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MORNING
HR/CRC/99/55
5 October 1999


COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD OFFERS PRELIMINARY
CONCLUSIONS ON REPORT OF THE NETHERLANDS


Recommends Participation of Children in Reporting Process


The Committee on the Rights of the Child this morning offered preliminary conclusions on the initial report of the Netherlands, thanking the members of Government delegation for their cooperation while expressing regret that a real dialogue was not set up with the delegation.

Committee members said that a national global programme to deal with the rights of children was lacking. Also lacking, the Committee said, were mechanisms to implement the Convention, despite the comprehensive nature of Dutch legislation, a national focal point, and follow-up mechanisms.

The Committee recommended, among other things, that the Convention be more widely disseminated in the Netherlands, and that its training of law-enforcement personnel be enhanced. Allowing children to participate in the implementation of the Convention was another recommendation, as was unifying the measures taken to implement. The Committee said children and youth non-governmental organizations (NGOs) should be included in the preparation of the State report.

The Committee will issue conclusions on the report of the Netherlands towards the end of its three-week session, which concludes on 8 October.

Discussion over the course of the morning focused on family environment and alternative care; basic health and welfare; education, leisure and cultural activities; and special protection measures.

The delegation of the Netherlands consisted of T. Halff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; S. van Manen of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; I. Jansen of the Ministry of Justice; J.T.J. Struyker Boudier of the Ministry of Justice; L. Ling Ket On of the Ministry of Justice; L. Rensman of the Ministry of Justice; C.J. Staal of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment; and A.P.J.M. van Loon of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport.

The Netherlands, as one of 191 States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, must submit periodic reports to the Committee on how it is implementing the provisions of the treaty. Government delegations generally appear before the Committee to discuss these rights and to answer questions.

When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it will meet in private session to consider its draft concluding observations and recommendations on States reports examined in the last two weeks.

Discussion

The delegation responded to questions raised by Committee members during yesterday afternoon’s meeting. The responses and the discussion focused on general principles; civil rights and freedoms; family environment and alternative care; basic health and welfare; education, leisure and cultural activities; and special protection measures.

The delegation said that the Youth Services Act provided for the possibility of placing children in a foster family. Placements were arranged through foster care agencies, which were regional organizations that supervised the quality of foster care and compiled and managed the list of foster families and homes.

Under Dutch law, adoption involved a complete breaking of the legal ties with the child's natural parents, the delegation explained. Preceding adoption was a procedure in which the child was placed in the adoptive foster family. A child-care and protection board instituted a screening process to determine the suitability of the prospective foster parents.

An increase in the number of reports of child abuse since 1985 prompted a review in the way the problem was addressed. A system of centres charged with reporting child abuse cases had been established, and were run by provincial authorities. Beginning in January 2000, the network for child reporting would be expanded and the functioning of the centres would also be strengthened.

About 58,000 households, involving more than 100,000 children, had been living on or below the minimum income level for at least four consecutive years, said the delegation. Such poverty was attributed to, among other factors, sizable debt, poor spending habits, sudden costly expenses and abrupt situation changes.

Non-traditional family systems had little impact on the manner children were brought up, the delegation said. With regard to female circumcision, preventive and protective actions had been taken since 1992 as the Government sought to implement the norms established by the World Health Organization (WHO). In addition, health care facilities were provided for refugees and their children.

Faced with a question about families who chose to take their children back to a native country that still practiced female circumcision, the delegation said they had no means to monitor such acts.

In order to minimize absenteeism in schools, the Government had provided an "electronic class book", which monitored school attendance, the delegation said. If the system revealed 25,000 absentees from the schools, the Government undertook a “mind-setting”campaign to bring those students back to their schools.

The Dutch Government was ready to ratify International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 182 on extreme forms of child labour, the delegation said.

Child mortality in the Amsterdam area, where the number of foreigners resided, was higher than other regions, the delegation explained. The higher rates mainly were caused by infants in their first week of life, and the causes of such deaths were related to older or very young mothers, and did not involve social or economic factors, according to a study carried out by the Government.

The delegation said in cases where there were children seeking asylum and unaccompanied by their parents, efforts were made to reunite them.

The Government, particularly the Ministry of Health, had taken measures to provide assistance to child victims of commercial sexual abuse, the delegation said.

On the situation of street children and child begging, the delegation said that it was a new phenomenon, and the Government was contemplating the appropriate remedies.

Preliminary Conclusions and Recommendations

Formal and written concluding observations and recommendations will be published by the Committee towards the end of the Committee's three-week session on 8 October.

In their preliminary conclusions, the Committee members thanked the Dutch delegation for their cooperation in providing them with additional information on the situation of children in the Netherlands. They, however, regretted that a real dialogue was not set up with the delegation.

Committee members said that a national global programme to deal with the rights of children was lacking. Also lacking were mechanisms to implement the Convention, despite the comprehensive nature of the Dutch legislation. A national focal point for the rights children and follow-up mechanisms were also lacking, they said.

The Committee recommended, among other things, that dissemination of the Convention, the general principles and the training of law-enforcing personnel could be improved. The Committee also recommended: the participation of children in the implementation of the Convention; children should have a parliament in which they expressed their views concerning their rights; that measures taken to implement the Convention be unified and not fragmented; the practice of circumcision should be averted to protect children; and children and youth non-governmental organizations should be included in the preparation of the State report.