Committee on the Rights of the Child

Sixty – first session

17 September – 5 October 2012

Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child

List of issues concerning additional and updated information related to the consideration of the combined second, third and fourth periodic reports of Albania (CRC/C/ALB/2-4)

The State party is requested to submit in writing additional, updated information, if possible before 2 July 2012.

The Committee may take up all aspects of children’s rights contained 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 (30 pages maximum).

1.Please provide information on the elaboration of a new strategy for children, and explain how the State party took into consideration the shortcomings of the National Children’s Strategy (2005 -2010) as identified notably in the State party‘s report (para.137) while formulating this new strategy. Please also indicate whether broad consultations, including consultations with children have been organized to ensure that all stakeholders will fully play their role in the realization of the objectives of the strategy.

2.Please provide information on the consequences of the drastic reduction of budgetary allocations for children since 2008. Please also indicate whether mechanisms are in place to assess the impact of budgetary allocations on children.

3.Please provide information on the specific measures undertaken to address the problem of early marriages which are reportedly still common in certain communities.

4.Please provide detailed updated information on the targeted measures taken to eliminate traditional and stereotypical attitudes that contribute to the persistent discrimination of girls in the State party. Please also provide information on the concrete measures taken to end sex-selective abortion.

5.Please provide detailed information on the concrete results achieved through the various programmes and strategies which are in place to eliminate all forms of discrimination against Roma children, especially in the educational and health systems.

6.Please provide more specific information on the measures taken to address the situation of extreme poverty in which 3,5 per cent of the Albanian children and their families live and to reduce the significant disparities which exist in terms of poverty rates between urban and rural areas. Please specify the concrete measures taken to ensure that children living in rural and especially mountainous areas are no longer discriminated against in their access to health, education, food, housing and sanitation facilities.

7.With reference to paragraphs 204, 239 and 391 of the State party’s report and to the previous recommendations of the Committee (CRC/C/15/Add.249, para. 31) please clarify whether children below the age of 10 years have the right to be heard in any judicial and administrative procedures that affect them. Please also indicate the measures taken to promote and effectively implement the children’s right to express their views in the home and in all settings.

8.In light of the indications given by the State party that physical and psychological violence against children are the main ways to discipline children (para. 316 of the State party’s report) and that 26 per cent of school children and 50 per cent of children living in institutions have suffered physical violence (paras. 260 and 262), please explain the concrete measures taken by the State party to end all forms of corporal punishment. Please also clarify the explanation given in paragraph 328 of the report, in particular whether children have the possibility to lodge complaints themselves.

9.With reference to paragraph 289 of the State party’s report and to the previous recommendations made by the Committee (CRC/C/15Add/249. paras. 44 and 45 (a) and (b)), please specify the type of assistance, apart from financial and material support, provided to families in difficult economic situations to enable them to care for their children at home and prevent their placement in residential care institutions. In particular, please indicate whether counselling and community-based programmes for parents have been developed and are available throughout the State party.

10.Please provide detailed information on the protection and assistance provided to children above 15 years who are deprived of a family environment and who can no longer stay in Children’s Homes. In particular, please indicate which authority is responsible for the care of these children. With reference to paragraph 295 of the State party’s report, please also explain the concrete measures taken to remove these children from boarding schools where they live in poverty and marginalization.

11.Given the extent of domestic violence in the country, please indicate the reasons why domestic violence has not been criminalized as a specific offence by Law No. 9669 of December 2006 on “Measures Against Domestic Violence” and whether the State party intends to adopt such a legislation. Please also indicate whether women and child victims of domestic violence can easily find a shelter throughout the State party and whether they have priority access to social housing. Please also indicate which programmes have been set up within the framework of the National Strategy on Gender Equality and Domestic Violence (2007-2010) to provide support to and protection of victims of domestic violence, including children, and what is the main outcome of this strategy.

12.Please indicate whether the State party has taken any measures to develop early childhood care and development programmes nationwide and whether it intends to adopt a holistic policy covering all children from birth to school age.

13.Please indicate the measures taken for deinstitutionalization and reintegration of children with disabilities into community settings. Please also provide more specific information on the availability of early diagnosis and treatment of emotional and behavioural disorders referred to in paragraph 400 of the State party’s report and on the inclusion of children with disabilities in schools and kindergarten. Please also indicate the results achieved through the National Strategy for Disabled Persons launched in 2005 regarding the inclusion of children with disabilities into mainstream schools.

14.Please indicate whether the State party intends to increase the proportion of its GDP devoted to education. Please also provide information on the concrete measures taken to eliminate direct and opportunity costs which prevent many families from sending their children to school. Please also explain why one third of children with HIV/AID do not go to school and the measures taken to address this situation.

15.With reference to paragraph 631 of the State party’s report, please clarify whether the State party has elaborated a national plan of action on child labour as recommended by the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations in 2010. Please also provide additional information on the results of the actions taken to withdraw children from the streets where they are forced to beg and to remove children working in hazardous occupations and under dangerous conditions.

16.Please provide updated information on the adoption of the Strategy on Justice for Children and information on the budgetary allocation and implementation of the law on free legal assistance. Please also provide information on the concrete measures taken to reduce the length of pretrial detention for children and to ensure that children are only detained as a measure of last resort.

Part II

In this section, the Committee invites the State party to briefly (three pages maximum) update the information provided 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

1.With reference to children in care, please provide disaggregated data (by sex, age, reason for placement and type of care) for the years 2009, 2010 and 2011 on the number of children deprived of a family environment and taken into care and the average length of their stay in care.

2.Please indicate the number of children with disabilities identified in 2008, 2009 and 2010 (disaggregated by age, sex, type of disability, ethnic origin and geographic location) and the percentage of children with disabilities who have access to mainstream education.

3.Please provide data for 2008, 2009 and 2010 (disaggregated by age, sex, ethnic origin and geographic location) on the number of children who are:

(a)Victims of domestic violence, specifying the number of children who had access to protective measures, rehabilitation and social reintegration services; what legal proceedings were brought against the perpetrators of such offences; and what the outcomes of those proceedings were over the same period;

(b)Victims of economic exploitation, in particular the number of children subjected to the worst forms of child labour, the number of prosecutions for economic exploitation of children and the number of convictions;

(c)Living or working in the street in the State party, including those who are in social reintegration programmes.

4.Please provide detailed statistics for 2008, 2009 and 2010, disaggregated by age, sex and type of offence, on children who have been in pretrial detention and the duration of their stay, as well as the number of children who have benefited from alternatives to detention.

5.In addition, the State party may draw up a list of the issues affecting the situation of children which it considers to be of priority to the implementation of the Convention.