Committee on the Rights of the Child

Eighty-third session

13–30 January 2020

Consideration of reports of States parties

List of issues in relation to the initial report of the State of Palestine

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 inform the Committee on the measures taken to:

(a)Publish the Convention in the official gazette;

(b)Ensure the application of child-related laws in the Gaza Strip;

(c)Guarantee the resources necessary for the effective application of the Palestinian Child Law, adopted in 2004 and amended in 2012.

2.Please provide information on the activities of the legal harmonization committee regarding child rights.

3.Please provide information about the draft strategic plan for the protection of children 2018–2022. Please inform the Committee how children’s rights are guaranteed in the national policy agenda 2017–2022 and how the State party ensures the coordination among and implementation of the different national sectoral strategies regarding children’s rights. Please clarify the roles and mandates of the National Council for Children and the Ministry of Social Development as the governmental entities responsible for the implementation of children’s rights.

4.Please provide information on cases of arbitrary arrest, detention and harassment of human rights defenders, including children, working on children’s rights and the measures taken to protect them from such abuses.

5.Please provide information on the measures taken to:

(a)Adopt the revised personal status law drafted in 2010 and raise the minimum age of marriage to 18;

(b)Ensure that the best interests of the child are taken as a primary consideration in all matters affecting them, in particular custody;

(c)Ensure that a child married under the age of 18 is not treated as an adult.

6.Please provide information on the measures taken to prevent violence, including sexual violence and abuse, against children:

(a)In families and communities, including domestic violence and corporal punishment in homes and schools;

(b)In alternative care;

(c)Resulting from the occupation and the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

7.Please also provide information on the measures taken to establish reporting and referral mechanisms, and to facilitate their use by children.

8.Please inform the Committee of the measures in place to deal with parents who neglect or abuse their children. Please also inform the Committee of the measures taken to establish a monitoring system, with data collection, on the situation of children in alternative care, including children of unknown parentage, children who have been neglected or abused by their parents or guardians and orphans, and their access to education, health and other appropriate services.

9.Please provide information on the services available for the early diagnosis and, prevention of child disability and support for children with disabilities, including those with no evident disability. Please provide information on the measures taken to:

(a)Promote inclusive education in mainstream classes and not in “special needs classrooms”;

(b)Increase access to schools, public services and transportation;

(c)Protect adolescent girls with disabilities from neglect and abuse;

(d)Adopt the law on the rights of persons with disabilities.

10.Please provide information on the measures taken to:

(a)Reduce neo-natal and under-5 child mortality rates;

(b)Ensure that children have access to adequate nutrition;

(c)Increase access to mental health services, including to address post-traumatic stress disorder;

(d)Ensure that children, including children with disabilities, and their families have access to an adequate standard of living.

11.Please indicate the measures taken to:

(a)Ensure access to age-appropriate and gender-friendly free sexual and reproductive health information and services to girls and boys;

(b)Increase access to contraceptives;

(c)Include in the school curricula information about sexually transmitted diseases, teenage pregnancies, contraception and HIV/AIDS;

(d)Prohibit enforced medical interventions against girls with disabilities to alter their reproductive systems.

12.Please provide information on the measures taken to:

(a)Prevent and reduce dropout from school, in particular of adolescent boys;

(b)Ensure the protection and inviolability of schools and children’s safe access to education;

(c)Prevent and address incidents of violence in schools, among students and between school staff and students.

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

(a)Ensure that children are not exposed to or involved in conflict-related violence, in particular life-threatening incidents;

(b)Address cases where the authorities allegedly encouraged, facilitated and incentivized the participation of children in hostilities;

(c)Combat the use and exploitation of children for political purposes.

14.Please provide information on the measures taken to:

(a)Allocate the resources necessary for the implementation of the decree-law concerning juvenile justice of 2016;

(b)Ensure adequate legal services and education are provided to children detained by Israel;

(c)Invest in prevention and post-detention measures;

(d)Ensure that security forces dealing with children receive appropriate training.

Part II

15.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

16.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.

17.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)The number of married children;

(b)Cases of child abuse and neglect in families, foster families and other types of care and public and private institutions, such as orphanages and children’s homes, and the number of investigations and prosecutions carried out and sentences issued;

(c)Cases of torture and ill-treatment in juvenile detention centres and prisons;

(d)The number of children involved in the armed conflict by both State and non-State actors.

18.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 with foster families.

19.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.

20.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;

(d)Convicted and have served or are serving a sentence in detention and the length of the sentence.

21.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.

22.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.

23.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.