COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
Forty-sixth session
Geneva, 17 September – 5 October 2007
OPTIONAL PROTOCOL ON THE INVOLVEMENT
OF CHILDREN IN ARMED CONFLICT
List of issues to be taken up in connection with the consideration of
the initial report of QATAR (CRC/C/OPAC/QAT/1)
The State party is requested to submit in written form additional and updated information, if possible, before 6 August 2007.
1.Please provide information on the competent governmental departments or bodies responsible for the coordination and implementation of the Optional Protocol. Please also indicate if there is any mechanism available for monitoring and periodically evaluating its implementation.
2.Does the State party’s executive work plan for childhood for 2008-2013 cover the issues of the Optional Protocol and does it provide for its implementation?
3.Please provide information on education, including the presence in the school curricula of courses about human rights and humanitarian law, and training on the provisions of the Optional Protocol. Please also describe other measures taken to disseminate information on the Optional Protocol.
4.With regard to education provided at the Qatari Armed Forces, including specialized training provided to personnel to be deployed to international peacekeeping operations, please provide more detailed information on the human rights education available, in particular regarding the scope of application of the Optional Protocol.
GE.07-425885.Please provide information on whether the provisions of the Optional Protocol have been fully incorporated into domestic laws and if not, please provide information on the measures required to do so. In particular, please indicate whether there is any legal provision criminalizing forced recruitment or involvement in hostilities of a person under the age of 18.
6.Please provide detailed information as to whether Qatar assumes extraterritorial jurisdiction over the war crime of conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 15 into the armed forces or using them to participate actively in hostilities. Also in relation to extraterritorial jurisdiction, please indicate whether Qatari courts can establish their jurisdiction in case of forced recruitment or involvement in hostilities of a person under 18 if committed outside Qatar, by or against a Qatari citizen. Please also clarify whether, in the case that extraterritorial jurisdiction has been assumed, there is a requirement of double criminality for such offences.
7.Please provide further information on the status of children enrolled in the annual school children’s training programme as well as in the scheme for students removed from day and private schools run by the Qatari Armed Forces, particularly:
(a)Whether they are considered as just civilian students or are they considered as having a semi-military status?
(b)Are students enrolled in the above mentioned programme and scheme provided with firearms training?
(c)Whether the curricula in these two programmes cover other subjects besides military subjects?
(d)What safeguards are in place to protect the rights of these students, in accordance with the provisions of the Optional Protocol, in the event of emergency and/or mobilization of troops?
(e)Is there coordination between the Armed Forces in charge of these programmes and the Ministry of Education?
(f)Are children subject to military discipline under these two programmes? If so, please provide further information on these disciplinary measures.
8.Please inform the Committee whether Qatar intends to become a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court which criminalizes conscripting or enlisting children under the age of fifteen years into the national armed forces or using them to participate actively in hostilities as a war crime (art. 8, paragraph 2(b)(xxvi)).
9.Please provide disaggregated data (including by sex, age and country of origin) covering the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 on the number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children coming to Qatar from areas experiencing conflict or in post-conflict situations.
10.With regard to the legal protection of asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children, including those who may have been recruited or used in hostilities contrary to the Optional Protocol, please inform the Committee whether Qatar is considering becoming a party to the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol.
11.With reference to article 7 of the Optional Protocol, please provide information on rehabilitation, social reintegration and other services provided to children recruited or used in hostilities who entered the State party for refuge or asylum. Please provide information on the measures taken to identify, at the earliest possible stage, children recruited or used in hostilities who enter the State party for refuge or asylum.Please also indicate whether the State party is engaged in any activity of regional and/or international cooperation in this regard.
12.Has the State party provided financial support or any other assistance through its multi- or bilateral activities to address the rights of children involved in armed conflict elsewhere and to promote the full implementation of the Optional Protocol?
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