UN Committee to review Mauritius on children's rights

GENEVA, Switzerland, January 8, 2015/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Mauritius's record on children's rights will be reviewed by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on Wednesday 14 January and Thursday 15 January in sessions that will be webcast live.

Mauritius is one of the 194 states that have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child and so is required to undergo regular examinations of its record before the Committee of 18 independent experts.

Among the possible issues to be discussed by the CRC and the government delegation from Mauritius are: impact of the National Human Rights Action Plan on implementation of the Convention, independence of the Office of the Ombudsperson for Children; status of the draft Children's Bill; prohibition of corporal punishment; measures to prevent sexual exploitation of children; new adoption bill; development of inclusive education for children with disabilities; addressing low birth weight of babies, improving health of mothers; language of instruction in schools; treatment of children arrested or detained.

The full list of issues and Mauritius's report can be found here: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=825&Lang=en

The sessions will take place from 15:00-18:00 (18:00-21:00 in Mauritius) on 14 January and 10:00-13:00 (13:00-16:00) on 15 January at Palais Wilson in Geneva. They will be webcast at http://www.treatybodywebcast.org/.

The CRC's concluding observations on Mauritius and the other countries being reviewed – Cambodia, Turkmenistan, Gambia, Jamaica, Colombia, Switzerland, Dominican Republic, Sweden, Tanzania, Uruguay and Iraq - will be published on 4 February here:

http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=825&Lang=en