C. General principles (arts. 2, 3, 6 and 12)
Non-discrimination
24. The Committee welcomes the legislative and policy measures taken by the State party to address discrimination. However, it is concerned that girls continue to be subjected to gender-based discrimination, owing to the persistence of adverse and traditional attitudes and norms. It is also concerned about persistent discriminatory attitudes and practices against indigenous children, children with disabilities and immigrant children. The Committee is further concerned about continuing negative attitudes against and discrimination faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex children.
25. The Committee recommends that the State party:
(a) Strengthen policy and programme measures to combat the multiple forms of discrimination against girls, indigenous children and children with disabilities, and target the stereotypes on which those discriminatory attitudes are based;
(b) Strengthen its efforts to combat negative attitudes and eliminate discrimination against children on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics.
D. Civil rights and freedoms (arts. 7, 8 and 13-17)
Right to Identity
34. The Committee is concerned about limitations on the right to identity of indigenous children as part of their cultural identity. Furthermore, while noting the measures being considered to legally recognize the gender identity of transgender children, the Committee is concerned about the limitations on the exercise of the right to identity imposed on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex children.
35. The Committee recommends that the State party take the necessary legislative, policy and administrative measures to:
(a) Respect the right to identity of indigenous children in accordance with their culture;
(b) Recognize the right to identity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex children, including the gender identity of transgender children;
(c) Foster an environment of inclusion and respect in mainstream society.
E. Violence against children (arts. 19, 24 (3), 28 (2), 34, 37 (a) and 39)
Freedom of the child from all forms of violence
40.The Committee welcomes the enactment of Act No. 20536 (2011) addressing school violence, but it is deeply concerned about the high levels of violence in educational settings, including homophobic and transphobic bullying.
41. Recalling the recommendations of the independent expert for the United Nations study on violence against children (see A/61/299), taking into account its general comment No. 13 (2011) on the right of the child to freedom from all forms of violence and taking note of Sustainable Development Goal 16.2 to end abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children, the Committee recommends that the State party:
(a) Develop, based on Act No. 20536 (2011), a comprehensive strategy to prevent and address all forms of violence against children in educational settings, including gender-based violence …
Harmful practices
48. While noting the proposed development of a protocol on the health care of intersex babies and children, the Committee is seriously concerned about cases of medically unnecessary and irreversible surgery and other treatment on intersex children, without their informed consent, which can cause severe suffering, and the lack of redress and compensation in such cases.
49. In the light of its general comment No. 18 (2014) on harmful practices, adopted jointly with the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the Committee recommends that the State party expedite the development and implementation of a rights-based health-care protocol for intersex children that set s the procedures and steps to be followed by health teams in order to ensure that no one is subjected to unnecessary surgery or treatment during infancy or childhood, protect the rights of the children concerned to physical and mental integrity, autonomy and self-determination, provide intersex children and their families with adequate counselling and support, including from peers, and ensure effective remedy for victims, including redress and compensation.
Link to full text of the report: Concluding Observations-CRC-Chile-2015-eng