Distr.

GENERAL

CRC/C/15/Add.114
26 October 1999

Original: ENGLISH

Concluding Observations of the
Committee on the Rights of the Child : Netherlands.
26/10/99.

CRC/C/15/Add.114.
(Concluding
Observations/Comments)

Convention Abbreviation: CRC

COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

Twenty-second session

CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES
UNDER ARTICLE 44 OF
THE CONVENTION

Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child

NETHERLANDS

1. The Committee considered the initial report of the Netherlands
(CRC/C/51/Add.1) at its 578th to 580th meetings (see CRC/C/SR.578-580), held on
4 and 5 October 1999 and adopted, at the 586th meeting, held on 8 October 1999,
the following concluding observations.

A. Introduction

2. The Committee expresses its appreciation for the clear and comprehensive
nature of the report, which follows the Committee's guidelines. The report,
however, focuses heavily on legislation, programmes and policy at the expense of
information on the actual enjoyment of the rights of the child. While regretting
their late submission, the Committee takes note of the detailed and informative
written answers to the list of issues (CRC/C/Q/NETH.1) and some additional
information provided to it during the course of the meetings, which enabled the
Committee to assess the situation of the rights of the child in the State party.
The Committee regrets the limitations placed on the State party's delegation by
the unavailability of appropriate information to answer some of the questions
during the discussion, which imposed constraints on a productive dialogue.

B. Positive aspects

3. The Committee welcomes the commitment and efforts of the State party in
achieving a commendable degree of enjoyment by children in the State party of
their rights through the establishment of infrastructure, comprehensive
policies, legislation and administrative and other measures.

4. Moreover, the Committee commends the State party for its continued
commitment to the rights of the child in its development assistance programmes
and notes with satisfaction that the State party has exceeded the United Nations
target of 0.7 per cent of GDP for development assistance.

5. The Committee commends the State party's efforts to combat the phenomenon
of child-sex tourism.

6. The Committee notes with satisfaction the State party's ratification of
the Hague Convention of 1980, on the Civil Aspects of International Child
Abduction, and the Hague Convention of 1993 on the Protection of Children and
Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption.

C. Principal subjects of concern and the Committee's
recommendations

C.1 General measures of implementation

7. The Committee is encouraged that the State party has indicated its
willingness to reconsider its reservation to article 10 of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. However, it notes with concern the
reservations to articles 26, 37 and 40 of the Convention made by the State
party. In the light of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (1993),
the Committee encourages the State party to consider withdrawing all of its
reservations.

8. The Committee notes that cooperation with and the involvement of
non-governmental organizations in the implementation of the Convention,
including the preparation of the report, remain limited. The Committee
encourages the State party to consider a more systematic approach to involve
NGOs, and civil society in general, throughout all stages of the implementation
of the Convention.

9. While acknowledging the initial efforts made to disseminate the
Convention, the Committee regrets that the State party's report was not made
widely available, or disseminated. Furthermore, the Committee is concerned that
the State party is not undertaking information and awareness-raising activities
on an ongoing basis. In this regard, the Committee recommends that the State
party develop an ongoing programme for the dissemination of information
regarding the implementation of the Convention, in order to maintain a high
level of awareness of the importance of the Convention among children and
parents, civil society and all sectors and levels of government. Moreover, the
Committee recommends that the State party develop systematic and ongoing
training programmes on the provisions of the Convention for all professional
groups working for and with children, such as judges, lawyers, law enforcement
officials, civil servants, personnel working in institutions and places of
detention for children, teachers, health personnel, including psychologists, and
social workers.

10. The Committee expresses its concern that measures and policies developed
by the State party for implementation at the provincial and municipal levels are
not sufficiently child rights-based. The Committee is concerned that
compartmentalization of policy sectors often leads to fragmentation and overlap
in respect of the implementation of the Convention. In this regard, the
Committee recommends that the State party adopt a comprehensive national plan of
action to implement the Convention, and give increased attention to
intersectoral coordination and cooperation at and between the central,
provincial and municipal levels of government.

11. While noting the positive aspects of decentralization in the
implementation of child policies, the Committee is nevertheless concerned that
it may contribute to bottlenecks in the implementation of provisions of the
Convention. The State party is encouraged to provide support to local
authorities for implementation of the principles and provisions of the
Convention.

12. While acknowledging the role played by the Council for Child Protection
and the "children's law polyclinics" in offering legal advice and information to
children and in promoting their interests, the Committee remains concerned about
the lack of an independent mechanism to monitor the implementation of the
Convention. The Committee recommends that consideration be given to the
establishment of a fully independent ombudsman for children to monitor and
assess the full implementation of the Convention.

13. The Committee is concerned about the lack of information regarding the
implementation of article 4 of the Convention and the use to the "maximum
extent" of available resources to implement the economic, social and cultural
rights of children. The Committee urges the State party to develop ways to
establish a systematic assessment of the impact of budgetary allocations and
macroeconomic policies on the implementation of children's rights and to collect
and disseminate information in this regard.

C.2 General principles

14. The Committee welcomes the generally good levels of participation of
children, particularly in secondary schools and at the local level. The
Committee encourages the State party to continue promoting such participation,
in particular in decision-making processes in all matters affecting children
themselves. In this regard, the Committee recommends that the State party
develop training programmes for local officials and other decision-makers to
enable them to take adequately into consideration the opinions of children
presented to them, with particular emphasis on involving and reaching vulnerable
groups, such as children of ethnic minorities. The Committee also recommends
that more attention be given to the promotion of child participation in primary
schools.

C.3 Family environment and alternative care

15. In relation to article 11 of the Convention, the Committee notes that the
Netherlands is a party to the Hague Convention of 1993, on the Protection of
Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption and to the Hague
Convention of 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The
Committee encourages the State party to consider concluding bilateral agreements
with States that are not parties to the two above-mentioned conventions.

16. The Committee is concerned about the long waiting periods for placement
in residential care. The Committee encourages the State party to increase the
number of places available in residential facilities, while giving increased
attention to alternatives to placement in residential facilities, in particular
foster family care services, bearing in mind the principles and provisions of
the Convention, especially the best interests of the child.

17. The Committee welcomes the recent efforts to establish a network of child
abuse reporting and counselling centres and the plans to strengthen child abuse
monitoring and reporting systems. However, the Committee remains concerned about
the growth in reported cases of child abuse and about the level of protection
available to children. The Committee urges the State party to give increased
priority to the prompt implementation and support of monitoring and reporting
systems based on the position paper of the Ministries of Justice, and Health,
Welfare and Sport concerning the prevention of child abuse and the protection
and rehabilitation offered to victims of child abuse. Furthermore, the Committee
recommends that the State party, in line with developments in other European
countries, take legislative measures to prohibit the use of all forms of mental
and physical violence against children, including corporal punishment, within
the family.

C.4 Basic health and welfare

18. The Committee welcomes the efforts made and understands the difficulties
faced by the State party in protecting girls within its jurisdiction from female
genital mutilation carried out outside its territory. Nevertheless, the
Committee urges the State party to undertake strong and effectively targeted
information campaigns to combat this phenomenon, and to consider adopting
legislation with extraterritorial reach which could improve the protection of
children within its jurisdiction from such harmful traditional practices.

19. The Committee remains concerned that the right of access to medical
advice and treatment without parental consent, such as testing for HIV/AIDS, may
be compromised in instances where the bill for such services is sent to the
parents, violating the confidentiality of the doctor-child relationship. The
Committee recommends that the State party take adequate measures to ensure that
medical advice and treatment remain confidential for children of appropriate age
and maturity, in accordance with articles 12 and 16 of the Convention.

20. The Committee is concerned at the low rates of breastfeeding. The
Committee encourages the State party to undertake breastfeeding promotion
campaigns, stressing its advantages and the negative impact of substitutes,
while providing counselling to HIV/AIDS-infected mothers about the risk of
transmission of HIV/AIDS through breastfeeding.

C.5 Education, leisure and cultural activities

21. The Committee is concerned that not enough attention has been given to
the inclusion of human rights education in the school curricula, particularly at
the primary level. The Committee urges the State party to consider introducing
human rights issues into the school curricula at earlier ages and to ensure that
the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its provisions are adequately
covered in the existing curricula for older children and in new curricula for
primary school pupils.

22. The Committee welcomes the efforts being made to address the problem of
bullying in schools, including the "Safe schools" campaign. The Committee
encourages the State party to continue its efforts to prevent bullying in
schools, to collect information on the extent of this phenomenon and, in
particular, to strengthen structures to enable children to participate in
adequately addressing and resolving this problem.

C.6 Special protection measures

23. While noting the efforts to deal with unaccompanied asylum-seeking
minors, the Committee is concerned that they may need to receive increased
attention. The Committee recommends that the State party strengthen measures so
as to provide immediate counselling and prompt and full access to education and
other services for refugee and asylum-seeking children. Furthermore, the
Committee recommends that the State party take effective measures for the
integration of these children into its society.

24. The Committee takes note of the efforts made to raise steadily the age of
recruitment into the armed forces and involvement in hostilities. It also notes
the declaration stating the intention of the State party to apply a higher
standard than that required by the Convention, and its commitment to
international efforts in this regard. Nevertheless, the Committee urges the
State party to reconsider its present recruitment policies, with a view to
setting the age of recruitment into the armed forces at 18 years.

25. The Committee welcomes the information provided on the improvements that
the Youth Custodial Institutions Act will introduce to deal, as quickly as
possible, with complaints regarding ill-treatment. Nonetheless, the Committee
recommends that due attention be given to ensuring that efforts to settle such
complaints promptly through a mediation procedure will not result in less than
thorough investigations.

26. The Committee is concerned about the delays faced by juvenile offenders
in need of psychological and psychiatric treatment. The Committee recommends
that the State party increase the availability of places in institutions in
order to provide these juvenile offenders with timely and appropriate treatment.

27. On the protection of children from sexual abuse, the Committee welcomes
the attention given by the State party to the impact of the "complaint
requirement" for prosecuting offences committed against children between 12 and
16 years. However, the Committee remains concerned that the balance sought
between protecting children against sexual abuse and protecting their sexual
freedom may still unduly limit protection from abuse. The Committee also remains
concerned that efforts to increase the protection of children against
exploitation in the production of pornography have not made further progress.
The Committee encourages the State party to continue reviewing its legislation
and policies so as to modify the "complaint requirement" for prosecution of
sexual offences committed against children over 12. Furthermore, the Committee
encourages the State party to change its legislation with a view to improving
the protection of all children from inducement to participate in the production
of pornographic shows or materials, and from other forms of commercial sexual
exploitation. While welcoming the introduction of such legislation, the
Committee also encourages the State party to consider reviewing the "dual
criminality" requirement in legislation establishing extraterritorial
jurisdiction for cases of sexual abuse of children.

28. The Committee notes the concern of the State party with respect to the
problem of the sexual exploitation of children, often victims of trafficking,
including the disappearance of unaccompanied minor asylum-seekers from reception
centres. The Committee, however, remains concerned that no specific policies and
measures appear to be contemplated at this point to address the problem as a
matter of urgency. The Committee urges the State party to give prompt and
serious attention to the need to ensure that children are not used as
prostitutes and that asylum-seeking procedures, while fully respecting the
rights of unaccompanied minor asylum-seekers, effectively protect children from
involvement in trafficking for sexual exploitation. Further, the Committee
recommends that the State party adopt a comprehensive national plan of action to
prevent and combat commercial sexual exploitation of children, taking into
account the recommendations formulated in the Agenda for Action adopted at the
1996 Stockholm World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of
Children.

29. The Committee notes the monitoring of the educational performance of
children from ethnic minorities, but it remains concerned that the results
continue to show noticeable disparities. The Committee urges the State party to
review its efforts closely and to consider the possibility of providing further
assistance to children at risk and the need to provide assistance to families
from ethnic minorities with socioeconomic problems, thus addressing the root
causes of poor educational performance.

30. The Committee is seriously concerned about the implications of the
reservation entered by the State party on the applicability of adult criminal
law to children over 16 years of age. The Committee is also seriously concerned
at information provided which indicates that children aged 12 to 15 are also
sometimes tried under adult criminal law. The Committee urges the State party to
ensure that under the existing law no child under the age of 16 at the time of
the commission of a crime is tried under adult criminal law, and to review the
reservation mentioned above with a view to withdrawing it. The Committee further
recommends that the State party takes legislative steps to ensure that a life
sentence cannot be imposed on children who are tried under adult criminal law.

31. Finally, in the light of article 44, paragraph 6, of the Convention, the
Committee recommends that the initial report and written replies submitted by
the State party be made widely available to the public, along with the summary
records of the relevant meetings and concluding observations adopted by the
Committee. Such wide distribution should generate debate and awareness of the
Convention and the state of its implementation, particularly within the
Government, the relevant ministries, the Parliament and non-governmental
organizations.

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