Committee on the Rights of the Child

Seventy-first session

11–29 January 2016

Item 4 of the provisional agenda

Consideration of reports of States parties

List of issues in relation to the combined second to fourth periodic reports of Zambia

The State party is requested to submit in writing additional, updated information, if possible before 15 October 2015 (10,700 words maximum).

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

In this section, the State party is requested to submit its responses to the following questions

1.Please provide the Committee with further information on measures taken to expedite the enactment of the draft Children’s Code and ensure adequate provisions for its effective implementation.

2.Please provide further information on progress achieved in the implementation of the National Child Policy and the National Plan of Action. Please also indicate whether there are mechanisms in place to monitor and evaluate their effectiveness. Additionally, please provide the Committee with information on the results of the Sixth National Development Plan with regard to the welfare and development of children in the areas of healthcare, immunization coverage, infant mortality and education enrolment rates.

3.Please provide the Committee with further up-to-date information on the statement in paragraph 30 of the State party’s report (CRC/C/ZMB/2-4) that measures are being put in place to develop a system for comprehensive collection of disaggregated data on children. Please also indicate how data collected feeds into planning and policies, budgetary allocation and national programmes for the promotion and protection of children’s rights.

4.With reference to the establishment of the Office of the Commission on Children in 2009, please indicate whether a Commissioner for Children has been appointed and whether the Office is provided with adequate human, technical and financial resources in order to effectively discharge its mandate.

5.Please update the Committee on measures taken by the State party to establish a clear definition of the child, as recommended by the Committee in 2003 (CRC/C/15/Add.206, para. 20).

6.In addition to the information contained in paragraph 53 of the State party’s report, please provide further information on how the State party ensures that the principle of the best interests of the child is given due consideration in customary law.

7.Please update the Committee on the efforts made to expedite the legal review process so that birth certificates can be processed and issued at the district and provincial levels. Please provide further information on how the implementation of the Integrated National Registration System has helped to enhance birth registration in Zambia, especially in the rural areas.

8.Please provide information on the implementation of the Anti-Gender-Based Violence Act. Please, also explain the reasons for the low prosecution rates of defilement cases.

9.Please inform the Committee about measures taken by the State party for the purpose of raising awareness of the harmful effects of child marriage, as well as measures to support girls affected by this practice.

10.Please update the Committee on measures that the State party has taken to accommodate and care for children who are deprived of a family environment.

11.Please provide the Committee with up-to-date information on the National Policy on Disability. Please indicate measures taken to incorporate children with disabilities in the regular education system and in society by providing and enforcing mandatory standards on services, infrastructure and facilitate access to children with disabilities.

12.In the light of information presented in the State party’s report (para. 98) that adolescent pregnancies are among the principle factors leading to high maternal mortality rates and neonatal deaths, please provide the Committee with further details on the implementation of the Adolescent Reproductive Health Strategic Plan to address concerns relating to adolescent reproductive health.

13.Please provide further information on measures taken for the purpose of identifying and supporting children in vulnerable situations. Please inform the Committee whether the State party is considering increasing allocations for social protection of children in vulnerable situations, including child-headed families.

14.Please provide the Committee with further details on measures taken by the State party to eliminate the direct and indirect costs of education and to address high dropout rates from school owing to poverty, financial constraints, long walking distances, unfavourable cultural beliefs for boys and girls and pregnancies and early marriages for girls.

15.Please provide the Committee with further information on the implementation of diversion programmes in the administration of juvenile justice as well as on the measures taken to support the Legal Aid Board in ensuring the right of legal representation of children in judicial proceedings. Additionally, in the light of reports regarding the absence in prisons and police stations of separate holding cells for children, please indicate what measures have been taken by the State party to address this concern.

16.Please inform the Committee on measures taken to promote access to health care and education by refugee children.

Part II

In this section the Committee invites the State party to provide a brief update (no more than three pages) on the information presented in its report regarding:

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

(b)New institutions and their mandates, and 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

1.Please provide consolidated budget information for the past three years on budget lines allocated for children and social sectors, indicating each budget line as a percentage of the total national budget and gross national product, and geographic allocation.

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

(a)Children who have been married;

(b)Children registered at birth;

(c)Cases dealing with children under the Anti-Gender-Based Violence Act of 2011 and other relevant legislations;

(d)Children who came in conflict with the law and the status of those cases;

(e)Investigations, prosecutions and convictions of perpetrators of the defilement of children.

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

(a)Separated from their parents;

(b)Living in child-headed households;

(c)Placed in institutions;

(d)Placed with foster families;

(e)Adopted domestically or through intercountry adoptions.

4.Please provide data, disaggregated by age, sex, type of disability, ethnic origin and geographical 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.

5.Please provide data, disaggregated inter alia by age, sex, socioeconomic background, geographical location and ethnic origin, for the past three years, on:

(a)The enrolment and completion rates, in percentages, of the relevant age groups in pre-primary schools, primary schools and secondary schools;

(b)The number and percentage of dropouts and repetitions;

(c)The teacher-pupil ratio.

6.Please provide the Committee with an update of any data in the report which may have been superseded by more recent data collected or affected by new developments.

7.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.