Committee on the Rights of the Child

List of issues in relation to the combined second to fourth periodic reports of Kiribati *

The State party is requested to submit in writing additional, updated information (10,700 words maximum), if possible before 30 June 2020. 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 provide information on measures taken to:

(a)Bring the definition of the child in all domestic legislation into conformity with the Convention;

(b)Adopt a national action plan for the implementation of the Convention;

(c)Improve the data collection system regarding children.

2.Please explain how the Ministry of Women, Youth, Sports and Social Affairs ensures the coordination of all activities related to the implementation of the Convention across the islands of the State party. Please also indicate whether: (a) there is a tracking system in the State budget for the allocation and use of resources for children; and (b) the State party intends to introduce a consultative process for children and civil society to participate in the budgeting process.

3.Please provide updated information on the measures taken to establish an independent human rights monitoring body with a mandate to monitor children’s rights, following the national consultation conducted in 2019.

4.Please provide information on the measures taken to:

(a)Combat discrimination against children in marginalized and disadvantaged situations, including children living in poverty, children with disabilities, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adolescents and intersex children;

(b)Ensure that the principle of thebestinterestsof the child is consistently applied in all legal and administrative proceedings affecting children, including in education, custody and divorce cases and adoption processes;

(c)Provide specialized training on the Convention to all professionals working for and with children;

(d)Promote the meaningful participation of children at all levels of society, including through awareness-raising programmes.

5.Please inform the Committee on the measures taken to:

(a)Improve birth registration of children, ensure that all children receive birth certificates and establish a centralized system for birth registration, in view of the challenges identified by the State party in its report (CRC/C/KIR/2-4, para. 89);

(b)Raise public awareness of the importance of birth registration;

(c)Register children: (i) born to unmarried parents; (ii) born at home; (iii) if the father is unknown; or (iv) if there is incorrect or missing information regarding the circumstances of the child’s birth;

(d)Prevent statelessness among children and ensure thatchildren can acquire the nationality of the State party through their mothers, irrespective of the nationality of their fathers.

6.Please inform the Committee on any measures taken to:

(a)Explicitly prohibit corporal punishment in all settings, including in the home and as a sentence for a crime in traditional justice settings, and to repeal the right of “reasonable punishment” from its Penal Code;

(b)Establish a mechanism to receive, monitor and investigate reports of violence against and abuse of children, including neglect and sexual abuse in the home;

(c)Implement the Committee’s previous recommendations with regard to the sexual exploitation of children, including for prostitution (CRC/C/KIR/CO/1, para. 61 (a)–(f));

(d)Prevent the revictimization of child victims of sexual exploitation and abuse, and combat the stigmatization of victims of rape;

(e)Support child victims, in the absence of safe houses;

(f)Assess the impact of preventive measures, including awareness-raising and education campaigns, to combat all forms of violence against children.

7.Please update the Committee on the status of the child support fund (CRC/C/KIR/2-4, para. 107). Please also describe the measures taken to:

(a)Reduce infant and under-5 mortality rates;

(b)Prevent malnutrition and stunting among children;

(c)Assess the impact of programmes aimed at preventing and treating alcohol, drug and substance abuse among adolescents and young children;

(d)Address the mental health needs of adolescents and to prevent suicide;

(e)Provide sexual and reproductive health education and services to adolescents, and ensure their access to contraceptives;

(f)Ensure access to sewage disposal facilities and clean water.

8.Please provide information on the measures taken to:

(a)Improve retention rates in primary and secondary school;

(b)Ensure that public and private spaces have adequate infrastructure that is accessible to children with disabilities;

(c)Ensure that children with disabilities have access to inclusive education in mainstream schools;

(d)Strengthen vocational programmes for children, including those who do not attend regular school;

(e)Keep pregnant girls and adolescent mothers in school;

(f)Formally register preschools, secondary schools and the special school for children with disabilities, and adopt a policy aimed at monitoring the quality of these schools.

9.Please indicate whether the State party has plans to:

(a)Adopt a policy or strategy to prevent child labour and eliminate the worst forms of child labour, based on the findings of the employment survey conducted in 2018;

(b)Undertake a study on the causes and scope of the phenomenon of children living in street situations.

10.Please provide information on the measures taken to:

(a)Ensure that children are detained only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time, and to avoid detaining them together with adults;

(b)Promote non-judicial measures for children accused of criminal offences, including diversion, mediation and counselling;

(c)Provide training for judicial staff and other professionals working with and for children on the Convention and the Juvenile Justice Act 2015;

(d)Provide services for the reintegration of children released from prisons, including access to education and vocational training.

Part II

11.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

12.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 geographical allocation of those resources.

13.Please provide, if available, updated statistical data, disaggregated by age, sex, geographical location and socioeconomic status, for the past three years, on:

(a)Child marriages;

(b)Children who are registered at birth or at a later time;

(c)Cases of abuse, neglect and violence, including sexual exploitation and all forms of corporal punishment, involving children and the outcomes thereof, including thepenalties imposed on perpetrators and the reparations afforded to victims;

(d)Child deaths due to violence, abuse, neglect, accidents and suicide;

(e)The prevalence of teenage pregnancy;

(f)The proportion of pregnant girls and adolescent mothers attending regular schools;

(g)Children engaged in the worst forms of labour, including sexual exploitation for child labour.

14.Please provide data, disaggregated by age, sex, type of disability and geographical location, for the past three years, on the number of children with disabilities who have been:

(a)Attending regular primary schools;

(b)Attending regular secondary schools;

(c)Attending the special school for children with disabilities;

(d)Out of school.

15.Please provide, if available, updated statistical data, disaggregated by age, sex, type of offence, geographical location and socioeconomic status, for the past three years, on children alleged as, accused of or recognized as having infringed criminal law who have been:

(a)Arrested;

(b)Referred to diversion programmes;

(c)In pretrial detention, and the average length of such detention;

(d)Serving a sentence in detention, and the length of the sentence;

(e)Held in adult detention facilities.

16.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.

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

18.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.