BURKINA FASO: UN reviews record on children's rights

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BURKINA FASO: UN reviews record on children's rights

ABIDJAN, 1 October (IRIN) - Burkina Faso had made a serious commitment to improving children's rights and had enjoyed some success in doing so, but was constrained by poverty and cultural resistance among other factors, United Nations child rights experts heard this week.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on Monday reviewed Burkina Faso's latest report on implementing the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

According to the government report, Burkina Faso - a poor country, with 44.5 percent of the population living below the poverty line - was constrained in its ability to improve children's rights by socio-cultural resistance, poverty, illiteracy and the perverse effects of economic and monetary adjustment.

Despite the efforts made, forced marriages will continue to escape punishment because of the widespread conspiracy of silence, especially in rural areas, which makes it impossible to report, the report said.

"Female genital mutilation is beginning to be punished effectively," it said, noting that seven practitioners are currently in prison and another has been sentenced to three month's imprisonment.

At least 60 percent of women are circumcised and, unfortunately, there have been no signs of significant changes in behaviour as a result of the campaign against this harmful traditional practice, the report said.

The Minister of Social Action and National Solidarity Mariam Lamizana told the UNHCHR Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva, Switzerland, that Burkina Faso had achieved some results in its efforts to implement the provisions of the Convention, and remained committed to doing so.

Committee expert Luigi Citarella agreed that the country had made a serious commitment to implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child but said poverty was not only affecting families but also the government's ability to spend adequate resources.

The Committee is expected to release its formal recommendations on the second periodic report of Burkina Faso at the end of its current three-week session.
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