COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILDREN STARTS REVIEW OF REPORT OF DENMARK

CRC
27th session
22 May 2001
Morning



UNICEF's Survey Confirms Danish Children Seem to be among
the Happiest in the World, Delegation Notes


The Committee on the Rights of Children this morning started its review of a second periodic report from Denmark with a Government delegation saying that an opinion survey conducted by the United Nations Children's Fund had confirmed that Danish children seemed to be among the happiest children in the world.

Introducing his country's report, Arnold Skibsted of the Danish Ministry for Foreign Affairs said that an opinion survey of children and young people published by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) had confirmed that Danish children seemed to be among the happiest children in the world; they were happy about life, family, school and friends; and half of the Danish children asked in the survey had found that children of a different ethnic background were not treated fairly. It was hoped that that was not a reflection of the extent of discrimination in the society, but rather a reflection of the children's awareness and comprehension of that phenomenon, he said.

Mr. Skibsted further said that UNICEF's survey also confirmed what some had expected all the time: children were warm and open -- and they were realistic. They had trust and confidence in others, including grown-ups -- except politicians.

Over the course of their consideration of the report, Committee members raised a number of questions on issues such as high infant mortality in Greenland and the Faroe Islands; violence and bullying among children; racial and religious discrimination in schools and public places; the accessibility of the Ombudsman to handle children's complaints; the different levels of protection of children in the mainland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands; the phenomenon of xenophobia and discrimination against foreign children; adolescent suicide and the increase in alcoholic consumption; and the protection of children from harmful information such as that available on the Internet, among other things.

The Danish delegation is also made up of Jens Faerkel and Eva Grambye, from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs; Jens Kruse Mikkelsen, Christina Toftegaard Nielsen and Lars Thogersen, from the Ministry of Justice; Peter S. Willadsen, Susanne C. Clausen and Helene Urth, from the Ministry of the Interior; Idamarie Leth Svendsen, from the Ministry of Social Affairs; Marianne Lehmann, from the Ministry of Education; Karin V. Moller, from the Ministry of Labour; and Kathrine Lehmann, from the Ministry of Culture.

As one of the 191 States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Denmark must submit periodic reports to the Committee on its efforts to implement the provisions of the treaty.

When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it will conclude its dialogue with the delegation of Denmark and an Expert will offer preliminary conclusions and recommendations on the report. The Committee’s conclusions will be issued at the end of its three week session.


Report of Denmark

The second periodic report of Denmark (document CRC/C/70/Add.6) accounts for the measures adopted by the State to realize the rights recognized by the Convention and for the progress made concerning the enjoyment of these rights since the first report was submitted in 1993. It says that it is the task of the State to lay down general guidelines for the various initiatives relating to children and young people. Responsibility for implementation of the provisions laid down at the central level in respect of children rests with the local and county authorities to a wide extent.

In order to further promote the work of including the interests of children and young people in community planning, a National Council for Children was established in 1998, the report notes. The tasks of the Council include working to ensure that children's rights direct focus on and inform about children's conditions in society; advising authorities on questions relating to children's conditions; and assessing the conditions under which children in Denmark live in the light of the provisions and intentions of the Convention, among other things.

The report emphasizes that the consideration of children’s rights is an integral part of the Danish efforts for human rights and democracy. An important part of these efforts involves special activities for especially exposed population groups, such as aborigines, victims of torture, children and the disabled. The Social Summit held in Copenhagen in March 1995 adopted a number of recommendations that the countries are to try to observe for the purpose of fighting child labour. Within the World Trade Organization, Denmark is working for the appointment of a group to consider in detail the correlation between trade and worker rights, including a prohibition against child labour. Denmark contributes an annual amount of Dkr 5 million to the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour of the ILO. In 1997, it granted Dkr 40 million to the emergency aid programme of UNICEF.

Denmark has ratified the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspect of International Child Abduction of 1980 and the Council of Europe Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Decisions concerning Custody of Children and on Restoration of Custody of Children of 1980, the report says. Denmark's accession to these conventions has considerably improved the possibility of avoiding abduction of children residing in Denmark to another country and vice-versa.

The report notes that although the aggregate alcohol consumption in Denmark has been stagnant in recent years, consumption among the very young has been increasing. On 1 July 1998, an act entered into force prohibiting the sale of alcohol to children below the age of 15 in shops. In addition, in recent years more and more attention has been focused on eating disorders of greater or lesser severity, especially in young girls. Almost one third of young women between 14 and 24 years have an eating conduct giving rise to a risk of developing anorexia or bulimia. Girls developing a serious degree of eating disorder also have a greater risk of becoming suicidal and prone to other self-destructive behaviour.


Introduction of Danish Report

ARNOLD SKIBSTED, of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Denmark, said that his country had always considered it essential that monitoring institutions were established under the international human rights instruments in order to monitor the compliance of States parties with the substantial provisions of those instruments. Denmark was always ready to support proposals to enhance the efficiency of those monitoring bodies. One such proposal, the implementation of which was long overdue, was the increase of the membership of the Committee to 18 members.

Mr. Skibsted recalled that the Government had decided to set up a Committee of Ministers to investigate and report on the problem of young people having difficulty with adjusting to norms and rules in the Danish society. The number of maladjusted youth was relatively small. The problem had however increased so preventive efforts seemed to be called for. The ministerial committee had drawn up a report suggesting substantive solutions for immediate action and proposals for preventive efforts towards maladjusted youths of Danish and other ethnic origins.

A Youth Parliament was established in connection with the 150th anniversary of the Danish Constitution in 1999 and was to be convened every second year, Mr. Skibsted said. When the Youth Parliament was in session for the second time, it went through all the movements of a proper parliament with committees, ministers and other bodies, debating 60 bills ranging from genetic cloning, increased punishment for rape, improved conditions for hens, smoking in schools, and social counselling in primary schools, among other things. They had a first experience of democracy in practice, and the difficulties of the democratic process.

Mr. Skibsted said that an opinion survey of children and young people published by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) had confirmed that Danish children seemed to be among the happiest children in the world. They were happy about life, family, school and friends. Half of the Danish children asked in the survey had found that children of a different ethnic background were not treated fairly. It was hoped that was not a reflection of the extent of discrimination in the society, but rather a reflection of the children's awareness and comprehension of that phenomenon. The survey also confirmed what some had expected all the time: children were warm and open -- and they were realistic. They had trust and confidence in others, including grown-ups -- except politicians.



Discussion

At the beginning of the discussion, Committee Experts raised a number of questions. An Expert asked why representatives of Greenland and the Faroe Islands were not included in the Danish delegation; why the demographic situation in those territories was decreasing; and about the high rate of infant and maternal mortality in Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

Another Expert said that while Germans living in the country were considered a national minority in Denmark, people from Greenland and the Faroe Islands were not considered as national minorities. What was the position of the Government on this?

Denmark had made great progress in the promotion and protection of the rights of children, an Expert said. What was the role of the different mechanisms designed to protect children's rights, such as the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Children, the Trans-Ministerial Youth Committee, and the National Council for Children?

In response to the questions raised by Committee members, the delegation said that the authorities of Greenland and the Faroe Islands were advised to come with information concerning the situation of children's rights in their territories, but no information was made available. Those territories were self-governing and it was up to the local authorities to supply the necessary information.

There was no specific and independent complaints board for children because of the fact that the Government did not want to create too many institutions for children, the delegation said. Already there was an Ombudsman Office which dealt with general complaints and the need for a specific complaints office for child was not immediate.

The Youth Parliament was an exercise of the democratic process by children and their acquaintance with a debate of politicians in the parliament.

Asked about the ruling of the Danish Supreme Court on the practice of solitary confinement on children, the delegation said that the Court had ruled that the practice was not in contravention of article 37 of the Convention, which stipulated, among other things, that no child should be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

A question was raised on the phenomenon of the Danish ageing population to which the delegation said that the ageing of parents was damaging for children in the process of their growth. The Government had carried out studies on this and would take every measure to tackle the problem.

Danish legislation on asylum had been amended and refugee children had been provided with better treatment in the field of education, the delegation said. Even children whose asylum request had been denied but remained in Denmark were provided with bilingual education and their special needs had been fulfilled. In the field of health, refugees had been provided with medical care and they were treated on equal terms with the rest of Danish children. In that regard, Denmark was fulfilling its obligations under the international convention on the status of refugees. In addition, the Government had been endeavouring to expand a bilingual education to all persons living in Denmark.

The people of Greenland and the Faroe Islands had never considered themselves as minorities; they considered themselves as being Danish, the delegation said. Any international treaties signed by Denmark were extended to those territories although they were self-governing entities within the Danish State.

Committee members continued to raise questions on such issues as violence and bullying among children; racial and religious discrimination in schools and public places; the situation and spread of a one-parent family; the lack of information in the report on the children's situation in Greenland and the Faroe Islands; the accessibility of the Ombudsman to children's complaints; the different levels of protection of children in the mainland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands; the phenomenon of xenophobia and discrimination against foreign children; adolescent suicide and the increase in alcoholic consumption; the situation of unaccompanied child asylum-seekers; birth registration of children belonging to ethnic groups in the country; and the protection of children from harmful information such as that provided on the Internet, among other things.



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