Committee on the Rights of the Child

List of issues in relation to the combined fifth and sixth reports of Azerbaijan *

1.The State party is requested to submit in writing additional, updated information (10,700 words maximum), if possible before 15 February 2022. 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

2.Please describe the measures taken to: (a) ensure the protection of children’s rights in the context of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and mitigate the adverse impacts of the pandemic; (b) bring all domestic legislation into compliance with the Convention; (c) enact a comprehensive child-rights law; (d) ensure direct application of the Convention; (e) establish a child-rights commissioner and a legal aid system accessible to children; (f) implement the child-rights approach to budgeting; (g) establish a regulatory framework for the business sector; and (h) increase budget allocations for social services.

3.Please describe progress in: (a) implementing the child databank and strengthening data collection in all Convention areas; (b) integrating children’s rights into school curricula and professional training; (c) strengthening coordination in the implementation of the Convention; (d) implementing the National Children’s Strategy and the action plan for children and establishing mechanisms for the monitoring and evaluation of the action plan; and (e) involving non-governmental organizations and academia in policymaking, programming and legislative processes concerning children’s rights.

4.Please specify progress in: (a) preventing and addressing discrimination against children in vulnerable situations, including girls, children with disabilities and those living in residential care; (b) improving children’s safety on the road; (c) addressing sex-selective abortion and child marriage; (d) applying the best interests principle and taking into account the views of the child; (e) expanding opportunities for children to participate in decision-making affecting them; and (f) implementing the Law on the protection of children from harmful information of 2018 and its monitoring mechanism.

5.Please clarify the age of sexual consent and whether sex between consenting adolescents aged 16 to 18 is criminalized. Regarding violence against children, please specify the measures taken to: (a) adopt a strategy to prevent and address all forms thereof; (b) prohibit corporal punishment in all settings, and promote positive discipline; (c) build the professional capacity to prevent, identify and address cases of violence and encourage reporting; (d) ensure available and accessible services for child victims; and (e) improve data collection and monitoring. Please specify the results of the implementation of the Law on prevention of domestic violence and the national action plan on the elimination of and the fight against domestic violence, and describe the impact of the “school-friendly project”, aimed at monitoring violence in schools and providing mental health support.

6.Please provide information on the measures taken, or envisioned, to: (a) ensure that a child can maintain contact with both parents in the event of a divorce; (b) prevent child removal from the family, develop family-based care and phase out institutionalization; (c) strengthen the capacity of the social welfare workforce; and (d) ensure timely alimony payments. Please also provide information on reported cases of violence against children in institutions, investigations undertaken and their outcomes, and available complaint mechanisms.

7.Regarding adoption, please specify: (a) how the best interests principle is taken into consideration and how the child’s opinion is taken into account; (b) support available to adoptive parents; and (c) measures to increase the number of adoptions of children with disabilities and children over 5 years of age.

8.Please describe progress in implementing the human rights approach to disability. Please specify measures taken to: (a) prevent the institutionalization of children with disabilities, in particular children with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities; (b) implement inclusive education; (c) strengthen community-based services and parental support; (d) ensure access to health care; and (e) support children with autistic spectrum disorder and neurodevelopmental disorders.

9.Please elaborate on measures taken to: (a) reduce newborn, infant and maternal mortality; (b) strengthen access to child and maternal health care and nutrition programmes, specifically in rural and remote areas; (c) expand health insurance coverage; (d) strengthen the quality of training in the medical profession; (e) prevent and effectively address substance abuse; (f) provide education on sexual and reproductive health and ensure access to contraception; and (g) ensure mental health support for children.

10.Please provide information about the measures taken to: (a) improve access to preschool education; (b) prevent and address school dropout; (c) integrate twenty-first century skills into school curricula and teacher training; (d) strengthen vocational training; (e) improve access to water and sanitation facilities; (f) ensure access to computers and other devices and an Internet connection; and (g) ensure access to leisure, play and green zones.

11.Please clarify how asylum legislation and status determination procedures were strengthened to comply with international standards and how the best interests of the child are taken into consideration. Please describe measures taken to ensure: (a) access to services and protection for all children in need of humanitarian assistance or affected by armed conflict; and (b) birth registration for infants in an asylum-seeking situation. Please specify progress in establishing a referral mechanism for unaccompanied children.

12.With regard to children in street situations, please describe the measures taken to: (a) strengthen the provision of health care, social services and shelters, and the capacity of professionals working with such children; (b) address child labour; (c) prevent sexual abuse and provide remedies in cases of violations; and (d) improve data collection.

13.Please specify the progress made in: (a) establishing a system of child justice; (b) ensuring that deprivation of liberty is used as a last resort for the shortest possible time; (c) improving conditions of detention; (d) strengthening recovery, assistance and reintegration services; and (e) preventing crime and in ensuring protection for child victims and witnesses of crime. Please also describe the impact on justice for children of the Executive Order signed by the President on 10 February 2017.

14.Please inform the Committee about the measures taken to implement its previous recommendations under the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict (CRC/C/OPAC/AZE/CO/1), including information on: the coordination mechanism for the implementation of the Optional Protocol; dissemination of and training on the Optional Protocol; and legislative prohibition of involvement of those under the age of 18 in military activities and their use of firearms. Regarding the conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, please provide information on the measures taken to: prevent the killing of children; effectively investigate such cases and bring to justice those responsible; and address the impact of the conflict on children and provide assistance to child victims.

15.Please inform the Committee about the measures taken to implement its previous recommendations under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (CRC/C/OPSC/AZE/CO/1), including progress in: establishing a coordinating body for the implementation of the Optional Protocol; prohibiting all offences under articles 2 and 3 of the Optional Protocol in the Criminal Code and adopting a strategy to prevent and address them; and ensuring effective investigation in cases covered under the Optional Protocol. Please also specify the measures taken to address child grooming and online sexual abuse; strengthen victim identification and referral; and expand the coverage of the 116-111 child helpline.

Part II

16.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

17.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.

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

(a)Cases of abuse of and violence against children, including torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, all forms of corporal punishment, child sexual abuse in and outside the home, domestic violence, bullying and online and sexual violence and abuse, as well as prosecutions and sentences handed down in the State party in such cases;

(b)Cases of enforced disappearance of children and their outcomes;

(c)Cases of child deaths due to accidents, child abuse and suicide;

(d)Cases of children living with HIV;

(e)Cases of child marriage and adolescent pregnancy;

(f)Stateless children;

(g)Asylum-seeking, refugee, internally displaced and migrant children;

(h)Working children, including in the informal sector;

(i)Children in street situations;

(j)Children living in poverty.

19.Please provide data, disaggregated by age, sex, socioeconomic background, ethnic and national 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 families, including the duration of their separation;

(b)Placed in institutions under all relevant ministries, as well as the number of institutions and data on children in each institution, disaggregated by age and sex;

(c)Placed with foster families;

(d)Available for adoption;

(e)Adopted domestically, as well as through intercountry and private adoptions, including data on the receiving countries.

20.Please provide data, disaggregated by age, sex, type of disability, ethnic and national origin and geographic location, for the past three years, on the number of children with disabilities who are or have been:

(a)Living with their families;

(b)Living in institutions;

(c)Attending day care for children;

(d)Attending preschool;

(e)Attending primary schools;

(f)Attending secondary schools;

(g)Receiving individualized support;

(h)Attending special schools;

(i)Out of school;

(j)Abandoned by their families.

21.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 are or have been:

(a)Arrested;

(b)Referred to diversion programmes;

(c)In pretrial detention;

(d)Detained with adults;

(e)Convicted and serving a sentence in detention, and on the length of the sentences.

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

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

24.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.