A/70/255 eighth and ninth periodic reports of Switzerland. It remained concerned that Traveller communities and the Yenish, Manush, Sinti and Roma continued to face obstacles in accessing education and preserving their language and lifestyle. The Committee recommended that the State party strengthen its efforts to promote and protect the rights of national minorities, particularly with regard to access to education and preservation of their language and lifestyle (see CERD/C/CHE/CO/7-9). 39. The Committee on the Rights of the Child at its sixty-fifth session, held from 13 to 31 January 2014, adopted concluding observations on, inter alia, the combine d third and fourth periodic reports of Germany. It expressed concern about the rise in the poverty rate and the at-risk-of-poverty rate among children, with children from single-parent families, large families and families from ethnic minority backgrounds being particularly affected. The Committee regretted the fact that children from ethnic minority backgrounds had a significantly weaker record of school achievement, with twice the number of such children leaving school without qualifications as pupils from non-ethnic minority backgrounds (see CRC/C/DEU/CO/3-4). 40. The Committee against Torture at its fiftieth session, held from 6 to 31 May 2013, in in its concluding observations on the combined fifth and sixth periodic reports of the Netherlands expressed concern at the alleged incidents of illegal use of force, insults and mistreatment at the Koraal Specht prison in Curaçao and in the cells at police stations on the islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Sint Maarten, and at ethnic profiling by the police and border guards aimed in particular at foreigners and persons belonging to minorities. It requested the State party to establish systems to obtain disaggregated data about the composition of the detainee population to avoid disproportionate representation of minorities (see CAT/C/NLD/CO/5-6). At its fifty-first session, held from 28 October to 22 November 2013, in its concluding observations on the combined fifth and sixth periodic reports of Portugal, the Committee expressed concern at reports of discrimination and abuses ag ainst Roma and other minorities by the police. It recommended that the State party take effective measures to ensure the protection of members of the Roma community (see CAT/C/PRT/CO/5-6). B. General comments and general recommendations 41. In its general recommendation No. 35 of 2013 on combating racist hate speech, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination asserted that media representations of ethnic, indigenous and other groups within the purview of article 1 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination should be based on principles of respect, fairness and the avoidance of stereotyping. The media should avoid referring unnecessarily to race, ethnicity, religion and other group characteristics in a manner that might promote intolerance. 42. In 2013, The Committee on the Rights of the Child issued its general comment No. 14 2013 on the right of the child to have his or her best interests t aken as a primary consideration. In the general comment, the Committee stressed that situations of vulnerability, such as belonging to a minority group, were important elements to be taken into account, not only in relation to the full enjoyment of all the rights provided for in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, but also with regard to other human rights norms relating to that situation of vulnerability. 10/14 15-12580