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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.
- UN Human Rights Committee
- UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
- UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
- UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- UN Committee against Torture
- UN Committee on Migrant Workers
- UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- UN Committee on Enforced Disappearance
CCPR/C/79/Add.121
Last reported:
Concluding Observations issued: 25 April 2000
Issues raised:
Corporal punishment: The Committee is concerned that corporal punishment is still resorted to in the State party and regrets the lack of specific information on this issue. (Paragraph 12).
The State party should take legal and other measures to eliminate this practice (art. 7).
Juvenile justice: The Committee expresses its profound concern that children, including children under 10 years of age, are held in detention on remand. (Paragraph 16).
The State party should take immediate steps to ensure that children are not held in detention together with adults and that young children are not held in detention at all (arts. 10 (2) and 24).
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UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
E /C.12/GUY/CO/2-4
Last reported: 28 and 29 September 2015
Concluding Observations issued: 28 October 2015
Issues raised:
Legal age for marriage: The Committee is concerned at the low age of consent to marriage (16 years of age) set out in the Age of Consent Act, 2006 (arts. 3 and 10). (para 38)
The Committee recommends that the legal age of consent to marriage be raised to 18 years. (para 39)
Food security and nutrition: The Committee is concerned that, despite the measures taken by the State party to improve food security and nutrition, little progress has been made and that multiple forms of malnutrition, including undernutrition and obesity, remain serious public health concerns. It is particularly concerned at the high and increasing number of children under 5 years of age who are stunted (arts. 11 and 12). (para 48)
The Committee recommends that the State party review the Food and Nutrition Security Strategy for Guyana (2011) taking into account the requirements of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 2004 Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security. It also recommends that the State party take urgent measures to curb the rising number of children under 5 years of age who are stunted. It further recommends that the State party prioritize the adoption of legislative and policy measures in line with the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, including ensuring that employers allow breastfeeding in the workplace, in order to increase the percentage of children who are exclusively breastfed during the first six months of their lives. (para 49)
Right to health: The Committee is concerned at the limited availability of health-care services, particularly mental health care, and the low quality of health-care services, owing to the lack of trained and qualified health-care professionals in the State party. It is also concerned at: [...] (b) The still high mortality level of infants and children under 5 years of age, despite the decrease in recent years [...]. (para 50)
The Committee recommends that the State party intensify its efforts to improve the availability, accessibility and quality of health-care services, including in the mental health sector. It also recommends that the State party take all necessary measures: [...] (b) To reduce infant and under-five mortality [...]. (para 51)
Right to education: The Committee is concerned at the decreasing enrolment rates and the high dropout rate, particularly of boys, in primary education, and at the low quality of education owing to the shortage of trained and qualified teachers, particularly in the hinterland and rural areas. It is also concerned that children in the hinterland have limited access to school owing to the insufficient infrastructure (arts. 13 and 14). (para 52)
The Committee recommends that the State party intensify its efforts to counter the decreasing enrolment rate and the high dropout rates in primary education. It also recommends that the State party increase the number of trained and qualified teachers, including by training and certifying international volunteers and university students who may be available for primary education, as an interim measure. The Committee further recommends that the State party collect, keep and publish data on education. In that regard, the Committee draws the State party’s attention to its general comment No. 13 (1999) on the right to education. (para 53)
Indigenous languages: The Committee is concerned that some of the indigenous languages, including Warrau and Arawak, are at risk of extinction and that there is insufficient integration of indigenous cultures in school curricula (art. 15).
The Committee recommends that the State party take all necessary steps to support and preserve indigenous languages at risk of extinction and to enhance integration of indigenous cultures in the education system.
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UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
CERD/C/GUY/CO/14
Last reported:
Concluding Observations issued: 4 April 2006
Issues raised:
Education and indigenous children: While noting with favour that the State party provides school uniforms to all indigenous children free of charge and that indigenous students are the only ethnic group for which special scholarship programmes exist, the Committee is nevertheless deeply concerned about the low secondary school and university attendance by indigenous children and students, as well as about the reported lack of qualified teachers, textbooks and classrooms at schools in areas predominantly inhabited by indigenous peoples. (Art. 5 (e) (v)). (Paragraph 20).
The Committee urges the State party to ensure equal quality of teaching for, and increase school and university attendance by, indigenous children and adolescents and to that end, to the maximum of its available resources, intensify the training of, and provide incentives for, hinterland teachers, proceed with the construction of schools in hinterland areas, ensure the availability of culturally appropriate textbooks, including in indigenous languages, in schools with indigenous pupils, and further increase the outreach of scholarship programmes for indigenous pupils and students.
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UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW/C/GUY/3-6)
Last reported: 8 July 2005
Concluding Observations issued: 22 July 2005
Issues raised:
Juvenile justice: The Committee is concerned about the persistence of discriminatory legal provisions, particularly the Criminal Law (Offences) Act provision which makes it a criminal act for a girl of 16 years to have sexual intercourse with a relative such as a grandfather or brother and making her liable to imprisonment for up to seven years; and the Married Persons Property Act that prevents non-working spouses from acquiring the same rights in matters of division of property and disproportionately affects women. (Paragraph 289).
The Committee urges the State party to undertake comprehensive legal reform in accordance with its obligations under the Convention and, in particular, to eliminate discriminatory provisions without delay in the Criminal Law (Offenses) Act and civil law so as to ensure full compliance with articles 2 and 16 of the Convention. The Committee requests the State party to provide the necessary support to the Women and Gender Equality Commission so that it may place high priority on reviewing existing and future legislation for compliance with the provisions of the Convention and submitting recommendations for compliance with international instruments to which the State is a party.
Health and sexual exploitation: While welcoming the adoption of the National Strategic Plan for HIV/AIDS 2002-2006, the Committee notes with concern the high and growing prevalence of HIV/AIDS among women, especially younger women, who are particularly vulnerable because of unequal power relations and limited socio-economic opportunities. The Committee is especially concerned that the low minimum age of sexual consent (13 years) puts young women and girls at particular risk of becoming victims of sexual exploitation and infection with the virus. (Paragraph 305).
The Committee urges the State party to strengthen attention to the gender dimensions in its efforts to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic. It calls on the State party to increase its emphasis on men’s responsibilities in preventing the spread of the disease, including through awareness-raising and prevention campaigns, and the implementation of education programmes on sexual and reproductive health and rights directed at both women and men, including the provision of condoms. It also urges the State party to increase the minimum age of sexual consent to protect girls effectively against sexual exploitation.
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CAT/C/GUY/CO/1
Last reported: 13 / 14 November 2006
Concluding Observations issued: 22 November 2006
Issues raised:
Juvenile justice: The Committee is concerned at allegations that children (ages 10-16) are not always separated from adults while on remand and at the dire conditions of detention. (article 11) (Paragraph 14).
The State party should adopt urgent measures to ensure that children (ages 10-16) are always separated from adults while on remand. The State party should also take measures to bring the conditions of detention in conformity with the United Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (The Beijing Rules), the United Nations Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency (The Riyadh Guidelines) and the United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of Their Liberty (The Tokyo Rules).
Age of criminal responsibility: The Committee is concerned with the provision in the criminal code that establishes the minimum age of criminal responsibility, which is set at 10 years of age. (article 13) . (Paragraph 18).
The State Party should take the necessary measures to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to an internationally acceptable level, as already recommended by the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC/C/15/Add.224)
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UN Committee on Migrant Workers
Ratified in 2010, but not yet reported.
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UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Signed in 2007, but not yet ratified.
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UN Committee on Enforced Disappearance
Not yet signed or ratified.