CRC concluding observations 2023, paragraph 44

The Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Ensure access for adolescent girls to age-appropriate family planning services, affordable contraceptives and safe abortion and post-abortion care services, particularly in Northern Ireland and the Overseas Territories, with a view to ensuring that no adolescent girl has to travel to other jurisdictions of the State party to access reproductive health care; (b) Integrate comprehensive, age-appropriate and evidence-based education on sexual and reproductive health into mandatory school curricula at all levels of education and into teacher training, and ensure that it includes education on sexual diversity, sexual and reproductive health rights, responsible sexual behaviour and violence prevention, without the possibility for faith-based schools or parents to opt out of such education; (c) Strengthen measures to provide adolescents with information on preventing substance abuse, including of tobacco and alcohol, and to ensure the early identification and adequate referral of adolescents requiring treatment; (d) Ensure the availability of accessible, community-based drug dependence treatment services for adolescents, and ensure their complementarity with mental health services as relevant.