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Summary: This report extracts mentions of children's rights issues in the reports of the UN Special Procedures. This does not include reports of child specific Special Procedures, such as the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, which are available as separate reports on the website here: http://www.crin.org/resources/index.asp.
Please note that the language may have been edited in places for the purpose of clarity.
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- Forthcoming/ Agreed/ Requested visits
- UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in persons, especially women and children
- Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation
- UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism
- Independent Expert on the right to development
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SR on human rights in OPT (25 April - 3 May 2011)
(A) SR on sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (2010)
(R in 2009) SR on human rights and counter-terrorism
(R in 2008) SR on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions
(R in 2008) WG on arbitrary detention
(R in 1996, 2007) SR torture
(R in 2005) SR on freedom of religion, reminder in April 2008
(R in 2003, Reminder in 2008) SR on human rights defenders
(R) SR on independence of judges and lawyers
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UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in persons, especially women and children, Ms. Joy Ngozi Ezeilo
A/HRC/17/35/Add.2
Country visit: 12 to 21 April 2010
Report published: 15 April 2011
“Seasonal” or “temporary” marriage:
The Special Rapporteur notes that:
The Special Rapporteur was informed that young women and girls, particularly those from poor families, are often married to men from the Gulf States for a short period of time. These so-called “seasonal” or “temporary” marriages are actively facilitated by marriage brokers and sometimes used as a smoke screen for providing sexual services to non-Egyptian men. It appears that this phenomenon is more widespread in certain parts of the country, such as the 6th of October Governorate. According to the survey on child marriage to non-Egyptians conducted by the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM), 67 per cent of 2,000 families selected as samples in Al Hawamdia, Al Badrashein and Abu Al Nomros in the 6th of October Governorate responded that they are personally aware of child marriages to non-Egyptians in their areas of residence. The marriages were reportedly facilitated by marriage brokers in most cases. The survey also revealed that the driving factors for such marriages are mainly economic, including the higher amount of dowry paid by non-Egyptian spouses, poverty, low income of the families, and the girls’ desire to escape strenuous work and difficult living conditions. Most of these “seasonal” or “temporary” marriages end when the husband returns to his home country, leaving the girl behind with no means to formally divorce her husband or no financial support, even when she bears children. (para 5)
The Special Rapporteur recommends that:
Enhance efforts to eliminate “seasonal” or “temporary” marriages which amount to trafficking of women and girls for the purpose of exploitation. The Government of Egypt should continue to carry out targeted campaigns to raise awareness of potential victims and communities about the risks, and to equip law enforcement authorities with knowledge and skills to properly prosecute and punish individuals who commit or are implicated in the crime, pursuant to the Trafficking Law. (para 68)
Trafficking for the purpose of slavery and forced labour:
The Special Rapporteur expresses concern that:
Migrant domestic workers are increasingly lured to Egypt for domestic work, and that there is a disturbing pattern of abuse and exploitation of trafficked domestic workers in Egypt. Given the prevalent use of domestic workers in households of all sectors of Egyptian society, it is also estimated that many children from low-income backgrounds are trafficked to work as domestic workers with promises of good salaries, and subjected to inhumane treatment. (para 9)
The Special Rapporteur recommends that:
The Government should adopt and amend relevant legislation that would contribute to preventing human trafficking. Both the Labour Code and the Child Law should be amended to prohibit exploitative forms of domestic work performed by children. (para 66)
Trafficking for the purpose of removal of organs:
The Special Rapporteur notes that:
The information received suggests that there is a high incidence of trafficking for this purpose. Trafficking for the removal of organs is reportedly committed on a fairly large scale, particularly targeting poor Egyptians and street children. The media also reported cases in which gangsters have approached street children and removed their kidneys in exchange for counterfeit money. (para 10)
The Special Rapporteur recommends that:
Allocate adequate resources to the National Coordinating Committee and strengthen its capacity to effectively coordinate all anti-trafficking efforts and provide coherent strategic guidance in the fight against trafficking. The Government of Egypt should consider establishing a national rapporteur’s office or a separate government agency specifically dedicated to developing, implementing and coordinating policies and programmes to combat trafficking in persons. (para 65)
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Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque
(A/HRC/15/31/Add.3 )
Country visit: 21-28 June 2009
Report published: 5 July 2010
Context: Overall, Egypt is characterised by wide disparities between rich and poor governorates and people. While the national average of people living on less than US$ 2 a day is about 18 per cent (about 14 million people), a closer look reveals that the poorest governorates have poverty rates as high as 61 per cent. The highest rates of poverty are concentrated in Upper Egypt, where 10 per cent of poor people are considered extremely poor. While the literacy rate in 2008 in Egypt was 70.7 per cent overall - 31 per cent women and girls and 69 per cent men and boys - literacy rates in rural areas were reported at 63.4 per cent as compared to 80 per cent in urban areas. 6 Without addressing these disparities and prioritizing attention to the needs of these areas, improving access to safe drinking water and sanitation in rural areas in line with human rights will be a challenge, as will be further explained in the present report. (paragraph 7)
The independent expert visited slums in Cairo, including Ezbit El Haggana and a slum in Old Cairo, and spoke with people about their access to water and sanitation. People explained that lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitation is a priority concern: they have to walk long distances several times a day, in sometimes unsafe conditions, to collect water from a public standpipe. This has a particularly detrimental impact on women and girls, who are overwhelmingly tasked with collecting water and must spend a lot of time searching for water. In one slum, the independent expert heard women explain that they have to carry large jerry cans of water every day for the whole family and that women and girls are physically and sexually threatened when they fetch water. The independent expert is concerned that these disproportionate impacts on women and girls result from the persistence of patriarchal attitudes and sex discrimination with respect to the role of women and girls in the family and society. (paragraph 22)
Children's health: The lack of access to sanitation has a major impact on water quality, and thus on people's health. Reportedly, 13 per cent of child deaths under the age of five are caused by diarrhoea, which is integrally linked with lack of access to sanitation. Many people who are not connected to the sewage network do have septic tanks, but these are reportedly not hygienic and often do not prevent the contents from seeping into the groundwater, thereby contaminating the drinking water. (paragraph 41)
The independent expert visited a School Sanitation and Hygiene Project in Qena, run by UNICEF in cooperation with the local Government, which renovated the toilets and sinks in a school and provided training to teachers and students about hygiene and the environment. The independent expert was impressed by the commitment of the school leaders to these objectives, and she is convinced that such projects have numerous benefits. Separate toilets will help to keep girls in school. Good hygiene practices will help to keep all children healthy and able to attend more school. And teaching children about these important issues will have a multiplier effect outside the school, extending to the larger family and community. (paragraph 45)
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UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Martin Scheinin
(A/HRC/13/37/Add.2 )
Country visit: 17 to 21 April 2009
Report published: 14 October 2009
No mention of children's rights
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Independent Expert on the right to development
Country visit: 18-20 January 2003
No official report available.