Committee on the Rights of the Child

Fifty-fifth session

13 September–1 October 2010

Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict

List of issues concerning additional and updated information related to the consideration of the initial report of Sudan (CRC/C/OPAC/SDN/1)

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

The State party is requested to submit in written form additional and updated information, if possible, before 2 August 2010 , not exceeding 15 pages.

1.Please provide information on any coordination structures in existence between the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Commissions, the Family and Child Protection Units, the Child Rights Unit in the Ministry of Justice and the Consultative Council on Human Rights.

2.Please indicate whether the State party has adopted a national plan of action for the implementation of the Optional Protocol.Please inform the Committee of any progress made towards the adoption of an action plan in accordance with Security Council resolutions 1612 (2005) and 1882(2009). In addition, please indicate any steps taken with a view to implementing the action plan to end the recruitment of children and their use in hostilities, agreed by the United Nations and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) on 16 December 2009.

3.Please include information of any preventive measures taken to address the social and other reasons which render certain children in the State party vulnerable to recruitment by armed groups.

4.Further to paragraph 10 of the State party’s report, please provide additional information on progress achieved in implementing measures to harmonize national laws with the Optional Protocol, including progress on the implementation of article 1.6.2.15 of the Protocol on Power Sharing, signed by the State party and SPLA.

5.Please provide updated information on the impact of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration arrangements pursuant to the conclusion of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the Darfur Peace Agreement and the Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement. Please provide details, in particular, of the practical arrangements referred to in paragraph 34 of the State party’s report, with reference to the identification of child combatants, their reunification with their families and any measures to discourage their return to military service with armed groups.

6.Please provide information on the measures taken to enforce the prohibition on the recruitment of children into armed groups and on their use in hostilities. Please provide information on the number of prosecutions, if any, under the Armed Forces Act (2007), as well as the penalties imposed, with respect to acts constituting offences under the Optional Protocol. Please advise whether the State party’s Penal Code contains a specific provision to criminalize the recruitment and use in hostilities of children.

7.Please provide information on the number of children who have been prosecuted for participation in the armed conflict in Darfur and south Sudan, including information on the offences charged and sentences passed. In this regard, please include information of any cases where the death penalty has been passed or carried out. Please provide information on the number of children currently awaiting prosecution for crimes relating to their alleged participation in hostilities, indicating the crimes charged.

8.Please inform the Committee of the social reintegration assistance and physical and psychosocial recovery measures available for victims of offences covered by the Optional Protocol, and the State budget allocations for this purpose. Please indicate the effectiveness of such programmes, whethergender aspects are taken into account and programmes are elaborated in consultation with local communities and what measures are being taken to prevent the stigmatization of demobilized children.

9.Please provide data,disaggregated by sex, age group and country of origin, covering the period 2005 to the present, on the number of asylum-seeking and refugee children coming to the State party from areas where children may have been recruited or used in hostilities. Please provide information on existing identification mechanisms, the procedure for considering refugee and asylum claims from children who have been recruited or used in situations of armed conflict andthe recovery and reintegration assistance available to them.

10.Please indicate whether the State party’s legislation prohibits the trade and export of small arms and light weapons to areas and countries where children are involved in armed conflict. If not, has the State party given consideration to adopting such legislation? Please indicate any measures taken to limit the flow of weapons in and around the Darfur region, including into neighbouring countries, particularly Chad.