Committee on the Rights of the Child

Seventy-ninth session

17 September–5 October 2018

Item 4 of the provisional agenda

Consideration of reports of States parties

List of issues in relation to the combined third to fifth periodic reports of Mauritania

The State party is requested to submit in writing additional, updated information (10,700 words maximum), if possible before 15 June 2018. 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 indicate whether the State party has adopted a comprehensive Children’s Code and whether the Code contains the rights enshrined in the Convention. With regard to the National Child Protection Strategy and the associated Action Plan, please indicate what human, technical and financial resources have been allocated for their implementation, which body is responsible for overseeing implementation, and how implementation will be evaluated.

2.Please clarify the mandate, budget and capacity of the newly established Centre for the Protection and Social Integration of Children and explain how the Centre has improved the coordination of activities related to the implementation of the Convention. Please also provide information on all recent reforms of the National Childhood Council and specify when the reformed Council will be in place.

3.Please provide information on all efforts made by the State party to regularly and systematically measure the impact of budgetary allocations on children.

4.Please provide information on legal measures taken to prohibit the marriage of children under 18 years of age, without exception. Please also provide further information on the scope and impact of the campaigns to combat child marriage referred to in paragraph 77 of the State party’s report (CRC/C/MRT/3-5).

5.Please provide information on legislative and other measures taken by the State party to combat discrimination against girls, children belonging to minority groups, children with disabilities, children living in slavery-like conditions or who are the descendants of slaves, street children and children who are migrants, asylum seekers or refugees.

6.Please provide information on measures taken to remove the main barriers to birth registration and to ensure the registration of all children, including those whose parents do not have personal documentation or are stateless. Please also provide information on the impact of the reform of the civil registration system and the biometric system.

7.With reference to the Committee’s previous recommendations (CRC/C/MRT/CO/2, para. 41), please provide detailed information on the progress made by the State party to revise its Criminal Code to explicitly prohibit corporal punishment by law and enforce the prohibition in all settings, including in the family, schools and alternative care settings.

8.With reference to the Committee’s previous recommendations (CRC/C/MRT/CO/2, para. 80), please clarify whether sexual crimes, including rape, are clearly defined in legislation, including sharia. Please also indicate whether there is a mechanism for monitoring the number of cases and the extent of violence and abuse against children, in particular cases of sexual violence, and for receiving, following up and investigating complaints from or on behalf of child victims.

9.With reference to the Committee’s previous recommendations (CRC/C/MRT/CO/2, para. 62), please provide updated information on: (a) measures taken to enforce the law criminalizing female genital mutilation in all circumstances, and to prosecute perpetrators; (b) measures taken to prevent the practice of forced feeding (gavage); and (c) the impact of the national strategy and campaigns aimed at eliminating these harmful practices.

10.Please provide more detailed information on the measures taken to improve the quality of education and school infrastructures, to eliminate all school fees and hidden costs, to increase the primary school completion rate and to develop school facilities. Please also provide detailed information on the measures taken to oversee the content of the curriculum taught in Koranic schools.

11.Please inform the Committee of measures taken to eliminate the exploitation of children, in particular in agricultural work and the worst forms of child labour, including domestic work, begging and slavery-like practices. Please also indicate the measures taken to protect the children concerned, in particular Haratine children and children with disabilities.

12.With regard to the minimum age of criminal responsibility, please indicate whether children aged 7 years and above can be charged under national legislation, including antiterrorism legislation. Please also provide information on measures taken to ensure that children whose age cannot be determined are not treated as adults and that children are held in detention only as a last resort, and separately from adults.

Part II

13.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

14.Please provide consolidated information for the past three years on the budget lines allocated to the children’s and social sectors, indicating the percentage of the total national budget and of the gross national product that each budget line represents. Please also provide information on the geographic allocation of these resources.

15.Please provide further information on the resources allocated over the past three years to:

(a)Increase the percentage of children registered at birth or registered retroactively;

(b)Reduce the disparities between rural and urban areas with regard to access to basic health services;

(c)Improve the delivery of basic services, including health services, access to drinking water, sanitation and protection, for children in school settings;

(d)Implement the national child welfare strategy.

16.Please provide, if available, updated statistical data for the past three years, disaggregated by age, sex, ethnic origin, national origin, geographic location and socioeconomic status, on:

(a)Child marriages;

(b)Children who are registered at birth or at a later time, particularly in rural areas;

(c)Pregnancies and cases of maternal mortality among young and teenage girls;

(d)The number of cases of abuse and violence against children, including in the form of corporal punishment, with additional information on the type of assistance offered to child victims and the follow-up given to such cases, including prosecutions of perpetrators and sentences imposed;

(e)Prosecutions of cases of sexual violence and rape involving children and the outcomes thereof, including the penalties imposed on perpetrators and the reparations afforded to victims;

(f)The number of cases of female genital mutilation, indicating the follow-up given to such cases, the sentences imposed on perpetrators and the reparations and compensation afforded to victims;

(g)The number of practitioners of female genital mutilation who have been offered State support to help them to find alternative sources of income;

(h)Children who are subjected to forced feeding (gavage);

(i)The number of children recruited by armed groups, particularly children who are asylum seekers or refugees.

17.Please provide data for the past three years, disaggregated by age, sex, socioeconomic background, ethnic origin and geographic location, on the situation of children deprived of a family environment, including the number of children who have been:

(a)Separated from their parents;

(b)Placed in an institution (disaggregated according to the duration of placement);

(c)Placed in foster care;

(d)Adopted within the country or abroad.

18.Please provide data for the past three years, disaggregated by age, sex, type of disability, ethnic origin and geographic location, on the number of children with disabilities:

(a)Living with their families;

(b)Living in institutions;

(c)Attending mainstream primary schools;

(d)Attending mainstream secondary schools;

(e)Attending special schools;

(f)Out-of-school;

(g)Abandoned by their families.

19.Please provide disaggregated data on the number of children in conflict with the law who have been arrested and placed in detention, including pretrial detention, and who have benefited from diversion programmes. Please also indicate the number of juvenile courts in the State party.

20.Please provide the Committee with an update of any data in the report which may have been superseded by more recent data or affected by new developments.

21.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.