Seventy-first session

11-29 January 2016

Item 4 of the provisional agenda

Consideration of reports of States parties

List of issues in relation to the report submitted by Peru under article 8, paragraph 1, of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict

The State party is requested to submit additional, updated information in writing (15 pages maximum), if possible by 15 October 2015.

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

1.Please provide information on the mechanism responsible for coordinating the implementation of the Optional Protocol, the specific roles assigned to it and the way it coordinates its work with other bodies involved in implementing the Optional Protocol.

2.With regard to the dissemination and training activities referred to in paragraph 25 et seq. of the State party’s report, please provide detailed information on dissemination and specific training on the Optional Protocol for all groups of professionals working with or for children and adolescents who might be at risk or might have been involved in armed conflict, in particular for members of the armed forces, the police, immigration officials, judges, social workers and medical personnel.

3.Please provide information on the awareness-raising activities aimed at society at large, and in particular at children and adolescents and their parents, teachers, media professionals and lawmakers, carried out with a view to preventing children and adolescents from falling victim to recruitment.

4.Please provide data for the past three years on the number of children and adolescents recruited by both the armed forces and non-State armed groups linked to the Shining Path. Please indicate how many of those children were victims of sexual violence.

5.Please provide updated data (disaggregated by sex, age, ethnic origin, disability, socioeconomic status and rural or urban place of residence) on students attending all the military schools attached to the army, navy or air force. Please indicate whether the handling of weapons is part of the curriculum of military schools and whether children have access to weapons. Please also clarify the information provided in paragraph 53, subparagraph (d), according to which students at the Naval Technical Institute of Higher Education become part of the military reserve in the event of troop mobilization and/or armed conflict. Please indicate whether similar arrangements also apply to the other military schools.

6.Please provide additional information on the steps taken to prevent the recruitment and use of children and adolescents by armed groups, in particular the Shining Path of the VRAEM region (the valley of the Apurímac, Ene and Mantaro rivers) and the Shining Path of Huallaga. In particular, please explain how the Government’s Programme for Multisectoral Action in the VRAEM Region 2013-2016 provides for specific activities to prevent the recruitment and use of children by armed groups and indicate what results have been achieved.

7.Please provide information on the methods and procedures used by the State party to identify children and adolescents who are at risk of falling victim to practices contrary to the Optional Protocol, in particular owing to their socioeconomic status and the remoteness of where they live.

8.Please provide updated information on offences explicitly defined in the Criminal Code in relation to the practice of forced recruitment by the armed forces, non-State armed groups or private security and defence contractors. Please also provide updated information on the draft legislation referred to in paragraph 86 of the State party’s report.

9.Please explain what legislative and administrative measures the State party has taken to prohibit and prevent children and adolescents from gaining access to firearms.

10.Please indicate whether the State party is planning to provide for extraterritorial jurisdiction and extradition in relation to offences covered by the Optional Protocol; if so, please refer to the relevant legislation.

11.Please provide information on the number and outcomes of investigations, prosecutions and convictions in cases relating to the use and recruitment of children and adolescents by the armed forces and non-State armed groups. Please specify what measures have been taken to facilitate access to justice for child and adolescent victims of recruitment and/or use in hostilities.

12.Please elaborate on the information provided in paragraphs 90 to 94 of the State party’s report on the protection, physical and psychological rehabilitation and social reintegration services available in the State party specifically for children who have been or are at risk of being recruited or used in hostilities. Please specify in particular the services provided for girl and female adolescent recruits who were victims of sexual abuse.