Committee on the Rights of the Child

Eighty-third session

13–31 January 2020

Item 4 of the provisional agenda

C onsideration of reports of States parties

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

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 provide information on the integration of the Committee’s previous recommendations into the national action plan on human rights for the period 2016–2019, and the national action plans to improve the situation of children for the periods 2012–2016 and 2017–2021. Please clarify the budget allocations and outcomes of the national action plans. Please specify the coordination between the agencies responsible for the implementation and monitoring of the national action plans at different levels.

2.Please specify the steps taken to initiate a budgeting exercise with a view to making strategic allocations to implement children’s rights. Please provide information on any budgetary allocations targeting children in disadvantaged situations, such as children with disabilities, children living in poverty, child victims of abuse, adolescents in vulnerable situations, children in institutions, Roma children and stateless children.

3.Please explain whether children can be charged under article 193-1 of the Criminal Code (membership in unregistered non-governmental organizations (NGOs)) and provide statistics on such convictions. Please update the Committee on the steps taken to repeal article 193-1, facilitate the registration and operation of NGOs, including children’s organizations, and improve the participation of NGOs and children in child policy development, implementation and monitoring.

4.Please provide updated information on the integration of the principles of non-discrimination and the best interests of the child into the national legislation. Please describe the measures taken and mechanisms in place to promote and ensure the respect for the views of children and their participation within the family, in school and in judicial and administrative proceedings, including parental, alternative care, adoption and deportation matters.

5.Please specify the steps taken to review the legislation and practices concerning children in situations of migration to ensure the best interests of the child in asylum procedures and in case of return, end immigration detention, ensure access to education and psychological assistance and support migrant families to prevent family separation. Specify plans to improve data collection on stateless children and ensure their access to nationality, education and health care.

6.Please specify the steps, including legislative and policy measures, taken to:

(a)Explicitly prohibit corporal punishment in all settings;

(b)Protect children from bullying at school and violence online, at home and in institutions, specifically in relation to homosexual boys and drug-addicted children;

(c)Eradicate child marriage and child labour.

7.With reference to separation, please explain:

(a)The grounds amounting to a “socially dangerous situation”;

(b)How the reported separation of children from their parents due to economic hardship, illness, political activities or domestic violence was necessary for the best interests of the child;

(c)What efforts are made to prevent homicide or suicide in case of separation.

8.Please specify the existing mechanism for the comprehensive periodic review of the alternative care of children and the measures to ensure the return of children in alternative care to their parents. Please specify any plans to strengthen family-based alternative care for children with disabilities and to harmonize the legislative framework on family-type orphanages. Please clarify how the right of adopted children to have access to information on their birth family is ensured under domestic law.

9.Please clarify the status of the draft law on the rights of persons with disabilities and revisions to the Education Code in relation to inclusive education. Please explain how the choice of education is guided by the best interests of the child and specify plans to develop inclusive classes and individualized education plans, increase the number and capacity of teachers, individual assistants and childcare specialists and improve school accessibility.

10.Please specify the measures taken to remove hidden costs in primary education, eliminate gender-stereotyped content from education materials and address school dropout, illiteracy and school non-attendance among Roma children. In the light of the divergent information in the State party’s report (CRC/C/BLR/5-6, paras. 270 and 276), please clarify the percentage of children with disabilities in mainstream education.

11.Please specify plans to address the incidence of child thyroid cancer and mental disorders. Please clarify if the root causes of child suicide were researched and addressed. Please explain the limitation placed on children living with HIV regarding access to education and health recovery. Please explain how questions concerning contraception, sexual orientation and gender identity are integrated into school education.

12.Please specify how the legality and necessity of the initial deprivation of liberty is determined and how a periodic review of detention is ensured, including for children charged with drug offences and those placed in “closed type” institutions. Please also provide information on:

(a)The increased in the number of convictions of girls;

(b)Reoffending children;

(c)Conditions of detention of children charged with drug-related offences;

(d)The decrease in the age of criminal responsibility for drug-related offences.

13.Please describe the measures taken to implement the Committee’s previous recommendations under the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict (CRC/C/OPAC/BLR/CO/1).

14.Please provide information on the implementation of the Committee’s previous recommendations under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (CRC/C/OPSC/BLR/CO/1) and specify any plans to:

(a)Revise article 181 of the Criminal Code to remove the requirement of coercion;

(b)Effectively prosecute sexual exploitation of children, including online and in relation to boys, and to address reported discrimination against victims;

(c)Provide child victims with services fitting their needs.

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)Cases of abuse and violence against children, including all forms of corporal punishment, bullying and online and sexual violence and abuse, as well as prosecutions and sentences handed down in the State party in such cases;

(b)Cases of children living with HIV;

(c)Cases of thyroid cancer;

(d)Cases of mental disorders, also disaggregated by type of illness;

(e)Cases of child suicide;

(f)Cases of child marriage and adolescent pregnancies;

(g)Roma children;

(h)Stateless children, including unaccompanied stateless children;

(i)Asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children, including those in immigration detention centres, shelters and street situations;

(j)Children living in poverty and in inadequate housing.

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:

(a)Children separated from their families, including temporarily;

(b)Children placed in institutions;

(c)Children placed with foster families;

(d)Children adopted domestically or through intercountry adoptions;

(e)Parents deprived of parental rights and the grounds for deprivation.

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 police custody;

(d)Placed in pretrial detention in institutions run by the Ministry of the Interior and the length of the pretrial detention;

(e)Held in other institutions run by the Ministry of the Interior;

(f)Placed in institutions run by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection or any other State bodies, including “closed type” institutions;

(g)Detained with adults;

(h)Convicted and are serving a sentence in detention, including the length of the sentence.

21.Please provide information on how the planning, implementation and monitoring of measures aimed at 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.