Committee on the Rights of the Child

Eighty-fifth session

11–29 May 2020

Item 4 of the provisional agenda

Consideration of reports of States parties

List of issues in relation to the combined fifth and sixth periodic reports of Cyprus

The State party is requested to submit in writing additional, updated information (10,700 words maximum), if possible before 14 February 2020. The Committee may take up all aspects of children’s rights set out in the Convention during the dialogue with the State party.

Part I

1.Please clarify how the provisions of the draft laws on the welfare and protection of children and on the care and protection of children are aligned with the provisions of the Convention, and indicate the measures taken to expedite their adoption. Please also update the Committee on the status of revising the Adoption Law of 1995 to bring it into conformity with the Convention.

2.Please inform the Committee about whether the State party intends to develop and adopt a comprehensive strategy and national action plan for children’s rights, given that the national plan referred to in paragraph 25 of its report (CRC/C/CYP/5-6) has been adopted by the Commissioner for the Protection of the Rights of the Child, and relates to the work of the Commissioner, rather than the State party.

3.Please inform the Committee of the measures taken to improve its data-collection system in order to provide for disaggregated data on children, including children in vulnerable situations, such as unaccompanied asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children, child victims of crimes, and children with disabilities.

4.Please provide information on the concrete outcomes of the work undertaken by the monitoring committee for the implementation of the Convention referred to in paragraph 30 of the report, as well as on the human, technical and financial resources allocated thereto. Please also specify any increase in the human, technical and financial resources provided to the Commissioner for the Protection of the Rights of the Child.

5.Please inform the Committee about the impact of the anti-discrimination laws, policies and plans adopted by the State party, particularly in relation to the situation of children with disabilities, children from religious minority groups, asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children, and Roma and traveller children. Please also provide information on the measures taken to ensure access to inclusive, mainstream and non-segregated education for all children.

6.Please indicate how the State party ensures that the best interests of the child are determined in accordance with the Convention, including whether any criteria, guidelines or procedures have or will be adopted to give effect to this principle in practice. Please also clarify how the right of the child to be heard and to participate in all matters affecting him or her is guaranteed in law and in practice.

7.Please provide information on the procedure for acquiring citizenship for children who would otherwise be stateless, and indicate whether the State party intends to ratify the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

8.Please clarify whether all the relevant sectors – social, medical and judicial – are partners in the operations of the Children’s House, and whether child victims are able to provide court testimonies. Please provide information on the training provided to professionals who come into contact with child victims of violence, including victims of domestic violence, bullying, corporal punishment, sexual exploitation and abuse. Please also indicate how positive parenting skills are disseminated and taught to parents.

9.Please indicate how the institutions run by the Social Welfare Services for children deprived of their family environment, and other types of alternative care, are systematically regulated and monitored to ensure that the rights of children are protected.

10.Please provide information on the measures taken to improve the reception conditions of asylum-seeking children at the Kofinou reception centre, and clarify the support available to children who cannot be accepted at the centre. Please also clarify the steps taken to ensure the effective legal representation of children throughout the asylum procedure, as well as to reduce the delay in determining claims for international protection by unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.

11.Please inform the Committee of any concrete steps taken to establish a child justice system that ensures appropriate treatment of children at all stages of its judicial proceedings, other than the bill referred to in paragraph 216 of the report, as well as to ensure that children between 14 and 18 years of age are not subject to the adult justice system, as previously recommended by the Committee (CRC/C/CYP/CO/3-4, para. 55 (c)).

12.Please provide information on the implementation of the Committee’s recommendations relating to the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, in particular on the measures taken to end the compulsory recruitment of children under 18 years of age by the armed forces and the use of children in hostilities. Please also indicate the training programmes on the Optional Protocol and children’s rights provided to all professionals working in the relevant fields.

13.Please address the delay in submitting the State party’s initial report under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, which was due on 6 May 2008.

Part II

14.The Committee invites the State party to provide a brief update (no more than three pages) on the information presented in its report with regard to:

(a)New bills or laws, and their respective regulations;

(b)New institutions (and their mandates) or institutional reforms;

(c)Recently introduced policies, programmes and action plans and their scope and financing;

(d)Recent ratifications of human rights instruments.

Part III

Data, statistics and other information, if available

15.Please provide consolidated information for the past three years on the budget lines regarding children and social sectors by indicating the percentage of each budget line in terms of the total national budget and the gross national product. Please also provide information on the geographic allocation of those resources.

16.Please provide, if available, updated statistical data, disaggregated by age, sex, ethnic origin, national origin and geographic location and socioeconomic status, for the past three years, on:

(a)Infanticide (CRC/C/CYP/5-6, para. 105);

(b)Racist and xenophobic acts against children;

(c)Girls who are victims of female genital mutilation or cutting or who are at risk of becoming victims of those practices (ibid., para. 139);

(d)Children who use illicit drugs or substances;

(e)Child victims of neglect, ill-treatment, violence or abuse, and the number of complaints, investigations, prosecutions and convictions in that regard;

(f)Investigations into cases of sexual violence and rape and the outcomes of trials, including with regard to the penalties imposed on perpetrators and to the redress and compensation provided to victims;

(g)Child victims of trafficking and sexual or labour exploitation, and of reported cases, investigations, prosecutions and convictions in that regard;

(h)Cases of corporal punishment, especially in schools and penal institutions, and of investigations, prosecutions and convictions in that regard;

(i)Children living in poverty and extreme poverty;

(j)Children seeking asylum in the State party, children placed in reception centres and the duration of their stay, in particular unaccompanied or separated children, including those who have been refused entry to the State party, child victims of trafficking and children who have been granted refugee status;

(k)Children of non-citizen parents, including asylum-seeking children, who have been granted citizenship as otherwise they would have been stateless;

(l)Children of Roma origin and their enrolment rate in primary and secondary schools.

17.Please provide data, disaggregated by age, sex, socioeconomic background, ethnic origin and geographic location, regarding the situation of children deprived of a family environment, for the past three years, on the number of children:

(a)Separated from their parents;

(b)Placed in institutions;

(c)Placed with foster families;

(d)Adopted domestically or through intercountry adoptions.

18.Please provide data, disaggregated by age, sex, type of disability, ethnic origin and geographic location, for the past three years, on the number of children with disabilities:

(a)Living with their families;

(b)Living in institutions;

(c)Attending regular primary schools;

(d)Attending regular secondary schools;

(e)Attending special schools;

(f)Out of school;

(g)Abandoned by their families.

19.Please provide, if available, updated statistical data, disaggregated by age, sex, type of offence, ethnic and national origin, geographic location and socioeconomic status, for the past three years, on children in conflict with the law who have been:

(a)Arrested;

(b)Referred to diversion programmes;

(c)In pretrial detention;

(d)Serving a sentence in detention and the length of the sentence.

20.Please provide information on how the planning, implementation and monitoring of measures for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals integrate a child rights-based approach, including with regard to child participation and data collection, and how they promote the realization of children’s rights under the Convention and its Optional Protocols.

21.Please provide the Committee with an update of any data in the report that may have become outdated by more recent data collected or other new developments.

22.In addition, the State party may list areas affecting children that it considers to be of priority with regard to the implementation of the Convention.