Committee on the Rights of the Child

Seventy-fifth session

15 May-2 June 2017

Item 4 of the provisional agenda

Consideration of reports of States parties

List of issues in relation to the report submitted by Bhutan under article 8 (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 in writing additional, updated information (10,700 words maximum), if possible before 23 February 2017. The Committee may take up all aspects of children’s rights set out in the Optional Protocol during the dialogue with the State party.

1.Please inform the Committee of the measures taken to define the recruitment of children under the age of 15 as a war crime.

2.Please provide detailed information on the measures taken to disseminate the provisions of the Optional Protocol among professional groups, children and the general public. Please indicate whether any specific training has been provided in that regard to professionals working for or with children, especially members of the armed forces, the police, immigration officials, lawyers, judges, teachers and medical and social workers.

3.With reference to paragraph 35 of the State party report (CRC/C/OPAC/BTN/1 and Corr.1), please provide information on how the Child Care and Protection Act of 2011 serves as a preventive measure for offences under the Optional Protocol.

4.Please provide information on the criminal legislation in force covering and defining the acts enumerated in articles 1, 2, and 4 of the Optional Protocol, including the definition of compulsory recruitment, direct participation and use of children in hostilities. Please clarify whether the Labour and Employment Act, which prohibits the recruitment of children for use in armed conflict, applies to the armed forces.

5.Please inform the Committee about the sentences applicable under the law for attempts to commit, and complicity or participation in, offences under the Optional Protocol.

6.Please provide information on laws concerning the criminal liability of legal persons, such as private military companies and private security companies, for the acts and activities enumerated in the Optional Protocol.

7.Please indicate which legal provisions establish jurisdiction over the offences enumerated in articles 1, 2 and 4 of the Optional Protocol. Please provide information about the grounds for the jurisdiction and the age at which the jurisdiction on crimes concerning child recruitment applies.

8.Please indicate which national legal provisions provide for the establishment of extraterritorial jurisdiction over offences under the Optional Protocol

9.Please provide information on existing remedies and reparations that may be sought by child victims of recruitment into armed forced. Please inform the Committee whether there are any refugees, asylum-seeking or unaccompanied foreign children in the jurisdiction of the State party who have been or may have been involved in armed conflict abroad.