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 Yemen. 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.
Non-discrimination: The Committee recommends that the State party ensures that children who are in marginalised and in disadvantaged situations, such as children who are addressed as Al Muhamasheen children, children “born out of wedlock” and children with disabilities have access to basic services.
For more information on the community identified as Al Muhamasheen, see the New York Times 2008 news report.
Survival: The Committee expresses its serious concern at cases of children who have been sentenced to death and executed in the State party. It urges the State party to enforce the prohibition of the implementation of the death penalty against anybody whose age is under 18 and to ensure the revocation of the executions of persons who have been identified as being under 18 years at the time of committing the crime; and ensure the revocation of the decision to execute any other person whose case may arise in the future.
For more information on the death penalty, see CRIN and the International Juvenile Justice Observatory's joint submission to the report of the UN Secretary-General on the moratorium on the use of the death penalty.
Birth registration: The Committee recommends that the State party take appropriate measures to tackle corruption by identifying and sanctioning those responsible for charging illegal birth registration fees and those responsible for counterfeiting birth certificates.
Corporal punishment: The Committee urges the State party to explicitly prohibit in its legislation all forms of corporal punishment.
For more information on corporal punishment, see CRIN's campaign on ending inhuman sentencing.
Harmful practices: The Committee urges the State party to expedite the adoption of the draft amendments which explicitly prohibit and criminalises female genital mutilation and which set the minimum age of marriage at 18 years.
For more information on harmful practices, access CRIN’s page here.
Juvenile justice: The Committee calls for the State party to ensure that all children (boys and girls) between 15-18 years old are removed immediately from prisons for adults and transferred into juvenile care centres.
Asylum seekers and refugees: The Committee recommends the State party establish a mechanism to provide protective measures for unaccompanied children, including the appointment of guardians to assist children with the relevant processes and procedures and that unaccompanied, refugees and asylum-seeking children are not detained because of illegal entry/stay and have the right to seek asylum and to stay in the State party until the end of asylum procedures.
