COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD STARTS CONSIDERATION OF INITIAL REPORT OF MAURITANIA

CRC
28th session
25 September 2001
Morning




Primary Education is Compulsory, Penalties are Imposed against Parents for
Failing to Send Children to School, Delegation Says



The Committee on the Rights of the Child this morning started its consideration of an initial report submitted by Mauritania, with a Government delegation saying that primary education was obligatory from the age of 6 years and a law imposed penalties against parents who failed to send their children to school.

Mintata Mint Heddeid, State Secretary for Women's Affairs of Mauritania, said that the Government had put in place a number of juridical measures, including the code on personal status, which fixed the minimum age for marriage at 18 years. She said that the personal status code also filled the juridical lacunae on the modalities concerning marriage, divorce and the settlement of family conflicts.

Mrs. Heddeid said that her country's Constitution was devoted to the promotion of human rights within the appropriate institutional framework, and that the juridical and institutional system guaranteed the fundamental and universal freedoms of citizens.

She further said that the Mauritanian authorities were giving special attention to the economic, social and cultural rights of their citizens. In order to ensure that such rights were enjoyed by the people and that they were indivisible and interdependent, a 'Commissariat for Human Rights, the Fight against Poverty and for Reinsertion' had been established in 1998.

Several Committee Experts raised numerous questions, including on the issue of slavery-like practices and servitude that existed in Mauritania, and the exclusion of some black-skinned persons within the society.

The Mauritanian delegation was also made up of Mohamed Saleck Ould Mohamed Lemine, Permanent Representative of Mauritania to the United Nations Office at Geneva; Sidi Mohamed Ould Baidy, Legal Advisor at the State Secretariat for Women's Affairs; Moctar Ould Mohamed Yahya, Director for Social Development in the Ministry of Economic and Development Affairs; Hetoutou Mint Abdullah, Director for the Family and the Child in the State Secretariat for Women's Affairs; Mohamed Ould Tijani, Director for Legal Instruments in the Commissariat for Human Rights, the Fight for Poverty and Reinsertion; and Mohamed Abdullahi Ould Bebana, President of the Commercial Chamber of the Tribunal of Nouakchott.

Mauritania is among the 191 States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and as such it is obligated to submit periodic reports to the Committee on the manner in which it discharged its obligations in implementing the provisions of that international treaty.

The Committee will finalize its public consideration of the report of Mauritania when it reconvenes at 3 p.m. this afternoon.

Initial Report of Mauritania

The Committee has before it a report contained in document CRC/C/8/Add.42 for its consideration. The report enumerates the various measures undertaken by the Government in the administrative, judicial and legislative fields. With a view to bringing its legislation into line with the provisions of the Convention , the State has taken measures in drafting a family code. In addition, a national plan of action has been adopted to reduce by half the morbidity and mortality rates for children under five by the year 2002; and to reduce the infant mortality rate from 118 to 80 per 1,000, the neonatal mortality rate by 50 per cent and the infant and child mortality rate from 182 to 90 per 1,000.

The report notes that sexual relations are envisaged solely in the context of marriage; the criminal code penalizes anyone who induces or attempts to induce an abortion; however, a doctor may carry out a therapeutic abortion when the mother is in danger. The import and sale of alcoholic beverages are banned throughout the territory of Mauritania; and the consumption of such beverages is forbidden to Muslims, whether children or adults. The report further notes that the rate of smoking is progressing alarmingly due to the fact that various sporting events are financed by tobacco producers.

Moreover, the report says that malnutrition remains a worrying cause of infant mortality. The care and recovery of malnourished children is affected by the stoppage of operations at rehabilitation and nutritional education centres on account of shortages in the supply of foodstuff. Breast-feeding is widely practised in the country, with a higher rate in rural areas.

The report notes that despite the efforts made for the benefit of children, some difficulties persist at various levels and hamper the improvement of the health and social situation of Mauritanian children. Health coverage at the primary and secondary levels still does not guarantee full access for mothers and children to a range of essential health-care services; and specialized staff are not yet able to meet all needs.


Introduction of Report

MINTATA MINT HEDDEID, State Secretary for Women's Affairs of Mauritania, said that her country's Constitution was devoted to the promotion of human rights within the appropriate institutional framework. The country's juridical and institutional system guaranteed the fundamental and universal freedoms of citizens.

Mrs. Heddeid said that the democratization of public life at all levels also guaranteed to each citizen that fundamental rights were represented, thanks to universal suffrage which was a well functioning institution. The authorities were giving special attention to the economic, social and cultural rights of citizens. In order to ensure that such rights were enjoyed by the people and that they were indivisible and interdependent, the Commissariat for Human Rights, the Fight against Poverty and for Reinsertion had been established in 1998.

Further, Mrs. Heddeid said that a ministerial department had been created in the State Secretariat for Women's Affairs in 1992 in order to assure better coordination and sound execution of the policies and programmes relating to children. In addition, a consultative organ, the National Council for Children, which was composed of representatives of concerned public administration, civil society and development partners, assisted the State Secretariat in its formulation of policies.

The Government of Mauritania had taken action on the elaboration and the implementation of numerous policies and strategies in the fields of health, education and social assistance, Mrs. Heddeid continued to say. Within the framework of child protection, the Government had also put in place a number of juridical measures, including the code on personal status, which fixed the minimum age for marriage at 18 years. The personal status code also filled the juridical lacunae on the modalities concerning marriage, divorce and the settlement of family conflicts. Another law had also made primary education obligatory from the age of 6 years and imposed penalties against parents who failed to send their children to school.

Mrs. Heddeid said that the Government was convinced that child development could be ensured through education and training. For that reason, the Government had made progress in the establishment of pre-school institutions for children who made up 15 per cent of the whole population. In addition, the number of schools had doubled between 1991 and 1998.


Discussion

Following the introduction of the report by the delegation, members of the Committee raised a number of questions. An Expert said that the report did not mention such issues as circumcision, female genital mutilation and slavery. Referring to the day of 'Arab and African Children', the Expert said that the title could create discrimination and it should be changed to 'National Day for Children' in order to avoid any discriminatory feelings among children.

The delegation was also asked if the Government provided transparent budgetary allocations for each service; if the burden of external debt service had affected the rights of children; the absence of an office of an ombudsman for children, where children could lodge their complaints; the age of criminal responsibility for children; the lack in the report of statistics on abused children and orphaned children; the effectiveness of the prohibition of early marriage and if there was a public campaign against that phenomenon, among other things.

(more) Responding to the questions raised by Committee Experts, the members of the Mauritanian delegation said that 16 June was celebrated as the Day of the African Child following the decision by the Organization of African Unity. The Day of Arab and African Children was particularly observed to increase knowledge of the Convention.

The delegation said that the enactment of the personal status code had reduced the number of early marriages and the practice of obesity of girls to prepare them for early marriage. Various practices harmful to health, including the forced feeding of young girls, were declining and information and awareness-raising campaigns were regularly held by the relevant departments to point out their adverse affects. The payment of alimony after divorce had been made obligatory, and women were encouraged to work, contrary to customary practices.

The Government had also taken measures to increase the number of girls going to schools, the delegation said. Further progress had been made in education and Mauritania rated high among the sub-Saharan African countries. Primary education was compulsory and free of charge.

In the field of health, the delegation continued to state, the Government had taken measures to eradicate the Guinea-worm disease which severely affected children. In 1991, the number of children affected by the disease stood at 8,000, while at present, only 136 cases had been detected. The Government had also made great efforts in recent years to eradicate poliomyelitis through several national campaigns; however, there had been a resurgence of tuberculosis, despite the efforts of the health services.

Orphans and street children were not rejected within the Mauritanian society, the delegation said. Orphaned children were generally taken in by the extended families and other institutions. Children could only become street children following the erosion of the family and the African traditional system.

The Government dealt with the situation of disabled children and had adopted a strategy for their integration and development, the delegation said. The strategy involved community-based rehabilitation, which was to enable disabled children to find locally the basic essential services they needed to become independent. Additional measures had been taken to provide access to education, training and health services.

Mauritania had not ratified all the important human rights instruments because of the slowness of the administrative process, the delegation said. However, preparation was underway to ratify some of them. In addition, there was no national human rights commission to deal with human-rights affairs. Instead, there was a commissariat for human rights to develop inter-community dialogue, among other things.

Asked about the age of penal responsibility of children, the delegation said children up to the age of 12 were free from any criminal responsibility whatever the kind of crimes they committed. However, children between 13 and 18 years of age had a certain responsibility, depending on the kind of crimes committed by the minors; some crimes committed by minors could be retained. Minors were not subjected to capital punishment.

In follow-up queries, Committee Experts insisted that the celebration of separate days for African and Arab children was not well considered and should not be encouraged. The status of children born out of wedlock was also of a worrying situation to the Committee, an Expert said, adding that a father could not give his name to the child, according to the law, which specified that 'no one may bear the name of a family with which he has no legal tie'.

The Expert also said that there were still slavery-like practices and servitude existing in Mauritania; black-skinned persons were excluded and marginalized; and the southern regions of the country were less developed than others. With regard to citizens, the Expert said that 140,000 children were prevented from access to citizenship because of the statelessness of their parents who were deported.




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