Welcome to the United Nations 
OHCHR 
Press releases Treaty bodies
Default title
11 January 2001
Share
CRC
26th session
11 January 2001
Morning
Recent War Has Affected Welfare of Children,
Delegation Says
The Committee on the Rights of the Child this morning started its consideration of a second periodic report submitted by Ethiopia by hearing a Government delegation saying that because of the legacies of past regimes, including protracted and costly civil wars, poor economic planning and management and an unfavourable international economic environment, the country was considered to be one of the poorest in the world.
Introducing his country's report, Tesfaye Sodano, Vice Minister of Labour and Social Affairs of Ethiopia, said, among other things, that the economic situation was further exacerbated by chronic problems of under development such as low productivity, subsistence agriculture, backward technology, poor infrastructure and inadequate resources. Over the last two years, the sacrifices that the Government had to make to preserve the country's territorial integrity and national sovereignty against the war of aggression that was waged against it by a neighbouring State had adversely affected the welfare of its children and its economic recovery, he added.
Committee members queried the delegation, among other things, about how the Government was disseminating published material on child rights since many people in the country were illiterate and there were limited television sets available. The members also asked questions on various issues pertaining to the implementation of the new family code; the independence of the newly established human rights commissions and the office of the Ombudsman; and detention of street children without any charge, among other things.
This morning's discussion focused on the main topics of the general measures of implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child; general principles; and civil rights and freedoms.
The six-member delegation of Ethiopia also included Menberetsehay Tadesse, Vice President, Federal Supreme Court; Atsede Gutta, Head, Children, Youth and Family Department, Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs; Samuel Mihretu, Ministry of Justice, Member of National Committee on the Convention on the Rights of the Child; Sileshi Mengesha, Counsellor, and Minelik Alemu, First Secretary, both from the Permanent Mission of Ethiopia to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
Ethiopia is among the 191 States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and as such it must file periodic reports with the Committee on the status of the country's children and on efforts to implement the Convention.
The Committee will reconvene at 3 p.m. to conclude its public review of the report of Ethiopia.
Report of Ethiopia
The second periodic report of Ethiopia (document CRC/C/70/Add.7) says that the main factors hampering the implementation of the Convention are economic underdevelopment, scarcity of resources, limited administrative structures and certain traditional practices and customs. The declining economic growth rate has been halted in spite of the occurrence of drought and other natural disasters; and the rate of inflation has gone down from 10 per cent in 1993 to 6.9 per cent in 1997.
The report says that a committee was established within the Ministry of Justice and is engaged in the revisions of the civil and penal codes which run counter to the provisions of the Convention. Some of these are related to provisions for a different minimum age of marriage between girls and boys, corporal punishment of children, and "light bodily punishment" as an educational measure, among other things. The minimum age of marriage for girls at 15 years has already been contested by regional women's organizations. It was suggested that the minimum age should be raised and that it should be the same for both young males and females.
According to the report, infants not having attained the age of 9 years are not criminally responsible for their acts; where an offence is committed by an infant appropriate steps may be taken by the family, school or guardians to ensure their proper upbringing. In Ethiopia, cases of child offenders are heard both in regular courts and in a juvenile court that was established in the capital city, and in the countryside juvenile cases are handled by lower courts. The age of majority for children was fixed at 18 years.
The report notes that the right to life, survival and development, respect for the views of the child and non-discrimination in the exercise of civil, political or property rights are guaranteed by the Constitution. However, ensuring the right to survival and development, though guaranteed by the Constitution and other laws, is in practice hampered by economic underdevelopment and widespread poverty.
Further, malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS are currently the leading causes of death in the country; HIV/AIDS in particular is a major threat to the welfare of children; in 1997, there were 2.4 million adults and 150,000 children under the age of five infected with HIV; and AIDS will increase the death rate for all ages. One of the worst impacts of AIDS deaths on young adults is an increase in the number of orphans. The number of AIDS orphans could increase to 620,000 by 2000 and to 1.8 million by 2009.
Presentation of Report
TESFAYE SODANO, Vice Minister of Labour and Social Affairs of Ethiopia, said that his country was one of the poorest in the world. That was mainly attributed to legacies of the past regimes including protracted and costly civil wars, poor economic planning and management and an unfavourable international economic environment, among other things. That situation was further exacerbated by chronic problems of under development such as low productivity, subsistence agriculture, backward technology, poor infrastructure and inadequate resources.
The Government of Ethiopia was doing its best to improve the overall economic situation by developing sound socio-economic developing policies, by introducing good governance and the rule of law and by giving the highest importance to the protection of human rights, Mr. Sodano went on to state. In spite of the positive developments of the last few years, the Government was still confronted with a number of problems that would have to be addressed in the future.
Mr. Sodano said that the full scale implementation of the Convention continued to be impeded by the absence of enabling institutional structures and mechanisms of implementation, lack of financial and material resources for the realization of sustainable programmes on child welfare and development and scarcity of trained manpower, among other things.
Over the last two years, the sacrifices that the Government had to make to preserve the country's territorial integrity and national sovereignty against the war of aggression that was waged against it by a neighbouring State had adversely affected the welfare of its children and its economic recovery, the Vice Minister said. However, Ethiopia was convinced that the peace agreement it signed recently would enable it to re-deploy its resources to combatting poverty, and underdevelopment.
Discussion
The discussion during the morning meeting centred on implementation measures, definition of the child, general principles, civil rights and freedoms, family environment, alternative care, health, and education.
Committee members queried the delegation on various issues. An Expert said the report followed the guidelines of the Committee; however, it lacked information which would enable the Committee to fully judge the efforts made since the submission of the initial report. Though slight improvements were made in the field of the promotion and protection of the rights of the child, the trend was positive. The report said that a five-year development programme had been implemented by the Government, however, the officials did not make an evaluation of the achievements in order to assess the impact of the programme on the rights of children.
Referring to a measure taken by the Government to establish a national human rights commission and the office of the mediator, the Expert said that such institutions should be widely known by the general public. The Expert asked if such information had already been disseminated, including to children who should make use of the services of the office of the mediator.
The delegation was asked how the Government was communicating with Ethiopians in a situation where many people were illiterate and could not read the published materials on child rights and where there were only a few television sets available. What kind of protection was provided to children during the border war which ended recently?
Another Expert expressed concern about the situation of children in Ethiopia, which had a large population and a large number of children. Although efforts had been made to harmonize legislation, some provisions of the Convention were not enforced such as birth registration. It was observed that traditional values dominated civil laws and were impeding the implementation of the Convention. Was the Government putting more effort in overcoming that problem? Was there any problem in implementing a programme of poverty elimination?
There should be a plan of action of priorities to work progressively and to expand knowledge of the Convention throughout the country, an Expert said, asking if efforts were made to involve tribal and religious leaders in the dissemination of the provisions of the Convention. A Committee member wanted to know how a plan of action for children could be implemented in a federal system where the regions were divided on ethnic lines.
Responding to questions raised by Committee members, the delegation said that each federal ministry had its own part in implementing the plan of action concerning the rights of children. The evaluation and coordination were also carried out by the same ministries.
The budget for defence had been significant during the last two years because of the unwanted war which Ethiopia was dragged into, the delegation said. Once the peace agreement was signed, the country was once again facing its other enemy -- poverty. The Government had set a five-year development plan which had been implemented since seven years and which had changed the image of the country; however, during the last three years, the plan had been hampered by the war imposed by a neighbouring State.
Training programmes and studies had been carried out on street children, child abuse and neglect and sexual exploitation of children to further promote the rights of children in the country, the delegation said. At the regional level, seminars and conferences had been organized with the participation of non-governmental organizations on issues pertaining to the child rights and awareness increasing.
The establishment of the human rights commission and the office of the Ombudsman would contribute to the promotion and protection of the rights of the child, the delegation said. The institutions had a wide rage of power in supervising the implementation of the rights by all governmental agencies. It was hoped that both institutions would soon be in place. The Government was also endeavouring to use all means of communication at its disposal to reach all segments of the population despite the shortage of means of communications and widespread illiteracy.
The competence of enacting family laws had been transferred to regional authorities, the delegation said.
Corporal punishment had been prohibited by a constitutional provision, the delegation said. The revised penal code had also strengthened that position with explicit clauses concerning the use of corporal punishment.
The law on birth registration had remained dormant for the forty years and it was only recently that it had been reactivated, the delegation said. The limit for criminal responsibility of 9 years, for example, would be useless if there was no registration of births.
For the last eight years, the national budget was increasing with special attention given to social affairs, mainly education and health, the delegation said. Primary health care facilities for children had been built to allow accessibility to all. In addition, the Government had made budgetary provisions for the expansion of availability of potable water for mothers and children.
Child rights committees had been established from the federal to the grass-root levels, the delegation said; various capacity-building programmes had been implemented and training had been provided for persons working with children. Although data collection was not effectively carried out during the past, through the establishment of the committees, such practices would be strengthened in the future.
Efforts had been carried out to include child rights issues in school curricula at all levels, the delegation said. Parents were expected to be aware of the Convention through their children.
Committee members continued to query the delegation on other clusters. An Expert wondered if the human rights commissions and the office of the Ombudsmen were independent. In addition, since the Constitution did not specifically prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities, that meant that they were discriminated against.
The Ethiopian federal system was based on ethnicity and there was discrimination against other ethnic groups, the Expert said. There was also discrimination against women. The Expert wanted to know the fate of children born of persons of Eritrean origin who were being discriminated against in Ethiopia.
There was concern about illegal and unsafe abortion in Ethiopia, an Expert said; were there any measures taken against such fatalities? In addition, torture in police custody of street children had been reported by organizations dealing with torture. Detention of street and other children without warrant and for a long period was also of concern. The decline in the extended family had also allowed children to be abandoned; what measures had been taken to help those children?
Out of 700,000 visually affected persons, only 500 had access to jobs, an Expert said; there were also about one million physically disabled persons, with the number expected to increase because of the recent border war. What kind of programme was put in place to help those people?
The existence of political prisoners and detention without trial, including of journalists, had had a negative effect on the children of those imprisoned persons, a Committee member said, asking about the role of non-governmental organizations in promoting the rights of children.
What norms and infrastructure existed for victims of marital rape and violence, asked another Expert. Were there traditional means to end such practices?
* *** *
26th session
11 January 2001
Morning
Recent War Has Affected Welfare of Children,
Delegation Says
The Committee on the Rights of the Child this morning started its consideration of a second periodic report submitted by Ethiopia by hearing a Government delegation saying that because of the legacies of past regimes, including protracted and costly civil wars, poor economic planning and management and an unfavourable international economic environment, the country was considered to be one of the poorest in the world.
Introducing his country's report, Tesfaye Sodano, Vice Minister of Labour and Social Affairs of Ethiopia, said, among other things, that the economic situation was further exacerbated by chronic problems of under development such as low productivity, subsistence agriculture, backward technology, poor infrastructure and inadequate resources. Over the last two years, the sacrifices that the Government had to make to preserve the country's territorial integrity and national sovereignty against the war of aggression that was waged against it by a neighbouring State had adversely affected the welfare of its children and its economic recovery, he added.
Committee members queried the delegation, among other things, about how the Government was disseminating published material on child rights since many people in the country were illiterate and there were limited television sets available. The members also asked questions on various issues pertaining to the implementation of the new family code; the independence of the newly established human rights commissions and the office of the Ombudsman; and detention of street children without any charge, among other things.
This morning's discussion focused on the main topics of the general measures of implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child; general principles; and civil rights and freedoms.
The six-member delegation of Ethiopia also included Menberetsehay Tadesse, Vice President, Federal Supreme Court; Atsede Gutta, Head, Children, Youth and Family Department, Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs; Samuel Mihretu, Ministry of Justice, Member of National Committee on the Convention on the Rights of the Child; Sileshi Mengesha, Counsellor, and Minelik Alemu, First Secretary, both from the Permanent Mission of Ethiopia to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
Ethiopia is among the 191 States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and as such it must file periodic reports with the Committee on the status of the country's children and on efforts to implement the Convention.
The Committee will reconvene at 3 p.m. to conclude its public review of the report of Ethiopia.
Report of Ethiopia
The second periodic report of Ethiopia (document CRC/C/70/Add.7) says that the main factors hampering the implementation of the Convention are economic underdevelopment, scarcity of resources, limited administrative structures and certain traditional practices and customs. The declining economic growth rate has been halted in spite of the occurrence of drought and other natural disasters; and the rate of inflation has gone down from 10 per cent in 1993 to 6.9 per cent in 1997.
The report says that a committee was established within the Ministry of Justice and is engaged in the revisions of the civil and penal codes which run counter to the provisions of the Convention. Some of these are related to provisions for a different minimum age of marriage between girls and boys, corporal punishment of children, and "light bodily punishment" as an educational measure, among other things. The minimum age of marriage for girls at 15 years has already been contested by regional women's organizations. It was suggested that the minimum age should be raised and that it should be the same for both young males and females.
According to the report, infants not having attained the age of 9 years are not criminally responsible for their acts; where an offence is committed by an infant appropriate steps may be taken by the family, school or guardians to ensure their proper upbringing. In Ethiopia, cases of child offenders are heard both in regular courts and in a juvenile court that was established in the capital city, and in the countryside juvenile cases are handled by lower courts. The age of majority for children was fixed at 18 years.
The report notes that the right to life, survival and development, respect for the views of the child and non-discrimination in the exercise of civil, political or property rights are guaranteed by the Constitution. However, ensuring the right to survival and development, though guaranteed by the Constitution and other laws, is in practice hampered by economic underdevelopment and widespread poverty.
Further, malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS are currently the leading causes of death in the country; HIV/AIDS in particular is a major threat to the welfare of children; in 1997, there were 2.4 million adults and 150,000 children under the age of five infected with HIV; and AIDS will increase the death rate for all ages. One of the worst impacts of AIDS deaths on young adults is an increase in the number of orphans. The number of AIDS orphans could increase to 620,000 by 2000 and to 1.8 million by 2009.
Presentation of Report
TESFAYE SODANO, Vice Minister of Labour and Social Affairs of Ethiopia, said that his country was one of the poorest in the world. That was mainly attributed to legacies of the past regimes including protracted and costly civil wars, poor economic planning and management and an unfavourable international economic environment, among other things. That situation was further exacerbated by chronic problems of under development such as low productivity, subsistence agriculture, backward technology, poor infrastructure and inadequate resources.
The Government of Ethiopia was doing its best to improve the overall economic situation by developing sound socio-economic developing policies, by introducing good governance and the rule of law and by giving the highest importance to the protection of human rights, Mr. Sodano went on to state. In spite of the positive developments of the last few years, the Government was still confronted with a number of problems that would have to be addressed in the future.
Mr. Sodano said that the full scale implementation of the Convention continued to be impeded by the absence of enabling institutional structures and mechanisms of implementation, lack of financial and material resources for the realization of sustainable programmes on child welfare and development and scarcity of trained manpower, among other things.
Over the last two years, the sacrifices that the Government had to make to preserve the country's territorial integrity and national sovereignty against the war of aggression that was waged against it by a neighbouring State had adversely affected the welfare of its children and its economic recovery, the Vice Minister said. However, Ethiopia was convinced that the peace agreement it signed recently would enable it to re-deploy its resources to combatting poverty, and underdevelopment.
Discussion
The discussion during the morning meeting centred on implementation measures, definition of the child, general principles, civil rights and freedoms, family environment, alternative care, health, and education.
Committee members queried the delegation on various issues. An Expert said the report followed the guidelines of the Committee; however, it lacked information which would enable the Committee to fully judge the efforts made since the submission of the initial report. Though slight improvements were made in the field of the promotion and protection of the rights of the child, the trend was positive. The report said that a five-year development programme had been implemented by the Government, however, the officials did not make an evaluation of the achievements in order to assess the impact of the programme on the rights of children.
Referring to a measure taken by the Government to establish a national human rights commission and the office of the mediator, the Expert said that such institutions should be widely known by the general public. The Expert asked if such information had already been disseminated, including to children who should make use of the services of the office of the mediator.
The delegation was asked how the Government was communicating with Ethiopians in a situation where many people were illiterate and could not read the published materials on child rights and where there were only a few television sets available. What kind of protection was provided to children during the border war which ended recently?
Another Expert expressed concern about the situation of children in Ethiopia, which had a large population and a large number of children. Although efforts had been made to harmonize legislation, some provisions of the Convention were not enforced such as birth registration. It was observed that traditional values dominated civil laws and were impeding the implementation of the Convention. Was the Government putting more effort in overcoming that problem? Was there any problem in implementing a programme of poverty elimination?
There should be a plan of action of priorities to work progressively and to expand knowledge of the Convention throughout the country, an Expert said, asking if efforts were made to involve tribal and religious leaders in the dissemination of the provisions of the Convention. A Committee member wanted to know how a plan of action for children could be implemented in a federal system where the regions were divided on ethnic lines.
Responding to questions raised by Committee members, the delegation said that each federal ministry had its own part in implementing the plan of action concerning the rights of children. The evaluation and coordination were also carried out by the same ministries.
The budget for defence had been significant during the last two years because of the unwanted war which Ethiopia was dragged into, the delegation said. Once the peace agreement was signed, the country was once again facing its other enemy -- poverty. The Government had set a five-year development plan which had been implemented since seven years and which had changed the image of the country; however, during the last three years, the plan had been hampered by the war imposed by a neighbouring State.
Training programmes and studies had been carried out on street children, child abuse and neglect and sexual exploitation of children to further promote the rights of children in the country, the delegation said. At the regional level, seminars and conferences had been organized with the participation of non-governmental organizations on issues pertaining to the child rights and awareness increasing.
The establishment of the human rights commission and the office of the Ombudsman would contribute to the promotion and protection of the rights of the child, the delegation said. The institutions had a wide rage of power in supervising the implementation of the rights by all governmental agencies. It was hoped that both institutions would soon be in place. The Government was also endeavouring to use all means of communication at its disposal to reach all segments of the population despite the shortage of means of communications and widespread illiteracy.
The competence of enacting family laws had been transferred to regional authorities, the delegation said.
Corporal punishment had been prohibited by a constitutional provision, the delegation said. The revised penal code had also strengthened that position with explicit clauses concerning the use of corporal punishment.
The law on birth registration had remained dormant for the forty years and it was only recently that it had been reactivated, the delegation said. The limit for criminal responsibility of 9 years, for example, would be useless if there was no registration of births.
For the last eight years, the national budget was increasing with special attention given to social affairs, mainly education and health, the delegation said. Primary health care facilities for children had been built to allow accessibility to all. In addition, the Government had made budgetary provisions for the expansion of availability of potable water for mothers and children.
Child rights committees had been established from the federal to the grass-root levels, the delegation said; various capacity-building programmes had been implemented and training had been provided for persons working with children. Although data collection was not effectively carried out during the past, through the establishment of the committees, such practices would be strengthened in the future.
Efforts had been carried out to include child rights issues in school curricula at all levels, the delegation said. Parents were expected to be aware of the Convention through their children.
Committee members continued to query the delegation on other clusters. An Expert wondered if the human rights commissions and the office of the Ombudsmen were independent. In addition, since the Constitution did not specifically prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities, that meant that they were discriminated against.
The Ethiopian federal system was based on ethnicity and there was discrimination against other ethnic groups, the Expert said. There was also discrimination against women. The Expert wanted to know the fate of children born of persons of Eritrean origin who were being discriminated against in Ethiopia.
There was concern about illegal and unsafe abortion in Ethiopia, an Expert said; were there any measures taken against such fatalities? In addition, torture in police custody of street children had been reported by organizations dealing with torture. Detention of street and other children without warrant and for a long period was also of concern. The decline in the extended family had also allowed children to be abandoned; what measures had been taken to help those children?
Out of 700,000 visually affected persons, only 500 had access to jobs, an Expert said; there were also about one million physically disabled persons, with the number expected to increase because of the recent border war. What kind of programme was put in place to help those people?
The existence of political prisoners and detention without trial, including of journalists, had had a negative effect on the children of those imprisoned persons, a Committee member said, asking about the role of non-governmental organizations in promoting the rights of children.
What norms and infrastructure existed for victims of marital rape and violence, asked another Expert. Were there traditional means to end such practices?
* *** *