Committee on the Rights of the Child

Sixty-eighth session

12–30 January 2015

Item 4 of the provisional agenda

Consideration of reports of States parties

List of issues in relation to the report submitted by Switzerland under article 12, paragraph 1, of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography

The State party is requested to submit in writing additional, updated information (15 pages maximum), if possible before 15 October 2014

The Committee may take up any aspects of the children’s rights set out in the Optional Protocol during the dialogue with the State party.

1.Please provide information on the progress made towards the establishment of a centralized system for the compilation of data on cases of sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography with a view to ensuring a coordinated system of data collection which encompasses all of the State party’s agencies involved in child protection matters under the Optional Protocol.

2.Please provide statistical data (disaggregated by sex, age, nationality, ethnic origin, socio-economic background and urban and rural residence) for the last three years on the number of:

(a)Reported acts of sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, as well as other forms of exploitation including child sex tourism, with additional information on the type of action taken as a result, including the prosecution and punishment of perpetrators;

(b)Children trafficked from or through Switzerland and children trafficked within the country for the purpose of sale, prostitution, forced labour, illegal adoptions, organ transfer or pornography as defined in article 3, paragraph 1, of the Optional Protocol;

(c)Children offered, delivered or accepted by whatever means for the purpose of prostitution, forced labour, illegal adoptions, organ transfer, pornography or marriage; and

(d)Child victims who have been provided assistance with reintegration or have received compensation.

3.Please indicate whether the State party plans to adopt a specific plan of action concerning the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. Please also indicate whether the State party has conducted any studies to evaluate the scale of sexual exploitation of and trafficking in children, and in particular child prostitution and pornography, especially over the Internet.

4.Please identify the body responsible for the implementation of the Optional Protocol. Please also provide detailed information on the follow-up and implementation of the Optional Protocol at both the federal and cantonal levels.

5.Please provide information on the amounts allocated by the budget specifically for the implementation of the Optional Protocol. Please also describe any measures taken to ensure that national policies and programmes to prevent the offences covered by the Optional Protocol are systematically carried out and funded at both the federal and cantonal levels.

6.Please provide up-to-date information on the steps taken systematically to raise awareness among the general public, groups of professionals who work with children and among children themselves, and to familiarize them with the Optional Protocol. In particular, please describe measures intended specifically to warn children about the harmful consequences of the practices covered by the Optional Protocol.

7.Please also provide details of the preventive measures taken to protect particularly vulnerable children who are likely to become the victims of the offences covered by the Optional Protocol, and especially girls who are victims of domestic violence, Roma and other ethnic minority children, children placed in institutions, street children, refugee children, child asylum seekers and migrant children.

8.In respect of the problems referred to above, please indicate what measures have been taken to identify children who are particularly at risk from the offences covered by the Optional Protocol.

9.Please provide details of the measures taken by the State party to prevent sex tourism abroad and to publicize the Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism which was developed by the World Tourism Organization, also indicating the progress achieved so far. Please also provide detailed information on any criminal prosecutions of nationals who have engaged in paedophile acts abroad.

10.In the light of paragraph 37 of the State party’s report, indicate whether the State party has prohibited child prostitution on its territory, in conformity with its obligations under the Optional Protocol. Please also explain on the basis of what criteria it has been decided that persons may voluntarily engage in prostitution from the age of 16.

11.Please indicate whether all the forms of sale of children covered by article 2 (a) and article 3, paragraph 1 (a), subparagraph (i) b and c, of the Optional Protocol have been classified as distinct offences from human trafficking and whether child prostitution, child pornography, grooming and sexting of children have been explicitly defined and classified as criminal offences. Please also indicate whether the State party has taken any measures to classify as criminal offences all forms of production, possession, sale and exchange of pornographic material.

12.Please provide details of the programmes and measures taken to ensure access to rehabilitation, reintegration and compensation services for child victims of sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, including by the provision of information for victims on such programmes and of funding for professional assistance to victims at both the federal and cantonal levels. In the same connection, please provide information on the refoulement and expulsion of children who may have been the victims of trafficking towards Switzerland for sale or sexual exploitation.

13.Please provide details of the measures taken to protect the rights and interests of child victims and witnesses of the criminal offences covered by the Optional Protocol at all stages of criminal proceedings. Please also describe the measures taken to ensure that these children are treated as victims rather than as offenders, and that they are able to receive the benefit of measures to provide psychological support, reintegration and rehabilitation. Please also describe the programmes introduced for perpetrators of the offences covered by the Optional Protocol.