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Appendix 2: Selected Findings and Recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child

In 2004, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, which monitors compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, expressed concern “at the use of violence against children by the police and by personnel in institutions” in Papua New Guinea.468 The Committee made the following recommendations to the government of Papua New Guinea:

(a) Establish a mechanism to collect data on the perpetrators and victims of violence, disaggregated by gender and age, in order to properly assess the extent of the problem and design policies and programmes to address it;
(b) Establish effective procedures and mechanisms to receive, monitor and investigate complaints, including the prosecution of perpetrators, and ensure that victims of abuse have access to assistance in recovery;
(c) Ratify the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment;
(d) Seek technical assistance from, among others, OHCHR and UNICEF in this regard.469

The Committee acknowledged Papua New Guinea’s “efforts to improve the juvenile justice system,” but expressed concern “at the very low minimum age of criminal responsibility (7 years), that children in detention are not always separated from adults and at the lack of probation services, including re-education, vocational training and counseling for children in conflict with the law.”470 Accordingly, the Committee recommended that the government:

(a) Raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to an internationally acceptable level;
(b) Ensure that children in detention are separated from adults;
(c) Introduce training programmes on relevant international standards for all professionals involved with the system of juvenile justice;
(d) Seek technical cooperation from, among others, OHCHR and UNICEF.471

Human Rights Watch urges the government of Papua New Guinea to make additional efforts to implement the Committee on the Rights of the Child’s recommendations.



[468] Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding Observations: Papua New Guinea, U.N. Doc. CRC/C/Add.229, January 30, 2004, para. 498.

[469] Ibid., para. 499.

[470] Ibid., para. 526.

[471] Ibid., para. 527.


<<previous  |  index  |  next>>September 2005