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 combined second to fourth periodic reports of Turkmenistan

The State party is requested to submit in writing additional, updated information, if possible before 15 October 2014 (10,700 words maximum).

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

Part I

In this section, the State party is requested to submit its responses to the following questions.

Please inform the Committee whether the 2010 draft National Plan of Action for Children has been adopted. If not, please explain the reasons for such a lengthy delay in its adoption.

Please provide information on the body responsible for the overall coordination of the implementation of the Convention across sectors at the national and local levels.

Please inform the Committee whether the State party’s budgeting process specifies budget allocations for children in the relevant sectors and agencies, including indicators and tracking systems, both at the national and local levels.

Please provide information on the measures taken to implement the Committee’s previous recommendation (CRC/C/TKM/CO/1, para. 12) that the State party establish an independent national human rights institution, in accordance with the Paris Principles, for the promotion and monitoring of the implementation of the Convention.

Please inform the Committee on laws and mechanisms put in place by the State party to provide protection from discrimination for children in vulnerable situations, such as children belonging to minority groups, children with disabilities, girl children, children belonging to religious minorities and children of persons condemned on political grounds.

In the light of the information that the principle of the best interests of the child is integrated into all recent legislation, please provide information on the implementation of this principle in practice, especially in court judgements and decisions taken by the Commissions on Minors and the Guardianship and Trusteeship Commissions.

Please inform the Committee on the measures taken to implement the Committee’s previous recommendation (CRC/C/TKM/CO/1, para 31) that the State party ensure that the child who is capable of forming his/her own views is in practice given the opportunity to express those views freely in all matters, and particularly in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting him or her, and that the views of the child are given due weight.

In the light of the information that corporal punishment is prohibited in all settings, please provide information about the measures taken to implement the prohibition of corporal punishment, including in the home.

In the light of reports that all sources of information, including the Internet, undergo systematic filtering, censoring or blocking by the authorities, please provide information about the measures taken to ensure the right of the child to access information and material from a diversity of sources, including the Internet, as well as to increase the number of Internet users.

Please provide information on the steps taken by the State party to establish and implement alternative measures to prevent the institutionalization of children with disabilities, including community-based rehabilitation programmes and home-based care. Please also inform the Committee about the efforts of the State party to implement its commitment to provide children with disabilities with inclusive education.

Please indicate the measures taken to improve the quality of health care, in particular by training medical personnel and increasing medical supplies.

Please inform the Committee on the steps taken to raise awareness, in particular among adolescents, of HIV/AIDS and of preventive measures in that regard, as well as to provide adolescents with access to contraceptives.

Please provide information on the measures taken by the State party to address the growing rates of suicide among adolescents, which is reportedly due to, inter alia, lack of attention, lack of perspectives for the future and unwanted pregnancies.

Please provide information on the measures taken to prevent the damaging effects of the Aral Sea crisis on children living in nearby areas.

Please indicate the steps taken to provide access to clean potable water and adequate sanitation, especially in rural areas and in order to prevent waterborne diseases, such as diarrhoea, hepatitis A and dysentery.

Please inform the Committee about the measures taken to implement the Committee’s previous recommendation (CRC/C/TKM/CO/1, para. 60) that the State party improve the quality of education by training teachers and improving school curricula with a view to meeting international standards, as well as enhance the material conditions in schools.

Please indicate whether the State party is intending to reopen Kazakh, Russian and Uzbek language classes and schools for ethnic minorities.

Please clarify the purpose of the requirement to prove Turkmen ancestry for enrolment in kindergartens and universities, as well as of the requirement for a medical certificate for all students to be admitted to universities.

Please inform the Committee on the measures taken to develop appropriate facilities for and ensure children’s right to rest, leisure, play, recreational activities, cultural life and the arts.

Please provide information on the implementation of the National Programme on Reform of Juvenile Justice adopted in 2012, including on the measures taken to provide children in conflict with the law with restorative justice.

Part II

In this section the Committee invites the State party to briefly (three pages maximum) update 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

Please provide data, disaggregated by age, sex, socioeconomic background, ethnic origin and geographic location, covering 2011, 2012 and 2013, on the number of cases of abuse and violence against children, including all forms of corporal punishment, as well as prosecution of the perpetrators and the sentences handed down in the State party.

Please provide data, disaggregated by age, sex, socioeconomic background, ethnic origin and geographical location, for 2011, 2012 and 2013, on the situation of children deprived of a family environment and separated from their parents, with regard to the number of children:

(a)Separated from their parents, including those left behind by parents in migration;

(b)Placed in institutions;

(c)Placed with foster families;

(d)Adopted.

Please provide data, disaggregated by age, sex, type of disability, ethnic origin and geographical location, for 2011, 2012 and 2013, regarding the number of children with disabilities:

(a)Living with their families;

(b)In institutions;

(c)Attending regular primary schools;

(d)Attending regular secondary schools;

(e)Attending special schools;

(f)Out of school;

(g)Who have been abandoned.

Please specify the number of children of incarcerated persons living in and outside penitentiary institutions.

Please indicate the number of children working in the informal sector and the number of children in street situations;

Please provide data on the number of investigations, prosecutions and punishments of law enforcement officials involved in the illegal detention of children, or in abuse and maltreatment of children during their arrest and detention;

Please specify the number of children in detention facilities and penitentiary institutions, including those in pretrial detention.

Please provide the Committee with an update of any data on issues of priority in the report which may have been outdated by more recent data collected or by other new developments.