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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
Scroll to:
- UN Human Rights Committee
- UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
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UN Committee against Torture
- follow-up - UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
- UN Committee on Migrant Workers
- UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- UN Committee on Enforced Disappearance
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CCPR/CO/84/SYR
Last reported: 18 July 2005
Concluding Observations adopted: 28 July 2005
Statelessness: The Committee has noted the information provided by the State party with regard to the stateless Kurds. The Committee remains concerned at the situation of the large number of Kurds treated as aliens or unregistered persons and the discrimination experienced by them. The Committee reminds the State party that the Covenant is applicable to all individuals subject to its jurisdiction (arts. 2 (1), 24, 26 and 27).
The State party should take urgent steps to remedy the situation of statelessness of Kurds in Syria and to protect and promote the rights of non-citizen Kurds. The Committee further urges the State party to allow Kurdish children born in Syria to acquire Syrian nationality. (Paragraph 19)
Follow up response requested for paragraphs 6,8,9 and 12 by 28 July 2006 – No response info available
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UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
E/C.12/1/Add.63
Last reported: 15 and 16 August 2001 Concluding Observations published: 24 September 2001
Issues raised and recommendations given:
Child labour: The Committee regrets that the State party has not provided sufficient information on the incidence of child labour. Moreover, the Committee is deeply concerned that the minimum working age is too low and that children working in family businesses and the agricultural sector are not protected by the relevant labour legislation. The Committee requests the State party to provide more detailed information and specific statistical data - including comparative data - on the real situation of unemployment and of child labour in the State party and on the measures it has taken to address these problems. The Committee urges the State party to take all effective measures to address the problem of child labour in family enterprises and in the agricultural sector, which runs counter to protection of the rights of the child to health and to education. (Para. 17, 33, 37)
Domestic violence: The Committee expresses its concern about the persistent occurrence of domestic violence against both women and children and the lack of legislation to criminalize such violence. Moreover, the Committee is concerned that there is no law against spousal rape. The Committee strongly recommends that the State party adopt legislation and other measures to combat domestic violence and spousal rape, and vigorously implement such legislation and other measures in order to provide adequate protection for victims of such practices. (Para. 24, 40)
Education: The Committee urges the State party to implement its comprehensive National Education For All Plan, as anticipated by paragraph 16 of the Dakar Framework for Action, taking into account the Committee’s general comments Nos. 11 and 13 on the right to education and general comment No. 1 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. The Committee also urges the State party to ratify the UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education of 1960. (Para. 44)
Traditions and cultural practices: The Committee notes that the prevalence of certain traditions, customs and cultural practices in the State party continues to impede the full enjoyment by women and girls of their rights under the Covenant. (Para. 12)
Gender discrimination: The Committee expresses its concern about the persisting discrimination in the political, social and economic spheres of life against women in Syrian society, which is particularly reflected in limited participation by women in the political and economic decision-making process, a low legal age of marriage for girls, more severe punishment of women for adultery and “honour crimes”, and unequal treatment insofar as personal property and social security laws are concerned. The Committee regrets that the State party has not adopted any significant legislative or administrative measures to eliminate this discrimination, nor ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. (Para. 14)
The Committee strongly recommends that the State party take effective measures to incorporate a gender equality perspective in both legislation and in governmental policies and administrative programmes, with a view to ensuring equality of men and women and addressing in particular the problems of the low legal age of marriage for girls, more severe punishment of women for adultery and “honour crimes”, and the unequal treatment of women insofar as personal, property, succession and social security laws are concerned. The Committee also encourages the State party to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. (Para. 31)
Nomadic peoples: The Committee notes with satisfaction the measures taken by the State party to provide health services and education for nomadic peoples, such as mobile first aid facilities and dispensaries and mobile schools and libraries. (Para. 8)
Forced labour in prisons: The Committee expresses its concern about the practice of forced labour in prisons, especially by minors and those who have been incarcerated for vagrancy and other petty crimes. The Committee recommends that the State party take measures to prohibit the practice of forced labour in prisons, including by minors and those incarcerated for vagrancy and other petty crimes. (Para. 18, 34)
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UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
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UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
CEDAW/C/SYR/CO/1
Last reported: 24 May 2007
Issues raised and recommendations given:
Violence against women and girls: In accordance with its general recommendation 19, the Committee urges the State party to give high priority to putting in place comprehensive measures to address all forms of violence against women and girls, recognising that violence against women is a form of discrimination against women and thus constitutes a violation of their human rights under the Convention. The Committee calls upon the State party to enact, as soon as possible, legislation on violence against women, including domestic violence, so as to ensure tha t violence against women constitutes a criminal offence, that women and girls who are victims of violence have access to immediate means of redress and protection and that perpetrators are prosecuted and punished.
The Committee calls upon the State party to amend, without delay, applicable provisions in the Penal Code to ensure that marital rape is criminalised, that marriage to the victim does not exempt a rapist from punishment, and that perpetrators of honour crimes are not exonerated and do not benefit from any reduction in penalty. The Committee recommends that the State party also implement educational and awareness-raising measures aimed at law enforcement officials, the judiciary, health service providers, social workers, community leaders and the general public, in order to ensure that they understand that all forms of violence against women are unacceptable. The Committee requests the State party to provide information in its next report on the laws and policies in place to deal with violence against women and the impact of such measures. (Paragraph 20)
Trafficking: While welcoming the State party's ratification of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, and noting the preparation of a draft bill on trafficking, the Committee is concerned that the victims of trafficking and exploitation are being treated as criminals and punished for prostitution or sent to reform centres for juvenile delinquents and there are no measures for their rehabilitation. (Paragraph 23)
The Committee urges the State party to fully implement article 6 of the Convention, including by speedily enacting specific and comprehensive national legislation on the phenomenon of trafficking (internal and cross-border) that ensures that offenders are punished and victims adequately protected and assisted. The Committee further calls upon the State party to increase its efforts at international, regional and bilateral cooperation with countries of origin, transit and destination to prevent trafficking through information exchange. The Committee urges the State party to collect and analyse data from the police and international sources, prosecute and punish traffickers, and ensure the protection of the human rights of trafficked women and girls, including by ensuring that such women and girls are not sent to prison or to reform centres for juvenile delinquents. It recommends that the State party take measures for the rehabilitation and social integration of women and girls who are victims of exploitation and trafficking. The Committee further calls on the State party to decriminalise victims of such exploitation and take all appropriate measures to suppress exploitation of prostitution of women, including discouraging the male demand for prostitution. (Paragraph 24)
Stereotypes: The Committee urges the State party to address stereotypical attitudes about the roles and responsibilities of women and men, including the hidden cultural patterns and norms that perpetuate direct and indirect discrimination against women and girls in all areas of their lives. It calls upon the State party to implement and monitor comprehensive measures to bring about change in the widely accepted stereotypical roles of men and women, including by promoting equal sharing of domestic and family responsibilities between women and men. Such measures should include awareness-raising and educational campaigns addressing women and men, girls and boys, of all religious affiliations with a view to eliminating stereotypes associated with traditional gender roles in the family and in society, in accordance with articles 2 (f) and 5 (a) of the Convention. (Paragraph 28)
Health care: While noting the efforts made by the State party to improve reproductive health care for women, the Committee remains concerned about the lack of access to adequate health care of women and girls, particularly in rural areas. The Committee further expresses concern that women in certain parts of the country and belonging to certain social classes require, in practice, the permission of their husbands to access health facilities. (Paragraph 29)
Discrimination: While noting that the State party is in the process of reforming its Personal Status Act to remove discriminatory provisions, the Committee is concerned about the delay in the reform process and about the State party's statement that reform may be undertaken in a piecemeal manner. The Committee is concerned, in particular, about unequal rights of women and men to marriage, divorce, custody and inheritance under the existing laws and about the existence of polygamy and child marriages. (Paragraph 33)
Follow up: No specific issues to follow up. Implement recommendations and show in next periodic report
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CAT/C/SYR/CO/1/Add.2
Last reported: 16 May 2012 Concluding Observations published: 29 June 2012
Issues raised and recommendations given:
Victims of torture and ill-treatment: The Committee expresses its grave concern about the prevalence, continuation and un-rebutted occurrence of violations of the Convention in the State party including: (a) Widespread use of torture and cruel and inhuman treatment of detainees, individuals suspected of having participated in demonstrations, journalists, web bloggers, defectors of security forces, persons wounded or injured, women and children; (c) The extensive reports of sexual violence committed by public officers, including against male detainees and children; (d)The extensive gross violations of children’s rights committed by the Syrian authorities, including the torture and ill-treatment of children, the killing of children during demonstrations and their arbitrary detention.
The Committee reiterates its previous recommendations addressed to the Syrian Arab Republic (CAT/C/SYR/CO/1) following its first periodic report to:(a) Unambiguously reaffirm the absolute nature of the prohibition against torture and immediately cease and publicly condemn widespread and systematic practices of torture, especially by security forces, accompanied by a clear warning that anyone committing such acts, or otherwise complicit or participating in torture will be held personally responsible before the law for such acts and will be subject to criminal prosecution and appropriate penalties, (g)Immediately adopt protective measures for all victims of torture and ill-treatment, including expedite access to medical care; and provide all victims of torture and ill-treatment with redress, including fair and adequate compensation and as full rehabilitation as possible.. (arts. 2, 11, 13 and 16) (Para. 20, 22)
Disappearances: The Committee expresses its grave concern about the: (e) Reports of at least 47 missing children, some as young as 15 years old who may have disappeared since their detention. The Committee urges the State party: (e) as a matter of urgency, investigate every case of reported enforced disappearances and communicate the results of the investigations to the families of missing persons. (arts. 2, 11, 13 and 16) (Para. 20, 22, 23)
Implementation: The Committee urges the State party to: (d)Ensure prompt, impartial and thorough investigations into allegations of summary execution, enforced disappearance, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, by State agents or non-State actors, prosecute those responsible before independent and impartial courts that meet international fair trial standards, and punish them according to the severity of their crimes. Prosecution of members of security forces involved in serious human rights violations and alleged crimes against humanity should comprise investigations up to the highest levels in the chain of command. (Para. 23)
Attacks on civilians: The Committee expresses its grave concern at the: ...(h) Large-scale attacks by security forces against civilians across the country, resulting in numerous summary executions, including the killings of the elderly, women and children trying to flee the attacks on towns and villages; (i)The appalling and tragic events which took place in El-Houleh, on 25 May 2012, in which more than 100 persons, including at least 34 children under the age of 10 were killed as a result of an indiscriminate attack to the village; (n)Widespread practice of arbitrary and unlawful arrest and subsequent unlawful detention of civilians, including the elderly, children and women. (arts. 2 and 16)
The Committee stresses as a matter of urgency, and in view of the extensively documented actions in violation of the Convention that continue unabated, that it is necessary that the Syrian Arab Republic: (b) Put an immediate end to all attacks against its population, especially peaceful demonstrators, women, children and the elderly; ensure that all acts in violation of the Convention are brought to a halt; and cease widespread, gross and continued human rights violations of all persons under its jurisdiction, especially the systematic denial, in some areas, of the basic requirements of human life, such as food, water and medical care. (Para. 23)
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CAT/C/SYR/CO/1
Last reported: 3, 4 May 2010
Concluding Observation adopted: 951st meeting/No Date
Issues raised and recommendations given:
Domestic violence: The Committee is concerned at the absence of information in the report regarding measures taken to combat torture and ill-treatment affecting women and girls, particularly in view of the prevalence of domestic violence and other forms of gender-based violence in the State party. In this respect, the Committee notes with concern that marital rape is not a criminal offence under the law. The Committee is further concerned that the national legislation fails to explicitly criminalise domestic violence or provide adequately for the prosecution of those who perpetrate it, in particular, it is concerned that the definition of rape in article 489 of the Penal Code excludes marital rape, that article 508 of the Penal Code exempts rapists from punishment if they marry their victims, and that article 548 of the Penal Code exonerates perpetrators of "honour" crimes. The Committee also expresses its concern at the lack of data, including statistics on complaints, prosecutions and sentences relating to domestic violence (arts. 1, 2, 4, 12 and 16).
(a) The State party should take immediate action to strengthen its efforts to prevent and combat violence against women and children and to ensure prompt, impartial and effective investigations of such acts, and to prosecute and punish perpetrators. The Committee also urges the State party to take necessary measures to ensure that the legal provisions in national legislation cover the many forms of violations committed against women, including making marital rape a criminal offence;
(b) The State party is encouraged to participate directly in rehabilitation and legal assistance programmes and to conduct broader awareness campaigns for officials (judges, law officers, law enforcement agents and welfare workers) who are in direct contact with the victims;
(c) The State party should provide victims in the process of filing complaints on rape, abuse and other forms of gender-based violence with protection from further abuse;
(d) The State party should also strengthen its efforts in respect of research and data collection on the extent of domestic violence, and it is requested to provide the Committee with statistical data on complaints, prosecutions and sentences in its next periodic report. (Paragraph 27)
Trafficking in persons: While welcoming the ratification by the State party of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women and Children of 1921, the International Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women of Full Age of 1933 and the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others of 1950, the Committee expresses its concern at the general lack of information on the extent of trafficking in the State party, including the number of complaints, investigations, prosecutions and convictions of perpetrators of trafficking, as well as on the concrete measures adopted to prevent and combat such phenomena (arts. 1, 2, 4, 12 and 16).
The Committee recommends the adoption of a specific law against trafficking in persons which determines the crimes and adequate penalties and foresees the adoption of measures to facilitate the rehabilitation and social integration of victims of human trafficking. The State party should increase its efforts to prevent and combat the trafficking of women and children, including by implementing the current laws combating trafficking, providing protection for victims and ensuring their access to medical, social, rehabilitative and legal services, including counselling services, as appropriate. The State party should also create adequate conditions for victims to exercise their right to make complaints, conduct prompt, impartial and effective investigations into all allegations of trafficking and ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice and punished with penalties appropriate to the nature of their crimes. (Paragraph 28)
Conditions of detention: While noting that the Prison Regulation in the Syrian Arab Republic provides for the delivery of health care to prisoners, the Committee is concerned about information received on the deplorable living conditions in places of detention, prison overcrowding, lack of hygiene, insufficient food, health risks and inadequate health care. The Committee is also concerned about the failure of the State party to separate juveniles from adults (arts. 11 and 16).
The State party should take urgent measures to bring the conditions of detention in police stations, prisons and other detention facilities into line with the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, in particular by:
(a) Reducing prison overcrowding, including by considering non-custodial forms of detention, and, in the case of juveniles, by ensuring that detention is only used as a measure of last resort;
(b) Improving the food and the health care provided to detainees;
(c) Improving the conditions of detention for minors, ensuring that they are detained separately from adults;
(d) Strengthening the judicial supervision of conditions of detention.
(Paragraph 30)
Children in detention: While noting the State party's information that juvenile offenders are not given criminal records and are not subjected to capital punishment, the Committee is concerned by the fact that the Juvenile Offenders Act No. 18 applies only to children under the age of 15 (arts. 2, 11 and 16).
The State party should classify all persons under 18 as juveniles in order to extend the protection offered by the Juvenile Offenders Act. (Paragraph 31)
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UN Committee against Torture: Follow up
The Committee requested the State to submit a follow up response to paragraphs 15,24,25 and 35 of the report. No state response has been submitted yet. Amnesty International submitted as response 17th May 2011.
Paragraph 25: Legal Protection of women and crimes committeed in the name of "honour"
At least 16 women, two men and four children under the age of 18 were reported by Syrian human rights organisations to have been victims of crimes committed in the name of "honour" in 2010. 1 The Committee was concerned about the lack of forthcoming information on the legal regime and practice affecting women. In recent years, a number of legislative reforms have been made in relation to women's rights – notably with regard to maternity leave and maternal custody of children. 2 However, despite these reforms, discrimination against women remains entrenched in national legislation. The Personal Status Law of 1953 (Law No. 59/1953, as amended by Law No. 34/1975) governing the majority Muslim population discriminates against women in relation to marriage and its dissolution, inheritance and other matters. Similar concerns relate to laws governing the family affairs of religious minorities, such as the Druze and a number of Christian denominations. ...
... In another welcome legislative change Legislative Decree No. 3 of 2010, introduced on 10 January 2010, prohibits trafficking in persons, criminalises its perpetrators, and establishes a system of care for those subjected to trafficking. Main victims of trafficking include, according to Amnesty International's information, migrant domestic workers and Iraqi girls and women forced into sex work.
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UN Committee on Migrant Workers
CMW/C/SYR/CO/1
Last reported: 15, 16 April 2008
Concluding Observation adopted: 24 April 2008
Trafficking: The Committee notes that the State party has signed, but not ratified 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, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.
In the light of the importance of the Protocols to the effective implementation of the provisions of the Convention, including those contained in article 68, the Committee recommends that the State party proceed to ratify the Protocols as soon as possible. (Paragraphs 15 and 16)
While noting the increasing attention paid by the State party to the phenomenon of human trafficking, as evidenced by the recent holding of a series of workshops in Damascus on the subject of migration and trafficking, the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) concerning the running of a shelter for victims of human trafficking in the Syrian Arab Republic as well as the elaboration of a draft law to combat trafficking in persons, the Committee is concerned that no specific anti-trafficking legislation has been adopted so far.
In the light of the provisions of article 68 of the Convention concerning the trafficking and smuggling of persons, the Committee urges the State party:
(a) To adopt the draft law on trafficking in persons; and
(b) To step up its efforts to counter migrant-smuggling and trafficking in persons, especially women and children, including by taking appropriate steps to detect the illegal or clandestine movements of migrant workers and their families and punish the criminals and/or groups who orchestrate or assist such movements.
(Paragraphs 39 and 40)
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UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
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UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances
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