How did Belgium respond to the UN’s recommendations on children’s rights?

Child Rights Network, part of Eurochild member STEKR, highlights the outcomes of Belgium’s latest UN human rights review, welcoming commitments to tackle child poverty, strengthen inclusive education and implement the European Child Guarantee. However, with other important recommendations rejected and the next dedicated UN review of children’s rights not expected until 2037, significant challenges remain.

There will be 18 years between the last and the next UN child rights review in Belgium. The last child rights review was in 2019. The following one won't be before 2037, due to capacity constraints. The time gap could not be more symbolic. An entire generation of Belgian children will have grown up without international assessment of the implementation of their rights. This is all the more disappointing because a recent review by the UN Human Rights Council exposed a number of challenges regarding children’s rights in Belgium.

In May this year the UN Human Rights Council examined the human rights situation in Belgium as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). During this process countries assess one another’s human rights policies and formulate recommendations to improve them. Belgium received 300 recommendations, many of which also highlighted important challenges in the field of children’s rights.

The review is far more than a formality taking place behind the scenes of international institutions. The recommendations that emerge from it directly affect the lives and rights of children and young people. However a thorough child rights screening by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child remains crucial.

Child Rights Network welcomes the fact that Belgium accepted several recommendations:

• Tackling child poverty
• Implementing the European Child Guarantee
• Strengthening inclusive education
• Ensuring safe and appropriate reception conditions for children in asylum procedures

At the same time, Belgium did not accept several other important recommendations:

• Safeguarding the ban on detaining families with children for migration-related reasons
• Including in the Civil Code an immediate and explicit ban on violence in child-rearing

The UPR cannot replace a thorough review by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. However, while that review remains postponed, the recommendations and commitments made during the UPR carry even greater weight. Child Rights Network will continue to ensure that these commitments do not remain empty promises and to remind policymakers of their promises and responsibilities. Children's rights are not optional ambitions, but fundamental rights that must be guaranteed across all policy areas.

For further information, please, read the full op-ed on mo.be or contact sien.crivits@sterk.net and koen.vandewiele@stekr.net .