A/HRC/10/72
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draft law provides for the creation of a general external control mechanism for places of
detention and grants particular competence in this area to the mediator, an independent
institution with prerogatives to address the Government when rights have not been respected.
The mediator has also a function of monitoring prisons. The draft law will be adopted in the next
few months. With regard to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Child on
the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, the Government will ratify it at
the same time as the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual
Exploitation and Sexual Abuse. The draft law is being elaborated and will be brought before
Parliament in the near future. Part of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of
Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography is also covered by the
law on human trafficking, which has already been tabled in 2008.
24.
With regard to racial discrimination, the delegation said that Luxembourg fully applies
European directives in this area, calling for sanctions in cases of racial discrimination and has a
monitoring body for all questions of discrimination to ensure that such practices do not occur.
With regard to questions relating to discriminatory practices against prisoners of foreign
nationality, Luxembourg mentioned that the training of staff, in particular prison guards and law
enforcement officials, is designed specifically to preclude all discriminatory practice. This is
particularly important for a multicultural society like Luxembourg.
25.
With regard to violence against women, the delegation mentioned that Luxembourg had
made major efforts over the past 15 years and that cultural elements need to be countered.
Refuges for women and children threatened by violence and a service for psychological
assistance to violent husbands have been set up. Also, training is provided to police officers who
intervene in cases of violence against women. In order to coordinate all these initiatives, an interministerial committee was established to improve procedures, submit an annual analysis report
and ensure follow-up of expulsions, in particular of violent husbands from their homes.
26.
With regard to discrimination against migrant children, Luxembourg stressed that school
programmes and welcome and support classes were organized to help them in their studies,
particularly children who had language problems. Luxembourg indicated that a new law on
assistance to children prohibiting corporal punishment, including in the home, was adopted on 20
November 2008.
27.
Luxembourg indicated that it is modernizing and expanding a detention centre for minors
and that psychological follow-up for minors already exists and could be improved. The
Government fully respects the principle of non-refoulement enshrined in the 1951 Geneva
Convention. A new law on integration was adopted recently and an action programme is being
prepared over a number of years to implement the law and to ensure greater solidarity and
integration of non-Luxembourg citizens into society. Luxembourg stated that a number of reports
from treaty bodies are being drafted, and that it committed itself to producing the overdue report
to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination as soon as possible. Regarding the
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members
of Their Families, there are problems of compatibility between the Convention and European
Community law. The Convention is a good framework and the delegation said it will try to
propose a more in-depth study within the European Union to determine whether it might be
possible to find a solution for the ratification of this Convention. Luxembourg attached
considerable importance to child psychology and to reforming the psychiatric system in the spirit
of open psychological follow-up, ensuring that people are brought out of closed institutions.
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