Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Society

At its meetings in mid-January, the committee gave recognition to Estonia for passing the new Child Protection Act and banning physical punishment of children, but noted in the report published after the hearings that the implementation of the law required more detailed regulations and sufficient funding.

"The committee welcomed the progress achieved by Estonia and gave recommendations for further work. Most recommendations are about continuing and strengthening the efforts made thus far – for example, the committee found a need for improvement in the collection of child-focused data, budgetary allocations for child-related topics, training of specialists working with children, acquisition of Estonian citizenship by children aged 15-18, assistance to abused children, and fight against school bullying," chief specialist at the Social Affairs Ministry's department for children and families Elise Nikonov told  on Monday.

The UN committee urged Estonia to strengthen the position of local governments' child welfare officials as well as the mandate of the child protection council to be set up under the Child Protection Act to ensure that it has sufficient authority to coordinate all activities related to the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child at cross-sectoral, national regional and local levels as well as the necessary resources.

The committee called on Estonia to develop a comprehensive policy encompassing all areas covered by the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The committee further recommended to strengthen efforts to inform the public and in particular children about the rights of the child in both the Estonian and the Russian language.

Estonia joined the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991.