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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.
Please note that the language may have been edited in places for the purpose of clarity
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- Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography
- Special Rapporteur on Civil and Political Rights, including Religious Intolerance
- Special Rapporteur on indigenous peoples (New Caledonia)
- Requested visits
Report by the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography
(25-29/11/2002).
Preliminary Report E/CN.4/2004/9/Add.1
Report by the UN Special Rapporteur on racism
Maurice Glèlè-Ahanhanzo
E/CN.4/1996/72/Add.3
Country visit: 29 September-9 October 1995
Report published: 18 November 1996
Immigration: Those who spoke with the Special Rapporteur acknowledged that the Pasqua Acts are difficult to apply and raise delicate problems of interpretation. In this connection, the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights emphasizes the "vicious circle" in which foreigners who are supposedly "protected" against expulsion measures find themselves. If they are married to a French person or political refugee or are the parent of a French child, they cannot be expelled. However, if they find themselves in the slightest difficulty with the law, there is no way for them to extricate themselves. They are refused any opportunity to resolve the situation. If they return to their country of origin in order to request a visa, as the administration advises them to do, they may not be permitted to rejoin their families. The Commission therefore proposes that their situation should be regularized.(Paragraph 34)
The amendment of the Nationality Code is in contradiction with the Government's integration policy because it eliminates the automatic right to French nationality of children of foreigners who are born in France. Such children must now state their wish to become French between the ages of 16 and 21 and their parents no longer have the right to request this nationality while they are minors. Anyone convicted of a crime or an offence and sentenced to six months or more in prison between the ages of 16 and 21 is deprived of this right. French nationality may also be refused if a sentence of expulsion or escort to the border has been handed down. (Paragraph 35).
Some feel that these measures make the legal situation of young foreigners, particularly young first-generation or second-generation Algerians, a precarious one. (Paragraph 36).
Human Rights Education: In the field of human rights education, the Ministry of National Education has developed a civic education curriculum for secondary school students, focused on the "training of individuals and citizens". This curriculum has three main goals: Education in human rights and citizenship through mastery of the principles and values that form the basis of, and organize, democracy and the Republic, through knowledge of institutions and laws and understanding of the rules of social and political life; Education in the meaning of individual and collective responsibilities; Education in judgement, particularly through the adoption of a critical approach and practice in argumentation.(Paragraph 39).
Report by the Special Rapporteur on Civil and Political Rights, including Religious Intolerance
Asma Jahangir
E/CN.4/2006/5/Add.4
Country visit: 18 to 29 September 2005
Report published: 8 March 2006
Religious symbols in schools: The Special Rapporteur is of the opinion that the 2004 legislation on the wearing of conspicuous religious symbols in public schools is appropriate insofar as it is intended, in accordance with the principle of the best interests of the child, to protect the autonomy of minors who may be pressured or forced to wear a headscarf or other religious symbols. However, the law denies the rights of those minors who have freely chosen to wear a religious symbol to school as part of their religious belief.
Moreover, the implementation of the law by educational institutions has led, in a number of cases, to abuses that provoked humiliation, in particular amongst young Muslim women. According to many voices, such humiliation can only lead to the radicalization of the persons affected and those associated with them. Furthermore, the stigmatization of the headscarf has provoked acts of religious intolerance when women wear it outside school, at university or in the workplace. Among other recommendations, the Special Rapporteur encourages the Government to take appropriate measures to better inform school authorities, and more generally the French population, about the exact nature and purpose of the law. It should be made clear that the wearing or display of religious symbols is an essential part of the right to manifest one’s religion or belief, that can only be limited under precise conditions.
Cult groups: Following a number of hearings with administrative authorities, doctors, lawyers, representatives of the Roman Catholic Church and former members or leaders of cult groups, the Commission established a list of criteria according to which a group could be defined as a secte,including mental destabilization, exaggerated financial contributions, the required separation from one’s original environment (in particular, one’s family), offence to physical integrity, the recruitment of children, relatively anti-social discourse, public order offences or attempts to infiltrate public services. (Paragraph 74).
During her visit, the Special Rapporteur met with representatives of some of the religious groups or communities of belief that were included in the 1996 list, including members of the Church of Scientology and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Most have recognized some improvement in their situation but cases of unlawful discrimination continued to be raised, including in the school system because of the anti-sectes campaign that is often conducted without appropriate guidance, resulting in the stigmatization of a number of children that were said to be members of these groups. (Paragraph 82).
UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues
Gay McDougall
A/HRC/7/23/Add.2
Country visit: 19-28 September 2007
Report published: 4 March 2008
Education: Minority women voiced specific additional concerns, including the rights and protection of minority women in abusive relationships; concerns over access to social services and protection mechanisms; access to justice; the legal status of women of immigrant origin in cases of divorce, encompassing the right to remain in France after divorce and the execution by French courts of foreign divorce judgements based on gender-biased laws; the rights of minority women relating to inheritance, housing and property; specific issues relating to the education of girls of Muslim faith; security issues and the high incidence of rape of women in disadvantaged minority communities in suburbs; and the lack of access to political participation of minority women.
Successive French Governments have maintained the position that there should be no official acknowledgement of the ethnic, religious or cultural characteristics of citizens, despite the recommendations of European and United Nations anti-discrimination bodies. France attached a reservation to article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and to article 30 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child relating to the rights of minorities.2 France has not ratified the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities or the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. As a United Nations Member State, France is required to observe and conform to the provisions of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, adopted by consensus in 1992. (Paragraph 8).
Breton representatives reported to the independent expert that subsidies had been stopped to schools for teaching of and in the Breton language. Independent Breton-language immersion schools (called Diwan) exist but are not part of the State education system since their incorporation was blocked by the French Constitutional Council, reportedly on the grounds that French is the language of the Republic and that no other language may be used as a language of instruction in State schools. Representatives of the Breton-speaking communities note that the numbers of speakers has declined from 1.3 million in 1900 to 200,000 today. (Paragraph 24).
The independent expert notes that the nomadic lifestyles of many Gypsies and Travellers do not diminish the right of their children to have access to education, for families to have access to adequate health care and social services, and the possibility to seek and obtain temporary or longer-term employment. (Paragraph 36).
Consistently, when poor immigrants arrive, those belonging to certain ethnic or religious groups are allocated to the poorest housing in specific neighbourhoods that have become highly ethnicized, resulting in a discriminatory pattern of de facto segregation. Housing in these suburbs is often dilapidated and poorly maintained. There are chiefly towering high-rise apartment blocks lined up in neighbourhoods devoid of any of the beauty or verve characteristic of the streets of central Paris. Teenage boys loiter on street corners; not in school and not at work. These are poor neighbourhoods, clearly economically depressed and spiritually depressing. Community members commonly noted that quality public housing in central locations or higher income areas is rarely allocated to those of immigrant heritage. (Paragraph 45).
Sexual violence: NGO representatives and community members in both Paris and Marseilles described low quality, poorly maintained and unsanitary housing. Some commented that inadequate conditions and environment, combined with problems of discrimination and unemployment, contribute to a “climate of despair” and a spiral of urban decay conducive to such problems as drug dealing and violent crime, including a high incidence of rape of young women. (Paragraph 49).
Report by the Special Rapporteur on indigenous peoples (New Caledonia)
James Anaya
A/HRC/18/35/Add.6
Country visit: 6 to 13 February 2011
Report published: 14 September 2011
Kanak language:
The Special Rapporteur notes that:
It goes without saying that language is a critical marker of indigenous identity, and this is certainly the case for the Kanak people. The Nouméa Accord (art. 1.3.3) declares Kanak languages to be, alongside French, the “languages of education and culture in New Caledonia,” and it calls for increasing the prominence of Kanak languages in school curricula and media, developing university courses on Kanak languages, training primary and secondary school Kanak-language teachers, and establishing a Public Academy of Kanak Languages. However, it was repeatedly brought to the attention of the Special Rapporteur that there has been limited implementation of these directives. (para 41)
The Special Rapporteur recommends that:
Greater attention should be given to preserving and developing Kanak languages, particularly in the educational setting, and immediate action should be taken to counter the threat of future loss. The Special Rapporteur notes with approval the steps that have been taken to provide instruction in 15 different Kanak languages in 59 preschools (écoles maternelles) in New Caledonia, and encourages the Government and provinces to prioritize expanding this programme to reach all students in all primary schools in New Caledonia. (para 82)
Maintaining and broadening awareness of Kanak culture and heritage
The Special Rapporteur expresses concern that:
The current primary school curriculum fails to adequately convey the history of Kanak culture and experience of colonization, the secondary school curriculum, which is adopted from the French system, does not treat this material at all, and teacher-training curricula do not include sufficient instruction on Kanak history and culture. The Special Rapporteur understands that outside of the education setting, society at large has very limited exposure to information about Kanak culture. He heard anecdotal accounts of news media portraying political disputes in ways that cast the Kanak in a negative light and contribute to the deterioration of the public image of the Kanak people. (para 47)
The Special Rapporteur recommends that:
Government should collaborate with Kanak people to identify opportunities to share Kanak culture more broadly – for example, through innovative education curricula, radio programmes, knowledge-sharing programmes around Kanak traditional festivals, or other means. (para 47)
France and the Government of New Caledonia should make all necessary efforts to increase understanding and valorization of Kanak culture by New Caledonia society in general, for example through innovative education curricula, radio programs and other means. In order to assist in addressing ongoing concerns related to Kanak culture and heritage, the Customary Senate should be granted more of a leadership role in the Agency for the Development of Kanak Culture. (para 83)
Children and youth:
The Special Rapporteur found that:
The Special Rapporteur found a general perception that Kanak youth are in crisis, with high rates of school dropouts, alcohol and marijuana abuse, high-risk sexual behavior, reckless driving, suicide, low employment, and pervasive alienation from both traditional Kanak culture and Western culture in Nouméa. The Customary Senate also noted among Kanak youth high levels of disrespect for parental authority and loss of customary knowledge, and recommended the creation of Kanak youth or cultural centres. However, community leaders have faced obstacles in developing such centres and related initiatives. Despite strongly supporting the idea of targeted initiatives to respond to the needs of Kanak youth, the Customary Senate complains that it has neither the decision-making authority nor budgetary capability to effectively pursue them. (para 59)
The Special Rapporteur recommends that:
The French and New Caledonia Governments should focus increased attention on the issues faced by Kanak children and youth, in consultation with Kanak leaders and the Customary Senate. Affirmative action programmes could help to rapidly scale up Kanak eligibility for and participation in professional training programs. Government officials should work with the Customary Senate to create programs that will encourage Kanak students to pursue professional and vocational careers, in order to increase employment opportunities. (para 89)
- Special Rapporteur on toxic waste French Polynesia (Accepted for September / October 2011)
- Working Group on people of African Descent (requested)