Committee on child rights calls for improvements

In a meeting on child rights in Djibouti, the UN Committee for Human Rights said after discussions on Thursday that a mechanism needed to be established to coordinate efforts on behalf of children. The Committee called in particular for greater efforts to help street children and an end to traditional discrimination against girls, said a press release. Apart from improvements needed in education and health services, more effort was needed to register births, recommended Mohamed Abdou, State Attorney of the Ministry of Justice of Djibouti, answering questions from the Committee's ten independent experts. There was a low birth registration rate for "clandestine refugees" in the city, and for nomadic children, said the State Attorney. Although the population service was tasked to register children born out of wedlock, there were problems in Djibouti as Sharia law did not recognise such children, he said. Djibouti had difficulties carrying out a regular census, said Mr Abdou, because of problems with resources and conflict. Changing attitudes about female genital mutilation had included making it clear that the practice was not required by religion, and progress had been made in urban areas, said Abdou. An education bill and a national women's organisation were campaigning for systematic literacy and education for girls, he said. He said people needed to be encouraged to report incidents of spousal and child abuse. AIDS was a problem in Djibouti, said the State Attorney, as Djibouti was a garrison town and had many refugees. He said women and children made up 80% of the population of the three main refugee camps in the south of the country. He said the Government had undertaken a "vast rehabilitation programme" for children who had been caught up in armed conflict, with help from UNDP and the World Bank; and said the US and the French army was helping systematically clear landmines. Recommendations include an Office of an Ombudsman for children; that Djibouti's three systems of law (customary, Sharia and ordinary) should be unified; that measures should be taken to prevent children "in dire circumstances" from resorting to prostitution; and that torture and brutality against children by police forces should recognised as a concern.