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Summary: This report extracts mentions of children's rights issues in the reports of the UN Special Procedures. This does not include reports of child specific Special Procedures, such as the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, which are available as separate reports.
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Please note that the language may have been edited in places for the purpose of clarity.
Reports:
- UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers
- Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent
- UN Special Report on human rights and extreme poverty
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Gabriela Knaul
A/HRC/29/26/Add.4
Report published: June 29 2005
Country visit: 27 January – 3 February 2015
Violence victims: Obstacles to accessing justice can have a particularly harmful impact on sectors of the population particularly vulnerable to violence, such as persons in detention, women, children and elderly people. (para 65).
Domestic violence was acknowledged by authorities and civil society as a great concern in Portugal. Concerns were expressed about the response of the justice system to violent incidents affecting children, women and the elderly. The Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Committee against Torture and the Human Rights Committee have recently recommended that the Government invest in the effective investigation and prosecution of cases of domestic violence (para 68).
Despite these initiatives, various concerns about the impact of violence and the alleged lack of adequate responses to victims in some cases were also reported to the Special Rapporteur. The Portuguese Association for the Protection of Victims noted that responses to violence against children are also frequently inadequate. Accordingly, children’s involvement in judicial proceedings is often a source of secondary victimization, mostly owing to repeated questioning. It further noted the limited use of protection orders and foster-care alternatives. Lastly, it indicated that the entities specialized in child welfare, the Child and Young Persons Protection Commissions, were overloaded, as various institutions tended to systematically refer their cases to them (para 70).
In a recent and detailed study on court rulings regarding domestic violence, the limited capacity of prosecutors and judges in processing and sharing data on situations of domestic violence, the particular invisibility of violence against the elderly, children or persons with disabilities, the lack of attention given to the victims’ needs and the excessive focus on their testimony in the processing of cases, which could lead to their frustration and re-victimization, were underscored, among other issues. In the same report, the urgency of investing in the capacity of judges and prosecutors was emphasized, in order to ensure not only a good understanding of the relevant national and international norms but also the social problems surrounding their implementation (para 71).
The Special Rapporteur recommends that judges, prosecutors and lawyers must continue to receive adequate training in order to better respond to domestic violence cases. Judicial proceedings must be carefully revised in order to prevent the re-victimization of victims. Investments can also be made in raising awareness of the existing mechanisms to report domestic violence, of the impact of all forms of violence, including gender-based violence, on society and of the existence of violence against children, persons with disabilities and the elderly (para 86).
Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent
A/HRC/21/60/Add.1
Country visit: 16-20 May 2011
Report published: 13 August 2012
Legal background: Portugal has demonstrated its commitment to combating racism and discrimination by signing and ratifying a series of international conventions that deal with racism and discrimination among which the Convention on the Rights of the Child (para 9).
The Working Group recommends that Portugal ensure that the rights of children of African descent are respected and protected in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, including the rights to education, citizenship and full recognition by the State (para 77).
Access to education: In the area of education, children from certain immigrant groups, in particular Africans, still have lower levels of education than Portuguese pupils and are less likely to continue their education. Difficulties with the language of instruction and a lack of accompaniment in the educational process are part of the problem, leading to structural discrimination. While there are several programmes specifically directed at supporting the social inclusion of children and youngsters within vulnerable social and economic contexts, particularly children of immigrants and ethnic minorities, the integration process of immigrants is aimed more specifically at recently arrived immigrants, overlooking slightly those who arrived longer ago and for whom no special integration measures were available at the time (para 7).
The Working Group was told by non-governmental organizations that access to education was often a problem for people of African descent due to difficulties with the language of instruction, a lack of accompaniment in the educational process and problems in the home environment. This leads to structural discrimination whereby the lack of successful education outcomes for students of African descent in turn leads to a lack of employment opportunities, a lower income and a compromised environment for their children. While there were no programmes in schools to promote non-discrimination, the Working Group learnt, however, that in those schools with a large proportion of students of African descent, the curriculum is sometimes modified to make it more culturally appropriate (para 30).
In a meeting with non-governmental organizations, the Working Group was told that school textbooks did not include the contributions of people of African descent in the development of Portugal. The contributions to Portugal of former colonies are not reflected in school texts and children of African descent are not taught to be proud of their heritage and background. Another deficiency is the lack of bilingual teaching programmes. One reason for such shortcomings, it was explained, is that the Afro-descendant community is not involved in the design of the school curriculum. It was also noted that there are very few teachers of African descent (para 31).
A representative of a non-governmental organization informed the Working Group that, as many adults of African descent were illiterate manual labourers, their children quickly become more educated than them and there is a transfer of authority from the adult to the child. This has adverse social and psychological effects upon the family (para 32).
The Working Group recommends that Portugal develops school curriculums, texts and programmes which reflect the rich heritage and positive contribution of people of African descent in Portugal, and include an accurate version of Portugal’s colonial past in classrooms (para 77).
Access to health care: It was explained to the Working Group that youth pregnancy was a big problem for many migrant communities, including people of African descent and that more needed to be done to educate migrant teenagers on avoiding unwanted pregnancy. (para 36).
Integration policies: One of the programmes implemented by ACIDI is specifically directed at supporting the social inclusion of children and youngsters within vulnerable social and economic contexts, particularly children of immigrants and ethnic minorities and is called “Choices”. It was created, inter alia, to address the physical isolation, language problems and other challenges that the children of immigrants faced. The Choices programme currently supports 132 other programmes in 71 municipalities throughout the country. Under the Choices programme, projects compete for funding according to set criteria. Civil society organizations that wish to benefit from Choices funding may select from an à la carte menu of projects that can be implemented by them or present their own project. The most common implementers of Choices programmes are schools and there were 170 schools benefiting from such funding when the members visited the country. The Choices programme includes projects on vocational training, civic and community participation, computer literacy, entrepreneurship and empowerment and most beneficiaries are between 14 and 18 years old (para 51).
In a meeting with ACIDI the Working Group was informed that the Choices programme for the social inclusion of migrant youths and children was based upon interculturalism rather than multiculturalism, as the latter ends in stereotyping and tokenism. Interculturalism offers young people the choice of the best aspects of both mainstream Portuguese culture and their culture of origin, placing an emphasis on what they share rather than what differences may exist (para 55).
The Working Group was taken to visit a project funded by the Choices programme in the neighbourhood of Almada. The project, a youth drop-in centre, had a computer room and lounge area and was run by a charitable organization. The centre is open to all the youths from 12 to 18 years old of the local area, which has a large Afro-descendant population. The programmes that the centre offers are in the areas of social inclusion, computer skills, dancing, football and entrepreneurship. The members were told that 1,500 people use the centre every month. Some of the major problems among the youths of the neighbourhood are those of unemployment, teenage pregnancies, lack of documentation, petty crime and school dropout rates. The centre intercedes with schools on behalf of troubled students when there are problems and implements a special class in schools for children at risk of dropping out. As well as the projects already mentioned, the centre tries to address these issues using positive role models from among 18 to 24 year olds (para 56).
Problems of women: A problem that women of African descent face in Portugal that also occurred in other countries is that they are forced to work several jobs at the same time in order to support their families as single mothers. This results in their spending little time with their children and often leads to youth behavioural problems such as involvement in gangs and petty crime (para 62).
Report Published 29 January 1999
The Working Group urged the Government of Portugal to collect detailed and reliable information on the situation of people of African descent in the country. In their view, the absence of such data has tended to hamper the recognition of discrimination against this population group and what form it may take.
UN Special Report on human rights and extreme poverty
Report rublished 29 January 1999
A. International standards
The right to an adequate standard of living, ensuring freedom from want, is an integral and inalienable human right affirmed in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, article 25 of which stipulates that
"1. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
"2. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection". (Paragraph 8)
Instruments to fight poverty. The independent expert visited Portugal on 29 and 30 October 1998. Of all European countries, it is Portugal that has most recently tried to enact a range of instruments to combat poverty; these include the Act of 29 June 1996, introducing a guaranteed minimum income of 23,000 escudos per month, and targeting in particular women and children (who comprise 43 per cent of its beneficiaries). (Paragraph 97)
Recommendations:
The human rights education components developed by UNHCHR for the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education should be supplemented by materials suitable for extremely poor groups. Emphasis should be placed on the right to reject socially exclusive or racist behaviour on the right to food, to housing, to education and to health, and women's right to reject violence.