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Summary: A compilation of extracts featuring child-rights issues from the reports submitted to the second Universal Periodic Review. There are extracts from the 'National Report', the 'Compilation of UN Information' and the 'Summary of Stakeholders' Information'. Also included is the list of accepted and rejected recommendations. Poland – 2nd Session – 2012 Scroll to: Summary of Stakeholders' Information Accepted and Rejected Recommendations 3. This report issued by the Kingdom of the Netherlands was drafted in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/DEC/17/119). As a national report, it reflects the human rights situation in all four countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands: Aruba, Curaçao, St Maarten and the Netherlands. Unless stated otherwise, the text applies to the entire Kingdom of the Netherlands. During the preparation of this report, two consultative meetings were held with non-governmental organisations and agencies set up to protect human rights in the Netherlands: the Equal Treatment Commission, the National Ombudsman, the Children’s Ombudsman, and the Data Protection Authority. (Netherlands) 10. Since 1 April 2011 the country of the Netherlands has had an Ombudsman specifically for children. The Children’s Ombudsman is a new, national institution, which operates independently to promote the observance of the rights of children and young people (up to 18 years of age). It is part of the organisational structure of the National Ombudsman. On 1 April 2011, the House of Representatives installed Mr Marc Dullaert as the first Children’s Ombudsman in the Netherlands. (Netherlands) 11. The Children’s Ombudsman advises Parliament and organisations, and is also responsible for raising the consciousness of children and young people regarding children’s rights. (Netherlands) 12. The work of the Children’s Ombudsman is based on the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, and his responsibilities are defined in the Children’s Ombudsman Act: • to promote respect for the rights of young people on the part of administrative authorities and organisations established under private law; • to make recommendations, upon request and of his or her own accord, on legislation that impacts on young people’s rights; • to play an active role in informing the public about children’s rights; • to deal with complaints, not only about administrative authorities, but also about other organisations that are in any way responsible for young people, such as schools, child care and youth care services and hospitals; • to investigate possible violations of children’s rights in the Netherlands. (Netherlands) 15. In December 2011, Parliament passed the Country Ordinance on Compulsory Education. Compulsory education applies to all children aged over 4 and under 17. The underlying principle is that in order for a child to be properly prepared for personal and social responsibilities that are attached to reaching adulthood, he or she needs to have attended school in the form of approximately two years’ kindergarten followed by six years of primary education and at least three years of secondary education. (Aruba) 18. With the entry into force on 15 November 2011 of the new Criminal Code of Curaçao, progress has been made on several fronts in the promotion and protection of human rights on Curaçao. One major step forward is the criminalisation of trafficking in human beings. The new Criminal Code makes it possible to impose heavy sentences on those found guilty of this crime. In addition, the death penalty has been abolished. Juvenile criminal law has also been modernised, inter alia in the sense that milder penalties apply to young offenders under 16 years of age. Where a young person has committed an indictable offence, the law now provides for them to be sentenced to youth detention, an alternative sanction, or a fine, while in the case of a minor offence, an alternative sanction or a fine can be imposed. The new mould in which punishment has been cast makes it possible to offer young offenders some form of supervision and training. On the basis of the new Criminal Code, criminals serving life sentences can now be released after serving 20 years in prison of the Joint Court of Justice considers that prolonging the prison sentence would have no added value, either for the detainee or for society at large. In addition, the new Criminal Code restricts pornography and prohibits child pornography altogether, and has introduced heavier sentences for perpetrators of sexual offences against minors. (Curacao) 25. Where best practices are concerned, reference may be made for the country of Curaçao to the Public Prosecution Service’s consultations with its diverse partners, e.g. in the criminal justice system and social services: namely, officials from the Public Prosecution Service, the police, the probation service, the child protection service, psychiatric care services, and a number of NGOs that perform good work in taking care of victims of violence within relationships or referring them to other services. The success of this cooperative structure stems largely from the excellent communication between those concerned, which makes it possible to take effective, efficient action when specific cases arise. (Curacao) 26. Another example is the Youth Care Team set up in 2009: this is a government-led, multidisciplinary team, which coordinates youth care and youth services. The team does not provide care itself, but makes proposals on the best approach and the best place for care to be given. It also monitors the implementation of its recommendations. (Curacao) 34. The Foreign Relations Department of Aruba has defined the task of informing the public about human rights as a point to be tackled with priority in the short term. Plans exist to give Aruba’s Human Rights Committee and its Children’s Rights Committee a new lease of life. The committees have the task of reporting on the situation regarding human rights conventions as applicable to Aruba, advising the government on its human rights policy, and carrying out a consciousness-raising process on human rights throughout society. (Aruba) 35. Since the UPR in 2008, the Kingdom of the Netherlands has ratified the following international conventions, cited in the recommendations: • The International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance was ratified on 23 March 2011. • The Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment was ratified on 28 September 2010. • The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict was ratified on 24 September 2009. (Netherlands) 37. The Netherlands maintains its position, as previously stated, that it will not accede to International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. On the grounds of its national policy regarding social provision, the Netherlands objects to the section of this convention stating that provision should be equally accessible to migrants who are not lawfully present within the territory of the country of their destination and/or are unlawfully employed there, whereas since their stay is unlawful, such persons pay neither taxes nor the contributions used to fund these services, besides which they are not insured. The Netherlands takes the view that persons who are unlawfully resident and/or employed in this country should not in principle be granted the same socioeconomic rights in the Netherlands as those who are lawfully resident and/or employed there. Exceptions are made for the education of children who are of compulsory school age, assistance in acute medical emergencies, and legal assistance. (Netherlands) 38. In the interim UPR report in 2010, the Kingdom stated that it was considering withdrawing its reservations to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. After studying the matter further, and in view of certain developments relating to the reservation to article 37 (c) of this Convention, it decided not to withdraw the reservations. By letter of 25 June 2011 to the House of Representatives, the State Secretary for Security and Justice discussed the planned introduction of special provisions in the criminal code for adolescents in the age group of 15 to 23. The object of this adolescent criminal code is to make it possible, when imposing a penalty or non-punitive order, to choose an approach that is tailored more closely to the particular developmental stage of the young person concerned, by giving personalised advice and supervision by behavioural experts. The provisions in the criminal code sldo provide for sanctions appropriate to this specific stage of development. Dutch law now provides for the possibility of imposing sanctions from the education-oriented juvenile criminal law on young adults up to the age of 21 (article 77c of the Criminal Code). Thus, it will be possible to impose sanctions from the pedagogically-oriented juvenile criminal law on young adults up to 23 years of age. The possibility of imposing a sanction from the regular criminal law on someone who committed a crime at the age of 16 or 17 years of age will also remain in place under the new system. It will always be particularly the young person’s stage of development that may lead the court to impose a penalty or non-punitive order from the regular criminal law. The government sees this as an important means of preventing any necessity to introduce disproportionally heavier sentences across the board in the mild juvenile criminal law. It is against this background that the Kingdom of the Netherlands has decided to maintain its reservation to article 37 (c) of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. In such cases, the minor concerned will continue to be tried by a children’s judge. The reservation will be discussed at greater length in the Netherlands’ fourth periodic report on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. (Netherlands) 47. In October 2011, the Parliament of Curaçao adopted a country ordinance to amend Book I of the Civil Code, making it possible to establish legal paternity through the courts in cases of children born outside marriage who have not been recognised by their father. This eliminated the unequal treatment that had existed – in matters including inheritance law – between children born outside marriage whose fathers had not recognised them and those who were either born within marriage or whose fathers had recognised them. (Curacao) 48. The ‘Declaration of Paternity’ Ordinance has been passed by the parliament of St Maarten, and is awaiting publication. The ordinance will make it possible for a child, his or her mother, or the Court of Guardianship, on request, to apply for the father’s name to be formally established. Children born out of wedlock will have the same legal status as those born within a marriage. (St Maarten) 49. UNICEF carried out a situation assessment and analysis of women and children in Aruba in 2011. It adopted a human rights approach, along with qualitative and quantitative methods, to conduct this study. Its preliminary findings will be presented to the government and stakeholders in February 2012. The government will then use the final conclusions and recommendations to formulate and evaluate social policies focusing on children, adolescents and women. (Aruba) 55. The government sent a letter outlining its equal opportunities policy for the period 2011-2015 to the House of Representatives, on the basis of a number of lines of action. In the context of the low literacy action plan, extra attention will be paid to tackling poor literacy among women. The Dutch government considers women’s independence and more specifically the dependency of many of the young women who come to the Netherlands in the context of family formation and family reunification an extremely important issue . A lack of language skills and education, combined with ignorance about Dutch institutions, poses risks for these immigrants in terms of equal opportunities and their wider prospects for the future. In this context, the civic integration examination abroad and the new admission requirements for family migrants will help to promote the self-reliance of this group. (Netherlands) 60. In January 2012, CEDEHM launched the pilot project ‘Big Sister Little Sister Mentorship program’. This project collaborates with the children’s helpline Stichting Kindertelefoon and the Catholic educational organisation Stichting Katholieke Onderwijs Aruba. The aim is to provide guidance and support to girls between 10 and 14 years of age who are exposed to risk factors in their immediate surroundings, and encouraging them to stay out of trouble. (Aruba) 81. The Prisma programme was developed to help non-Dutch-speaking children improve their command of Dutch as a foreign language. Local children who have difficulty with Dutch are also allowed to take part in the programme. A separate secondary-school programme offers pupils one year of Dutch, designed to prepare them for regular secondary education. (Aruba) 82. An effort is being made to tackle violence in the domestic circle. This is an umbrella term for various kinds of violence: domestic violence, child abuse, honour-based violence and abuse of the elderly. The key elements of this approach are supporting the victims, a specific approach to tackle the perpetrators, and action designed to break the pattern of violence being passed on from one generation to the next. (Netherlands) 86. A new action plan ‘Children Safe’ is being launched in January 2012. Children are particularly vulnerable in their relationships with those who are raising and taking care of them, and are less capable of standing up for themselves than adults. Recent research reveals that 119,000 children suffered child abuse in 2010. The new action plan presents supplementary measures for the next few years. These measures focus on preventing, identifying and stopping child abuse, and on limiting the damage by giving the children whatever treatment they need. In addition, the new policy highlights the importance of guaranteeing the physical safety of children and tackling sexual abuse. (Netherlands) 87. The Temporary Domestic Exclusion Order Act empowers mayors to impose a temporary domestic exclusion order for up to ten days on perpetrators of domestic violence where there is an acute threat. During this time, assistance programmes are developed for the parties concerned. Thanks to this measure, victims of domestic violence (often women and children) do not need to flee their homes; instead, the person who forms the threat is removed. This strengthens victims and encourages them to change their situation. Domestic exclusion orders are issued quite frequently and, on the whole, professionals working in the field see this option as a positive development. Domestic exclusion orders have a definite added value in tackling domestic violence. (Netherlands) 88. The government of Curaçao is working together with non-governmental organisations (‘the Alliance’) on the island to develop a national plan to stop domestic violence and child abuse. The draft national plan has recently been discussed with parliament. A public debate on the plan involving all relevant stakeholders is scheduled to start in January 2012 . (Curacao) 95. In December 2011 a comprehensive action plan was launched to address the issue of young men, referred to in Dutch by the term ‘loverboys’, who use persuasive techniques to force vulnerable girls into prostitution. The action plan focuses on raising awareness, empowering girls, stepping up action to combat the ‘loverboy’ phenomenon across the board, and improving the system of care and shelter for victims. (Netherlands) 98. The Netherlands cooperates closely with the main source countries of victims of trafficking, such as Nigeria. In response to information received that Nigerian minors were disappearing from refugee centres, a major investigation was launched in October 2006. The investigation established that traffickers were temporarily housing underage Nigerian women in refugee shelters in the Netherlands (by forcing them to claim asylum) in order to take them to Southern Europe and force them to work as prostitutes. Ten other countries were involved in the investigation, which led to 32 arrests and searches in eight countries in November 2007 and a further 51 arrests in Italy in January 2008. (Netherlands) 99. A pilot project on ‘protected reception’ for unaccompanied minor asylum seekers at risk of trafficking was started on 1 January 2008, and last year these protected reception centres became the norm. Potential victims are placed in different small-scale locations, with extra security measures and personnel. (Netherlands) 100. The new Criminal Code of Curaçao that entered into effect in November 2011 makes trafficking in human beings a criminal offence. A public information campaign was conducted to inform the general public about the changes in the new Criminal Code, both in general and specifically in relation to trafficking in human beings. A campaign to alert the general public to the existence of this trade has been going on for several years. Since 2007, Curaçao has had a multidisciplinary working group on the subject, which conducts activities such as organising public information campaigns. In 2009, for instance, a campaign was held to make teenage mothers aware of the dangers of so-called ‘loverboys’; there were lessons at vocational secondary schools (VSBO schools) and television programmes. In 2011 a documentary was broadcast on the subject, and a leaflet on trafficking in human beings was made available to the general public. Since 2008, there has been a Memorandum of Understanding between the justice ministers in the Kingdom of the Netherlands under which they combine their efforts to combat the smuggling and trafficking of human beings. (Curacao) 101. The mandate of the National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings has been expanded to include child pornography. The first report on this issue was published in October 2011. The National Rapporteur concludes that child pornography is almost always a one-on-one situation involving sexual violence against children and cannot be detached from this crime. She recommends developing an integrated approach to sexual violence against children, including child pornography. The Dutch government is working out the details of her recommendations as part of its action plan against child abuse for the period 2012–2016. (Netherlands) 102. In her seventh report on trafficking in human beings, the National Rapporteur again devoted attention to the trafficking of children. The number of underage victims of trafficking fell from 199 in 2007 to 169 in 2008, and to 111 in 2009. (Netherlands) 103. In January 2010 the Minister of Justice launched a child sex tourism awareness campaign ‘Break the silence’ informing Dutch tourists that child sex abuse is a criminal offence, and that they can report suspect situations to a special website (www.meldkindersekstoerisme.nl). The Minister of Justice and the Dutch association for the tourism industry (ANVR) also agreed to cooperate more closely to prevent child sex tourism. Since 2007 the Dutch authorities have organised national action days at Schiphol Airport, during which passengers arriving from source countries of child sex tourism are checked for child pornography. The Netherlands also took part in an international action day in March 2011 coordinated by Europol, together with the UK, Germany and Sweden. (Netherlands) 109. Illegal residence is defined as a minor offence. Providing humanitarian assistance or support to illegal residents is not defined as a criminal offence in the form of complicity. Children who are illegally resident in the Netherlands can continue to attend school, and illegal residents can continue to receive any necessary medical care. Nothing has changed in this respect. The criminalisation of illegal residence is aimed at aliens who are adults. Clearly, minor children, who are subject to their parents’ authority, cannot be criminally liable for their illegal residence. (Netherlands) 112. Objectives such as good citizenship, human rights and children’s rights education are inherent in the attainment targets for primary and secondary education without being explicitly listed as such. Attainment target 47 for secondary education states that pupils should learn to put current global tensions and conflicts in context, and should learn about their repercussions at all levels, the importance of human rights and the significance of international cooperation. Schools are expected to strive towards the attainment targets in educational curricula at all levels. How they do this is the responsibility of the school. To support schools, a curriculum proposal has been developed that incorporates human rights education into a model curriculum for teaching good citizenship. (Netherlands) 115. The government of Aruba is striving to prevent stereotyping and to encourage teaching about equality, in all curricula from nursery level to secondary vocational education. In primary schools they are grouped under ‘movement and health’, in general secondary education they are part of ‘social studies’, and in secondary vocational education they are taught under the heading of ‘personal and social education’. Aruba has developed its own teaching material for each of these courses, so that the content is appropriate to the Aruban context and ties in as closely as possible with the pupils’ perception of their environment. (Aruba) 118. In September 2009, St Maarten started implementing the compulsory education ordinance. Under this legislation, all children residing in St Maarten between the ages of four and eighteen must attend school. The ordinance has introduced a change for the better for undocumented children residing in St Maarten. St Maarten chose to implement the law in stages. Stage 3 is currently in progress. This means that the government must ensure that all children residing in St. Maarten, who are aged from four to twelve years of age and who should be attending school, are in fact given access to formal education. In the next two school years, stages 4 and 5 will be implemented, covering the ages thirteen to fifteen, and sixteen to eighteen, respectively. (St Maarten) 3. The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) recommended that the Netherlands withdraw its reservations to the Convention7 as well as its declaration concerning article 22. 8. CRC appreciated the efforts of the Netherlands to harmonize its national legislation with the Convention . 12. CRC welcomed the draft bill on the creation of a children’s ombudsman within the office of the Netherlands Ombudsman. However, it was concerned that there were no human rights institutions or ombudsmen for the Netherlands Antilles or Aruba. 21. CRC urged the Netherlands to ensure full protection against discrimination, strengthen its awareness-raising and other preventive activities against discrimination and, if necessary, take affirmative action for the benefit of vulnerable groups of children, asylum-seeking and refugee children and children belonging to minority groups. 26. The HR Committee remained concerned at the extent of euthanasia and assisted suicides in the Netherlands, and urged that the legislation be reviewed in the light of the Covenant. CRC recommended that the Netherlands evaluate the regulations and procedures relating to the termination of life on request, in order to ensure that children, including newborn infants with severe abnormalities, enjoy special protection. 27. CRC was concerned that in the Netherlands Antilles, the minimum age of 15 years for the worst forms of child labour was too low. 28. CESCR regretted that corporal punishment was not prohibited in Aruba and urged the Netherlands to introduce a statutory prohibition thereof. CRC made similar recommendations. 29. CRC was concerned about the existence of child sex tourism involving Dutch nationals, and about the lack of an adequate response. 30. The HR Committee noted that medical experimentation involving minors was currently permissible in the Netherlands. It remained concerned that the law did not contain adequate safeguards in relation to medical experimentation requiring the involvement of children. 31. CRC was concerned at the lack of a comprehensive national strategy to prevent trafficking and sexual exploitation, specifically of children. However, it welcomed that the Netherlands provided permanent residency permits to child victims of sale and trafficking and only repatriated victims if repatriation was determined to be in their best interest. 35. CRC recommended that the Netherlands ensure the full implementation of juvenile justice standards; consider reviewing its legislation with the aim of eliminating the possibility of trying children as adults; eliminate life imprisonment sentences for children; and ensure that the deprivation of liberty of juvenile offenders is used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time. 36. CRC recommended that the Netherlands take all necessary measures to prevent cases of illegal adoption. 53. CESCR was concerned that, while education was compulsory for all children, regardless of their legal status, undocumented children opting to enrol in vocational education programmes were not yet able to complete their apprenticeships because of work permit requirements in the Netherlands. 54. CRC recommended that the Netherlands provide support for ethnically diverse schools and networks of cooperation among schools; facilitate enrolment of children with missing or incomplete documents; improve the safety situation at schools experiencing difficulties in that regard; and make sure that human rights and child rights education is included in school curricula at all levels. 55. CRC welcomed the introduction of compulsory education in the Netherlands Antilles and the measures taken to give all children access to school, decrease dropout rates and increase the transition rate to secondary education. 56. CRC recommended that the Netherlands make education compulsory in Aruba and strengthen its efforts to ensure that all children, including immigrant children, attend school. 59. CRC recommended that the Netherlands take all necessary measures to ensure that legislative protection for persons with disabilities, as well as programmes and services for children with disabilities, are effectively implemented; and that early identification and intervention programmes are developed and strengthened. 65. CESCR was concerned at long detention periods for asylum-seekers and unaccompanied minors. It also regretted that undocumented migrants, including families with children, were not entitled to a right to shelter and were rendered homeless after their eviction from reception centres. CERD expressed similar concerns. 66. CRC recommended that the Netherlands further reduce the use of aliens’ detention for families with children and unaccompanied children, strengthen measures to prevent the disappearance of asylum-seeking children, and provide culturally sensitive family services. Summary of Stakeholders' Information 1. NJCM (the Dutch Section of the International Commission of Jurists) welcomed that the Netherlands had ratified CED, OP-CAT and the OP-CRC-AC. 3. Joint Submission (JS) 2 and CoE-Commissioner recommended that the Netherlands withdraw its reservations with respect to CRC . 8. JS2 reported about the appointment of the first Ombudsman for Children by the Parliament in 2011. 15. In JS5, the Equal Treatment Commission stated that the Netherlands had adopted a decentralized approach to counter discrimination and that municipalities had to create an anti-discrimination desk where citizens can lodge complaints about discrimination. It recommended that the Netherlands monitor its decentralized approach to anti- discrimination and evaluate the effects it has on all groups vulnerable to discrimination. AI noted that the Government, with its limited and merely facilitation role that was adopted to counter discrimination, failed to address concerns about discrimination by the authorities, such as ethnic profiling by police and discrimination in the juvenile justice system. In JS5, the Equal Treatment Commission recommended that a coherent and broad plan of action tackling discrimination be put back on the political agenda. AI made a similar recommendation. 28. CoE-Commissioner stated that the persistence of violence against women, including domestic violence remained an area of concern, in particular against the most vulnerable groups, like migrant women. He encouraged the Government to continue to support services for victims of domestic violence to ensure that all victims of violence, including migrant women and children can access them effectively. 29. While noting efforts undertaken by the Netherlands, in JS5, the National Ombudsman of the Netherlands noted that the number of child abuse cases was not decreasing. It recommended that the Netherlands pay more attention to the prevention of child abuse, notably by effectively targeting risk groups. 30. The Global initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children (GIEACPC) reported that, although the prohibition of corporal punishment in all settings had been achieved in the European part of the Kingdom of Netherlands, full prohibition of corporal punishment had not been achieved in Aruba and in Netherlands Antilles. GIEACPC expressed its hope that the Netherlands would be recommended to ensure that legislation be enacted as a matter of urgency to prohibit corporal punishment of children in all settings throughout the Kingdom. 31. Noting that there was no comprehensive strategy to combat child trafficking, NJCM recommended that the Netherlands be urged to improve its strategy to combat child trafficking and child pornography, by means of thorough investigation, education of professionals and the establishment of relief centres. JS2 recommended that the Netherlands ensure adequate care and relief services for children and young people who are victims of sexual exploitation and trafficking. 33. CoE-Commissioner noted that children aged 12 bear criminal responsibility. He recommended that the Netherlands increase the age of criminal responsibility and apply juvenile criminal law to all minors, even in serious offences. In JS5, the Ombudsman for Children mentioned the Government’s intention to adopt a criminal law for adolescents between 15 and 23 years, which will mean that juvenile criminal law, would no longer apply to 16- and 17-year-olds and maximum detention would increase from two to four years for them. 34. NJCM and JS2 stated that the policy concerning youth criminal law focuses on strong punishment of minors, including deprivation of liberty, and mentioned the high percentage of children deprived of liberty being in pre-trial detention. JS2 stated that there are no alternatives for deprivation of liberty for minors. CoE-Commissioner noted with concern the stiffening of the penalties for juveniles over the last years. JS2 recommended inter alia introducing mediation and restorative justice to youth criminal law. CoE- Commissioner urged the Government to ensure that all children in detention have access to the same quality of education as in the regular school system. LOM recommended that the Netherlands be requested to make every effort to prevent discrimination against young people belonging to ethnic minorities in the juvenile justice system. 35. JS2 stated that demand for youth care has increased dramatically in recent years. The Government has invested in signalling problems but not in effective prevention of behavioural or educational risks and easily accessible support for children and parents. Many children and kids wait longer for a proper treatment than acceptable waiting periods. The need for more serious and specialised forms of youth care is growing. JS2 added that the Netherlands was working on a decentralisation of the youth care system which means that the municipalities will become operationally and functionally responsible for all kinds of youth care services. At the same time, the Government was introducing ‘efficiency reductions’ of approximately 9 per cent to the funds available for the youth policies. As a result the central Government will transfer less to the municipalities while the municipalities will have to deal with the costs of a major reorganisation and cutbacks in regular education and special education for children with disabilities. 41. NJCM reported on the persistence of horizontal and vertical segregation in the labour market and on the concentration of women in the lower-paid service sectors. Furthermore, the unemployment rate for women was considerably higher than for men and a substantial pay gap still existed in all sectors. NJCM recommended that the Netherlands ensure that women enjoy equal access to the labour market and equal pay for work of equal value. The Government should also encourage mothers of young children to continue their employment by increasing the options available for full-time and part-time child care benefits and appropriate after-school program. In JS5, the Equal Treatment Commission, while referring to its 2011 survey indicating that women were less paid than men in general hospitals, recommended that Governmental entities, in their capacity of employers, be audited for meeting all legal equal pay standards. 43. JS2 reported that poverty had risen, particularly affecting children, and that more families belonged to the group of the ‘working poor’. JS2 recommended that Netherlands protect children from poverty and social exclusion caused by the financial crisis and cuts in governmental grants. 44. JS4 stated that contraceptives were no longer reimbursed by the basic insurance for people over the age of 21 years since January 2011. It stated that girls belonging to some ethnic groups, young asylum seekers and girls with lower education are more at risk of teenage pregnancies. JS4 stated that a more integrated sexual reproductive health approach in cooperation with the health care workers, public health centres and ethnic minorities can contribute to the prevention of teenage and unplanned pregnancies. 47. NJCM reported that, despite recommendations made by CRC and CERD to combat ethnic segregation in schools, the Government recently declared that it no longer considered combating ethnic segregation in schools a priority issue. LOM referred to ethnic segregation in schools in –mixed’ cities and stated that stated that pupils from ethnic minority groups were disproportionally referred to special education, partly because of behavioral and psychological problems. LOM considered that the discriminatory mechanism which lead to ethnic segregation in education have to be contested. CoE- ACFC encouraged the Government to take further awareness-raising measures to highlight the role of schools in promoting mutual respect and understanding. They should make ethnically mixed classes attractive to parents, including by ensuring a constant quality to the education provided in these schools. 48. NJCM and JS2 indicated that recent budget cuts in public expenditures will severely affect schools for children with special needs (such as handicapped and chronically ill children). 52. JS3 stated that a considerable number of children with disabilities live in institutions. As for persons with mental disabilities, JS3 reported about the lack of formal policies endorsing independent living and about the assumption in financial regulations that care facilities were to be shared through forced group living. JS3 added that, as a result, persons with mental disabilities could not live independently and have limited participation in their communities. 54. JS4 further recommended that the Netherlands ensure that professionals working with people with a disability have adequate knowledge and skills to signal sexual abuse, and to support and treat victims of sexual abuse. JS3 noted that special schools were no longer allowed to refuse pupils with intellectual disabilities on the ground of not being educable or being below a certain developmental level. JS3 referred to reports indicating that a number of children with severe disabilities were exempted from compulsory education and received care in daycare centers, and reported that not many children with intellectual disabilities attended mainstream schools. 59. NJCM stated that the migration authorities do not take into consideration the best interests of children and thus, migrant families with children are strongly affected by the enforcement of the return policy. In JS5, the Ombudsman for Children recommended that the Dutch Immigration Service consider the interests of the child, when an asylum request of the parents is under consideration. The level of a child’s integration in society and the presence of (psychological) damage should be criteria that are used to judge the asylum request. Furthermore, JS2 recommended that the Netherlands ensure that families with children, while their asylum applications are being processed, always have access to child friendly shelters. 68. LOM reported that, since 10 October 2010 new constitutional arrangements existed in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and that the Netherlands was responsible for guaranteeing the human rights situation in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. LOM recommended that the Netherlands be urged to prioritise the situation of children on the islands of Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba, and to actively cooperate with the countries, i.e. Aruba, Curaçao and Saint Maarten, to improve the overall human rights situation. Accepted and Rejected Recommendations The following recommendations were accepted:
Thursday 31 May 2012 - 9.00 a.m. - 12.30 p.m.
A - 98.16. Consider an early ratification of the third Optional Protocol to the CRC on a communication procedure (Slovakia);
A - 98.39. Ensure that existing statutes prohibiting gender discrimination are properly implemented and enforced, and increase through effective implementation and enforcement efforts to address violence against women and children (United States of America);
A - 98.76. Report on the implementation of the 2012-2016 Action Plan against Child Abuse, including sexual violence and child pornography, during the next interim UPR report (Hungary);
A - 98.82. Continue strengthening the functions of the competent institutions and use of adequate mechanisms to more efficiently combat domestic violence, which mainly affects women and children (Chile);
A - 98.84. Seek alternative solutions to deprivation of liberty for minors in particular in order to avoid pre-trial detention of minors, while awaiting judgement (France);
A - 98.92. Take steps to facilitate equal access to the labour market, including by increasing women’s ability to continue as full-time employees following child birth (Norway);
The following recommendations were left pending or no clear position was given:
NC - 98.18. Prohibit corporal punishment in all settings through the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Slovenia);
NC - 98.20. Abolish in its criminal legislation the use of life imprisonment to children (Belarus);
NC - 98.37. Confirm in deed the status of standing invitation to the Special Procedures, in particular by inviting the Special Rapporteurs on the rights of migrant workers, on trafficking in persons, particularly women and children, as well as on the sale of children (Belarus);
NC - 98.38. Take effective legal and practical measures to eliminate all forms of discrimination and violence against women and children, particularly women and children belonging to ethnic and religious minorities, including Muslims who still face multiple forms of discrimination with respect to education, health, employment and social and political participation (Iran (Islamic Republic of));
NC - 98.41. Strengthen its actions against on all forms of discrimination and effectively protect the rights of women, children and immigrants (China);
NC - 98.77. Intensify efforts to prevent and combat cases of exploitation of children related to sexual tourism, including through legal measures that effectively protect child victims of sexual exploitation and prostitution, and to bring the perpetrators of these aberrant practices to justice (Uruguay);
NC - 98.78. Strengthen training of public order officials, social workers and prosecutors on the way to investigate and verify the complaints of sexual exploitation of children, and prosecute the authors of these offenses, taking into account child sensitivity (Uruguay);
NC - 98.79. Adopt practical measures to ensure absolute prohibition of violence against women and cruel treatment of children (Uzbekistan);
NC - 98.81. Adopt immediate measures, including reviewing legislation and developing comprehensive strategies to eradicate trafficking in children, sexual exploitation and involvement of adolescents in prostitution (Belarus);
NC - 98.96. Intensify its efforts to ensure that education, health, employment and social protection programmes are inclusive and not discriminatory. Apply also these measures to all the countries and territories that form the kingdom of the Netherlands (Nicaragua);
NC - 98.98. Establish guidelines for training on human rights in primary and secondary education, with homogenous curricula in all the educational centres (Spain);
NC - 98.99. Facilitate enrolment of children with missing or incomplete documents, improve the safety situation at schools experiencing difficulties in that regard, and include human rights and child rights education in school curricula at all levels (Azerbaijan);
NC - 98.102. Strengthen efforts to promote access of persons with disabilities to education and labour market, their legislative protection, in particular through speeding up approval by the Parliament of the CRPD (Ukraine);
NC - 98.113. Reduce the number of persons in the detention centres for migrants and create alternative measures to detention, especially for families with children or unaccompanied minors (Ecuador);
NC - 98.117. Consider additional measures to ensure that the interests of children are properly taken into account in provisions for asylum seeking families, since they are especially impacted by long delays and uncertainty (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland);
The following recommendations were rejected:
R - 98.12. Withdraw its reservations to the CRC (Iran (Islamic Republic of));
R - 98.13. Reconsider the possibility of lifting reservations to the CRC (Russian Federation);
R - 98.14. Lift its reservations to articles 26 (c), 37 and 40 of the CRC (Uzbekistan);
R - 98.101. Consider reinstituting the Turkish mother tongue lessons as part of the primary and secondary school curricula (Turkey);