Convention Abbreviation: CRC
COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES
UNDER ARTICLE 44 OF THE CONVENTION

Concluding observations: Morocco

Second part

Comments and replies of the Government of Morocco to
the concluding observations of the Committee on the
Rights of the Child (CRC/C/15/Add.211)

[24 March 2004]

1. At the conclusion of its consideration of the second periodic report of the Kingdom of Morocco (CRC/C/93/Add.3) on 6 June 2003, the Committee on the Rights of the Child made two observations (CRC/C/15/Add.211, paras. 56 and 57) concerning special protection measures (children affected by armed conflicts).

2. The Government of the Kingdom of Morocco has the honour to transmit to the Committee on the Rights of the Child detailed information concerning the education and health of children in the Moroccan Sahara, which shows that the satisfaction of economic, social and cultural rights in that part of Morocco is above the national average.

I. RIGHT TO EDUCATION

A. School enrolment

3. The Saharan provinces (the regions of Ouad Dahab-Lagouira and Laâyoune-Boujdour) registered a growth in pupil enrolment at all levels of education, including pre-school education. During the school year 2003/04, enrolment increased as follows:

· Pre-school education: from 10,276 to 10,832 children;
· Primary education: from 43,472 to 43,827 children;
· Secondary education: from 15,492 to 16,427 children;
· Vocational education: from 7,137 to 7,875 children.

4. The number of children enrolled in schools in these regions rose from 76,377 pupils in 2002/03 to 78,967 pupils in 2003/04, thus registering an increase of 3.4 per cent in school enrolment in the southern provinces as compared with 0.3 per cent at the national level.

B. Indicators

5. In the region of Ouad Dahab-Lagouira, the figures are as follows:

· The school enrolment ratio of children aged 6 reached 105.7 per cent;
· The school enrolment ratio of children between the ages of 6 and 11 reached 101.2 per cent;
· The school enrolment ratio of children between the ages of 12 and 14 reached 103 per cent;
· The school enrolment ratio of children between the ages of 15 to 17 reached 76 per cent.
The school enrolment ratios exceeding 100 per cent can be explained by the fact that the number of children enrolled in schools goes beyond the category of age, owing to the mobility of the inhabitants of this region.

6. In the region of Laâyoune-Boujdour, the figures are as follows:

· The school enrolment ratio of children aged 6 reached 92.2 per cent;
· The school enrolment ratio of children between the ages of 6 and 11 reached 94.4 per cent;
· The school enrolment ratio of children between the ages of 12 and 14 reached 79.4 per cent;
· The school enrolment ratio of children between the ages of 15 and 17 reached 63.8 per cent.

7. The national figures are as follows:

· The school enrolment ratio of children aged 6 reached 89.3 per cent;
· The school enrolment ratio of children between the ages of 6 and 11 reached 92.11 per cent;
· The school enrolment ratio of children between the ages of 12 and 14 reached 68.4 per cent;
· The school enrolment ratio of children between the ages of 15 and 17 reached 42.7 per cent.
C. School capacity

8. The joint efforts of the Ministry of National Education and Youth, the various components of civil society and the local authorities have made it possible to increase school capacity and the number of classrooms, which rose from 1,207 in 2002/03 to 1,279 in 2003/04. There was a 6 per cent increase in these regions as compared with the national average, which is 1.7 per cent.

II. RIGHT TO HEALTH

A. Maternal and newborn health

9. Various measures have been taken, including:

· Equipment of the infrastructure of maternity centres;
· Acquisition of ambulances specialized in child delivery and reanimation of newborns;
· Equipment of mobile childbirth units in rural and urban areas;
· Establishment of two new delivery rooms in Goulmime and Tantane;
· Establishment of a gynaecology and obstetrics centre in Tata;
· Provision of emergency medicines necessary for child delivery and reanimation;
· Continuing training of health professionals working in hospitals; gynaecologists; midwives and obstetricians;
· Training of provincial and regional health workers in the prevention of newborn and infant mortality;
· Distribution of a gynaecology and obstetrics guide in the various provinces.

10. The following achievements may be cited:

(a) The proportion of medically assisted deliveries reached 100 per cent in the Dakhla-Ouad Dahab region, 80 per cent in the Laâyoune-Boujdour region and 50 per cent in the Guelmim-Smara region;

(b) Caesarian births accounted for 5 per cent of all deliveries.

B. Child health

1. National immunization programme

11. The principal objective of this programme is to reduce infant and child mortality and morbidity. The programme has three components:

· Distribution of vaccines in all the southern regions;
· Distribution of refrigeration equipment for the preservation of vaccines;
· Distribution of fuel to the mobile units.

2. National programme to combat malnutrition

12. The following measures have been taken:

· Training of health professionals;
· Distribution of posters and publications and guides dealing with ways of combating malnutrition;
· Raising awareness of the benefits of using iodized salt;
· Distribution of nutritional supplements (vitamins A and D, iron).
13. The programme has achieved the following:

· 60 per cent vitamin A coverage of children in the southern provinces;
· 75 per cent vitamin D coverage of children in the southern provinces;
· 42 per cent iodized salt coverage of the population of the southern provinces.
3. Programme for the integrated management of childhood illness

14. This programme, which constitutes a new approach by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund, focuses on the integrated management of childhood illness (diarrhoea; respiratory infections; meningitis; ear, nose and throat infections; measles; malnutrition; anaemia; and vaccination).

4. Breastfeeding programme

15. Health professionals at Hassan II hospital in Laâyoune have been trained to promote breastfeeding, which has earned Hassan II hospital the title of "baby-friendly hospital".

5. School health programme

16. Many measures have been taken to protect schoolchildren. The southern provinces in particular have been equipped with the medical and technical units necessary to ensure that schoolchildren receive appropriate health coverage through the creation of audio-visual units, vision-testing units and eyeglass units.