UNDPI / Armenia - 16 January 2004, Yerevan -- The Committee on the Rights of the Child today reviewed the second periodic report of Armenia on how that country is complying with the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Introducing the report, Armenia's Minister of Social Security, Aghvan Vardanyan, said that since the consideration of the initial report, Armenia had continued to comply with the provisions of the Convention through the implementation of legislative and administrative measures. Most of its activities had been concentrated on social activities that aimed at enhancing children's rights in the country.

In preliminary concluding remarks, Committee Expert Joyce Aluoch, who served as country rapporteur to the report of Armenia, said the State party should take further action to ratify the two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and on children in armed conflicts. She also encouraged the State party to ratify International Labour Organization Conventions 182 and 138 without waiting for the adoption of the new labour law.

The Committee will issue its formal, written concluding observations and recommendations on the report of Armenia towards the end of its three-week session on 31 January.

The Armenian delegation was also composed of Zorab Mnatsakanian, Permanent Representative of Armenia to the United Nations Office at Geneva; Karine Soudjyan, Head of Human Rights Desk, Department of International Organizations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Marta Ayvazyan, First Secretary of the Permanent Mission of Armenia to the United Nations Office at Geneva; Nelly Douryan, Head of Juvenile Affairs Division, Department of Criminal Affairs, Ministry of the Interior; and Karine Saribekyan, Head of Maternity and Child Health Protection Division, Department of Health Care System Management, Ministry of Health.

As one of the 192 States parties to the Convention, Armenia is expected to provide periodic reports for consideration by the Committee on its efforts to comply with the provisions of the treaty.

When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. on Friday, 16 January, it will review the second periodic report of Germany (CRC/C/83/Add.7).

Report of Armenia

The second periodic report of Armenia (CRC/C/93/Add.6) contains information on the efforts made by the State party to comply with the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It notes that the Convention has been translated into Armenian and has been widely disseminated both among the general public and to specialists. The State has taken the necessary legislative, administrative and other steps to implement the provisions of the Convention. In order to ensure that children's rights are fully upheld in the country, a series of laws have been adopted since Armenia ratified the Convention on 1 June 1992.

The report says traditionally, Armenian families have always been very child-oriented. The welfare of children has always been a central concern of the Armenian State. State policy is designed to protect the interests of the family and a number of special measures have been developed to ensure the protection of families in which the parents are divorced and families which have children born out of wedlock or adopted children. Further, the report notes that non-governmental organizations are actively involved in children's issues. In 1999, an alternative report on the implementation of the provisions of the Convention was prepared and published by a number of Armenian non-governmental organizations (NGOs), with financial support from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

Introductory Statement

AGHVAN VARDANYAN, Minister of Social Security of Armenia, said the report included responses to the comments and recommendations made by the Committee following its consideration of the initial report of Armenia.

Since the consideration of the initial report, Armenia had continued to comply with the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child through the implementation of legislative and administrative measures, the Minister said. Most of its activities in favour of children were focused on social areas. In 2003, the Government had provided social assistance to 250,000 children. It had also taken measures to improve many children's institutions in the country. During the period 2001 to 2003, a number of documents had been adopted that guaranteed for children who were in need of alternate care a whole range of services and care institutions that provided support for such children.

Mr. Vardanyan said that one of the problems requiring solutions was the issue of children with disabilities. The Government had continued to provide assistance to children with disabilities, and further efforts were being made to integrate them into society. With the active participation of public organizations for children with disabilities and their parents, courses were being held to teach such children various skills and to promote their socialization.

In 2003, the Government had approved a long-term poverty eradication programme --the Strategic Programme to Overcome Poverty -- a priority area of which included the provision of high-quality education and equal access to all levels of education, he said. Money obtained from taxes would be channelled to the activities of the poverty eradication programme.

Mr. Vardanyan said that several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) had been actively participating in the promotion and protection of children in the country. With the support of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Armenia had also made progress in many areas, including social and educational fields.

The Minister said that in October 2003, the National Programme of Action to Protect Children's Rights had been submitted to the Government for approval. The Programme included a number of measures on the provision of medical assistance, social protection, and implementation of educational programmes for children, among other things. The Programme was a long-term project to be implemented from 2004 to 2015.

Discussion

JOYCE ALUOCH, the Committee Expert who served as country rapporteur to the report of Armenia, said the report had been prepared in accordance to the guidelines of the Committee contrary to the previous one. She said that the family law had been adopted, but it was not yet clear when children would start to enjoy its provisions. The report did not indicate the analysis made on the data collected on children. She asked if non-governmental organizations (NGOs) had participated in the preparation of the national plan of action for children? Had children and NGOs participated in the preparation of the report?

Armenian law prohibited acts of discrimination, but there seemed to exist discrimination against children with disabilities, refugee children and street children, Ms. Aluoch noted.

Another Expert said that there was no clear definition of the child with regard to the minimum age for sexual consent and criminal responsibility. An Expert asked if data collection was limited to children living in institutions or if it was extended to all children? She wanted to know if the activities of NGOs had been reduced due to certain constraints? Another speaker asked if the text of the Convention was distributed to school children.

Responding, the delegation said that in 2003, the Government had adopted the programme on the protection of the rights of the child based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Several international organizations, including NGOs, had participated in its elaboration. Although children were not directly involved in the process, they were indirectly consulted.

With regard to the creation of the Ombudsman for children, the law entered on 1 January 2004 provided for such an establishment, and according to the law, it would be an independent institution, the delegation said. It would not be subordinate either to the parliament or the office of the Head of State.

Asked about the rank of international treaties, the delegation said that all international conventions ratified by the country took precedence over domestic laws. Any treaty was ratified by the State after the Constitutional Council approved it.

Armenia was at present elaborating a new labour law, which would enable it to ratify International Labour Organization conventions which it had not ratified, the delegation said. It was implementing the ILO conventions that it had already approved.

Because of financial difficulties, the budget allocation for children had been cut last year, the delegation said. However, the budget in social affairs had been increased in this year's budgetary allocation. The Government had also adopted a strategic programme for the eradication of poverty.

The new amendment to the Children's Rights Act provided for the right of children to be heard and to express freely their opinions, the delegation said. Further, their right to participate in decisions concerning them had been stressed, including the consideration of their views in all areas. Anti-discrimination provisions had been strengthened with regard to refugee children and children with disabilities, as well as other vulnerable groups of children, the delegation said. The problem regarding the 350,000 refugees who had ended up in Armenia had also been given special focus. Although those refugees were ethnic Armenians, measures had been taken for their integration because of their displacement from their place of origin.

On the mandate of the National Commission on the Rights of the Child, the delegation said it was set up to elaborate the national plan of action for children and later its mandate had been extended to deal with other issues pertaining to children's rights.

Since 1993, Armenia had been cooperating with a number of NGOs, the delegation said. Those NGOs had been exempted from property taxes. The Government, in collaboration with NGOs, had implemented a number of projects for children.

Committee Experts raised further questions, among other things, on the registration of births in remote regions; training of magistrates on children's rights; the large number of children deprived of a family environment and living in institutions; maintenance of children born out of wedlock; and the situation of children with disabilities living in rural areas.

An Expert asked why tuberculosis was a wide-spread problem? She also noted that children were not immunized from all preventable diseases due to lack of vaccines. What progress had been made on breastfeeding? Questions were also raised on problems caused by the transitional nature of Armenia's economy; regulations concerning the registering of newborns; and how the conflict in Nagorno-Karabagh was affecting children?

An Expert asked about the efforts made by the Government to improve the educational system. He said teachers were not well paid; the rate of dropouts was high; there were still children who never went to school or attended school only for a few years; and the free primary compulsory education in fact incurred financial expenses in terms of school materials.

Speaking on the same subject, another Expert said that there were about 28,000 teachers who were retiring without being replaced, which was an additional concern with regard to the educational system. Other Experts also asked, among other things, about the high rate of school absenteeism; violence against children; the provision of alimony by absentee fathers; and whether training was provided for health care personnel on the rights of the child.

Responding, the delegation said that for the past few years, the Government had been making efforts to build and refurbish theatres and recreation centres for children. The measures were first implemented in the cities and later they were extended to other regions. The World Bank was participating in the educational system of Armenia by providing computers.

Concerning adoptions, the delegation said that the law on adoptions had been amended last year to bring it in line with the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (the Hague Adoption Convention). In the past, adoption was allowed only within the country. Children could express their opinions at the time of their adoption if they were old enough.

School attendance had fallen sharply in Armenia in recent years, the delegation said. With regard to the shortage of teachers, the Government was planning to double their salaries within the coming two years to entice them to stay in the profession and to recruit new teachers. In many cases, teachers received low salaries and they were not paid regularly. The fact that some teachers were retiring from their profession did not imply a reduction in the quality of education. The Government would continue to give primary importance to education.

Only 10 per cent of new births were not registered last year because parents did not have national passports, the delegation said. Pregnant women were told in advance to prepare their national passports to facilitate the registration of their newborns. The problem had been reduced during the last few years because most Armenians possessed national passports.

Although tuberculosis continued to affect people in the country, the disease affected children to a lesser degree, the delegation said. Cases of meningitis had been detected among children due to the lack of a preventive vaccination against the disease.

Since the conflict over Nagorno-Karabagh had obliged people to flee the area, many children had been born to parents who had taken refuge in Armenia, the delegation said. The earthquake that hit the county had also left a negative effect on the conditions of children in the region. Committee Experts further queried the delegation on such issues as drug abuse; the increase in the number of prostitutes; the age for criminal responsibility for children who committed serious crimes; the use of extra-curricular activities and the inculcation of patriotism; the enforced recruitment of Azerbaijani children into the Armenian army; the loss of citizenship after 14 years of age for certain categories of children; absence of juvenile courts in some areas; and the fate of street children taken to reception centres.

Responding, the delegation said that children were not called up to serve in the army before the age of 18 years. The delegation noted that there might have been cases where children below the age of 18 were called up before 1994 when the conflict with Azerbaijan was sparked over the Nagorno-Karabagh issue.

There were about 336,000 refugees in Armenia coming from Azerbaijan, the delegation said. While many of them had obtained Armenian nationality, the situation of others had not yet been resolved, and some of them had migrated to other countries.

Armenia had put a series of laws in place to fight trafficking in persons and to repress the offenders. Acts of trafficking had been made criminal offences and the perpetrators had been brought to justice.

On the issue of abandoned children, the delegation said that the problem emerged in the 1990s when many children began working or begging on the streets. The problem had been tackled, thanks to the measures taken by the Government and NGOs to rehabilitate the children by providing them with vocational training or by reintegrating them into their families.

On crimes by minors, the delegation said that in 2000, minors had committed 64 serious crimes, while in 2003 only 27 serious crimes had been committed. At the minors detention centre, there were only 10 children serving sentences.

The police fought drug addiction and prostitution systematically, the delegation said.

Preliminary Concluding Remarks

JOYCE ALUOCH, the Committee Expert who served as country rapporteur to the report of Armenia, said that although the State party had ratified the European Social Chapter, the country had no policy on trafficking in women and children. She recommended that the State party take further action that would enable it to ratify the two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and on children in armed conflicts. She also encouraged the State party to ratify ILO Conventions 182 and 138 without waiting for the adoption of the new labour law. A timeframe was necessary for the adoption of the two Conventions. The creation of the data bank for children was a good move, as was the adoption of the law on the setting up of the office of the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman to be appointed should not be subordinate to either the parliament or the Government.