Committee on the Rights of the Child

List of issues in relation to the sixth periodic report of the Dominican Republic *

1.The State party is requested to submit additional updated information, of a maximum of 10,700 words, in writing by 2 June 2023. 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

2.Please provide information on:

(a)The impact of the implementation of Act No. 1-12 on the National Development Strategy to 2030 on the protection of children’s rights;

(b)Progress made in implementing the system for the protection of children’s rights throughout the country and in establishing municipal offices of the National Council for Childhood and Adolescents and boards for the protection and restitution of rights;

(c)Obstacles preventing the development of a comprehensive national policy on children and adolescents in line with the recommendation made by the Committee in 2015.

3.Please inform the Committee about:

(a)Measures envisaged to strengthen the position of the National Council for Childhood and Adolescents as the coordinating body for issues related to children and adolescents;

(b)The establishment and expansion of the National Institute for Comprehensive Early Childhood Care;

(c)Whether the ombudsman receives complaints of violations of the rights of children and adolescents;

(d)Measures taken to prevent and investigate the harassment of and attacks against child human rights defenders, in particular those advocating for the rights of Haitian migrants and Dominicans of Haitian descent who denounce child exploitation and trafficking, and measures taken to prosecute and punish the perpetrators of such acts.

4.Please provide information on:

(a)Policies and strategies adopted to address discrimination against children and adolescents, in particular young and adolescent girls, Haitian children and children of Haitian descent, children with disabilities, children living with HIV/AIDS, children in rural areas, children in street situations, homosexual, bisexual, transgender and intersex children, and children from disadvantaged and marginalized communities;

(b)Whether a child rights-based approach has been adopted in the preparation of the State budget and whether the tracking mechanism for the allocation and use of resources for children has been used throughout the process;

(c)Steps taken towards the adoption of the draft general act on equality and non-discrimination, which has been pending discussion in the National Congress since 2019, and the extent to which that bill is in line with article 2 of the Convention;

(d)Measures taken to address the problem of femicide, infant mortality rates and all other preventable child deaths;

(e)Training provided at the central, sectoral and local levels to ensure that the principle of the best interests of the child is applied by State agents, and in particular immigration authorities, including in cases of domestic violence or family separation owing to sexual abuse.

5.Please provide further information on:

(a)Spaces made available for the participation of children and adolescents in each of the territories, and progress in establishing a children’s consultative council that is accessible to all children and adolescents;

(b)The degree to which children and adolescents participate in public decisions concerning them;

(c)Educational campaigns to inform children about the ways in which they can exercise their right to be heard.

6.Please provide further information on:

(a)Measures envisaged to ensure access to birth registration for all children, especially children living in rural areas, children of poor families and of teenage mothers, foreign children and children with a low level of education, and measures to address statelessness among children;

(b)The content of the law on the registration of civil status adopted in January 2023, including how it will strengthen children’s rights and details on any plans for the adoption of regulations for its implementation;

(c)Progress in the implementation and monitoring of the Inter-Institutional Cooperation Agreement on Timely and Late Birth Registration in the Dominican Republic;

(d)Progress made and obstacles encountered in the implementation of Act No. 163-14 and the National Plan for the Regularization of Resident Foreign Nationals with an Irregular Migration Status;

(e)Measures taken to ensure that all children have access to information and communication technologies and the Internet in order, inter alia, to reduce the disparity between children in urban and rural areas.

7.Please provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to establish a comprehensive, multidisciplinary child protection infrastructure, mandatory reporting and child-friendly investigations and interventions, including forensic interviews and therapy for child victims of abuse and neglect, including sexual abuse in the home;

(b)The results achieved under the National Road Map for the Prevention and Elimination of Violence against Children for the period 2015–2018 and the sustainability strategies that have been put in place;

(c)Progress made in amending the Criminal Code to explicitly prohibit corporal punishment of children and adolescents in all settings and to establish a minimum age for sexual consent in line with international standards;

(d)The status of the bill that would establish a comprehensive system for the prevention, punishment and eradication of violence against women and any progress made towards its approval;

(e)Plans for monitoring the prevalence of child marriage in order to ensure the effective enforcement of its legal prohibition;

(f)Citizen education policies on gender equality and violence against women.

8.Please provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to protect the family life of children in the context of migration, such as children of women who have emigrated to other countries for economic reasons and Haitian children whose parents have been deported back to their country;

(b)Measures for the deinstitutionalization of children and adolescents in shelters and measures envisaged under the national foster care programme and the “Children First Software” project, including the status of their implementation and any results achieved so far;

(c)Measures envisaged to control and eradicate violence in shelters;

(d)The human, technical and financial resources allocated to alternative care centres and child protection services and clarification as to what existing social and psychological services have been put in place to ensure the full integration and development in school and community settings of children living in alternative care or shelters.

9.Please describe:

(a)Measures taken to ensure transparency in the adoption process and the progress made towards amending the provisions relating to international adoption contained in Act No. 136-03 to bring them into line with international standards;

(b)Progress made in the adoption of new measures taken to promote early childhood development;

(c)The goals achieved under the Comprehensive Early Childhood Protection and Care Plan and the programme for early childhood care “Quisqueya Empieza Contigo”;

(d)The methodology adopted to meet the needs of children in situations of vulnerability and marginalization, including those living in prisons with their mothers.

10.Please provide information on:

(a)The specific action taken by the National Institute for Comprehensive Early Childhood Care aimed at guaranteeing the inclusion of children with disabilities;

(b)The percentage of children with disabilities who have access to the Centre for the Comprehensive Care of Persons with Disabilities;

(c)The percentage of schools that admit children with disabilities and the number of them that have the specialized staff, strategies and resources required to offer inclusive education;

(d)Progress made towards putting in place adequate health-care services, public spaces without architectural barriers and appropriate spaces for recreational activities and promoting the participation and inclusion of children and adolescents with disabilities;

(e)The support offered to families with children with disabilities living in poverty.

11.Please provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to comply with the Committee’s recommendations regarding: (i) efforts to reduce maternal, child and neonatal mortality and chronic child malnutrition; (ii) the resources allocated for the current Health Plan; (iii) the independent mechanisms that have been put in place to investigate cases of child mortality and the corresponding sanctions; (iv) proposed and existing policies concerning maternity protection and the promotion of breastfeeding; and (v) measures envisaged to eliminate the incidence of cholera and ensure that safe water is available in all settings;

(b)The current rates of maternal, child and neonatal mortality and chronic child malnutrition;

(c)The results of the National Plan for the Reduction of Adolescent Pregnancies, plans designed to reduce child pregnancies and measures envisaged to ensure access to safe abortion, even though it is still criminalized under the Criminal Code;

(d)Existing policies and resources to promote the mental health ofchildren and adolescents;

(e)Improvements made with respect to HIV/AIDS screening and the results of the National Strategic Plan 2019–2023 of the National Council on HIV/AIDS;

(f)Progress towards reducing the use of drugs and other substances by children and adolescents;

(g)Legislative and educational policies and plans aimed at combating climate change.

12.Please provide information on:

(a)Progress made in ensuring that children are enrolled in school, especially Haitian children, children with disabilities and children under 5 years of age;

(b)Gender-sensitive strategies aimed at ensuring the retention and reintegration of children into the school system, particularly for teenage girls who have children or are pregnant or in early unions;

(c)Measures implemented and progress made to improve the quality of teaching and teachers since the adoption of the 2015–2030 Strategic Plan for the Development of the National System of External Assessment of Learning Achievement in the Dominican Republic;

(d)The inclusion of educational programmes on human rights, gender equality and peace in the curriculum;

(e)The degree to which children and adolescents are able to access the cultural and sports programmes developed under the “Progressing with Solidarity” programme and by the Ministry of Sports and Recreation.

13.Please provide information on:

(a)Measures in place to uphold the right to a fair asylum process in accordance with the Convention and the number of temporary identity documents issued to asylum-seeking children and adolescents and their families;

(b)Specific actions aimed at safeguarding the rights of migrant children, in particular unaccompanied children, and preventing the arbitrary expulsion, detention and deportation of Haitian migrant children and adolescents;

(c)Specific measures taken to eradicate child labour, especially in rural areas, and to review the legal framework with a view to raising the minimum legal age for employment, which currently stands at 14 years;

(d)The number of children living in street situations and the measures implemented by the National Council for Children and Adolescents to eradicate this problem;

(e)Progress in the allocation of greater resources for efforts to combat human trafficking and provide assistance to victims, and the percentage of child and adolescent victims of trafficking who have access to shelters;

(f)The progress made: (i) to separate children in detention from adults; and (ii) to prohibit solitary confinement and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;

(g)(i) The number of children sentenced to imprisonment; and (ii) the length of time children are held in pretrial detention and the progress made in reducing those periods of detention.

14.With reference to paragraphs 62 to 70 of the State party’s sixth periodic report on measures taken to combat the commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents, please comment on:

(a)Measures taken to combat the persistence of small-scale criminal networks for the sexual exploitation of children and young persons;

(b)Results achieved in identifying crimes of sexual exploitation and in prosecuting and sentencing perpetrators;

(c)Social campaigns currently being conducted to raise awareness of commercial sexual exploitation.

15.Please provide information on measures taken to bring State policies and legislation into line with the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict.

Part II

16.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 accompanying 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

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

18.For the following questions, please provide, if available, updated statistical data for the past three years, disaggregated by age, sex, ethnic origin, national origin, geographical location and socioeconomic status.

19.Please provide statistical data on the number of:

(a)Child deaths caused by abuse and neglect and by suicides and accidents, including road accidents;

(b)Complaints, investigations, prosecutions and court judgments related to the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children, including within the family;

(c)Adolescent pregnancies, including information on whether the pregnancies were terminated or carried to term;

(d)Children and adolescents who abuse substances, with an indication of the type of abuse;

(e)Haitian children and adolescents who have been deported, repatriated, refused admittance or who have returned voluntarily, disaggregated by whether they were accompanied or unaccompanied.

20.Please report on the number of children deprived of a family environment:

(a)In alternative care facilities;

(b)In temporary shelters (hogares de paso);

(c)In foster family settings;

(d)Who have been adopted.

21.Please provide data, disaggregated by type of disability, on the number of children with disabilities who are or who have been:

(a)Living with their families;

(b)Living with foster families;

(c)Living in institutions;

(d)Attending regular primary schools;

(e)Attending regular secondary schools;

(f)Attending special schools;

(g)Out of school;

(h)Abandoned by their families.

22.Please provide data, disaggregated by the type of offence, on the number of children who:

(a)Have been arrested;

(b)Have been referred to diversion programmes;

(c)Have been placed in pretrial detention;

(d)Are serving a prison term. Please also indicate the length of the terms.

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

24.Please update any data in the report that may have become outdated either because more recent data have been collected or because there have been 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.