Submitted by Robin on
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.
Please note that the language may have been edited in places for the purpose of clarity.
Child Marriage
Gender stereotyping in Curricula
Child Labour/Minimum age for work
Health: Infant mortality, Teenage Pregnancy and Abortions
Corporal punishment
CEDAW Committee (Concluding Observations, 2002)
157. The Committee is concerned that child marriages are sanctioned under several of the legal regimes regulating marriage. The Committee notes that such marriages are prohibited by article 16, paragraph 2, of the Convention, and that such marriages have serious consequences for girls, including with regard to health. The Committee is concerned about the high rate of teenage pregnancy and its consequences for girls’ enjoyment of the rights guaranteed by the Convention, in particular in the sphere of education.
158. The Committee urges the State party to ensure that all its minimum age of
marriage laws and other programmes to prevent early marriage are in line with the
obligations of the Convention. The Committee also recommends that Trinidad and Tobago introduce appropriate policies and programmes for sex education and family planning education.
Gender stereotyping in Curricula
CEDAW Committee (Concluding Observations, 2002)
151. The Committee ... is also concerned about the consequences of gender stereotyping in curricula and the impact of the fact that girls take traditional “female” courses and boys traditional “male” courses on women’s employment options and income.
152. The Committee ... urges the State party to implement curriculum reform and the revision of textbooks in order to combat traditional attitudes towards women and to help to create an enabling environment for women’s presence in high-level and well-paid positions.
Child Labour/Minimum age for work
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Concluding Observations,
June 2002)
19.The Committee is deeply concerned that the minimum age for work, which is too low, in certain cases as low as 12 years, leaves children more vulnerable to exploitation and prejudices their right to education.
21.The Committee is concerned about the high rate of child labour. In this respect, the Committee notes with concern that the State party has not ratified ILO Convention No.182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour.
42.The Committee urges the State party to review and harmonize legislation on the minimum working age and to implement measures to provide children with sufficient legal protection. In this regard, the Committee recommends that the State party ratify ILO Convention No. 138 concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment.
44.The Committee urges the State party to take effective legislative and other measures in order to address child labour. In this regard, the Committee recommends that the State party ratify ILO Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour.
Health: Infant mortality, Teenage Pregnancy and Abortions
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Concluding Observations, June 2002)
25.The Committee notes that the State party, in answering questions about specific
programmes devoted to reducing and preventing infant mortality and maternal mortality, as well as teenage pregnancies and back-street abortions, did not provide disaggregated data on a comparative basis which would put the Committee in the position to ask focused questions as to how the delineated health programmes have actually been put into practice.
48.The Committee recommends that the State party, in its next periodic report, provide more detailed statistics on a disaggregated and comparative basis concerning specific health programmes devoted to reducing and preventing infant mortality and maternal mortality, as well as teenage pregnancies and back-street abortions. The State party is invited to set benchmarks in this area which might form the basis of the dialogue with the Committee during the next periodic review.
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Concluding Observations, June 2002)
29. While the Committee welcomes the abolition of corporal punishment in schools, it is concerned at the continued resort to corporal punishment at home...
52. The Committee calls on the State party to prohibit effectively the use of corporal punishment in all areas of life.