A/HRC/25/30
(j)
61st session (17 September–5 October 2012)
63.
In the report on Albania, the Committee on the Rights of the Child conveyed its
concern that children who are particularly at risk of becoming victims of sale, child
prostitution and child pornography, and notably, children of minority groups and children
in street situations, as well as their parents, do not have adequate knowledge of strategies to
protect children from those violations (CRC/C/ALB/CO/2-4, para. 13). In the concluding
observations on the report of Austria, the Committee raised, as a concern, instances of hate
speech by politicians and manifestations of neo-Nazism, racism, xenophobia and related
intolerance towards migrant communities, refugees, asylum seekers and persons of certain
ethnic backgrounds, and the impact of this on children belonging to those groups. The
Committee also expressed concern about the paucity of information on education for
minority children with disabilities and requested that such be provided in the next periodic
report of Austria (CRC/C/AUT/CO/3-4, paras. 24, 44 and 45).
(k)
63rd session (27 May–14 June 2013)
64.
The Committee expressed special concern at the situation of girls from the Yezidi
community in Armenia including with regard to their early marriage and recommended to
the State party to fully enforce the age of marriage established under the law
(CRC/C/ARM/CO/3-4, para. 27 and 28). In the report on Israel, the Committee specified
the need for inclusive education for children from minority communities and requested the
State party to establish inclusive education systems (CRC/C/ISR/CO/2-4, para. 62). In the
report on Rwanda, the Committee recommended to the State party to allocate a sufficient
budget for minority children (CRC/C/RWA/CO/3-4, para. 16).
65.
In the report on Slovenia, education for Roma children was mentioned by the
Committee, and the Committee requested the State party to allocate sufficient resources to
allow Roma children to enrol in preschool education (CRC/C/SVN/CO/3-4, paras. 60
and 61). The Committee urged Uzbekistan to increase proactive measures to tackle
discrimination. However, the Committee was concerned that, in practice, only mainstream
religions were permitted, such as approved Muslim, Jewish and Christian denominations,
while unregistered religious activities — which are frequently those of minorities — were
subject to criminal and/or administrative sanctions, resulting in a curtailment of the right of
the child to freedom of thought, conscience and religion (CRC/C/UZB/CO/3-4, paras. 7
and 32).
V. Special procedures
66.
On 25 January 2013, the Independent Expert on minority issues, together with the
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the
Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, the
Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and the Special
Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,
urged the Iranian authorities to halt the execution of five Ahwazi activists. The mandate
holders noted that “the number of cases of individuals belonging to minorities being
sentenced for their activities related to their minority rights is a cause for serious concern”.
67.
On 12 March 2013, the Independent Expert on minority issues urged world
governments to take significant and urgent efforts to protect minority communities and
their language rights. During the presentation of her report to the Human Rights Council,
which summarized the issues and challenges affecting linguistic minorities globally, the
Special Rapporteur stressed that the protection of linguistic minority rights was a human
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