Committee on the Rights of the Child

Eighty-third session

13–31 January 2020

Consideration of reports of States parties

List of issues in relation to the combined fifth and sixth periodic reports of Rwanda

The State party is requested to submit in writing additional, updated information (10,700 words maximum), if possible before 15 October 2019. The Committee may take up all aspects of children’s rights set out in the Convention during the dialogue with the State party.

Part I

1.Please explain how the revision of Law No. 71/2018 relating to the protection of the child and Law No. 68/2018 determining offences and penalties strengthens the protection of children’s rights, the reason for the removal of the principle of the best interests of the child from the legislation and the process for consultation with civil society organizations in the revision of laws concerning children, including Law No. 71/2018 and Law No. 68/2018. Please provide information on the results of the evaluation of the Integrated Child Rights Policy and its strategic plan 2011–2016, and whether a new strategic plan has been adopted.

2.Please describe how the National Commission for Children ensures effective coordination across the various ministries and government departments implementing activities related to children’s rights. Please also provide information on the human, technical and financial resources allocated to the Child Rights Observatory of the National Commission for Human Rights, as well as the measures taken to ensure that it is sufficiently known among the public, in particular children.

3.Please provide information on measures taken to ensure that human rights defenders working on children’s rights can exercise their right to freedom of expression, association and opinion without threats and harassment. Please describe the policy and awareness-raising measures taken to eliminate discrimination and stigma faced by, inter alia, children affected by and living with HIV/AIDS, children with disabilities, children in street situations, children living in poverty, children from child-headed households, children from marginalized groups and rural children.

4.Please inform the Committee about the measures taken to ensure that respect for the views of the child is a requirement for all judicial and administrative procedures affecting children, including custody cases, child welfare decisions, criminal justice, immigration and environmental matters. Please describe the procedures and training provided for the relevant professionals to ensure that the principle of the best interests of the child is integrated and consistently applied in all legislative, administrative and judicial proceedings and decisions.

5.Please provide information on the measures taken to explicitly prohibit, by law, corporal punishment in the home and alternative care settings, and to eliminate it in practice in all settings. Please also inform the Committee of public education and awareness-raising programmes on the harmful effects of corporal punishment and on their impact on changing attitudes towards that practice. Please also describe the measures taken to prevent and address child abuse and neglect, both in the home and in refugee camps.

6.Please provide updated information on the status of the draft national action plan on violence against children and the human, technical and financial resources allocated for the elimination of violence against children. Please also inform the Committee of the results of the Violence against Children and Youth Survey 2015–2016, the impact of the national awareness-raising campaign on sexual violence against children 2016–2018 and programmes for parents suffering from emotional trauma due to the 1994 genocide.

7.Please provide information on the results of any awareness-raising programmes, including the UMURAGE campaign, in encouraging a change of attitudes with regard to child marriage and on any monitoring systems in place to assess progress towards the elimination of child marriages. Please provide information on the implementation of Law No. 32/2016 Governing Persons and Family and relevant ministerial orders governing foster care and adoption, including the human, technical and financial resources allocated.

8.Please provide information on the concrete measures taken to:

(a)Provide confidential, objective and age-appropriate reproductive and sexual health services and information to adolescents;

(b)Address the high rate of teenage pregnancy, in particular due to sexual violence;

(c)Ensure that children infected by HIV/AIDS have access to medical treatment;

(d)Prevent substance abuse among adolescents.

9.Please also provide information on the situation of children’s mental health and the availability of related services.

10.Please inform the Committee of the measures taken to:

(a)Improve school infrastructure and children’s access to school materials;

(b)Eradicate urban/rural disparities in educational outcomes;

(c)Eliminate hidden costs in the school system;

(d)Identify and address the root causes of dropout from school, especially of boys;

(e)Ensure that children in disadvantaged or vulnerable situations, including rural children, adolescent girls and children with disabilities, are fully integrated in educational settings.

11.Please provide information on the impact of policies to combat poverty and strengthen child protection, including the outcome of the assessment that was conducted to understand the level of achievements and areas for improvement (CRC/C/RWA/5-6, para. 153). Please also describe how the specific needs and views of children, in particular children heading their own households, children with disabilities and children living in street situations, were taken into account in the Social Protection Strategic Plan 2018–2024.

12.Please provide updated information on progress in:

(a)The amendment of existing legislation and ministerial instructions to explicitly prohibit all forms of hazardous child labour, ensure protection for workers in the informal sector and require employers to report all work-related injuries and serious illnesses to labour inspectors;

(b)The establishment of an integrated labour administration system for data collection on child labour (CRC/C/RWA/5-6, para. 178).

13.Please inform the Committee of the measures taken to eliminate child labour.

14.Please provide additional information on:

(a)The implementation of the Justice for Children Policy, the Legal Aid Policy and the guidelines on the Justice for Children Policy;

(b)The mechanisms in place to enable a child-friendly justice system (CRC/C/RWA/5-6, para. 182);

(c)The measures taken to prevent the arbitrary detention of children and investigate allegations of ill-treatment of children in detention, including children in street situations;

(d)The use of non-custodial alternatives to detention;

(e)Rehabilitation and reintegration programmes for children in conflict with the law.

15.Please provide updated information on the implementation of the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, in particular:

(a)The status of draft laws relevant to the domestication of the Optional Protocol (CRC/C/RWA/5-6, paras. 198 and 227);

(b)Measures taken to prevent and eliminate the exploitation of children in the commercial sex and tourism industries;

(c)Measures taken to ensure the recovery and reintegration of child victims.

16.Please provide updated information on the implementation of the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, in particular with regard to:

(a)The explicit criminalization of the recruitment and use in hostilities of children under 18 years of age by national armed forces and non-State armed groups;

(b)The identification, demobilization and repatriation of children who were recruited and used in hostilities by armed forces abroad;

(c)The provision of relevant training for judges, lawyers, police, medical professionals, social workers and journalists.

Part II

17.The Committee invites the State party to provide a brief update (no more than three pages) on the information presented in its report with regard to:

(a)New bills or laws, and their respective regulations;

(b)New institutions (and their mandates) or institutional reforms;

(c)Recently introduced policies, programmes and action plans and their scope and financing;

(d)Recent ratifications of human rights instruments.

Part III

Data, statistics and other information, if available

18.Please provide consolidated information for the past three years on the budget lines regarding children and social sectors by indicating the percentage of each budget line in terms of the total national budget and the gross national product. Please also provide information on the geographic allocation of those resources.

19.Please provide, if available, updated statistical data disaggregated by age, sex, ethnic origin, national origin, geographic location and socioeconomic status, for the past three years, on:

(a)Complaints handled by the Child Rights Observatory, further disaggregated by type of complaint or human rights violation and the outcome of the investigations;

(b)Cases of intimidation and harassment against civil society organizations, human rights defenders or civil society activists working on children’s rights that were investigated, and the outcome of such investigations;

(c)Cases of corporal punishment, especially in alternative care settings;

(d)Teenage pregnancies and abortions, including the number of deaths resulting from unsafe abortions;

(e)Girls who are serving prison sentences for abortion-related offences;

(f)Drug and alcohol abuse by children;

(g)Mental health illnesses among children;

(h)Work-related injuries and serious illnesses among children, as reported by employers of child agricultural or domestic workers;

(i)Investigations and prosecutions of cases of sexual violence and rape involving children, including information on the penalties imposed on perpetrators, and on redress and compensation offered to the victims;

(j)Disappearances of adolescent girls from refugee camps.

20.Please provide data disaggregated by age, sex, socioeconomic background, ethnic origin and geographic location regarding the situation of children deprived of a family environment, for the past three years, on the number of children:

(a)Separated from their parents;

(b)Living with relatives;

(c)Placed in institutions;

(d)Placed in foster families.

21.Please provide data, disaggregated by age, sex, type of disability, ethnic origin and geographic location, for the past three years, on the number of children with disabilities:

(a)Living with their families;

(b)Living in institutions;

(c)Attending regular primary schools;

(d)Attending regular secondary schools;

(e)Attending special schools;

(f)Out of school;

(g)Abandoned by their families.

22.Please provide, if available, updated statistical data disaggregated by age, sex, type of offence, ethnic and national origin, geographic location and socioeconomic status, for the past three years, on children in conflict with the law who have been:

(a)Arrested;

(b)Referred to diversion programmes;

(c)Held in pretrial detention, including data on the average length of such detention;

(d)Convicted and are serving a sentence in detention, including data on the length of the sentences.

23.Please provide information on how the planning, implementation and monitoring of measures for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals integrate a child rights-based approach, including with regard to child participation and data collection, and how they promote the realization of children’s rights under the Convention and its Optional Protocols.

24.Please provide the Committee with an update of any data in the report that may have been outdated by more recent data collected or other new developments.

25.In addition, the State party may list areas affecting children that it considers to be of priority with regard to the implementation of the Convention.