The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child publishes recommendations to Spain to guarantee children's rights

Eurochild member Plataforma de Infancia explains how the Concluding Observations set out a roadmap to tackle child poverty, housing insecurity, violence, institutionalisation, educational exclusion and the protection of migrant children, while urging full implementation of children’s rights across all levels of government.

The UN document, which concludes the seventh review cycle of Spain, is the result of a process carried out throughout 2025 and last January, incorporating the views of the State, civil society organisations, the Ombudsman and children, among other stakeholders. It provides a rigorous and independent assessment of progress and remaining challenges in the fulfilment of children’s rights, setting out a roadmap to place children at the centre of the political agenda, prioritise resources, plan reforms and strengthen coordination among public administrations.

Among the positive developments since the previous review in 2018, the Committee highlights the creation of the Ministry of Children and Youth, the Organic Law on the Protection of Children and Adolescents against Violence (LOPIVI), and various strategies and legislation implemented in recent years.

However, it also points out areas for improvement: 

• Child poverty: the Committee warns of the high and rising levels of poverty and social exclusion and recommends strengthening the Minimum Living Income and the Child Support Supplement, reducing administrative barriers and improving the adequacy of benefits.
• Housing: The Committee draws attention to forced evictions without adequate housing alternatives, which disproportionately affect certain groups of children. It recommends suspending evictions of families with dependent children until adequate alternative housing is guaranteed, and ensuring that all eviction and relocation processes are governed by the best interests of the child and are supervised by specialised child welfare services. 
• Violence against children: The Committee highlights weaknesses in how residential care facilities prevent, detect and respond to physical and psychological violence. It therefore recommends amending Organic Law No. 8/2021 to require the appointment of a Welfare and Protection Coordinator and to ban all forms of mechanical and pharmacological restraint.
• Child protection: The Committee recommends gradually ending institutional care, prioritising the closure of large residential centres, ensuring that no child under six lives in a residential setting, and keeping siblings together. It also calls for stronger legal safeguards in decisions to remove children from parental care and in cases involving risk or neglect.
• Education: The Committee highlights the lack of inclusiveness of the education system and recommends the development of a State Plan for educational inclusion and against the segregation of Roma and migrant students, with a timetable, objectives, indicators and a budget agreed between the central government and the autonomous communities. 
• Migrant children: the Committee again expresses its concern about the procedure for determining the age of unaccompanied migrant children. It recommends reforming it to guarantee the presumption of minority, allow for judicial review, and ensure that age assessments are only carried out in cases of reasonable doubt.
• Finally, the Committee highlights the lack of implementation in Spain of the Committee's Opinions on individual cases, urging the State to ensure their implementation, including reparation for victims, the adoption of guarantees of non-repetition and the timely implementation of the corresponding measures. 

Further information:

• Read the full article by Plataforma de Infancia (in ES)
• Download the Concluding Observations (in EN)