UN Committee on the Rights of the Child reviews Germany

PRESS RELEASE on the Hearing of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on Germany

On 5/6 September 2022, the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in Germany will be reviewed. Unfairtobacco has accompanied the reporting process with a focus on the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Berlin, 1.9.2022 – The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child obliges Germany to strengthen and protect the rights of children. At the same time, Germany must comply with and implement the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in a way that ensures the right to health for everyone, especially children and adolescents.

On 5/6 September 2022, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child will review the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in Germany. The basis for the hearing is the German State Report as well as the answers to the list of issues of the Committee. In Geneva, the German government delegation will give an account of what Germany has done to implement children’s rights in Germany. German children’s rights organisations, the National Coalition Germany and the National CRC Monitoring Mechanism at the German Institute for Human Rights submitted their own reports to the UN Committee on the situation of children’s rights in Germany.

Unfairtobacco submitted several joint statements with the Children’s Rights and Tobacco Control Network and participated in the civil society hearing last year. Unfairtobacco also supported grade 6 students to submit their video report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Sonja von Eichborn, director of Unfairtobacco, is familiar with the links between tobacco use, tobacco cultivation and children’s rights: “Due to its ineffectual tobacco control measures, Germany is violating children’s basic rights to health and life. Moreover, children’s rights must be protected along the entire supply chain, because cigarette companies also profit from child labour and exploitation. Therefore, the German government must increase its efforts for an effective supply chain law in Germany and at the EU level.”

The review process in Geneva is a public hearing and can be followed live via the UN’s web TV.

After the hearing in Geneva, the UN Committee will comment on the State Report Review in “Concluding Observations” at the end of September. Thereby, the German government will receive recommendations on how to better realise children’s rights.

Contact:
Sonja von Eichborn | eichborn@unfairtobacco.org | +49-1511-5590191

The statements were prepared by members of the German Network for Children’s Rights and Tobacco Control. The network was founded in September 2018 and aims to achieve a tobacco-free world by 2040. Around 30 organisations and experts working on public health, children’s rights and sustainable development are members of the alliance. They work ad hoc and in changing constellations on common campaigning activities, events and publications.