UN Child Rights Committee publishes findings on Finland, France, Jordan, Sao Tome and Principe, Türkiye and United Kingdom

GENEVA (2 June 2023) – The UN Child Rights Committee (CRC) today issued its findings on Finland, France, Jordan, Sao Tome and Principe, Türkiye and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, after reviewing the six States parties during its latest session.

The findings contain the Committee's main concerns and recommendations on implementing the Child Rights Convention as well as positive aspects. Key highlights include:

Finland
Concerning the high level of violence against children, including sexual harassment, rape, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, gender-based violence, and online violence, the Committee called on Finland to provide sufficient human and financial resources to effectively implement the Non-Violent Childhood action plan (2020-2025). It also asked the State party to take the necessary actions to stop all acts of violence against children, guarantee effective investigations into all such cases, and ensure that children have access to confidential and child-friendly complaint mechanisms.

The Committee was also seriously concerned about the detention of asylum-seeking and migrant children, the current practices governing unaccompanied children and family reunification, including legal and income barriers to family reunification, and the processing times of asylum applications. It urged Finland to end the detention of asylum-seeking and migrant children, grant asylum to all unaccompanied children, and remove legal and income obstacles to family reunification. It also asked the State party to shorten the processing times for asylum applications and to ensure that unaccompanied children are promptly assigned to a qualified guardian and receive regular support tailored to their specific needs.

France
The Committee raised concern over the increasing number of children and families living in poverty, who were also worst affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly children from single-parent families, children living in shantytowns and “emergency accommodation” for long periods of time. The Committee recommended that the State party eradicate child poverty throughout its territory and allocate the necessary human, technical and financial resources to programmes to support children and families most in need.

The Committee regretted that the situation of asylum-seeking and migrant children remained unchanged and was seriously concerned that France did not sufficiently consider the best interests of the child in all assessment processes. In particular, the Committee was deeply concerned about the continuous detention of families with children and unaccompanied children in waiting zones in airports and other administrative detention facilities with poor conditions and without judicial or administrative oversight. It urged France to immediately stop detaining children on immigration grounds, including in waiting zones. It also requested that the State party extend its obligation not to deprive children of their liberty to their parents, and that the authorities opt for non-custodial solutions for the whole family.

Jordan
The Committee expressed concern about the persistent discrimination against children in disadvantaged situations, including girls, asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children, children of unmarried parents, and children with disabilities. It called upon Jordan to eliminate all discriminatory practices against these groups of children and ensure their access to health services, education, and a decent standard of living.

Regarding the prevalence of sexual abuse and gender-based violence against girls and their re-victimisation, the Committee asked Jordan to address the root causes of such violence to eliminate persistent patriarchal attitudes and discriminatory stereotypes, and to remove stigmas that deter girls who are victims and witnesses from reporting violence. It also underscored that all children subject to sexual exploitation and abuse and gender-based violence, including girls over 15 years of age, should be treated as victims.

Sao Tomé and Principe
In the pioneering coordinated back-to-back reviews, the CRC and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women(CEDAW) jointly identified certain common concerns relating to gender stereotypes and gender-based violence against girls, harmful practices, adolescent girls’ health and school dropout. The two Committees were particularly disturbed by the growing phenomenon of “catorzhinhas/papoite”, the sexual abuse of school girls in exchange for better grades, which sometimes leads to early pregnancy but is not prosecuted as “sexual abuse” in Sao Tome and Principe. They urged the State party to fully criminalise “catorzhinhas/papoite” as sexual abuse and develop guidelines on preventing and combatting sexual harassment and violence at school. They also asked the State party to set up an effective mechanism to ensure that all cases of “catorzhinhas/papoite” are investigated and prosecuted as sexual abuse and that girls are provided with the necessary assistance and psycho-social support to continue schooling.

In addition, the CRC was concerned about the insufficient efforts taken by Sao Tomé and Principe to prevent and combat violence against children. It urged the State party to strengthen data collection and conduct a study to assess the prevalence, causes, nature and forms of violence against children. It also asked Sao Tomé and Principe to promote a mandatory reporting mechanism, take multi-agency actions to stop all violence against children, and train teachers, health professionals and social workers to identify different forms of violence. The Committee further recommended that the State party prohibit corporal punishment and promote positive and non-violent forms of discipline.

Türkiye
The Committee was alarmed by the dire humanitarian situation in the Southeast of the country caused by the February earthquake and its aftershocks, which has left 2.5 million children in extreme deprivation, notably homelessness and without access to essential services. It called on Türkiye to provide immediate and durable solutions to prioritise the rights of these children, and elaborate a policy to address the high risk of natural disasters and emergencies, including the creation of an early warning system to protect child rights in such situations.

The Committee was concerned about asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children, especially those unaccompanied, facing discrimination, having limited access to basic services, being at a high risk of statelessness, being held in immigration detention, and being subjected to violent forced returns. It urged Türkiye to immediately halt the practice of “pushbacks” of children and their families from its territory, ensure that they are individually identified and protected from deportation, which is against international law, as well as guarantee that children are not held in immigration detention.

United Kingdom
The Committee expressed concerns about the potential impact of the Illegal Migration Bill on children, the criminalisation of arrival without prior permission, and restrictions on the rights of asylum and family reunification. It urged the State party to urgently amend the Illegal Migration Bill to repeal all draft provisions that would have the effect of violating children’s rights, to ensure that all asylum-seeking and refugee children, including unaccompanied children, are not criminalised and have access to necessary support and services, and to guarantee that unaccompanied children have an unqualified right to apply for family reunification.

The Committee was concerned that children as young as 10 or 12 are held criminally responsible across the country, that children who are 16 and 17 years old are not always treated as children in the justice system, and that legislation allows for life imprisonment of children. It urged the State party to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 years of age in all jurisdictions, ensure that children are not prosecuted as adult offenders, and abolish life imprisonment for children and young people who committed offences when they were below the age of 18.

The above findings, officially known as Concluding Observations, are now available on the session webpage.