UN Child Rights Committee publishes findings on Argentina, Armenia, Bahrain, Israel, Mexico, and Turkmenistan

GENEVA (19 September 2024) - The UN Child Rights Committee (CRC) today issued its findings on Argentina, Armenia, Bahrain, Israel, Mexico, and Turkmenistan, 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:

Argentina

The Committee commended the State party for expanding and regulating access to voluntary and legal termination of pregnancy and post-abortion care. It was, however, concerned about the persistent high levels of children living in poverty, especially among migrant children, girls, indigenous children, children deprived of liberty, LGBTI children and those with disabilities. The Committee urged Argentina to ensure that children and their families living in poverty receive adequate financial support and free, accessible services without discrimination.

The Committee welcomed the resolution establishing an agreement with the National Institute of Indigenous Affairs. However, it was seriously concerned about the lack of specific policies for the protection of indigenous children. Recalling its general comment on indigenous children and their rights under the Convention, the Committee urged the State party to adopt measures that guarantee the right to land for indigenous children and to develop a national action plan to respect, protect and promote their rights.

Armenia

The Committee welcomed the 2021 law on the rights of persons with disabilities and the 2023-2027 Programme for Social Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities, but remained concerned that despite some positive trends, children with disabilities continue to face difficulties in accessing services. It recommended that the State party develop an efficient and harmonized system for disability assessment to facilitate access for children with all types of disabilities to services, including education, health, social protection and support services.

The Committee was seriously concerned about the deteriorating levels of school enrolment and attendance, especially in upper secondary education, and reduced learning outcomes such as the lack of minimum proficiency in reading. It urged Armenia to ensure that all girls and boys complete equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes.

Bahrain

While the Committee welcomed the State party’s adoption of the Restorative Justice for Children and Protection from Abuse Act, it was seriously concerned about allegations and investigations conducted into reported grave violations, including the killing and maiming of children in Yemen attributed to the “Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen”. It urged the State party to prioritize the protection of children in all military operations, to take concrete and firm precautionary measures to avoid all deaths and injury to children, to ensure that all such allegations are thoroughly and impartially examined, and if substantiated, that perpetrators are duly punished and victims provided with redress and compensation.

The Committee was equally alarmed about the absence of legislation explicitly defining and criminalizing all cases of the sale of children; a concept similar but not identical to trafficking in children. It recommended that the State party ensure that all acts, activities, and offences referred to in Article 3 and defined in Article 2 of the Optional Protocol, including all forms of online sale and sexual exploitation, are fully covered under its criminal law. It also urged the State party to ensure appropriate criminal sanctions that account for the gravity of these offences, and to adopt a legal definition of sexual exploitation of children in prostitution that protects them from being prosecuted as offenders.

Israel

The Committee welcomed the establishment of a Government Unit for Coordination of the Rights of Children and Youth and the measures taken to support the large number of children displaced following the October 7 attacks. However, it expressed concerns about the negative impact of the attacks and the ongoing armed conflict on the mental health and well-being of children, as well as the long waiting lists for those seeking mental health services. The Committee recommended that the State party strengthen the accessibility and range of child-sensitive trauma-focused mental health services, and urgently address the long waiting times.

The Committee was greatly concerned about the high number of children in Gaza killed, maimed, injured, missing, displaced, orphaned and subjected to famine, malnutrition and disease, as a result of the State party’s indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks. It urged the State party to immediately cease the killing and injuring of Palestinian children in Gaza, to ensure safe and unrestricted humanitarian access to and within the Gaza Strip, and to allow entry of all construction materials necessary for Palestinian families to rebuild homes and civilian and public infrastructure.

The Committee was deeply concerned about the continued abduction, arbitrary arrest, and prolonged detention of large numbers of Palestinian children by Israeli forces, mostly without charge, trial or access to legal representation or contact with family members. It urged the State party to immediately end the arbitrary and administrative detention of children, to release all Palestinian children who have been arbitrarily detained, and to abolish the institutionalized system of detention and the use of torture and ill-treatment against them at all stages of the judicial procedure.

Mexico

The Committee commended the near universal birth registration in the State party and the draft General Act on Civil Registration Operations, pending before the Senate. The Committee was, however, deeply concerned about the increasing numbers of child homicides and femicides, including those committed by the police, and the high rates of enforced disappearance of children. It urged the State party to urgently adopt measures to prevent child homicides and femicides, and to prevent, investigate, and sanction all cases of the disappearances of children.

While the Committee welcomed the legislative reforms to the Migration Law and the Law on Refugees, Complementary Protection and Political Asylum, it remained deeply concerned about the lack of implementation of these laws, and particularly the systematic detention of migrant children, including unaccompanied or separated children. It urged Mexico to ban all forms of deprivation of liberty in the context of migration, and to ensure that all places of accommodation or rescue meet international standards, including with provisions on access to information, translation and interpretation services.

Turkmenistan

The Committee welcomed the adoption of the National Plan of Action on Children’s Rights for 2023–2028 but remained concerned that the State party systematically restricts children’s right to freedom of expression. It was particularly worried about traditional societal attitudes that restrict children from freely expressing their views on public matters, the absence of independent and free media, and the disproportionate limitations on online content. The Committee recommended that the State party enforce legal provisions to guarantee independent national media, free from censorship, and provide children with broad access to diverse sources of age-appropriate information, ensuring that children can freely and safely express their opinions in various settings.

The Committee was concerned that despite the national census conducted in 2022, data on the status of children’s rights remains largely unavailable, outdated, and insufficiently disaggregated, hindering the development and monitoring of effective policies and practices. It recommended that the State party strengthen the national data collection system to cover all areas of the Convention and its Optional Protocols, in order to facilitate the development and monitoring of effective policies and practices, particularly for children in situations of specific vulnerability.

The above findings, officially known as Concluding Observations, are now available here.