Thursday 31 May 2012

Government announces an increase of maternity leave to 6 months in Viet Nam


On Thursday 31 May 2012, Viet Nam was reviewed by the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC Committee). IBFAN had submitted an alternative report on the situation of breastfeeding in Viet Nam.
The Committee members addressed issues of infant and young child feeding as part of the health topic. They highlighted the very low rates of exclusive breastfeeding for children under 6 months of age, and the highly spread violations of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes. One member said that there is widespread advertisement of infant formula in Viet Nam, including on television, and infant formula companies have contacts with health professionals leading to very low breastfeeding levels among the mothers.
The government delegation mentioned the Decree through which Viet Nam implements the International Code, however it downplayed the problem of violations by saying that similar problems persist in other countries as well.
According to the government representative, one of the main reasons for which Viet Nam has low exclusive breastfeeding rates for the first 6 months (19%) is due to the fact that mothers have to go to work very early, thus one of the measures that the government announced is the prolongation of the maternity leave up to 6 months. 

Wednesday 30 May 2012

Cyprus: Scarce information on infant and young child feeding


Cyprus reported for the third time at the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC Committee) on 30th of May 2012. Cyprus delegation was composed of 11  members,  one of which was from the Ministry of Health, Ms. Myrto AZINA-CHRONIDES (Medical Officer 1st class). She responded the questions of the Committee pertaining to health issues.
The International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) sent an alternative report on the situation of infant and young child feeding in Cyprus, which led to several questions being posed by the members of the CRC Committee on this subject.
Committee members acknowledged the fact that there is no data on breastfeeding, including exclusive breastfeeding or other infant feeding practices. They also asked for information on the efforts being made to promote the baby friendly hospital initiative as presently there are no certified baby-friendly hospitals in the country.
The delegation stressed that the government of Cyprus is committed to protecting and promoting breastfeeding and announced that a multidisciplinary committee is preparing a breastfeeding promotion plan. However no information was provided on breastfeeding rates in the country. According to the delegation only one hospital, Makarios, is baby-friendly, even though it is unclear when the certification of this hospital has occurred and whether it has been re-assessed.
According to the government representative, awareness raising programmes on adolescent health and nutrition focus on school as the basis for these programmes. However, Committee members noted that this is not sufficient as there are teenagers that are out of the school system, and most importantly because infant and young child feeing which is vital to the child’s health, cannot happen in school but it starts with pregnancy, birth and then breastfeeding and young child feeding.
Cyprus has adopted the EU Directive 2006/141/EC on infant formulae and follow-on formulae, as a measure to implement the International Code of Monitoring of Breastmilk Substitutes. The CRC Committee asked for more information on the efforts taken to implement and monitor the International Code. To these questions the delegation responded very briefly by saying that breastmilk substitutes are monitored by environmental inspectors on a 24 hour basis. It is thus unclear what are the results of such monitoring and what is the procedure in cases of violations.
The Committee also raised questions regarding the maternity protection of working women.  The delegation said that the government is very strict with promoting breastfeeding, and that women are given a leave anytime they need to breastfeed. While such an approach is welcome, it is unclear whether there is a policy in place to ensure breastfeeding breaks and favourable working conditions for breastfeeding women that work not only in the public sector but also in the private and informal sector.

Tuesday 29 May 2012

The 60th Session of the CRC: 29 May - 15 June


The 60th Session of the CRC Committee has officially started on 29th May 2012. 

The calendar of the country reviews is the following:
  • Cyprus : 30 May - 10am to 1pm and 3pm to 6pm
  • Vietnam : 31 May - 10am to 1pm and 3pm to 6pm
  • Turkey : 1 June - 10am to 1pm and 3pm to 6pm
  • Australia : 4 June - 3pm to 6pm; 5 June - 10am to 1pm and 3pm to 6pm
  • Greece : 6 June - 10am to 1pm and 3pm to 6pm; 7 June - 10am to 6pm
  • Algeria: 8 June - 10am to 1pm and 3pm to 6pm
It is possible to watch the sessions through the a live webcast at the following link: http://www.treatybodywebcast.org/ ; please note that the times provided refer to the local Geneva timezone. Also, we will try to provide continuous updates from the discussions on this blog. 

IBFAN alternative reports have been provided to the CRC Committee for all the countries under review. .
You can find these reports on IBFAN's website: http://www.ibfan.org/fact-convention-reports.html 

On the 7th of June, IBFAN-GIFA will organize a briefing between the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food and the CRC Committee: http://www.ibfan.org/news-2012-0302.html#rapporter20120302