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United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child
Report
by Justice for Children
on the Compliance ofthe Czech Republic with its Commitments arising from the Convention on the Rights ofthe Child
This Report is not a part of the Supplementary Report by Czech Republic NGO' s submitted through the intermediary of the Czech section of Defence for Children ntemational as a part ofthe Introductory Report.
Justice for Children is an association (thereinafter the Association or Justice for Children) aiming at the protection of the rights of children, parents and grand parents. The Association was founded ofthe free will oftheherebelow signed Czech Republic citizens is a means for the proctection of the rights of their children, their own rights and the rights )f other children and their family members in cases, in which these rights fail to be ecognized, protected, and ensured by the State.
To achive this goal, the Association offers the help-seekers consultations and provides hem also leaal assistance bv reoresentina them at courts and state administration bodies.
The compliance of the Czech Republic with its commitments stemming from the ^onvention on the Rights of the Child in cases of divorce and separation of parents oi ninor children is considered by the Association to be insufficient particularly in the bllowing areas:
) Recognition and securing ofthe rights ofthe child and both his/her parents to mutual performance and receiving of parental care and upbringing and to the preservation of family ties with both parents, grand parents and other relatives ofthe child.
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.) Rendition of requisite help to both parents in their role ofupbringing ofthe child.i) Protection ofchildren from all forms ofphysical and mental violence, neglect and tormentation.
\) Creation ofconditions for a full-value development of the child's personality in the broadest scope possible.
These commitments ofthe Czech Republic are based mainly on Articles 5, 7, 8, 9, 18, 9, and 29 ofthe Convention on the Rights ofthe Child.
The causes ofthe above-mentioned failures to comply are seen by Justice to Children ot in the absence ofthe requisite legal precepts, but mainly in the malpractice ofthe courts hat, in deciding on upbringing of children follovving divorce or separation of parents, esults in actual discrimination ofthe father, this in contradiction with the proclaimed and armally guaranteed equality ofrights ofboth the mother and the father in all family matters. 'his is also true about the recognition and ensurance of at least regular personal contacts of rie non-resident father with his child. Consequently, these children are incapacitated from w development of their mental and social ties with their own father and his parents and riey, too, are hence subject to discrimination with negative impacts on their lives.
Insufficient, too, is the so-called social and legal protection of the child and the family arried out by state administration and self-govemment bodies. Even in their practice, it is le unskilled, stereotyped and subjectivist approach that prevails giving thus priority to rejudices over relevant expert vievvs.
The very vvide-spread incitement ofthe child against the father overgrowing into the ^ndrome of the repudiated father is mostly overlooked by the courts and the child care uthorities and considered by them to be a social standard rather than a form ofmental and motional tormentation ofthe child and a form ofsocietal pathology.
iiey iinu oui inai ineir natural emotional and social ties with their children are irretrievably lamaged and broken. In the majority ofcases, these false accusations are left unattended.
The above-listed facts are documented by Justice for Children by the attached analysis Decisions ofCustodial Courts m the Czech Republic (1988 - 1995)' and by enclosure )ffive different individual cases.
Justice for Children sees a potential for redress ofthe above problems in the following:
) Consistent respecting ofthe rights of the child and those of his/her both parents and grandparents in all cases, in which the State - through the intermediary of its bodies -intervenes in family relationships, and in effective right of recovery in any case of infringement on these rights;
'.) In consistent adherance to the laws in force by state bodies and in their effective application in congruence with the Convention on the Rights ofthe Child;
•) In systematic and quality training of the staff of govemmental and non-govemmental institutions and facilities whose activities involve minor children and in consístent and thorough inspection to determine vvhether these activities are carried out in line with the Convention on the Rights ofthe Child ;
\) In systematic familiarizing the broad lay and expert public with the rights ofthe child and both his/her parents and grandparents as recognized by the Convention on the Right of the Child and with the commitments stemming from it.
Upon the evaluation ofthe Initial report by the Czech Republic on the compliance ofthe ^zech Republic with the commitments stemming from the Convention on the Rights of the ^hild, Justice for Children recommends the UNO Committee on the Rights ofthe Child to isk the representatives ofthe Czech Republic Govemment the following questions:
) When will the Czech State cease tolerating ofand co-participating in the discrimination of minor children Jan Gabriel and Jana Gabrielová, Kristýna Jedličková, Anna Kohutková and Jiří Kohutka, Dita Mezlová, and Lukáš Patera and their fathers and grandparents and when and in what way will it ensure - through the intermediary of its juditial, child care and possibly other bodies - these equal right citizens the possibility to freely implement their rights recognized by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and freely maintain and develop their mutual and natural emotional and social ties and relationships ?
What specific measures will the Czech State adopt to secure that state bodies are well-'ersed in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and consistently comply with the sommitments stemming from this Convention in all their activities conceming minors ?
iVhen will be adopted the pertinent legal provisions regulating family legal relationships n harmony with the Convention on the Rights ofthe Child the preparation ofwhich is a •natter ofyears-long fruitless debate ?
On behalf of Justice for Children
Vlastimil Brůček MUDr. Jaroslav Jedlička, CSc.
Ing. Jiří Kohutka Oldřich Mezl
Luboš Patera