UNITED NATIONS CRC Convention on the Distr. Rights of the Child GENERAL CRC/C/NLD/3 23 July 2008 Original: ENGLISH COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES UNDER ARTICLE 44 OF THE CONVENTION Third periodic reports of States parties due in 2007* ** THE NETHERLANDS [22 May 2007] * In accordance with the information transmitted to States parties regarding the processing of their reports, the present document was not edited before being sent to the United Nations translation services. ** Annexes can be consulted in the files of the Secretariat. GE.08-43302 (E) 150808 CRC/C/NLD/3 page 2 CONTENTS Paragraphs Page I. GENERAL IMPLEMENTATION MEASURES ................................ 1 - 19 3 II. DEFINITION OF THE WORD “CHILD” .......................................... 20 7 III. GENERAL PRINCIPLES .................................................................... 21 - 63 7 IV. CIVIL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS .................................................... 64 - 95 14 V. FAMILY ENVIRONMENT AND ALTERNATIVE FORMS OF CARE ............................................................................................. 96 - 165 20 VI. BASIC HEALTH AND WELFARE .................................................... 166 - 311 33 VII. EDUCATION, LEISURE AND CULTURAL ACTIVITIES ............. 312 - 385 64 VIII. SPECIAL PROTECTION MEASURES ............................................. 386 - 461 77 Related reports submitted by the Kingdom of the Netherlands Periodic report of Aruba (Kingdom of the Netherlands) under the Convention on the Rights of the Child .......................................................... 1 - 111 92 Second report of the Netherlands Antilles ..................................................... 1 - 439 110 CRC/C/NLD/3 page 3 I. GENERAL IMPLEMENTATION MEASURES A. Article 4 (Amendments to Dutch legislation) 1. The following statutory measures have been taken since the submission of the second periodic report: • Passage into law of the Equal Treatment (Disability or Chronic Illness) Act 2003 (art. 2. Non-discrimination) • Replacement of the Social Assistance Act by the Work and Social Assistance Act, 1 January 2004 (art. 27, paras. 1-3. Standard of living) • Entry into force of the Adoption (Conflict of Laws) Act, 1 January 2004 (art. 21. Intercountry adoption) • Amendment of the rules regulating changes in minors’ surnames, 9 June 2004 (art. 7. Name and nationality) • Change in the definition of the term “unaccompanied minor asylum seeker”, 20 July 2004 (art. 39. Refugee children) • Entry into force of the Artificial Insemination (Donor Information) Act, 2004 • Entry into force of the Equal Treatment in Employment (Age Discrimination) Act 2004 (art. 2. Non-discrimination) • Entry into force of the new Youth Care Act, 1 January 2005 • Entry into force of the Childcare Act, 1 January 2005 (art. 18, para. 3. Childcare services) • Entry into force of the Revised Brussels II Regulation on cooperation between EU Member States in child abduction cases, 1 March 2005 • Submission to parliament of a bill on the promotion of shared parenting and responsible divorce on 9 June 2005 (art. 9. Separation from parents) • Entry into force of the life course savings plan, 1 January 2006 (art. 18 , para. 1. Parents’ responsibility for the upbringing and development of the child) • Exceptional Medical Expenses Act, (art. 24. Health and health care) • Entry into force of the Healthcare Insurance Act, 1 January 2006 • Passing of bill on equal treatment of men and women with regard to employment, vocational training and promotion, and working conditions, 24 January 2006 (art. 2. Non-discrimination) CRC/C/NLD/3 page 4 • Submission to parliament of bill on restraining orders in cases of domestic child abuse, 1 August 2006 • Introduction of the Social Support Act, 1 January 2007 Youth Monitor 2. In response to the Committee’s recommendation, the Netherlands is now developing a data collection system that is compatible with the Convention and collects data disaggregated by sex, age and other relevant indicators. Over the next few years, central government intends to move to a single “Youth Monitor” database. 3. The Youth Monitor is intended to help government monitor the key aims of national youth policy: to prevent and reduce early school-leaving and to prevent or reduce social marginalisation and delinquency. It is also intended to show the coherence between the results achieved by the various parties working in the youth policy field: the provinces (responsible for youth care) and the municipalities (responsible for preventive youth policy). 4. The database will include information on all children and young people in the Netherlands up to the age of 23. The indicators for it have now been established. The database will record the situation of young people in a number of fields: population, education, health, justice and employment. Each field will have multiple indicators which together provide a statistical overview of the situation of young people and trends within it. It will be possible to disaggregate the dataset by age, sex, origin and region. 5. The Youth Monitor will not contain information about abuse, sexual exploitation or child trafficking. The data on child abuse will be provided through research on the nature and extent of its occurrence. In addition, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport have together commissioned the development of a national registration system for child prostitution. Work is now being done on this. 6. The Youth Monitor will be made available via a website, which will eventually also carry information in English. National Action Plan for Children 7. The Committee recommended that the Netherlands should expedite the elaboration and adoption of its current action plan for the implementation of A World Fit for Children, the outcome document of the General Assembly special session on children held in May 2002. In August 2004 the government responded to this recommendation by laying before parliament its National Action Plan for Children 2004. This document indicates how the Netherlands intends to implement A World Fit for Children. An English-language version of the plan was presented to the UN in August 2004 and is appended to this report. (Annex 1) National Institution for Human Rights 8. In September 2005, four organisations active in the human rights field or sections of it - the National Ombudsman of the Netherlands, the Equal Treatment Commission, the Data Protection Board and the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM) - proposed the establishment of a CRC/C/NLD/3 page 5 National Institution for Human Rights. These organisations have since conducted further research on the exact requirements to ensure full compliance with the UN’s Paris Principles. The remit of the proposed national institution might include: public education, advice-giving, treaty monitoring and acting as an international contact point. A decision on the proposal has yet to be taken at political level. Children’s ombudsman 9. As yet, the Dutch government sees no reason to appoint a special ombudsman for children. The current system makes sufficient provision for the performance of the functions of the children’s ombudsman as envisaged by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. 10. The Netherlands is currently examining the feasibility of establishing a Dutch National Institution for Human Rights. The possible role of such an institute in monitoring the implementation of the UN conventions, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, is being explored as part of this process. Meantime, however, a number of members of parliament have submitted a private members’ bill providing for the appointment of a children’s ombudsman. The government is now awaiting the parliamentary response to this. Commissioner for Youth Policy 11. The Committee also recommended that the new government-appointed Commissioner for Youth Policy should facilitate interministerial coordination and coordination between national and local authorities, and that the Commissioner should be allocated sufficient financial and human resources to fulfil his mandate. It further recommended that the effectiveness of the Commissioner for Youth Policy should be evaluated with a view to establishing a permanent mechanism to coordinate the implementation of the Convention. 12. Over the last few years, the Commissioner for Youth Policy has worked hard to improve coordination between ministries, between the various tiers of government and between executive and other agencies. The government has met all the Commissioner’s requests for financial and human resources. The performance of the Commissioner for Youth Policy is to be evaluated in 2007 as part of a more general evaluation of interministerial cooperation in the youth policy field (“Operation Young”). Civil society organisations 13. The Committee recommended that the Netherlands should consistently seek cooperation with civil society in implementing the Convention, including in the area of policy-making. Representatives of the relevant ministries and of the Dutch NGO Coalition for Children’s Rights, an umbrella organisation for civil society organisations in the field of children’s welfare and rights, meet twice yearly to discuss the implementation of the Convention. This report is therefore to some extent the product of consultations with such organisations. Dutch government and the Coalition for Children’s Rights jointly fund a specific Youth