UN Committee to review Maldives’ record on children’s rights

GENEVA (14 January  2016) – Children’s rights in the Maldives will be reviewed by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on 19 January in sessions that will be webcast live. The Maldives is one of the 196 states that have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child and so is required to undergo regular examinations of its record by the Committee of 18 independent experts. 

The CRC members will hold discussions with a delegation from the Maldives Government on how the Convention is being implemented.  The Committee will base its evaluation on the delegation’s replies, as well as information from civil society groups.

These are among the possible issues to be discussed: Measures to eliminate discrimination against girls, children born out of wedlock, children with disabilities, non-Muslim children, LGBTI children; steps to protect children from gang-related violence; strengthening the child protection system; measures to prevent and combat child abuse; decriminalizing abortion; making primary education compulsory; child labour; raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility; explicit ban on imposition of death penalty or life sentence without parole on child under 18.

The full list of issues and Maldives’ submitted written report can be found here: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=924&Lang=en

The CRC’s meetings with the Maldives delegation will take place in Room XXV at Palais des Nations in Geneva from 10:00 – 18:00 (14:00 – 22:00 in Male). The sessions are public and will be webcast here: http://www.treatybodywebcast.org/.

The CRC will hold a news conference to discuss its findings on the Maldives and the other countries being reviewed - Senegal, Iran, Oman, Latvia, France, Ireland, Haiti, Peru, Maldives, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Benin, Brunei and Kenya – at 12:00 on 4 February at the Palais des Nations. The findings, officially called concluding observations, will be published on 4 February here: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=924&Lang=en

ENDS

For more information and media requests, please contact Liz Throssell (+41 22 917 9466/ +41 79 752 0488 ethrossell@ohchr.org)

To learn more about the Committee on the Rights of the Child, visit: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRC/Pages/CRCIndex.aspx

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