COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILDForty-third session11-29 September 2006

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 KAZAKHSTAN (CRC/C/OPAC/KAZ/1)

Under this section the State party is requested to submit in written form additional and updated information, if possible, before 5 August 2006.

Please inform the Committee whether the age of conscription can be lowered during states of emergency or armed conflict.

Please provide data for 2003-2006 on budget allocations and trends (in percentages of the national and regional budgets or gross domestic product) allocated to the implementation of the Protocol.

Please advise the Committee of the minimum age for voluntary recruitment and of incentives used to encourage volunteers to join the armed forces.

The Committee would appreciate receiving information regarding the number of children attending military schools and further details of the school curricula, e.g. the age at which practice with weapons begins. In addition, please provide information on the percentage of graduates who join the armed forces.

The Committee would like to receive information about any impartial complaints and investigations mechanisms that are available for children attending military schools, and on how frequently such mechanisms are used.

GE.06‑42800 (E) 170706

With reference to the existing provisions of the Kazak Criminal Code on recruitment of children, as indicated in paragraph 14 of the State party’s report, please inform the Committee how such cases have been investigated since the Protocol came into force.

Does Kazakhstan intend to become a State party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court?

Has Kazakhstan assumed extraterritorial jurisdiction over war crimes that involve conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 15 in the armed forces or using them to participate actively in hostilities? In the case that extraterritorial jurisdiction has been assumed, is there a requirement of double criminality for such offences?

Also in relation to extraterritorial jurisdiction, does the State party consider making recruitment or involvement of a person under the age of 18 years outside of its territory a crime when committed by or against a person who is a citizen of, or has other links with, Kazakhstan?

Please provide further information on physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration programmes for asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children in Kazakhstan who may have been involved in or affected by armed conflicts.

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