Committee on the Rights of the Child
Fifty-third session
11–29 January 2010
Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
List of issues to be taken up in connection with the consideration of the third and fourth periodic reports of El Salvador (CRC/C/SLV/3-4)
Part I
In this section the State party is requested to submit additional, updated information in writing, if p ossible before 19 November 2009
1.Please indicate whether the Convention on the Rights of the Child has been invoked directly in domestic courts and, if so, please provide examples of such cases.
2.Please indicate how the Act for the Comprehensive Protection of Children and Young Persons contributes to the implementation of the Convention.
3.In what ways does the State party consider that the Family Code must be adapted to the Convention?
4.Please explain what methods are used to make up the shortfall in investment in children, indicating how public spending is distributed between urban and rural areas, at the national and local levels, in rural and indigenous communities, and between boys and girls.
5.Kindly furnish the Committee with updated information on the guiding role, resources and effective coordination capacity of the National Children and Adolescents Council (CONNA) provided for by the Act for the Comprehensive Protection of Children and Young Persons. How are the national and local levels coordinated?
6.Information is requested on the creation of departmental boards and municipal committees for the protection of children and adolescents and on their duties and the resources at their command for the implementation of the rights of the child.
7.Kindly supply additional information on the activities and resources available to the Office of the Procurator for the Defence of Human Rights and how it coordinates with other municipal human rights institutions. Is the Office of the Procurator authorized to receive complaints (including those from children themselves), process them and monitor policies concerning children?
8.Please describe to the Committee the achievements of the “Welcome Home” (Bienvenido a casa) programme for children who are returning to El Salvador.
9.Please clarify the objectives and scope of prevention, rehabilitation and reintegration programmes/projects for gang members.
10.Please give more information on the human rights and juvenile justice training provided for police officers and juvenile detention centre officials (where children’s rights violations have been reported). Please also supply information on the measures taken to investigate and punish police officers involved with criminal gangs and to make sure that they do not act with impunity.
11.Please describe to the Committee how the National Commission for Culture and Art (CONCULTURA) promotes the identity and rights of indigenous peoples.
12.Please provide the Committee with more information on the care provided to street children and the preventive measures being taken.
13.Please inform the Committee about the progress made and the current situation with regard to the search for children who disappeared during the internal armed conflict. Please provide information on the execution of the judgement of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the case of the disappearance of the Serrano-Cruz sisters.
14.Please provide the Committee with a brief explanation of the current legislation in the State party concerning the prohibition of corporal punishment in the home.
15.Please specify for the Committee which children-related issues the State party considers to be priorities requiring the utmost attention in the implementation of the Convention.
Part II
In this section the Committee invites the State party to provide a brief update (no more than three pages in length) on the information presented in its report regarding:
(a)New bills or laws;
(b)New institutions and plans;
(c)Recently introduced policies;
(d)Recent programmes and projects and their scope.
The State party is also invited to indicate, where appropriate, whether these bills or laws, institutions, policies, programmes and projects are limited to certain regions of the country.
Part III
Statistical and other information, if available
1.Please provide disaggregated data (by gender, age, indigenous peoples, groups of persons with disabilities, and urban and rural areas) covering the years 2007, 2008 and 2009 on the number of children under 18 living in the State party and the percentage of the population that they represent.
2.In the light of article 4 of the Convention, please furnish additional disaggregated data for 2007–2009 on budget allocations for the implementation of children’s rights and on trends in this connection (in absolute figures and as percentages of the national budget), as well as on allocations provided to local authorities. Please also evaluate the priorities placed on budgetary expenditures for the following:
(a)The National Institute for the Comprehensive Development of Children and Adolescents, as the body responsible for coordinating the implementation of the Convention, and steps taken by the State party to ensure funding for CONNA;
(b)Education (different levels of education, i.e. preschool, primary and secondary);
(c)Health care (different types of health services, i.e. primary health care, vaccination programmes, campaigns against HIV/AIDS, the strategy for combating malnutrition and other health-care services for children and adolescents);
(d)Programmes and services for children with disabilities;
(e)National and local support programmes and protection for children who need alternative care, including support for residential care institutions and foster families;
(f)Support for children and families living below the poverty line, including the impact of conditional cash transfer programmes;
(g)Programmes and activities for preventing child abuse, trafficking in children, sexual exploitation, the use of children in pornography and child labour, and for protecting children from such abuses;
(h)The prevention of juvenile delinquency, rehabilitation, reintegration and social integration.
3.With reference to ill-treatment of and violence against children, please provide disaggregated data (by age, gender, minority and indigenous groups, and types of violations reported) covering the years 2007, 2008 and 2009, on the following:
(a)Number of reported cases of ill-treatment of and violence against children;
(b)Number and percentage of reported cases which have resulted in a court decision or other types of follow-up;
(c)Number and proportion of child victims who have received counselling and recovery support services.
4.With regard to education, please provide disaggregated data (by gender, age, minority and indigenous groups, and urban and rural areas) covering the years 2007, 2008 and 2009 on the following issues:
(a)The enrolment and completion rates, in percentages, of the student body in pre-primary, primary and secondary schools and in vocational training centres;
(b)Literacy rates for persons under 18 years of age;
(c)Percentages of children who drop out and who repeat academic years;
(d)Student-teacher ratio.
5.With reference to special protection measures, please provide statistics (disaggregated by gender, age, minority and indigenous groups, and urban and rural areas) covering the years 2007, 2008 and 2009 on:
(a)The number of child murder victims, the subsequent investigations and their results;
(b)The number of migrant children who return to El Salvador after being expelled from their intended host countries and the type of assistance given to them;
(c)The number of children affected by the migration of their parents and the type of assistance given to them;
(d)The number of children working and/or living in the streets.
Part IV
The following is a preliminary list of major issues not already covered in part I that the Committee may take up during its dialogue with the State party. They do not require written answers. This list is not exhaustive, as other issues may be raised in the course of the dialogue.
1.Budget appropriations for children.
2.Poverty reduction schemes.
3.Right to life, including: (a) child disappearances during the conflict; (b) the killing of children.
4.Domestic violence and corporal punishment, abuse and ill-treatment.
5.National and international adoption.
6.Children with disabilities.
7.HIV/AIDS.
8.Health care and living standards, policies to reduce the incidence of anaemia and malnutrition and to improve food security.
9.The health status of adolescents, including reproductive health and early pregnancies.
10.Access to education and educational quality.
11.Economic exploitation, including child labour.
12.Migrant children and their families, and children affected by migration.
13.Street children.
14.Juvenile justice administration, gangs and the Government’s strategy in this area.
15.Sexual exploitation, in particular child prostitution and trafficking.
16.Indigenous children.