EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Children's Rights in UN Treaty Body Reports

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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 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

(E/C.12/GNQ/CO/1)

Last reported: 23 November 2012

Concluding Observations issued: 2 January 2013.

 

Concerns raised:

Child labour: The Committee is concerned by the fact that child labour is widespread in the State party.    The  Committee is also concerned by the cross-border trafficking of children (art. 10).

The Committee requests the State party to include information in its initial report on the steps taken to combat child labour and the trafficking of children and on the legal proceedings pursued and convictions handed down in that connection. The Committee also requests the State party to provide information on the implementation of the measures for the protection of children referred to in paragraph 23 of its replies to the list of issues. (para 18)

Health: The Committee is concerned by the high mortality rates existing in the State party, particularly the infant, child and maternal mortality rates (art. 12).

The Committee requests the State party to include information in its initial report on the steps taken to achieve universal public health-care coverage and to improve public health services. The Committee also requests the State party to furnish recent statistics, disaggregated by sex, urban/rural location and year, on the various indicators, such as morbidity and mortality rates, used to measure the enjoyment of the right to health. (para 20)

Education: The Committee notes with concern that, even though the education system has undergone a major quantitative expansion, the quality of education remains unsatisfactory (art. 13).

The Committee requests the State party to include information in its initial report on the steps taken to upgrade the education provided at all levels. It also requests that the State party include statistics, disaggregated by sex, urban/rural location, level of education and year, for the various indicators of educational quality, such as the retention rate and student/teacher ratio. The Committee draws the State party’s attention to its general comment No. 13 (1999) on the right to education. (para 22)

 

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(CEDAW/C/GNQ/CO/6)

Last reported: 5 October 2012

Concluding Observations issued: 24 October 2012

 

Concerns raised:

Violence: Recalling its General Recommendation No. 19 (1992) on violence against women, the Committee urges the State party to: (…)

d) Encourage reporting of domestic and sexual violence against women and girls and ensure that all such reports are effectively investigated and that perpetrators are prosecuted and punished; (…) (para 26)

Prostitution: The Committee recommends that the State party: (…)

c) Address the root causes of prostitution including poverty and take measures to provide women with economic alternatives to prostitution as well as assistance and rehabilitation to women and girls exploited in prostitution. (para 28)

Education: The Committee is concerned about the lack of updated information on the situation of women and girls in the field of education. It is concerned that the National Literacy Programme for Women and Girls, adopted in 2008, still stands in a preparatory phase. It is concerned at the low enrolment of adolescent girls in secondary school despite efforts to increase it, such as the building of schools in all municipalities and remote areas as well as the sensitization of parents about the importance of facilitating girls’ access to education. It is further concerned that sexual harassment at school, teenage pregnancies and early marriages continue to prevent adolescent girls from finishing their secondary education. It is also concerned that the two existing centres aimed at reintegrating adolescent girls into the education system after pregnancy are private, thus limiting its access to those who can afford them. (para 31)

The Committee urges the State party to enhance its compliance with article 10 of the Convention and to continue raising awareness of the importance of education as human right and as the basis for the empowerment of women. To that end, it urges the State party to:

a) Develop protocols for the collection of sex disaggregated data on an annual basis on core indicators including net/gross enrolment rates, enrolment ratios, attendance and drop-out rates and performance;

b) Prioritize the implementation of the National Literacy Programme for Women and Girls;

c) Integrate gender specific concerns of women and girls, including the availability of appropriate sanitary facilities into existing and new schools; and

d) Address the root causes of the high drop-out rate of adolescent girls, such as gender stereotypes, poverty and sexual harassment in school, teenage pregnancies and early marriages by for example, adopting a policy on the readmission to school of pregnant girls and young mothers and by implementing a zero-tolerance policy to end sexual harassment in schools. (para 32)

Health: The Committee takes note of the State party’s measures to improve women’s access to healthcare, including through increases inhuman and financial resources allocation to health services and the implementation of the Programme to Prevent Mother-to-Child HIV/AIDS transmission. However, it is concerned at the health situation of women in the State party, in particular about the high rate of teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. It is also concerned at the lack of nformation with respect to the rate of maternal mortality and morbidity and their causes. (para 35)

The Committee recommends that the State party:

a) Take all necessary measures to improve women’s access to reproductive health-care and related services within the framework of the Committee’s general recommendation No. 24 (1999) on women and health;

b) Reinforce education on sexual and reproductive health and rights targeting adolescent girls and boys, with special attention to the prevention of teenage pregnancies and the control of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS;

c) Strengthen and expand efforts to increase knowledge of and access to affordable contraceptive methods throughout the country and ensure that women and girls, especially in rural areas, do not face barriers to accessing family planning information and services; and

d) Adopt measures to reduce the incidents of maternal mortality and to raise awareness of and increase women’s access to health-care facilities and medical assistance by trained personnel, especially in rural areas and provide detailed information in its next periodic report. (para 36)

Marriage: The Committee is concerned at the existence of a dual system of law, civil and customary, which regulates marriage and family relations issues and which results in the deep and persistent discrimination against women on issues such as child custody, division of property acquired during the marriage and succession. It is concerned that women married under customary rules do not have access to civil courts to defend their rights. It is particularly concerned that the information provided suggests that the draft Personal and Family Code and the Bill on Customary Marriages are not in conformity with the Convention, for instance with respect to polygamy, the legal effects of marriages, the minimum age of marriages and the grounds for and the effects of dissolution of marriage, including child custody and inheritance rights. (para 43)

The Committee calls upon the State party to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage, family relations and succession by:

a) Revising the draft Personal and Family Code along with the Bill on Customary Marriages with the view to eliminate possible inconsistencies and overlapping between them and ensuring that they, inter alia, prohibit polygamy, raise the minimum age of marriage for women to 18 years, guarantee equal inheritance and succession rights to women and recognize the full legal capacity of women, in line with the Convention; (…) (para 44)

 

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UN Human Rights Committee

(CCPR/CO/79/GNQ)

Last reported: 27 October 2003

Concluding Observations issued: 30 July 2004

 

The Committee regrets that the State party has failed to honour its reporting obligations and that no delegation from the State party attended the hearing.

Concerns raised:

Child custody: The Committee expresses its concern at the discrimination against women in the country’s political, social and economic life. It notes that women are imprisoned if they do not return their dowries on separating from their husbands, that custody of the children is given to the husband in the event of divorce and that joint paternity is not recognized. (para 8)

Education: The Committee notes with concern the lack of protection for children, whether indigenous or from neighbouring countries, in the areas of health, work and education, as borne out in the latter field by the low levels of education, the repeater and dropout rates and the low tax expenditure per pupil. It is also concerned by the corporal punishment inflicted on children, allegedly as a remedial measure, and by the prostitution of young girls.

The State party should, in conformity with articles 24 and 7 of the Covenant, put into practice child-protection programmes in the above-mentioned areas. (para 10)

 

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UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Ratified in 2002, but not yet reported.

 

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UN Committee against Torture

Ratified in 2002, but not yet reported.

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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

Not yet signed or ratified.

 

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UN Committee on Enforced Disappearance

Not yet signed or ratified.

 

Organisation: 
Child Rights International Network

Countries

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