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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 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 Disapperance
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UN Human Rights Committee
(CCPR/C/79/Add.81)
Last Reported: 24 and 25 July 1997
Concluding Observations Adopted: 30 July 1997
Concerns Raised:
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Child marriages: While acknowledging measures taken to outlaw child marriages (Child Marriages Restraint Act), the practice of dowry and dowry related violence (Dowry Prohibition Act and the Penal Code) and sati - self-immolation of widows - (Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act), the Committee remains gravely concerned that legislative measures are not sufficient and that measures designed to change the attitudes which allow such practices should be taken. The Committee is also concerned that giving male children preferred treatment persists, and deplores that practices such as foeticide and infanticide of females continue. The Committee further notes that rape in marriage is not an offence and that rape committed by a husband separated from his wife incurs a lesser penalty than for other rapists.
The Committee urges the State party to:
(a) Take further measures to overcome these problems and to protect women from all discriminatory practices, including violence.
(b) Provide additional information in the State party's next periodic report on the functions, powers and activities of the National Commission for Women. (Paragraph 16)
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Trafficking: The Committee deplores the high incidence of child prostitution and trafficking of women and girls into forced prostitution, and it regrets the lack of effective measures to prevent such practices and to protect and rehabilitate the victims. The Committee also regrets that women who have been forced into prostitution are criminalised by the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act and, further, that article 20 of the Act puts the burden of proof on a woman to prove that she is not a prostitute, which is incompatible with the presumption of innocence. Therefore:
The Committee recommends the State party:
(a) Repeal the application of this law to women in the situation described and take measures to protect and rehabilitate women and children whose rights have been violated in this way. (Paragraph 31)
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Violence: The Committee expresses its concern at the plight of street children and at the reported high level of violence against children within society. It is particularly concerned at reports of child mutilation.
The Committee urges the State party to:
(a) Take urgent measures to address the problem of violence against children and set upspecific mechanisms for the protection of children. (Paragraph 33)
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Child labour: The Committee expresses concern that, despite actions taken by the State party, there has been little progress in implementing the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of 1986.
The Committee urges the State party to:
(a) Remove all children from hazardous occupations
(b) Implement the recommendation of the National Human Rights Commission
(c) Respect the constitutional requirement that it should be a fundamental right for all children under 14 to have free and compulsory education
(d) Strengthen efforts to eliminate child labour in both the industrial and rural sectors.
(e) Give consideration to establishing an independent mechanism with effective national powers to monitor and enforce the implementation of laws for the eradication of child labour and bonded labour. (Paragraph 34)
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UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(E/C.12/IND/CO/5)
Last Reported: 7 and 8 May 2008
Concluding Observations Adopted: 16 May 2008
Concerns Raised
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Discriminatory practices: The Committee is deeply concerned about the lack of progress achieved by the State party in eliminating traditional practices and provisions of personal status laws that are harmful and discriminatory to women and girls, including sati, devadasi, witch-hunting, child marriages, dowry deaths and honour killings, in spite of the legal prohibitions such as the 2005 Domestic Violence Act, the 1961 Dowry Prohibition Act, the 1982 Prohibition of Dedication Act, the 1939 Child Marriage Restraint Act and the 2006 Prohibition of Child Marriage Act.
The Committee urges the State party to:
(a) Strictly enforce the law prohibiting harmful and discriminatory practices that violate the rights of women and girls, and to undertake effective public education measures, including awareness-raising programmes designed to eliminate gender based prejudices, traditional practices and provisions of personal status laws that are harmful and discriminatory to women and girls.
(b) Provide detailed information in its next periodic report on the extent of these practices and the measures being taken to strictly enforce its laws for the protection of women and girls from such harmful practices. (Paragraphs 25 and 65)
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Domestic violence: The Committee is concerned about the exceptionally high incidence of domestic violence against women and children in the State party, as well as the high proportion of children who are subjected to sexual abuse at home, in spite of the enactment of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act of 2005. In this regard, the Committee deeply regrets the lax enforcement of the existing legislation for the protection of victims of domestic violence and the low rate of prosecution for such crimes under Section 498-A of the Indian Penal Code.
The Committee recommends that the State party:
(a) Ensure that the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act and Section 498-A of the Indian Penal Code are enforced effectively in all of its states and union territories, and that law enforcement officials, judges, lawyers, social workers and medical professionals are duly trained on the serious and criminal nature of domestic violence.
(b) Provide in its next periodic report, detailed information on the extent of domestic violence, and on the legislative and other measures taken to address this phenomenon, including facilities and remedies provided for victims. (Paragraphs 26 and 67)
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Health: The Committee is concerned that the prevailing widespread phenomenon of early marriages, the high rate of maternal mortality and the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases in the State party, can be attributed largely to the lack of sex and reproductive education that is still viewed to be taboo in the State party.
The Committee recommends that the State party:
(a) Expand availability and accessibility of reproductive and sexual health information and services for everyone, and ensure that the educational programmes, including within the school curriculum, as well as services on sexual and reproductive health, are widely available. (Paragraphs 37 and 77)
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Education: The Committee notes with concern the generally low quality of education in, and the under-funding of, public schools.
The Committee urges the State party to:
(a) Continue to make determined efforts to achieve universal primary education, compulsory and free of charge, by inter alia, taking further initiatives to eliminate child marriages, child labour especially of school-aged children, and targeting disadvantaged and marginalised groups in particular.
(b) Allocate increased funding to public schools, ensuring that teachers are fully trained and qualified. (Paragraphs 41, 80, and 81)
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Human rights education: The Committee notes with regret the absence of human rights education in the school curricula in the State party.
The Committee encourages the State party to:
(a) Provide human rights education in schools at all levels and in universities, cultivating values of tolerance, social inclusion and participation.
(b) Make increased efforts to raise awareness about human rights, in particular economic, social and cultural rights, among State officials, the judiciary and the public at large. (Paragraphs 43 and 83)
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UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
(CERD/C/IND/CO/19)
Last Reported: 23 and 26 February 2007
Concluding Observations Adopted: 6 March 2007
Concerns Raised
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Child marriage: The Committee is concerned about the persistence of social norms of purity and pollution which de facto preclude marriages between Dalits and non-Dalits; it is also concerned about violence and social sanctions against inter-caste couples and the continuing practices of child marriage and dowry, and devadasi whereby mostly Dalit girls are dedicated to temple deities and forced into ritualised prostitution.
The Committee urges the State party to:
(a) Effectively enforce the prohibition of child marriage, the Dowry Prohibition Act (1961) and State laws prohibiting the practice of devadasi.
(b) Punish such acts and acts of discrimination or violence against inter-caste couples and rehabilitate victims.
(c) Conduct training and awareness-raising campaigns to sensitise police, prosecutors, judges, politicians, teachers and the general public as to the criminal nature of such acts. (Paragraph 18)
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UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
CEDAW/C/IND/CO/4-5
Adopted by the Committee: 30 June-18 July 2014
Published: 18 July 2014
Issues raised:
Legal reform:
The Committee welcomes the progress achieved since the consideration in 2007 of the State party’s combined second and third periodic reports (CEDAW/C/IND/2-3) in undertaking legislative reforms, in particular the adoption of:
The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012; and
The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (para.4).
Ratification:
The Committee welcomes the fact that, in the period since the consideration of the previous report, the State party has ratified or acceded to the following international instruments, the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime; the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children; and the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, in 2011 (para.6).
Violence:
The Committee is concerned about the retention in the Penal Code of an exemption from punishment of rape when committed by the victim’s husband if the wife is above 15 years of age;
The escalation of caste-based violence, including rape, against women and girls, and the downplaying by key State officials of the grave criminal nature of sexual violence against women and girls; The persistence of so-called “honour” crimes perpetrated by family members against women and girls;The declining girl-child sex ratio from 962 per 1000 in 1981, to 914 per 1000 in 2011; (para.10).
The Committee urges the State party to strengthen the efficiency of the police, ensure that police officers fulfil their duty to protect women and girls against violence and are held accountable, adopt Standard Procedures for the police in each State on gender-sensitive investigations and treatment of victims and of witnesses, and to ensure that FIR (First Information Reports) are duly filed;Establish, without delay, one-stop crisis centres providing women and girls victims of violence and rape with free and immediate access to medical attention, psychological counselling, legal aid, shelters and other support services; Take urgent measure to adopt its National Plan of action for improving the girl child sex ratio; (para.11).
The Committee is deeply concerned about the significant number of displaced women and girl, particularly in the North Eastern region, as well as a result of sporadic communal violence, their precarious living conditions and exposure to serious human rights violations and the lack of gender sensitive interventions at all stages of the displacement cycle; the continued marginalization and poverty of women and girls survivors of the Gujarat riots living in the relief colonies and their precarious living conditions with limited access to education, health care, employment and security, and poor infrastructure in terms of sanitation, water, transportation and housing; The lack of centres providing medical, psychological, legal and socioeconomic support to women and girls who are victims of sexual violence in conflict-affected areas; (para.12).
The Committee calls upon the State party to adopt an integrated policy to enhance the living conditions of women and girls survivors of the Gujarat riots including by adopting appropriate economic recovery measures, the allocation of Below Poverty Line (BPL) cards and the provision of other available government Scheme benefits; intensify witness protection and security measures especially for women and girls living in relief colonies (para.13).
Education:
The Committee calls upon the State party to ensure all relevant officials are familiar with the concept of temporary special measures, and encourage their application in accordance with article 4 (1) of the Convention and the Committee’s General Recommendation No. 25 (2004), especially measures aimed at increasing the number of girls, including from disadvantaged groups, enrolled at the secondary and tertiary levels of education in all states (para.19).
The Committee takes note of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, guaranteeing free and compulsory education for all children aged 6 to 14. However, it remains concerned that only 4 per cent of the GDP is spent on education, that girls with disability and minorities still register low enrolment rates, and that the dropout rate among adolescent girls is as high as 64 percent, making them particularly vulnerable to child marriage. The Committee is also concerned about girls’ low retention and completion rates at the secondary level due to early marriage, harmful practices and poverty, especially in rural areas. The Committee is equally concerned that girls are subjected to sexual harassment and violence including in conflict-affected regions where the reported occupations of schools by the security forces contributes to school drop-out (para.26).
The Committee reiterates its previous concluding observations (CEDAW/C/IND/CO/3, 2007), and calls upon the State party to allocate increased resources for the implementation of the Free and Compulsory Education Act and to take measures to: Ensure that schools are girl-friendly, within reasonable distance from communities, have supplies of potable water and separate hygienic toilets for girls. Address safety issues for girls in and out of schools, including escort to schools for girls in unsafe areas and effective investigation and prosecution of acts of corporal punishment, harassment or gender-based violence against girls at school. Adopt a life cycle approach to girls’ education, and ensure that the special needs of disadvantaged and marginalized girls are integrated into policy making; Improve the literacy rate of women and girls and organize programmes for girls affected by conflict who leave school/university prematurely; Address causes of the low enrolment rate of girls from minorities and girls with disability, and the high dropout rates of adolescent girls from school, including those living in conflict areas, such as gender stereotypes, poverty and sexual harassment in school, and early marriages and formulate re-entry policies enabling young women to return to school after pregnancy; Prohibit the occupation of schools by security forces in conflict-affected regions in compliance with international humanitarian and human rights law standards; and improve the quality of education by providing teachers with systematic and gender-sensitive training and by conducting a revision of the curriculum and textbooks to remove gender stereotypes (para.27).
Harmful practices:
The Committee is concerned about the persistence of harmful traditional practices in the State party, such as child marriage, the dowry system, so-called “honour” killings, sex-selective abortion, Sati, Devadasi, and women accused of witchcraft. The Committee is particularly concerned that the State party has not taken sufficient sustained and systematic action to modify or eliminate stereotypes and harmful practices (para.20).
The Committee urges the State party to put in place without delay a comprehensive national campaign and strategy, with concrete goals and timelines, to eliminate patriarchal attitudes and stereotypes that discriminate against women, in accordance with article 2 (f) of the Convention (para.21).
The Committee urges the State party to: Enact the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill (2014) without delay and incorporate a specific section to protect women and girls with intellectual disabilities from forced sterilization, and to repeal laws and prohibit disability-based detention of women, including involuntary hospitalization and forced institutionalization; Facilitate advocacy by and on behalf of women and girls with disabilities;(para.37).
While noting that the implementation of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (2006) has led to a certain decrease in the number of early and forced marriages of girls, the Committee is concerned that the State party’s declaration on article 16 (2) has not been withdrawn. The Committee also notes with concern the high prevalence of such marriages and that victims of child marriages must file a petition with a court to void the marriage within two years after reaching the age of majority. The Committee is equally concerned at reports that judges often authorize marriages of under-age girls based on Muslim Personal Laws, and that no legislation ensuring the registration of all marriages in the State party has been adopted (para.38).
The Committee urges the State party to: Speedily enact legislation to require compulsory registration of all marriages and to consider withdrawing its declaration to article 16 (2) of the Convention; Ensure that the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (2006) is implemented without exception; Automatically void all child marriages and ensure that the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (2012) also applies to child brides; and strengthen efforts to raise awareness about the prohibition of child marriages, as well as on their harmful effects on girls’ health and education, and to effectively investigate, prosecute and punish cases of forced and early marriage (para.39).
Trafficking and sexual exploitation: The Committee remains concerned at the alarming persistence of trafficking in the country, both internal and cross-border, at the lack of protection and services available to women and girls victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation and at the lack of efforts to address their root causes (para.22).
The Committee recommends that the State party review the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act (1986) and include provisions addressing the prevention of trafficking in women and girls and the economic and emotional rehabilitation of victims; Ensure that trafficked women and girls have access to victim and witness protection shelters, quality medical care, counselling, support programmes for alternative income-generation programmes, for their reintegration in the education system and labour market, as well as access to adequate housing and free legal aid regardless of their availability or willingness to testify against traffickers (para.23).
Disability: The Committee urges the State party to Facilitate advocacy by and on behalf of women and girls with disabilities (para.37).
Birth registration:
The Committee is concerned that Dalit women and women’s limited knowledge of birth registration procedures, as well as the existence of bureaucratic obstacles and financial barriers which prevent them from registering births and obtaining birth certificates for their children (para.34).
The Committee recommends that the State party: Monitor the availability and efficiency of the Legal Services Authorities, implement legal literacy programmes, increase the awareness of Dalit women and women and girls from scheduled tribes of all legal remedies available to them, and to monitor the results of such efforts. Strengthen public awareness-raising campaigns and take concrete measures to ensure that Dalit and women from schedule tribes are aware of the procedures for registration of births and obtaining birth certificates, and ensure their access to these facilities (para.35).
Last Reported: 15 October 2010
Concluding Observations Adopted:
There was no mention of children's rights in this report
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Signed in 1997, but not ratified.
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UN Committee on Migrant Workers
Has not yet ratified.
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UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Ratified in 2007, but has not yet reported.
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UN Committee on Enforced Disappearance
Signed in 2007, but has not yet ratified.
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