COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD REVIEWS REPORT OF GREECE

The Committee on the Rights of the Child today reviewed the combined second and third periodic report of Greece on its implementation of the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Ioannis Georgakopoulos, General Director for European and International Educational Affairs, Ministry of Education, Lifelong Learning and Religious Affairs of Greece, said that the Government had taken important steps to uphold children’s rights, amend existing legislation, and improve current structures. Free education was guaranteed to every child living in Greece and enrolment to public schools of refugee and asylum-seeking children was possible even in the absence of complete documentation. Education Priority Zones had been introduced in 2010 to shape and test alternative and flexible educational approaches of differentiated teaching to ensure equitable educational integration of students from areas with low education and socio-economic indicators.

Kamla Devi Varmah, Committee Rapporteur for the report of Greece, commended the action on protecting the rights of Roma and asked for further information concerning special measures addressing any other groups in need of protection to ensure that they were not discriminated against in housing, education and other walks of life. The delegation was also asked to clarify the situation with birth registration of Roma children and obtaining of birth certificates by minority women, and on measures to ensure that corporal punishment was not practiced at home.

Awich Pollard, Committee Co-Rapporteur for the report of Greece, welcomed the efforts of the Government to do its best for children despite the financial crisis and asked the delegation to explain how the report was prepared and whether children were involved in its preparation, and to explain access to information for children, including the role of the media.

Committee Experts noted that the National Observatory for the Rights of the Child had not functioned for 11 years, making coordination on children’s rights a long standing problem, and asked how this issue would be addressed. Poverty was on the increase as a consequence of the current economic and financial crisis and Experts wondered how the spending on basic services and social welfare was maintained. The Committee was concerned about the situation of children with disabilities in Greece, in particular about their access to health and education and the practice of caging and sedation in some institutions.

The Committee and delegation will make concluding remarks on the review of the report of Greece under the Convention on the Rights of the Child at the end of the meeting on Thursday, 7 June after it considers Greece’s initial reports on the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography and the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict.

The Committee’s concluding observations and recommendations on the three reports will be released towards the end of the session, which will conclude on 15 June 2012.

The delegation of Greece included representatives of the Ministry of Education, Lifelong Learning and Religious Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights, the Ministry of Health and National Solidarity, the Ministry of Citizens’ Protection, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Permanent Mission of Greece to the United Nations Office at Geneva.

The Committee will resume its work at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 7 June when it will examine the initial reports of Greece on the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (CRC/C/OPSC/GRC/1) and on the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict (CRC/C/OPAC/GRC/1).


Report

The combined second and third periodic report of Greece can be read here: (CRC/C/GRC/2-3).

Presentation of the Report

IOANNIS GEORGAKOPOULOS, General Director for European and International Educational Affairs, Ministry of Education, Lifelong Learning and Religious Affairs of Greece, said that Greece had taken important steps to uphold children’s rights, amend existing legislation, and improve current structures. A number of measures to guarantee the right to education in practice had been undertaken; free education was guaranteed to every child living in Greece and enrolment to public schools of refugee and asylum-seeking children was possible even in the absence of complete documentation. Greater inclusion was to be achieved through three national projects on education of immigrant and repatriated students, education of Roma children, and education of the Muslim minority in Thrace. Roma children education was a central objective of the national education policy and the Ministry of Education had been applying special measures to address the special needs of this group such as access and participation in education, quality of education, attendance and dropping out, and others. Education Priority Zones had been introduced in 2010 to shape and test alternative and flexible educational approaches of differentiated teaching to ensure equitable educational integration of students from areas with low education and socio-economic indicators and remove barriers to students’ progress. The new 2008 Law on Special Education of persons with disabilities or special education needs had for the first time enshrined in law the compulsory nature of special education.

Greece had created in 2010 the Network against Violence in Schools, which included a mobile intervention unit that acted when violence and intimidation occurred, and online counselling support for teachers, students and young people. Corporal punishment in Greek schools was prohibited by law, while the law on domestic violence made it clear that corporal punishment was not allowed in the framework of raising and educating children. Greece had established in 2004 a special committee to coordinate the action of relevant ministries to address the sale of children and had published in 2006 the National Action Plan against trafficking in human beings. New legislative measures concerning juvenile justice had been introduced to enhance the child-sensitive features of the Greek legislation on minors and the legal position of minors was strengthened throughout the judicial procedure. Those measures had also provided for welfare-type structures and amended the legislative framework governing the Minors Protection Companies, whose primary duty was the prevention of victimization and criminality of minors. They established hosting houses for children who were deprived of their families or encountered mortal danger. Greece had also taken measures to strengthen the treatment of unaccompanied minors and unaccompanied asylum-seekers and had adjusted its criminal law to the Statute of the International Criminal Court in 2011, thus effectively prohibiting the enlisting of children younger than 15 to take direct part in hostilities.

Questions by Experts

KAMLA DEVI VARMAH, Committee Rapporteur for the Report of Greece, welcomed the participation of Greece in this interactive dialogue with the Committee regardless of the difficult financial situation, which was evidence of the commitment of Greece to uphold the rights of children. Ms. Varmah asked the delegation to provide concrete information on the coordination mechanism in the country and on the status of the 2007 National Action Plan for Children, and requested statistical data on the impact of the financial crisis on poor families and poor children. Was the Government taking legal measures to set the age of majority to 18 in conformity with the Convention, particularly in its Criminal Code? The Committee commended the action on protecting the rights of Roma and asked for further information concerning special measures addressing any other groups in need of protection to ensure that they were not discriminated against in housing, education and other walks of life. The delegation was also asked to clarify the situation with birth registration of Roma children and obtaining of birth certificates by minority women, and on measures to ensure that corporal punishment was not practiced at home.

AWICH POLLARD, Committee Co-Rapporteur for the Report of Greece, said that the country was still trying to do its best for children despite the financial crisis, which was commendable. Mr. Pollard asked how the report was prepared and whether children were involved in its preparation. Also, how was the previous report disseminated and how had the Committee’s previous recommendations affected the work of the Government? The delegation was further asked to provide statistics concerning the death of children in Greece and the high mortality rates of Roma children, to expand on the protection of children privacy in all settings in Greece, including within the family, and to explain access to information for children, including the role of the media.

Committee Experts asked how the provisions of the Convention were disseminated among the population and particularly among the vulnerable groups and in their native languages. Coordination on children’s rights was a long standing problem since the National Observatory for the Rights of the Child had not functioned for 11 years. What were the plans to address this issue? The delegation was further asked to provide information on the establishment and functioning of an independent body in the area of anti-discrimination, which Greece, as a part of the European Union, was obliged to do.

Concerning the situation of the Roma, Experts recalled the 2008 report of the Independent Expert on minority issues and noted that discrimination was present in the housing of Roma, school attendance of Roma children, and in the treatment of Roma by the police, with some cases of ill treatment reported. Why had Roma not yet been recognized as a minority; how many Roma were there in Greece; and what measures were taken to ensure non-discrimination of Roma in housing and education?

Turning to the impact of the current economic and financial crisis on children, the Committee noted that poverty was increasing in Greece and there were reports of more children being abandoned and the increase in requests to place children in institutional care, while social welfare services seemed to be overwhelmed. Youth unemployment was very high at over 40 per cent. What measures had been taken to increase social expenditures to create employment and pave the way for growth? What proportion of the budget had been spent on health and education for the past three years and were there cash transfers in place for the most vulnerable?

The delegation was asked to comment on the implementation of the Sharia law; measures to lift children from situations in which they were discriminated against; measures to ensure freedom of thought and worship in schools and to address religion-related discrimination; domestic violence and measures to address this phenomenon; and measures to reduce the involvement of minors in illegal occupations such as selling drugs and to ensure that the voices of children were heard in judicial proceedings.

Response by Delegation

Responding to questions, the delegation said that the drafting of the report had been coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with more than 10 relevant ministries. The draft report had been sent to the National Commission of Human Rights, which had sent its comments to the Ministry. The Human Rights Ombudsmen and six non-governmental organizations had participated in the working of the Commission, which meant that civil society had been consulted and had participated.

Greece was in the same position as a number of European countries and was unable to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families at the moment. The ratification of the Third Optional Protocol on the Convention on the Rights of the Child was under consideration and Greece was looking forward to the Committee’s comments with regard to its implementation.

All acts of birth were drafted in Greek and spelling of foreign names in Greek was made on the basis of a statement by the person concerned. The law provided for the potential application of the Sharia law for members of the Muslim minority; members of the minority were completely free to address themselves to the local mufti if they wished. It was necessary to ensure that there were no conflicts with provisions of the national law. Issues related to the exercise of parental care fell in the competence of the civil court and not under the jurisdiction of the mufti. There were no parallel legal orders in Greece; women and children of the Muslim minority were fully involved and covered by the law. There were instances of early marriages by persons belonging to the Roma; in other instances, the Greek civil code called for a court decision to allow early marriage at the age of 14.

The Committee Chairperson said that it was a practice of the Committee to recommend raising of the age for marriage across the board; the minimum age of 14 in Greece was far too low. Allowing exceptions to the national law of Greece set serious precedents. Were there any instances where civil courts annulled decisions of the mufti?

Responding, the delegation noted that early marriages were not frequent occurrences and did not concern only the members of the Muslim minority. Decisions of local courts annulling decisions of the mufti were very rare and that was why Greece was aware of the need to strengthen the control of local laws in order to ensure constitutionality in legal regimes.

There had been some developments concerning the National Observatory for the Rights of the Child and its re-establishment had been considered by the General Secretariat for Youth. An open call for the establishment of the Scientific Committee had been launched in May 2012 and the goal was that the Observatory gradually become functional again and become the central body to ensure the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The Committee noted that it seemed that the National Observatory for the Rights of the Child was turning into a think tank rather than a national coordination body and it wondered how the Observatory would carry out its coordination functions. The delegation said that it was hoped that there would be a concentration of bodies and actions needed to protect the rights of the child. Last year Greece had created a new institution to improve the criminal legislation for minors, the Central Scientific Council for the Prevention and Confrontation of Victimization and Criminality of Minors, whose mission was to create a national network for the protection of minors who were in danger.

Greece tried to maintain support to people in need of welfare even in the face of the economic and financial crisis. Free health care was available through public hospitals and allocation policies to families with three or more children and for persons with disabilities were in place. The crisis had had a serious effect on the public administration, but Greece was maintaining efforts to provide basic services, including free access to education. Measures to provide access to quality education included merging of school units with small numbers of students or in close proximity. Schools in remote areas and on island were maintained regardless of the number of students or operating costs. In 2010, the Ministry had introduced Educational Priority Zones to allow the integration of students from low socio-economic strata and remove social and economic barriers to students’ progress.

Questions by Experts

In a second round of questions and comments, Experts said that Greece was a party to the Hague Convention on international adoption and noted that there was no agency for private adoption which was quite wide spread in Greece; the Committee had information that Bulgarian and Albanian mothers sold their babies to Greek mothers and that there were cases of trafficking in babies for international adoptions. Children in alternative care, children of asylum seekers and migrants were also at risk of being illegally adopted. What concrete actions had been taken to combat illegal adoptions and to investigate and prosecute illegal actions?

Primary education was mandatory for all children including children with disabilities since 2008; still, the majority of children with disabilities did not attend schools because schools were not fit to cater to their needs. What measures were there to ensure education for children with disabilities and minority children, such as Roma and Muslim children? How was the Convention disseminated among students? How was early childhood education provided to Roma children?

It was pleasing to know that there was no armed conflict in Greece, but the Committee was concerned about the identification and rehabilitation of children that were affected by armed conflict elsewhere. What were the facilities provided to children to enjoy their right to leisure and what were the views concerning free time?

The Committee was concerned about the situation of children with disabilities in Greece, in particular about their access to health through private service providers; children with disabilities in alternative care for those children as it seemed that they were institutionalized for a long time; and the system for early detection of disabilities. The Committee had received reports on sedation and tying children with disabilities to beds, or so-called caging, in institutions of alternative care and found it appalling. What was the strategy to support alternative family care and avoid the institutionalization of children?

On juvenile justice, the Experts wondered about the age of criminal responsibility and the punishment and sentences that could be handed down to children of different age groups. Begging seemed to be sanctioned by the Criminal Code. Contrary to the law, in several detention centers children were held together with adults and the Committee asked what Greece intended to do to address this situation. Why were only a few judges trained in the provisions of the Convention?

Response by Delegation

Parliament had ratified both the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol last April, the delegation said. Greece did not know how many Roma lived in the country, but based on their participation in specific projects there were between 250,000 and 300,000 Roma in the country. The issue of birth registration of Roma was resolved by the introduction of a personal declaration before the court which then issued the necessary documents. The picture was different today as most Roma gave birth in hospitals and births were registered automatically. Roma were considered as a vulnerable group by the Government and special measures were applied to reduce their socio-economic exclusion.

The New National Roma Integration Strategy of 2010 was focused on the strategic sectors of education, health, employment, and housing. It built synergies between bodies involved and ensured the participation of Roma people. A particular contribution to this strategy was a new database on housing conditions of the Roma on a local level. Housing loan schemes, which had been the most challenging part of the previous national action plan, had included 9,000 Greek Roma living in temporary shelters and beneficiaries were entitled to 60,000 € loans under favourable terms. Roma had not been registered as a national minority because the issue had never arisen and a major Roma organization had declared several years ago that they did not wish to be treated as a minority.

All Roma children were entitled to the same education as other Greek children and the Government had been applying special measures to ensure access of the Roma to schools. The project was focused on pre-school education and early enrolment in primary schools, as well as an increase in attendance and a reduction in dropout rates. Since 2008, the Ministry of Education had issued a circular reminding all school districts of their obligation to enrol Roma children. Roma families benefitted from an allowance for every child enrolled in compulsory education which was paid out at the end of a school year upon presentation of an attendance certificate.

The Muslim minority in Thrace consisted of three separate groups which each spoke a distinct language and Muslim faith was the only common denominator. Education of Muslim minorities was Greek’s policy priority and the action was focused on access to education and proper functioning of the minority schools, of which 174 were primary. Most children attended minority school but an increasing number of minority children were showing preferences for public mainstream schools. That was why Turkish as an optional programme was introduced on a pilot basis in five junior schools in the region.

A 2010 law sought to improve a change of behaviour of juvenile offenders and to contribute to the humanization of the system. United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice or Beijing Rules had been taken into account in the design of this law. It provided for correctional measures only for minors over 15 years of age. The delegation would provide further answers to Committee questions on this topic tomorrow.

The Government cooperated closely with non-governmental organizations in detention centres on the border where about 200 persons entered the country on an illegal basis every day. Non-governmental organizations provided basic services to those arriving. With the assistance of a border management system called Frontex, Greece was able to better screen persons arriving in terms of their age and nationality. There had been problems in the past with screening and debriefing procedures for illegal migrants, including minors, but with the new regulations Greece would be able to offer a new kind of reception services as soon as staffing problems were resolved. There was a new office which was in charge of investigating cases of ill treatment by police officers and it could also re-examine and review past cases.

Committee Experts asked how Greece had established the age of illegal immigrants and to what extent the service of legal guardianship was provided to unaccompanied minors arriving to the country; were they accommodated in specialised facilities or together with adults; were children treated more speedily and given higher level of attention; how many unaccompanied minors were currently held in the country?

The delegation said it did not have the exact number of minors at the moment; 6,422 minors had been detected in the country in 2011. Minors were never kept together with adults, immediately upon completion of screening procedures they would be transported to a specialized facility in Athens; this went for boys and girls. Previously, age determination had been based on the information collected by the group of illegal immigrants or information provided by medical staff; now officers had been trained in the use of Frontex which provided such information.

Human rights and democracy were substantively included in national primary and secondary education but they were not treated as a stand alone subject. A Committee for Human Rights was established in the Greek Pedagogical Institute to advise on human rights related issues in teachers’ training and in curricula and there had been extensive cooperation with the Council of Europe on human rights and democracy training. Violence in schools was increasingly becoming an important issue; efforts were directed at dealing with cases of violence in schools and the implementation of actions to prevent violence. In February 2011 the Ministry of Education had issued a circular on factors contributing to school violence, which also emphasized the importance of prevention for effective school functioning.

Turning to the impact of the economic crisis on health and education spending, the delegation said that welfare services had been restructured but had not been reduced; the administrative restructuring was being done to reduce operational costs. The access of people in need to social services and especially to hospitals was undeniable and without restrictions. Greece had spent 127 million € in 2010 and 100 million € in 2011 on health costs for uninsured persons.

The Ministry of Health and Social Solidarity had programmes for unaccompanied minors which helped 250 detained children obtain housing structures. Mayday II was concerned with the interpretation needs of over 500 unaccompanied minors and others looked into their health, immunization and recreational needs.

The large number of adoptions in Greece had to do with private adoptions and court decisions were used as safeguards. The Government was trying to find ways to change legislation to reduce delays, but it was hard to say when that would happen. There were about 450 adoptions per year over the past two years. The law in Greece did not discriminate against the target group that could be adopted or placed in foster families; it could include able bodied persons, disabled individuals, asylum seekers and any other categories with the exception of children in prisons.

In a follow up question, the Committee asked the delegation to provide more details about the support to any form of foster and alternative care in Greece and what steps had been taken to stop illegal adoptions. They also wished to hear more about access to health by unaccompanied minors and asylum seekers, and children without health insurance as well as the impact of the economic and financial crisis on immunization.

Responding, the delegation said that the number of children placed in foster care had been sent to the Ombudsmen. The delegation did not know the number of cases of illegal adoption and noted that public adoption was safer than private adoption. Ten per cent of the Greek population suffered from disability such as mobility and mental problems. One of the important steps undertaken to improve access of children with disabilities to education was promulgation of the Law 3699 on Special Educational Needs in 2008. This law had codified previous legislation and for the first part had given compulsory character to special education and promoted inclusive education. Currently, special education could be offered through mainstream schools, special needs schools and at home through one-on-one tutoring.

An Expert asked if Greece intended to obtain data on the number of children with disabilities in the country, as no qualitative or quantitative data existed at the moment. The 2008 Law had improved access to education for children with disabilities but it was noted that children with mental disabilities and visual impairment were not adequately covered in terms of access to mainstream schools. Another Expert noted that the figure of 10 per cent of persons with disabilities in Greek society was an old estimate and that the more current one was 15 per cent; the Committee was concerned that their needs would not be adequately met because of the economic and financial crisis.

Responding, the delegation said that there were 3,496 children with disabilities currently attending primary schools; 20,893 were attending support classes in mainstream schools; and 452 children with disabilities currently attended early education institutions. The Government was looking forward to gaining the know-how and mapping the number of students with disabilities in mainstream and special needs schools. The number of persons with disabilities that received disability allowance was 241,000 but it was not possible to say how many among them were children. Caging was not a tendency in care institutions, said the delegation.

The Committee asked the delegation to comment on support to breastfeeding in the country and whether it intended to complete the baby friendly certification process for the two hospitals that initiated it.


For use of the information media; not an official record

CRC12/022E