Submitted by ssaliba on
Oman - Twenty Third Session - 2015
Scroll to:
National Report
Compilation of UN Information
Stakeholder Information
Accepted and Rejected Recomendation
National Report
B. National legislation
22. The Children’s Act was promulgated under Royal Decree No. 22/2014. The Act ensures that children in Oman are able to exercise all their rights in a manner consistent with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, its two Optional Protocols and other relevant legislation.
IV. Government departments and official institutions concerned with human rights
The Ministry of the Interior
The Omani Nationality Act, promulgated under Royal Decree No. 38/2014
29. The Omani Nationality Act No. 38/2014 was enacted pursuant to the international treaties to which Oman is a party and in token of the country’s commitment to promote human rights. The Act contains a number of new provisions which, as far as possible, closed loopholes which had previously exposed certain persons to the risk of statelessness. Those provisions are contained in article 11, paragraph 3, of the Act under which Omani citizenship is granted to the children — whether born in Oman or abroad — of a foreign woman married to an Omani man even if the latter has lost his citizenship.
31. Article 18 of the Act allows Omani citizenship to be granted to a minor child of an Omani woman married to a foreign man who is still alive but has left and abandoned her, or of an Omani woman who is widowed or divorced from a foreign man. Under this provision such children are able to receive Omani citizenship and all its associated rights.
The Ministry of Social Development
44. The Ministry of Social Development has made respect for human rights one of the main components of its policies and programmes. It is endeavouring to introduce human rights principles, especially as they relate to children, women and persons with disabilities, into its quinquennial and annual development plans and is monitoring the implementation of treaties in this regard.
45. Working alongside other human rights and development institutions in Oman, the Ministry’s first concern is to ensure that certain social groups, namely children, women, persons with disabilities, young people and the elderly, enjoy social protection. To this end, its programmes and projects are geared to meet the needs of those groups and ensure that they are able to exercise their rights.
Mechanisms and programmes
46. The Directorate General for Persons with Disabilities was established under Royal Decree No. 18/2014, while the Family Protection Department was set up under Ministerial Decree No. 330/2012. The latter operates the Dar al-Wifaq centre which is a shelter offering protection and assistance to women and children who are victims of violence or human trafficking. The Department for the Elderly was created under Ministerial Decree No. 15/2015. The Ministry has also established a number of other care institutions:...
- The Child Welfare Centre...
- Guidance and reform facilities for juvenile delinquents...
47. The Ministry has organized conferences and seminars on the rights of specific categories of persons, such as women and children, and has begun to prepare a number of strategies including the following:...
- A draft national strategy for children 2016-2025...
48. The Ministry has issued a series of laws and decrees to protect certain categories of persons the care of whom falls within its jurisdiction, as illustrated by the following:
- The Children’s Act, issued under Royal Decree No. 22/2014;; Ministerial Decree No. 212/2012 establishing regulations for kindergartens;;
Decree No. 21/2011 of the Minister of Social Development setting forth rules and procedures to combat the phenomenon of mendicancy;;
Ministerial Decree No. 72/2014 establishing regulations for social assistance benefits;;
Ministerial Decree No. 228/2013 regulating the Dar al-Aman shelter;; Ministerial Decree No. 235/2014 regulating the provision of compensatory and assistive devices.
49. The Ministry has set up various programmes to improve the situation of families, women and children. They include:
- A financial assistance programme for elderly persons, persons with disabilities, orphans and widows, pursuant to the Social Security Act;;
- A social protection programme for families, including family and marital counselling and guidance hotlines;;
- A legal awareness-raising programme for women;;
The Ministry of Education
51. Oman has conducted a pioneering experiment in the field of human rights education, culminating in the promulgation of Royal Decree No. 22/2014 under which education is both compulsory and free. Measures have been taken to implement the Arab Plan for Human Rights Education 2009-2014 which seeks, inter alia, to incorporate human rights concepts into academic curricula, provide human rights training for teaching staff, propagate a human rights culture and encourage civil society to participate in the dissemination thereof.
Children with disabilities
52. Pursuant to Royal Decree 121/2008, the Ministry of Education is endeavouring to protect the interests of persons with disabilities and, in particular, to ensure that all children in Oman enjoy equal educational opportunities without discrimination. This programme was expanded to include 627 schools in the academic year 2013/14. A programme to integrate persons with mental and hearing disabilities in b asic education schools has also been developed and, in the academic year 2013/14, it covered 182 schools and 1,390 pupils. A programme to treat speech and communication disorders, which began in only one school in the academic year 2004/05, was extended to all educational districts in the academic year 2010/11 and, in the academic year 2013/14, it covered a total of 72 schools and 648 pupils under the supervision of 31 school inspectors.
53. The Ministry is seeking to ensure that these students, like their peers, continue their studies up to the level of the general certificate of education. They are then enrolled in the Ministry of Higher Education’s standard admission programme and assigned to academic programmes appropriate to each category, depending on the conditions and grades required. Students with visual and hearing impairments are admitted to university-level education in the Sultan Qaboos University as well as in various private universities in Oman such as the Gulf College. A number of deaf students who graduated in the academic year 2013/14 were sent to complete their higher education in the United States of America and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Following graduation, deaf students have been enrolled in administrative and vocational training institutes.
Compulsory education
54. In view of the vital importance of education and its status as a human right, article 36 of the Children’s Act promulgated by Royal Decree No. 22/2014 makes education compulsory up to the completion of the basic level. The children’s guardians are responsible for their enrolment and for ensuring their regular attendance at school. Statistics show that the average net enrolment rate for the academic year 2012/13 was 98.2 per cent in State schools for grades 1 to 6, while the average net enrolment rate in the educational system for grades 7 to 9 was 95.5 per cent in the same academic year.
55. The Ministry of Education runs adult education centres in which persons who have spent three years in the illiteracy eradication programme or who dropped out of regular education but know how to read and write can complete grades 7 to 12. It has been noted that the majority of the students at those centres are women. The illiteracy rate in Oman amounted to 9.18 per cent in 2013.
Human rights education
56. A number of good practices have been observed in the field of human rights education at all levels. Those practices include the following.
57. Oman has incorporated the concepts of human rights and the rights of the child into the national academic curricula at all stages of education. A draft “charter” for the inclusion of these concepts in the curricula was adopted and teaching staff have been trained in its implementation. A number of officials have been enrolled in internal and external human rights training courses in order to acquire new skills and precise knowledge on human rights education, especially in regard to child development and protection.
58. Developers of curricula on all subjects have been trained as part of an integrated plan to train teachers and school inspectors in the use of the charter for the inclusion of the concepts of human rights and the rights of the child in school curricula. That training is supplemented by brochures and training packages to help teachers to apply those concepts and values and organize educational activities to instil them in their students. The self-learning process is also facilitated by workshops, written materials, images, drawings and classroom and extramural activities on children’s rights.
The Ministry of Higher Education
64. Student delegations from a number of countries around the world have participated in activities at higher educational institutions. In recent years, delegations have been welcomed from, inter alia, Taylor’s University in Malaysia, the University of Pennsylvania and the People’s Friendship University of Russia.
68. The Omani Programme for Cultural and Scientific Cooperation is effectively a system of grants accorded by higher educational institutions to Arab and non-Arab students. Between the academic years 2011/12 and 2014/15, a total of 52 grants were disbursed, including 14 by the Sultan Qaboos University, 11 by colleges of applied sciences, 20 by technical colleges, 5 by the College of Banking and Financial Studies and 2 by the Sharia College.
69. In accordance with Ministerial Decree 71/2014, a guide for student advisory councils was introduced in the academic year 2014/15 and is due to come into effect as of the academic year 2015/16. It is seen as a way to ensure democracy among students in higher educational institutions.
V. National mechanisms for the promotion and protection of human rights
Formulation of a national strategy to disseminate a culture of human rights
80. One of the functions of the National Human Rights Commission is to draw up an annual national plan for human rights education and awareness -raising. To that end, the Commission has undertaken a number of field visits to educational institutions and youth centres, including the following:
- Various Omani universities, youth centres and UNICEF;
- A delegation was received from the Asia-Pacific Forum to evaluate the
Commission’s performance;;
- Summer camps.
Working group for the preparation of the report submitted by Oman under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
83. Oman acceded to the Convention in 2002 pursuant to Royal Decree No. 87/2002. Notice of ratification was published in the Official Gazette on 26 October 2002 and the Convention thereby entered into force as part of the national corpus juris pursuant to article 76 of the Basic Law of the State. The provisions of t he Convention have been examined in a number of seminars and workshops by various bodies in Oman and the country presented its second to fifth periodic reports (2006 to 2012) in a single document.
84. Maternity and childhood: As part of its efforts to protect children, the Ministry of Social Development in cooperation with partners such as the Ministries of Health and of Education and with the support of UNICEF and the participation of civil society organizations, has prepared two separate strategies, one for children and one for women, which focus on developing policies and programmes in that regard.
The Oman Charitable Organization
89. The Organization has launched seven national programmes. One focuses on the care of orphans and grants a basic monthly allowance, as well as another allowance on special occasions, to an estimated 2,400 orphans. The other programmes focus on providing care for families, cash assistance, medical treatment, education, food and housing.
VII. National policies and strategies National strategies
93. These strategies are based on a number of general principles. The main priority is to ensure that citizens enjoy a decent standard of living by improving education and health-care systems, with emphasis on social development and the enhancement of governmental services. They include:
- The Omani Health Vision 2050 rests on the framework approach of the World Health Organization and its six main building blocks: leadership/governance, financing, health workforce, service delivery, information and medical products, vaccinations and technology;;
- The 2008-2016 national plan to combat human trafficking;
- The 2016-2025 national strategy for childhood...
VIII. Voluntary pledges and recommendations accepted during the first universal periodic review in 2011
Promotion of the role of women (empowerment)
99. Oman has been successful in increasing the proportion of girls in schools to 50 per cent, while 55 per cent of university students are female. According to the statistics for 2012, women constitute 43 per cent of the workforce in the public sector and 20.3 per cent in the private sector.
100. In the political sphere, women have the right to vote and be elected to the Omani parliament — which is made up of two chambers, the Consultative Council and the State Council — and to municipal councils. Three women currently hold ministerial rank, two of whom have a minister’s portfolio, while in the diplomatic service three women hold ambassadorial posts. Under Royal Decree No. 125/2008, women have the right to receive government land grants on a par with men. Women also have the right to obtain a passport with having to seek the permission of their husbands. The Labour Code protects women from arbitrary dismissal in case of illness, pregnancy or childbirth and gives them the right to 50 days of paid maternity leave and up to one year of unpaid maternity leave.
Achievements and best practices
Principal educational indicators
109. - Illiteracy eradication programmes and educational policies in Oman led to a drop in the illiteracy rate to 9 per cent in persons between the ages of 15 and 79 in 2013;;
- Educational outcomes have shown that there is no quality gap in school education between males and females, reflecting the belief that education is a universal right for men and women alike;;
- Oman has encouraged its citizens to enrol their children in school education, which is provided free of charge. As a consequence, the net enrolment rate in primary education has reached 98 per cent;;
- Oman has a good student-teacher ratio, with 10 students per teacher.
Principal health-care indicators
111. One hundred per cent of children under the age of 1 were vaccinated in 2012, as part of the efforts to improve children’s health and minimize the dangers of infectious diseases in the future.
Capacity-building
115. In recent years the Ministry of Civil Service has been implementing a distance learning (computer-based training) programme to build human capacity in Oman, and a regulatory structure has been created in that regard. It is hoped that this form of training will lead to an increase in the number of trainees, save time and costs and enable officials to undergo training without having to interrupt their work. In 2013, the Ministry of Civil Service, in partnership with a number of specialized foreign institutions, implemented programmes for more than 90 participants, all of whom were supervisors in government offices. The aim was to improve performance, train middle management and study other successful administrative and capacity-building experiences and practices in such areas as the training of government administrators, strategic planning, performance evaluation, human resource development and the improvement of government services. Officials in Oman have been trained to deal with cases involving human rights, human trafficking and violations of the rights of women and children. Police, public security and judicial officials all receive training on ways to treat prisoners and differentiate between accused and convicted persons...
Challenges and priorities
120. Oman is evaluating its strategies in regard to women and children. It is taking steps to combat human trafficking while re-evaluating and examining the extent to which strategies have been successful in attaining their goals. It is also compiling a statistical database on all aspects of its human rights practices.
Compilation of UN Information
C. Right to marriage and family life
23. The Committee was concerned that, despite the legal prohibition, marriage of girls under the age of 18 was still widely practised and was accepted by Omani custom.
24. The Committee was deeply concerned that women and men did not enjoy equal rights to nationality, as Omani women were legally unable to transfer their nationality to their children if the father was a non-national. It reiterated that this situation constituted discrimination against Omani women in the area of nationality and citizenship rights. It was also concerned about discrimination against women with regard to naturalization of their foreign spouses under Omani law. The Committee called upon Oman to amend its domestic laws to grant Omani women equal rights with men with regard to transmission of their nationality to their children and to their foreign husbands. UNHCR made a similar recommendation.
D. Freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, and right to participate in public and political life
27. His concerns were heightened by reports from non-governmental organizations and the media about an unprecedented use of force and mass arrests of peaceful protestors who had gathered in Muscat and Sohar in January and February 2011 to demand, inter alia, better working conditions, higher standards of education, the end of corruption and economic and political reforms. Furthermore, reports indicated that a massive peaceful protest had been violently dispersed by the police in Sohar in April 2011.
E. Right to work and to just and favourable conditions of work
35. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women noted with concern the very low participation of women in the labour force (11 per cent); and that working women were concentrated in the education and health sectors, indicating a gender- based segregation of the labour force. It urged Oman to (a) guarantee equal application of all labour laws to women and men and ensure equal remuneration for work of equal value; (b) promote a balance between family and employment responsibilities; and (c) regulate paid maternity leave for all working women, including migrant women and those in domestic service.
F. Right to health
37. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women noted the decline in the infant mortality and maternal mortality rates and the improvement in prenatal and birth care standards.
G. Right to education
39. While commending the high levels of women’s and girls’ enrolment throughout the education system, and the advances in fighting illiteracy, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women was concerned at the lack of compulsory free education for all. It recommended that Oman make education compulsory and free for all, continue its efforts to ensure equal access to education for women and girls, and ensure that girls gain optimal benefit from career and vocational programmes.
40. In 2011, the ILO Committee of Experts requested that Oman take the measures necessary to raise the minimum age for admission to employment from 15 to 16 years, in order to link that age with the age of completion of schooling, in conformity with article 2 (3) of the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138). Moreover, the Committee recalled that compulsory education was one of the most effective means of combating child labour and requested Oman to continue to provide information in the future on any measures envisaged on that subject.
41. UNESCO referred to recommendations on the right to education accepted by Oman during its first universal periodic review73 and stated that Oman had adopted various programmes to improve access to quality education, through several development plans and national plans and through the National Strategy for Childhood. However, according to UNESCO, no sufficient measures had been taken to address persisting discrimination, especially against women. In addition, no further measures, including human rights education in training programmes and curricula, especially for Omani military and police officers, had been taken.
42. UNESCO recommended that Oman be encouraged to continue to submit State reports for the periodic consultations of the education-related standard-setting instruments of UNESCO; to provide further human rights education, especially for its military and police officers; and to further promote education for all, especially by continuing to implement programmes to ban discrimination against women.
H. Persons with disabilities
43. UNESCO indicated that Oman had strived to make education more inclusive by adopting the National Strategy for the Disabled. It recommended that Oman could be encouraged to further its policy to improve access by persons with disabilities to education.
Stakeholder Information
C. Implementation of international human rights obligations, taking into account applicable international humanitarian law
1. Equality and non-discrimination
10. HRW referred to recommendation accepted by Oman during its first UPR in 2011 to “take additional measures to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women and promote the status of women and their participation in all State institutions.” It indicated that while Article 17 of the Basic Law stated that all citizens were equal and prohibited gender-based discrimination, women however continued to face discrimination in law and practice, in relation to divorce, inheritance, child custody and legal guardianship of children.16 Society for threatened Peoples (STP) expressed similar concern.17 HRW added that the authorities had taken some steps to tackle discrimination against women but some of the changes did not go far enough.
11. HRW recommended that Oman end discrimination in law and practice against women and girls in accordance with CEDAW.
2. Right to life, liberty and security of the person
17. Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children (GIEACPC) stated that in Oman, corporal punishment of children was lawful, despite repeated recommendations to prohibit it by the Committee on the Rights of the Child. GIEACPC noted that no specific recommendation to prohibit corporal punishment was made during the first UPR of Oman in 2011, but the country accepted recommendations to strengthen domestic legislation in light of international human rights standards, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child under which States parties have an obligation to enact legislation to prohibit corporal punishment.29 GIEACPC hoped that Oman will receive during its second review in 2015 a specific recommendation requesting that legislation be adopted to clearly prohibit all corporal punishment of children in all settings, including the home.30
6. Freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, and right to participate in public and political life
26. As regards freedom of association, Alkarama indicated that the Constitution established the right to form associations, but limited this to those having “legitimate objectives”; activities considered “contrary to social order” were thus prohibited. FLD stated that the law defined five thematic areas in which associations were permitted to work, namely: orphans care, maternal and child care, women services, elderly care, and care for people with disabilities. The law prohibited associations from engaging with politics, according to FLD. Alkarama added that the law forbade associations from having relations with foreign countries, providing assistance to others associations, or organising festivities without prior permission from the administration. The Ministry of Social Development which monitored associations might oppose the establishment of an association if it believed that “Omani society did not need it, if there was a similar association, or the object stated in the articles of association was contrary to the interest of national security or for any other reason that the Minister considered relevant”, and such refusal could not be challenged by judicial proceedings, according to Alkarama.
8. Persons with disabilities
34. Concerning the integration of children with special needs into national educational system, the NHRCO advised that educational teams, specialized staff and qualified facilities should be put in place in order to ensure that disabled children with special needs enjoy their full educational rights according to international standards.
Accepted and Rejected Recomendation
Not currently avaiable in English