CRC/C/DEU/CO/3-4
Below is a short summary of some of the key issues from the Committee on the Rights of the Child's 65th session concluding observations for Germany. Read the full text, and you can find other documents related to the Committee's 65th session (including alternative reports submitted by NGOs and the Committee's concluding observations for other States reviewed in this session) on the Committee’s session page.
Birth registration: The Committee urges the State party to ensure that birth registration is available as soon as possible to all children regardless of their parent’s legal status. In doing so, the Committee recommends that the State party exempt registry offices from the obligation to communicate the information to immigration authorities.
Baby boxes: The Committee strongly urges the State party to undertake all measures
necessary to end the practice of anonymous abandonment of children and to strengthen and promote alternatives.
Sexual exploitation and abuse: The Committee urges the State party to provide unrestricted access to counselling services and treatment units for children who are victims of sexual exploitation and abuse. It also calls for the Independent Commissioner for Sexual Abuse to become permanent.
Harmful practices: The Committee calls for the State party to provide training on the prevention of and response to female genital mutilation for all relevant professional groups, in particular doctors, midwives and hospital personnel as well as teachers, social workers, and child helpline counsellors.
For more information on harmful practices, access CRIN’s page here.
Family and alternative care: The Committee is concerned about the practice of placing children with behavioural problems into foster care in other countries of the EU without proper supervision and evaluation. The Committee calls for the State party to revise its policy of placing children in other EU countries.
Disabilities: The Committee recommends that the State party take all necessary efforts to
ensure that families with children with disabilities, who have a migration background,
are provided with sufficient information and assistance regarding access to support.
Mental Health: The Committee is concerned about the increase in prescription of psycho-stimulants to children, the excessive diagnoses of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and the forced removal of children who are diagnosed/misdiagnosed with the disorder. The Committee recommends that the State party ensures that placement of children in foster care or psychiatric hospitals is used as a last resort only and families are provided with access to psychological counselling and emotional support.
For more information on informed consent with specific reference to ADHD, see CRIN’s submission for the 2013 Human Rights Council’s Annual day on the Rights of the Child.
Asylum seeking and migrant children: The Committee urges the State party to ensure that the age assessment procedure applied to asylum-seeking and refugee children is based on scientifically approved methods. It also calls for the State party to ensure that the detention of children is used always as a measure of last resort and for the shortest amount of time.
