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Summary: General overview of Luxembourg's national legal provisions on children's rights, including guidance on how to conduct further research.
National laws on children's rights Status of the CRC in national law Treaties, or provisions within treaties, that are sufficiently clear and precise to be applied directly form part of Luxembourg's law. The courts must decide with regards to any given provision of a ratified treaty, including those within the Convention on the Rights of the Child, whether it meets this standard. National courts have been willing to directly apply some of the provisions of the Convention, including article 37, though it is not clear which other provisions may be directly applied.[1] Constitution: Chapter II of the Constitution of Luxembourg includes a number of rights provisions that apply regardless of age and a small number that specifically address the rights of children: Article 23(1): requires the State to ensure that every Luxembourger receives primary education, which is compulsory and free of charge. Article 23(2): requires the State to established secondary educational establishments and the necessary courses of higher education. Legislation: there is no comprehensive or consolidated Children's Act in national law, rather legislation of particular relevance to children can be found in a number of Acts. Legislation of particular relevance to children includes, but is by no means limited to: The Criminal Code The Civil Code Act of 21 February 2012 on combating sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children Act of 8 May 2009 on assistance, protection and safety of victims of trafficking Act of 6 February 2009, the Compulsory Education Act Act of 16 December 2008 on support for children and the family establishing a legal framework for child welfare, creating the National children's Bureau and expressly prohibiting corporal punishment. Act of 4 July 2008 establishing the National Youth Assembly Act of 5 May 2006 on the right of asylum and additional forms of protection Act of 10 August 1992 on the protection of young persons Act of 1 July 2011 implementing the European Union Returns Directive Legal Research The website of the Chamber of Deputies publishes information on bills before the legislature in French (http://www.chd.lu/wps/portal/public) and a database of national legislation is available in French through the Government's Legilux website (http://www.legilux.public.lu/) and in English through the website of the International Constitutional Law Project (http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/lu00000_.html). In addition, the GlobaLex project at New York University has published a guide to legal research in Luxembourg (http://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/LUXEMBOURG1.htm) and the World Legal Information Institute (http://www.worldlii.org/catalog/2230.html) and the U.S. Law Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/nations/luxembourg.php) both provide links to a selection of legal and governmental resources. Case Law CRC Jurisprudence Please contact CRIN if you are aware of decisions of national courts that reference the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Case Law Research The decisions of the Cour de Cassation (http://www.justice.public.lu/fr/jurisprudence/cour-cassation/index.html), Constitutional Court (http://www.justice.public.lu/fr/jurisprudence/cour-constitutionnelle/index.html) and administrative courts (http://www.justice.public.lu/fr/jurisprudence/juridictions-administratives/index.php) are available in French through the national Justice website. Compliance with the CRC In its Concluding Observations of 2013, the Committee on the Rights of the Child noted the State's efforts to pass legislation to implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child, but expressed concern at the slow pace of reform and “the lack of guidelines to ensure the consistent application of domestic legislation.” The Committee urged the State to expedite legislative reviews and reforms to ensure the full incorporation of the principles and provisions of the Convention into domestic legislation as well as to provide clear guidelines for the application of this legislation. In depth analysis The Committee also raised a number of more specific concerns with regards to the compatibility of domestic law with the Convention, including the failure of the State to incorporate the general principles of the Convention into national legislation. Specifically, the Committee expressed concern about provisions within national law that continue to discriminate against children born out of wedlock and noted that the draft law on parentage, which would eliminate the distinction from national law, had yet to be enacted. The Committee also noted that although the principle of the best interests of the child had been included within some national legislation, guidelines and procedures for its implementation were not in place. With regards to the States duty to respect the views of the child, the Committee expressed concern that children of all ages did not have a right to be heard in judicial and administrative proceedings and there was no obligation for judges to listen to a child before them. The Committee also noted a number of specific areas of law that required further legislation to bring them into conformity with the Convention. While noting that the State had produced a draft bill on parental responsibility to ensure that parents share responsibility for the upbringing of children, the Committee expressed concern that this had not been adopted seven years after it had initially been drafted. The Youth Protection Bill of 2003, which aimed to reduce the time frame for reviews of placement in alternative care, has also been awaiting adoption for 10 years at the time of the Committee's Concluding Observations. With regards to unaccompanied children, the Committee noted that the Act on centres of retention allows for the detention of unaccompanied children and urged the State to reform relevant law to prevent the detention of unaccompanied children. With regards to juvenile justice, the Committee expressed regret that there was no juvenile justice system in place that would allow judges to deal with children in a child appropriate manner; that despite reform in prison administration, children continued to be detained in the State Penitentiary where there was minimal psychological assistance, supervision and academic instruction; the continuing legality of solitary confinement for children. The Committee urged the State to consider restorative justice practice and to develop diversion mechanisms; to stop placing children in the State Penitentiary; and to immediately take measures to ban solitary confinement of children. Current legal reform projects Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any current legal reform projects. [1] See Initial report of Luxembourg to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, CRC/C/41/Add.2, 11 April 1997, paras. 61 and 62