BRUNEI DARUSSALAM: Children's rights in UN Treaty Body reports

Summary: This report extracts mentions of children's rights issues in the reports of all UN Treaty Bodies and their follow-up procedures. This does not include the Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child which are available here: http://www.crin.org/resources/treaties/index.asp

Please note that the language may have been edited in places for the purpose of clarity.

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UN Human Rights Committee

Not yet signed or ratified.

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UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Not yet signed or ratified.

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UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Not yet signed or ratified.

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UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

CEDAW/C/BRN/Q/1-2

Adopted by the Committee: 29 October 2014

Published by the Committee: 7 November 2014

Issues raised:

Legislative reforms:

The Compulsory Education Act (Cap.211), which provides for 9 years of compulsory education for all girls and boys (para.4).

Ratification:

The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, in 2006 (para.6).

Harmful practices:

The Committee recalls that such stereotypes are also root causes of violence against women and is deeply concerned at the high prevalence of harmful practices that discriminate against women, such as child marriage, polygamy and female genital mutilation/circumcision (para.20).

Trafficking and sexual exploitation:

The Committee notes with concern that there are three different laws on trafficking in women and girls which do not address the issue systematically, as well as the lack of information on the number of complaints, investigations, prosecutions and convictions related to trafficking in women and girls and on support and rehabilitation programmes for victims. It also notes with concern the criminalization of women in prostitution in the State party and the heavy prison sentences and fines imposed on women involved in prostitution, as well as the absence of any measures taken to address the demand side of prostitution (para.24).

The Committee is concerned about the very low minimum age of marriage, which is 14 under customary marriage, 15 for ethnic Chinese, 16 for Muslim girls as compared to 18 for Muslim boys (para.38). The Committee recommends that the State party raise the minimum age of marriage for all girls and boys to 18 years (para.39).

Nationality:

The Committee notes with concern that Bruneian women who are married to a foreign national are required to make an application under the Nationality Act in order to transmit their Bruneian citizenship to their children, while the children of Bruneian father and non-Bruneian mother automatically acquire such nationality (para.28).

Education:

The Committee is concerned that women and girls continue to choose traditionally female dominated fields of education, and that they remain underrepresented in technical-vocational education (para.30).

The Committee recommends that the State party give priority to eliminating negative stereotypes and structural barriers to enrolment of girls in non-traditional fields of education at the secondary and tertiary levels, and provide career counselling for girls on non-traditional career paths that ensure corresponding transition into the labour market; Intensify its efforts in reviewing school textbooks and curricula to eliminate any stereotyped images of the roles of women; and provide in its next periodic report updated disaggregated data on the educational choices of women and girls (para.31).

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UN Committee against Torture

Not yet signed or ratified.

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UN Committee on Migrant Workers

Not yet signed or ratified.

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UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Signed in 2010, but not yet ratified.

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UN Committee on Enforced Disappearance

Not yet signed or ratified.

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Countries

Please note that these reports are hosted by CRIN as a resource for Child Rights campaigners, researchers and other interested parties. Unless otherwise stated, they are not the work of CRIN and their inclusion in our database does not necessarily signify endorsement or agreement with their content by CRIN.