Report The Rights of the Child Norway’s fourth periodic report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child – 2008 Forord THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD – Norway’s fourth periodic report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child 2008 Foreword 1. Norway hereby submits its fourth periodic report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on the follow-up of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Part 1. Part 2 deals with the follow-up of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography. Part 3 concerns the follow-up of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict. Reference is made to concluding observations from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, respectively CRC/C/15Add.262 of 3 June 2005, CRC/C/OPSA/CO/3 of 3 June 2005 and CRC/C/OPAC/NOR/CO/1 of 8 June 2007. The concluding observations are also found on the website of the Ministry of Children and Equality: www.regjeringen.no/ nb/dep/bld. 2. The report is organized according to the General Guidelines Regarding the Form and Content of Periodic Reports to be submitted by States Parties, cf. Article 44, paragraph 1 (b) of the Convention (CRC/C/58/Rev.1 of 29 November 2005). Reference is continuously made to Norway’s previous reports and to the concluding observations and recommendations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. The observations and recommendations are cited in the report, but in a shortened version. 3. The Ministry of Children and Equality has coordinated the work on the report in close cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Labour and Social Inclusion, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Health and Care Services, the Ministry of Justice and the Police, the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, the Ministry of Culture and Church Affairs, the Ministry of Education and Research and the Ministry of the Environment. The Sami Parliament has also contributed to the report. 4. Parallel with the reporting work, Norwegian authorities have collected opinions from child- ren and young people in eight municipalities on how their rights are being followed up in daily life. We have therefore included a survey prepared by Norwegian Social Research (NOVA) as an annex to this report: “Children and young people report to the UN on their rights – annex to Norway’s fourth periodic report on the Convention on the Rights of the Child”. The Minis- try of Children and Equality has also had consultations with the Ombudsman for Children and non-governmental organizations in the preparations of the report. 3 Contents Part 1 Norway’s fourth periodic report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child CHAPTER I GENERAL MEASURES CONCERNING IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTION ....................................... 10 A. Measures within national legislation and practice (Article 4).............................................................. 10 The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and Norwegian law .............................................................. 10 Legal study concerning compliance between Norwegian legislation and the Convention on the Rights of the Child .................................................................................................................................... 10 Better monitoring of children’s rights in Norway ............................................................................................. 12 Children and young people’s participation in reporting to the UN ................................................................. 13 Research on children and young people’s rights ............................................................................................. 13 Review of the Children Act .................................................................................................................................. 14 New Immigration Act ........................................................................................................................................... 15 Measures to combat violence against children ................................................................................................. 15 Child welfare services’ responsibility for unaccompanied minor asylum seekers ........................................ 17 Action Plan for integration and inclusion of the immigrant population .......................................................... 17 Plan of action for better diet ................................................................................................................................ 18 Coordination of efforts nationally and locally .................................................................................................... 18 Cooperation concerning preventive efforts ....................................................................................................... 19 Knowledge status and municipal experiments .................................................................................................. 19 Nationwide supervision with municipal services .............................................................................................. 19 Efficiency improvement network for the child welfare services area ............................................................. 19 Regional cooperation agreements between child welfare services, mental health and drug abuse care ............................................................................................................................................. 20 The supervisory role of the Ombudsperson for Children in Norway ............................................................ 20 Data collection....................................................................................................................................................... 21 Child welfare services statistics .......................................................................................................................... 21 Statistics on young people who drop out of upper secondary education ....................................................... 21 Information concerning children and young people with immigrant backgrounds ..................................... 22 General statistics concerning children and young people ............................................................................... 22 Research concerning children and young people’s childhood and living conditions ................................... 23 Allocation of resources ......................................................................................................................................... 23 B. Measures to make the principles and provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child widely known to adults and children (Article 42) ........................................................... 25 Training and dissemination to children and young people .............................................................................. 25 Training for professions and professional groups who work with children ................................................... 26 International measures – violence against children ......................................................................................... 27 Human rights dialogue with China ..................................................................................................................... 28 C. Measures to make Norway’s report available (Article 44.6) ............................................................... 28 The work with Norway’s fourth report .............................................................................................................. 28 Cooperation with non-governmental organizations .......................................................................................... 29 CHAPTER II DEFINITION OF THE CHILD (Article 1) ................................................................................................................. 30 The age of majority .................................................................................................................................................... 30 Schooling and education ........................................................................................................................................... 30 Paid work .................................................................................................................................................................... 30 The child’s right to be heard and right to progressive self-determination .......................................................... 30 Amendments to the Guardianship Act..................................................................................................................... 30 Medical questions ...................................................................................................................................................... 32 The obligation to give evidence ................................................................................................................................ 32 Passports ..................................................................................................................................................................... 32 Age of criminal liability .............................................................................................................................................