CHILDREN'S RIGHTS CONVENTION ALTERNATIVE REPORT BY THE BELGIAN NGOS September 2001 Kinderrechtencoalitie Vlaanderen vzw Coordination des ONG pour les droits de (Flemish Children’s Rights Coalition) l'enfant (CODE) Limburgstraat 62 (Coordinators of the NGOs for Children’s 9000 Gent Rights) Tel.: (00-32) 9/329.47.84 Rue Marché aux Poulets 30 E-mail : [email protected] 1000 Bruxelles Tel. : (00-32) 2/209.61.68 1 Fax. : (00-32) 2/209.61.60 E-mail : [email protected] 2 Presentation of the NGOs The “Coordination des ONG pour les droits de l’enfant” and the “Kinderrechtencoalitie Vlaanderen” have collaborated closely to produce this alternative to the official Belgian report. 1. La Coordination des ONG pour les droits de l’enfant The “Coordination des ONG pour les droits de l’enfant” (CODE) was founded in 1994 within the framework of the first official Belgian report was an initiative by the Belgian section of the Defence for International Children (DEI). Members today include: Amnesty International, ATD Quart Monde, the Belgian Committee for UNICEF, DEI International, Justice et Paix, la Ligue des droits de l’homme, la Ligue des familles and OMEP. These different associations have a common objective of developing specific actions to promote and defend children's rights in Belgium and in the world. Together, they have the following goals: · To monitor that the Convention concerning Children’s Rights is put in action by Belgium. · To develop a programme for informing, consciousness raising and educating about children’s rights. The “Coordination’s” programme aims to be vigilant and constructive. In order to achieve its objectives the “Coordination” is open to other NGOs that are developing programmes concerning children's rights. The “Coordination” works in particularly close collaboration with the “Kinderrechtencoaltitie Vlaanderen” in order to both coordinate their respective programmes and to undertake common programmes. For that purpose one of the “Coordination des NGO’s” main objectives is to produce an alternative report to the official one that the Belgian State has to submit to the Children’s Rights Committee every five years in accordance with article 44(e) of the Convention. Thus, in accordance with article 45(a) of the Convention, National and International NGOs are invited by the Children’s Rights Committee to set out their observations on the state of these Rights and on how they are being implemented. This complements the official reports in areas where the Government’s report does not provide sufficient information, and in sensitive areas where the NGOs consider that the official information provided is incorrect or incomplete. Furthermore, the NGOs provide a more concrete and practical analysis of the application of Children’s Rights in Belgium as these organisations work in the field and are thus in contact with the various intervening parties. The “Coordination des ONG pour les droits de l’enfant” receives subsidies from the Ministry of Justice. These subsidies have meant that somebody working part time could be hired, thus assuring the continuity and permanence of their activities. 2. The Kinderrechtencoalitie Vlaanderen The “Kinderrechtencoalitie Vlaanderen” ASBL (non-profit organisation) is a network of 17 non-governmental organisations for the defence of Children’s Rights. The areas in which these organisations work, the public they target and the levels at which they operate vary, but they all have the child's interest at the heart of their programmes. 3 The 17 NGOs are the following: Amnesty International, the Belgian Committee for UNICEF, Bond van Grote en Jonge Gezinnen (BGJG), Defence for Children International Vlaanderen (DCI), Dienst Alternatieve Sancties en Voogdijraad vzw, ECPAT, Jeugd en Vrede vzw, Kinderrechtenhuis Limburg, Kinderrechtswinkels, Liga voor de Mensenrechten, Ouders van Dove Kinderen (ODOK vzw), Onderzoekscentrum Kind en Samenleving, Plan International België, Kinder- en Jongerentelefoon, Steunpunt Algemeen Welzijnswerk, Vlaams Welzijnsverbond en Welzijnszorg vzw. Since December 2000, the Flemish and Federal authorities have financially supported the “Kinderrechtencoalitie”, which has meant that somebody can be employed on a full-time basis. Globally, the “Coalition” aims to contribute to the application of the International Convention concerning Children’s Rights. This objective leads to the following three elements in the “Coalition’s” statutes: · The coalition intends to exercise real and efficient control over the application and respect of the C.I.D.E., from the NGO’s viewpoint; · The coalition intends to actively participate in the promotion of children’s rights; · The coalition intends to constructively contribute to the presentation of monitoring reports concerning the C.I.D.E. In practical terms, this means that the ASBL behaves as a critical observer of the situation of children’s rights in Belgium and abroad. Based on the objective of vigilance that the “Coalition” has set itself, it takes a census of all positive and negative facts concerning children’s rights. On the strength of this appraisal, it sets out recommendations and initiates constructive dialogue with other partners in order to increase common efforts. The “Kinderrechtencoalitie´s” overall goal is above all to promote cooperation between the different NGOs. Thus, they aim to considerably increase the number of members in the short term. The “Coalition” has also undertaken dialogue with public authorities, national and international organisations and with the children and youths themselves. In the future, the “Coalition” hopes to be able to respond to current affairs via the media and thus to enter in contact with the general public. The most important achievement of the “Coalition” is the writing of the NGO’s alternative report concerning C.I.D.E. in Belgium. An important activity that takes place every four months is known as the "Open Forum", and is when invited speakers talk on a theme relating to Children’s Rights. The Forum is open to all those interested in Children’s Rights, and therefore also to non-members. In future, we hope that a large number of NGOs will join the “Coalition”, such that it will become a strong structure that cannot be ignored. 4 INTRODUCTION OF THE NGOs ALTERNATIVE REPORT FOR CHILDREN’S RIGHTS In accordance with the role conferred to non governmental organisations by the International Convention on Children’s Rights concerning the control of the application of the Convention, the “Coordination des ONG pour les droits de l’enfant” and the “Kinderrechtencoalitie Vlaanderen” (from here on “the NGOs") wish to contribute their expertise to the five-yearly assessment carried out by the Belgian State. This alternative report constitutes a section by section analysis of the Belgian report, and follows the "general Directives concerning the format and contents of the initial reports"1, established by the Children’s Rights Committee, in order that the Committee can compare the report by the Belgian government with the one by the NGOs for Children’s Rights. The objective of the alternative report is to aim to analyse on one hand how Belgian legislation conforms to the Convention on Children’s Rights and on the other, how existing legislation is applied. This should give a clear picture of how the Convention is put into practice in the country. Governments tend to present essentially legal reports, which means that the NGOs play an essential role providing information about the practical application (or non application) of the Convention. Furthermore, this report also aims to confirm or to invalidate information provided by the government and to deliver statistics that can support the NGO’s comments. As regards to the methodology the Belgian State has used to elaborate its second report, the NGOs regret they were only associated to it at a late date and at a point when it was impossible to advise meaningfully on either the report content or on the way in which information was collected and compiled. Nevertheless the NGOs are delighted that, unlike for the first report, the Government invited them to participate in two working meetings prior to the official registration of the report, even though these meetings took place late and so could not have the desired impact. The NGOs consider it extremely encouraging and positive that since then they have finally been associated with the process of developing the official report. That the Government considered the NGO’s comments as "objective and constructive, which has enabled the institution of real dialogue" constitutes an absolutely fundamental precedent. With regard to the content of the official Belgian report, the NGOs lament the lack of systematic data collection, as well as the large disparity between chapters. They are however delighted with the various commitments aiming to compensate for these gaps. As regards to the methodology used by the NGOs for their report, information was collected from the constituent associations, as well as from other members of the associative and university communities which are interested in given fields. They also relied on many recent reports produced by the NGOs or other relevant authority organisations2. It should however be noted that there continue to be certain gaps in the alternative report. These highlight the difficulty in collecting reliable information on certain topics, which means that some sections are better developed, to the detriment of others that are no less interesting or important. These gaps also emphasize the importance of considering the implementation of the Convention of Children’s Rights as a continuous process, and thus it is essential that there should be permanent cooperation between the Belgian Federal and Communal Administrations and the NGOs. 1 These directives are originally destined for the member States, adopted by the CDE during its 22nd meeting (first session) on the 15th October 1991. 2 See the bibliography at the end of the report, which contains the list of contacts, reports and various sources of information used.