COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD CONCLUDES DISCUSSION WITH DELEGATION FROM MONACO

CRC
27th session
6 June 2001
Afternoon




Expert Recommends Equal Age for Marriage for Boys and Girls


The Committee on the Rights of the Child this afternoon concluded its consideration of an initial report of Monaco on how that country implements the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In preliminary remarks, a Committee Expert said that the concluding recommendations would contain regret concerning the absence of a global policy on children based on the provisions of the Convention in Monaco. They would stress the necessity to amend certain aspects of legislation in order to bring them in line with the Convention, and would encourage the establishment of a mechanism of data collection.

Monaco should speed up it ratification process of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Expert said. The minimum age for marriage for both boys and girls should be fixed at 18 years of age; Monaco should ratify International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions relating to child labour; and corporal punishment should explicitly be prohibited in schools and in the family, the Expert added.

Formal, written concluding observations and recommendations on the report of Monaco will be released at the end of the Committee's three-week session which ends on Friday, 8 June.

Monaco is among the 191 States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and as such it is obligated to file periodic summaries on its activities aimed at implementing the provisions of the treaty.

When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 7 June, it will consider in private meeting its draft concluding observations and recommendations on country reports already examined this session.

Discussion

In response to questions raised during the morning meeting, the delegation of Monaco said that among the 6,049 students attending schools in the country, 2,711 were girls. From the sixth class, students could create their own councils through which they expressed their views. Children of foreign nationality also had the right to participate in school activities and to continue their education, which was free of charge.

Asked about the steps taken to guarantee adequate representation of the population in public affairs, the delegation said that only Monegasques had the right to take part in parliamentary and municipal elections. However, all inhabitants could participate in the economic and social affairs of the Principality without any discrimination.

Monaco had no children offered for adoption, the delegation said; there had recently been one case of abandonment of a child, and that case ended with the reunion of the mother and child. In principle, adopted children might not know the identity of their biological parents. That principle had never been applied because of the absence of children offered for adoption.

There was no case of coercion of parental authority against a child who refused to follow a certain religion, the delegation said. Because of the declining religious attendance in Monaco, there were no religious conflicts between children and parents in frequenting churches. Children had the right to choose their own religion.

The Catholic religion was the State religion of Monaco, the delegation said; religious education was taught in schools, but those who were not Catholic were exempted from attending the classes.

Corporal punishment was prohibited in Monaco and there had been no cases reported, the delegation said. Had such cases been reported, the authorities would have taken quick and appropriate measures against the authors of the punishment.

The Government of Monaco had established an information network with regards to violence, the delegation said. Although violence was a widespread phenomenon of the modern world, it was not a major problem for the Government of Monaco. However, preventive programmes had been carried out with the participation of teachers and other concerned persons.

Monaco had acceded to the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, the delegation said. In addition, the protection of refugees and stateless persons in Monaco was regulated by the Sovereign Order of August 1954. Today, 30 persons were residing in the country with refugee status.

Asked if paedophilia existed in Monaco, the delegation said that there had never been a case of paedophilia in the country. A Swiss paper had recently reported that paedophile activities were based in Nice and Monte Carlo, which was absolutely baseless with regards to Monaco.



Preliminary Remarks

In preliminary remarks on the initial report of Monaco, a Committee Expert said that the final observations on the report would include the issue of Monaco's reservations concerning article 40 of the Convention on review of judgement in matters of criminal justice; it would also contain regret concerning the absence of a global policy on children based on the provisions of the Convention; it would stress the necessity to amend certain aspects of legislation in order to bring them in line with the Convention; and it would encourage the establishment of a mechanism of data collection. With regard to the general principles, the Expert said that they were the main pillar of the Convention; they included the principle of non-discrimination, the principle of the best interest of the child, and the participation of the child. Monaco was recommended to speed up its ratification process of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; minimum age for marriage for both boys and girls should be fixed at 18 years of age; Monaco should ratify ILO conventions relating to child labour; and corporal punishment should explicitly be prohibited in schools and in the family.


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