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to a religious minority (Muslims), in Sandjak, the incidents of discrimination
against the Roma (Gypsy) population, and the reports of the progressive
exclusion of teaching in languages other than Serbian, such as Bulgarian. The
Committee recommended that a solution be found to its concerns for the situation
of Albanian-speaking children in Kosovo, that the State-controlled mass media
contribute to the efforts to foster tolerance and understanding between
different groups and that the broadcasting of programmes that ran counter to
that objective should end.
106. In its concluding observations on the report of Iceland, the Committee
welcomed the report that education for immigrants was available, that the
requirement that a person seeking Icelandic citizenship had to add an Icelandic
name to his or her original name had been abolished, and that the issue of the
status of stateless children was being addressed.
107. In its concluding observations on the report of Croatia, the Committee
noted with appreciation the establishment of the special parliamentary Committee
for Human Rights and the Rights of Ethnic and National Communities or
Minorities, and the progress made in modifying the Law on Citizenship so as to
eliminate risks of discrimination. The Committee recommended that the
Government devote its efforts to encouraging a culture of tolerance through all
possible channels, including schools, the media and the law, that the
State-controlled mass media should play an active role in the efforts to secure
tolerance and understanding between different ethnic groups, and that the
protection of the rights of children belonging to minority groups should be
encouraged.
108. In its concluding observations on the report of Finland, the Committee
expressed concern at the absence of an integrated monitoring mechanism capable,
inter alia, of supervising the effectiveness of decentralized and sometimes
privatized social (health, education and social care) municipal policies and
services for the most vulnerable groups of society, including minority children.
In the light of article 30 of the Convention, the Committee expressed concern
about the insufficient number of teachers capable of working with minority
children. It recommended that the Convention be translated into all languages
spoken by minorities living in Finland.
Twelfth session
109. At its twelfth session, the Committee had before it the reports of:
Lebanon (CRC/C/8/Add.23), Cyprus (CRC/C/8/Add.24), Guatemala (CRC/C/3/Add.33),
China (CRC/C/11/Add.7), Nepal (CRC/C/3/Add.34) and Zimbabwe (CRC/C/3/Add.35).
110. In its concluding observations on the report of Lebanon, the Committee
expressed its concern at the apparent discrimination in the gaining of
nationality by a child of parents of mixed nationality, as the nationality might
only be obtained by a child from her/his Lebanese father but not from the mother
and, in the case of unmarried parents, only if the Lebanese father acknowledged
the child. The Committee recommended that the teaching of values such as
tolerance, and friendship among all peoples, including ethnic and religious
groups, be incorporated in school curricula.
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