr. Krappmann observed. There was a need to establish an effective statistical data system.
The report was also extremely poor with regard to budget figures, Mr. Krappmann continued. Either the figures were entirely missing or they were not child-specific, and were not related to either the entire Government budget or to the gross domestic product, which would allow the Committee to consider to what extent Eritrea was complying with the Convention's obligation that States parties take all measures of rights implementation "to the maximum extent of ... available resources".
MOUSHIRA KHATTAB, the Committee Expert serving as co-Rapporteur for the report of Eritrea, began by appreciating the number of conferences related to children that Eritrea had held at both the African and regional levels.
Turning to questions, Ms. Khattab asked for more information about the Committee that was in charge of coordination of the implementation of the Convention, as well as the Child Well-Being Committees. She also felt that members of those Committees should be here today, participating in this dialogue.
Child mortality rates had been halved from 1990 to 2005, which was admirable. Ms. Khattab hoped that by the next report the figure would have fallen to the single digits.
Given the world food crisis, Ms. Khattab wondered how the Government planned to ensure children had access to adequate food.
On the issue of non-discrimination, Ms. Khattab noted that the incidence of female genital mutilation was still very high. That practice was one example of discrimination against the girl child, as was the practice of early marriage. Another area where discrimination was felt against girls was in the literacy rate, where girls trailed behind boys. Other children who felt discrimination were orphans and those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
Moreover, there were marked regional disparities in regard to provision of services, Ms. Khattab said. In the health sector, there were 17 State and two private hospitals in the country. Both of the private and four of the State hospitals were in Asmara. The health care facilities in regions outside the capital were poor. What was being done to address those regional disparities and to ensure that health care was decentralized so that remote and underprivileged areas were not discriminated against?
Other Experts then raised a series of questions and made comments pertaining to, among other things, what measures were in place to ensure independent monitoring of the Convention, and whether Eritrea had plans to develop an independent national human rights institution; whether the principle of the best interests of the child informed the Government's policies, and whether the term "best interests of the child" appeared in legislation and policy instruments; whether children were encouraged to participate in decision-making, and if there were social pressures acting counter to the children's right to have participate in decisions concerning them; were there any laws that protected children's right to be heard in the legal sphere and with regard to health; more details of female genital mutilation prevention programmes; and information on efforts to raise awareness among children of their rights.
Other questions were asked on the issues of birth registration, including whether registration was tied to religious affiliation, as registration was often carried out by religious bodies, and whether birth registration was free; and whether there was freedom of religion, as it appeared that there were only four "recognized" religions in Eritrea and religions outside of those four appeared not to share the same freedoms.
Further questions involved legislation: whether the draft Penal Code had been adopted; whether corporal punishment was prohibited in all settings; contradictions between customary and statutory law, and how the implementation of the Convention could be ensured in view of customary law provisions; whether the Convention had been directly invoked in court cases; and whether judges and other legal staff were trained in the provisions of the Convention.
Response by the Delegation
Responding to these questions and others, the delegation was surprised by many of the Experts' comments; it seemed the Committee did not appropriately appreciate the difficult situation in the country, as well as the advances that had been made. They had heard from many of their partners that Eritrea was "on the right track" in implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Eritrea was not so poor or hopeless as the Committee Rapporteur had made it seem, the delegation protested. Eritrea was not without resources, they had lots of natural resources they could exploit. In the years following independence, they had seen rapid growth in gross domestic product by 8 per cent. Since the conflict broke out again, resources had been diverted it was true, they had to make sure that the sovereignty of the country was ensured. There did not appear to be adequate understanding of that.
On internally displaced persons, most of the programmes that had been put in place had been successful. Over 80,000 persons had been expelled, and, through the programmes, they had been reintegrated. That should be appreciated, the delegation underscored.
Eritrea's Food Security Programme had been very appreciated by its partners. It was true that Eritrea wished to stand on its own feet, but that did not mean it did not accept external assistance. Economic reconstruction efforts in the country had moved many miles along the road to development and to ensure food security. They were happy about implementation and the miles they had covered in a very short time, including the construction of dams and roads, which was helping to eradicate or at least minimize poverty in the country.
The delegation recognized the difficulties surrounding data collection in the country. They had not established the necessary system as yet. They had set up a Data Collection Committee to look into the matter, but it had not taken off. As for the contribution of the United Nations Children's Fund to that Committee, that had not been significant.
As for discrepancies in the report itself, the delegation conceded they found some discrepancies as well. This was owing to the very short time frame allowed for preparing the report. They were willing to correct the statistics and resend them.
On the budget, the delegation took issue with the Expert's statement that most of the budget was going to the military and being diverted from programmes that could help children. The social protection budget was the biggest in the country. The delegation would get back to the Committee in writing with these figures.
There was an awareness-raising programme on the Convention in the country, via radio, television and newspapers. The Convention itself was translated into the various languages of the different ethnic groups in the country. Judges were presented with those texts so that they could give them to those who came before them.
With regard to corruption, the delegation said it would be happy to respond to any specific criticism, but in general they could say comfortably that the country was corruption free.
On International Labour Organization Conventions Nos. 138 and 182, those were before the appropriate authorities for ratification. There had been a hold up for technical reasons, but the delegation assured the Committee that they should be ratified soon, and that there were no contradictions whatsoever between those texts and Eritrean law, rather they reinforced it.
Concerning the comments about non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the delegation said that they had only expelled NGOs that had not complied with certain national standards, as set out in a proclamation. No NGOs had been expelled for any other reasons. Indeed, the Government paid the taxes for other NGOs that had remained in the country. As for international organizations, the relocation of USAID was outside the competence of the Committee. Human rights were of fundamental importance, but there were competing priorities, which sometimes meant that they had to prioritize. National sovereignty and the continued existence of the State had to be of primary importance.
As for the 23,400 disabled children in the country, the report set out comprehensively the measures that were being taken to help them. And, contrary to assertions that orphans and children with HIV/AIDS suffered from discrimination, the programmes that had been put in place to address the situation of such children, and their good success rate, proved otherwise, the delegation said.
Regarding a national human rights institution, there were many options available – such as an Ombudsman, a Human Rights Commission and others – the delegation noted. Eritrea was a young State, only 17 years old. Those options had to be studied so that it could select the appropriate option for its particular situation that would allow for the development of a real independent monitoring body for Eritrean children. Responding to a follow-up question as to whether Eritrea had the political will to pursue this, the delegation said they hoped to do something about this in the immediate future.
Concerning child protection, and juvenile justice, the right to a hearing was something that was accepted nowadays. In urban settings children were now regularly being heard as much as possible given the resources, the delegation said.
The new criminal and civil codes had been drafted by experts of international stature. Child issues were incorporated in these codes. The best interests of the child were laid down in those codes in black and white. Where children's rights were not adequately covered, they had amended the legislation. For example, corporal punishment and flogging had had to be suspended, the delegation said. As for marriage, customary laws had been superseded by the various provisions in the new civil code and penal code unless, they were specifically mentioned in those laws, the delegation said.
Responding to a follow-up question on the status of these legal codes, the delegation said there was no legal vacuum in Eritrea. The transitional codes were in place until new laws were enacted. The transitional civil code that they were using in Eritrea, as amended, was being used and implemented. But the minute they came up with their new law codes, those would take over.
On religion, Eritrea had Christianity, in two or three forms, and Islam. Those "old" religions were recognized in the Constitution. In the Constitution any religion and the right to believe in any religion were recognized. Concerning practice of those religions, there was no problem with regard to the "old" religions. But there was right now an apparent explosion in religions in the country, blown in from abroad – which split, amoeba-like into something like 25,000 of these "new" religions, whose funding was "very fishy". Some of those "new" religions had at times been found to be delving into politics, which they were not allowed to do, just as the State was not allowed to delve into religious matters. It was prohibited for religious institutions to delve into politics, for which they would be held accountable, in particular if they incited hatred of other groups.
Concerning corporal punishment, only "light beating", to encourage a child to study, was allowed, but abuse or heavy beating was prohibited, the delegation said.
Responding on birth registration questions, the delegation noted that three organs ensured birth registration: the local government; the Ministry of Health; and religious groups. There were no unregistered children in the country. Birth registration was very well taken care of and it was mainly free.
On regional discrimination, the delegation said it wished to correct some misperceptions. Hospitals were not concentrated in Asmara. In the past few years, the Government had constructed one new hospital in Asmara, and six in other regions. All regions had adequate health facilities, and the Government had ensured equitable access to quality health services in all regions.
Further Questions by Experts
During the second round of questions, the co-Rapporteur, Ms. Khattab, while noting the prohibition against the practice of female genital mutilation, and the five-year strategic plan to eradicate harmful traditional practices, said figures of female genital mutilation were still high, and she wished to hear why this was so. Further, what was being done to combat poverty, and to address child poverty in particular? On child labour, did the Ministry of Labour have any estimates on the phenomenon or any plans to survey the number of children working, and were there any plans in place to prevent and combat this?
Mr. Krappmann, the Rapporteur, said that, despite efforts, enrolment rates for children were still not satisfactory. One of the reasons girls did not attend school was that the majority of schools had no clean water, and more than half had no toilets. Not only did fewer girls enrol in school, dropout rates for girls were higher, and that trend was more marked in certain regions. Finally, he had heard that, in order to graduate from high school, children had to spend time in military training in a military camp. Was that true?
Other Experts asked further questions on topics including, among others, training and recruitment of doctors and health workers, and incentives to ensure that rural and remote health centres would be adequately staffed; and what programmes were in place for children suffering from sexual abuse. As for children and armed conflict, could children under 18 work at or otherwise be involved in the life of military camps?
On parenting, an Expert wondered what programmes were available for parent training and awareness-raising, in particular with a focus on improving low enrolment rates. In cases of neglect and abuse, how did the procedure work, in terms of referral and rehabilitation of children and programmes for the family. Regarding corporal punishment, which was legal to "the extent that it did not affect the child's mental and physical development", how was that standard measured? An Expert asked if there were a child hotline, accessible 24 hours a day, for complaints. With respect to juvenile justice, an Expert was concerned that children 15 years old and over that were in conflict with the law were treated like adults. On the HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis programme, for which Eritrea had help from the World Bank, an Expert asked for specific information on that programme.
Response by the Delegation
Responding, the delegation said that, with regard to questions about regional disparities in the education sphere, discrimination was probably not the right term to use. The levels of development differed tremendously and the sheer scope of the efforts needed to address those differences would require some time. There was a proclamation on decentralization, which had devolved more power to the regional authorities, which now had more authority for administering education and were able to follow more closely developments in their areas. Contrary to what Experts had said about budgeting in the social services sector, the budget for education had grown fourfold since 2002.
As for programmes targeting girls' enrolment, the delegation noted that the Government was continuously carrying out awareness-raising programmes and, as part of a plan to bring schools closer to girls, they were building many more schools. High dropout rates for girls were owing to many different factors, among them the issue of the long journeys needed to attend school for many children. There was an issue about inadequate or non-existent lavatory facilities in schools, which had a disproportionate effect on girls' enrolment. The Government was working to address that, and all new schools were built with latrines and running water.
Moreover, the Government was producing new textbooks, with the goal of being able to provide each child with their own textbooks, and efforts were being deployed to train more and better teachers, the delegation continued. The first goal was to be able to meet the huge demand for teachers. As the teacher shortage decreased, they would concentrate on improving the training for teachers entering the system, and on upgrading the qualifications of existing teachers through additional trainings.
On the issue of the military camps and education, the case referred to in which students in their last year had finished their schooling in a military camp could be explained. It was a case of a lack of school facilities, and they had had to make use of existing facilities that happened to be in a military camp. Those children were not involved in any kind of military training in any way. Indeed, now the camp had been moved elsewhere and the existing facilities were fully converted to educational ones.
Children under 18 were not involved in military activities in any manner, the delegation stressed. National service was for those over 18 years old, and there were no children involved in the military today in Eritrea. There was a summer work programme for children, but that focused on soil conservation and reforestation work. There was also a summer programme as part of National Service for those who had finished high school and were over 18 years old, and that did contain a military training component. National service was compulsory. However, the emphasis in National Service today was no longer on military training, but was on other areas of national service.
Concerning female genital mutilation, the delegation said that as part of the programme to combat the phenomenon the Government had televised a debate in which some 400 religious leaders had participated to spread awareness about the dangers of the practice. The trouble was that many women were doing this in secret, in their homes. It was not thought that it would be eradicated any time soon, but they were working for change.
There was no child labour in Eritrea, the delegation said. If a child helped his family, such as raising chickens, that was not considered child labour. Also light labour was not considered harmful in Eritrea, such as working in a teashop after school to contribute to the family income. Here, an Expert recalled that, in 2003, the Committee had expressed its concern about the large number of children working in the street or in the agriculture or domestic sectors in Eritrea. Were they to understand that that situation had now been taken care of?
The delegation replied that the Department of Labour was currently organizing a labour force survey together with certain United Nations agencies. When that came out, they would have a clearer picture of whether child labour was a problem or not.
On juvenile justice issues, two new facilities had been built for children, but they were not operational yet, with minor adjustments still to be done. The children's court had also not been established yet. For the moment, children who committed crimes were directed to the juvenile justice centre, and released when they reached 18, except for cases involving very serious crimes. Generally, for someone 15 to 18 years old, the general regulations of the court applied, but there were certain conditions and issues that were taken into account, such as whether they would be considered as criminally responsible or not, the delegation said.
There was a trend moving away from institutional care for children in big institutions, the delegation said, with attention being focused on programmes for family reunification, foster care and adoption. The figure of 18,000 children orphans and vulnerable children helped by programmes cited in the written answers included all of those in care situations. Big institutions were no longer used, and most children who could not be otherwise cared for were now placed in local group homes, where 12 children were cared for by three "mothers" and one "father". The group homes were directly under the Ministry of Labour and Human Welfare.
Turning to how doctors and other health workers were motivated to work in areas outside the capital, the delegation said that, happily the Eritrean people were very civically minded; the motivation of the people was there already. To be more motivated, a special course was provided.
With regard to demobilization in relation to HIV/AIDS, troops were checked before being demobilized and if they tested positive they were provided with care, and counselling was provided for them and their families. There was also staff dedicated to follow-up on these cases. Antiretroviral drugs were available to 100 per cent of all HIV-positive children. While there was no legal framework, there was a clear policy laid out with regard to how children under-five with HIV/AIDS should be cared for to ensure that they were not stigmatized.
The delegation said that there were programmes for rehabilitating former sex workers, and a programme for rehabilitating street children. Those programmes contained a family support element, in cases where a lack of money was found to be the root cause of the problem.
Because of the creation of new colleges, it was true that Asmara University was no longer accepting new students, the delegation said. All the teachers and other resources from Asmara University had been deployed to the other colleges and Asmara University was no longer running at all. That was all tied up with the reform of tertiary education that the Government was undertaking. It should be understood that there were limited resources and that Asmara University had only had a capacity of 5,000 to 6,000 students, whereas the new colleges had already started to accommodate more than 18,000 students, and that number was expected to grow.
Preliminary Concluding Observations
MOUSHIRA KHATTAB, the Committee Expert serving as co-Rapporteur for the report of Eritrea, in preliminary concluding observations, expressed her gratitude that the dialogue with the delegation had become warmer and franker as it had continued. The Committee was very cognizant of the situation that Eritrea found itself in. No matter what the challenges facing the State, children should be the priority, if for no other reason than that they would give the highest return.
In the Committee's concluding observations they would ask Eritrea to review their legislation to ensure closer harmony with the Convention, in particular with regard to customary law and early marriages. Eritrea would be asked to strengthen the coordinating committee on the rights of the child, and to provide it with more resources; that a national independent body or committee be established to monitor the situation in accordance with the Paris Principles; that more resources should be allocated to children's issues; and that a database system be implemented so that the most vulnerable could be targeted by the Government's programmes.
Civil society was helping governments more and more, Ms. Khattab commented, and Eritrea was therefore encouraged to work closely with civil society, both in the formulation of its plans and programmes and in carrying them out, and that more space be given to them, whether they be national or international organizations. Discrimination against vulnerable groups or regional discrimination had to be eliminated. Children had to be listened to and all actions had to be guided by the best interests of the child. Furthermore, follow up should be undertaken to the Secretary-General's Study on Violence against Children and its recommendations.
The Committee acknowledged gains made in the health sphere, but more needed to be done to combat female genital mutilation, early marriage, discrimination against the girl child, education, and gender gap in enrolment. The government also had to do more for children affected by armed conflict and to eliminate child labour, Ms. Khattab concluded.
Ms. Khattab ended with a plea for Eritrea to draw upon all available resources, from international donors, the United Nations, non-governmental organizations and others to help its children.
LOTHAR KRAPPMANN, the Committee Expert serving as Rapporteur for the report of Eritrea, said he would not repeat what had been said by Ms. Khattab. It merely remained for him to thank the delegation and to wish them well.
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