Lebanon Rights of the Child report released

The concluding remarks from last week’s session of the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child evaluation of Lebanon was released Monday indicating some improvements as well as remaining challenges. Social Affairs Minister Pierre Abou Assi introduced the report and reaffirmed Lebanon’s commitment to creating a “safe environment.” The minister praised improvements in access to education for Lebanese children and Syrian refugee children following the decision to make school free until the ninth grade. Health care, he added, had also improved as 90 percent of children are covered with primary health networks. U.N. experts praised positive improvement and recognized the added challenges from the Syrian crisis. Yet they proceeded to question the minister on various shortcomings. U.N. committee expert and co-rapporteur for Lebanon Amal Aldoseri noted that there was no official state definition of a child, in line with the convention requirements.