COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

Fiftieth session

12-30 January 2009

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 periodic report of the Netherlands

Under this section the State party is requested to submit in written form additional and updated information, if possible by 24 November 2008

PART I

Please report on measures which are planned to strengthen alternative care, including preventive social care, outpatient and placement opportunities and decreasing waiting lists. Please provide data on investigations or research outcomes concerning cases of waiting lists and children left without adequate care.

Please provide information on the monitoring and complaint system of the public care system and the placing procedures to avoid multi-placement.

Please inform the Committee whether uninsured children in the Netherlands Antilles receive all necessary medical treatment, or if they only receive preventive treatment. Please also report whether women in the Netherlands Antilles who are not insured have the right to give birth in a hospital.

Please provide information on any steps taken to provide round-the-clock care for disabled children and/or educational services or day care for all children with disabilities. Please also explain if any government plans to combat discrimination and promote the social integration of disabled children will be introduced.

Please provide information on any measures taken by the authorities to prevent drug use by children in the Netherlands Antilles.

Please describe briefly the results of the measures introduced in the Netherlands since 2004 to prevent bullying in schools.

Please inform the Committee whether a systematic investigation has been undertaken to obtain information about the possible existence of commercial sexual exploitation of children, including in the Netherlands Antilles.

Please provide information on which types of crimes may lead to pre-trial detention of children, the availability of alternatives to pre-trial detention and any plans to reduce the use of pre-trial detention.

Please indicate the issues affecting children that the State party considers to be priorities, requiring the most urgent attention with regard to the implementation of the Convention.

PART II

Under this section, the State party is invited to briefly (3 pages maximum) update the information provided in its reports with regard to:

new bills or enacted legislation

new institutions

newly implemented policies and

newly implemented programmes and projects, and their scope

PART III

Data and statistics, if available

In the light of article 4 of the Convention, please provide updated data for 2006, 2007 and 2008 on budget allocations (including trends analysis) regarding the implementation of the Convention throughout the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the areas of education and health.

Please provide updated data for 2005, 2006 and 2007 for all three parts of the Kingdom on the number of persons below 18 who have been tried as adults. Please also inform the Committee as to the number of reported cases of abuse or ill-treatment of children occurring during their arrest and/or detention as well as on the follow-up given to these cases.

Please provide updated data for 2005, 2006 and 2007 for all three parts of the Kingdom on the number of children involved in sexual exploitation, including prostitution, pornography and trafficking, and the number of those children who were provided access to recovery and social reintegration services.

PART IV

The following is a preliminary list of major issues (which does not contain issues already covered in Part I) that the Committee may take up during the dialogue with the State party. They do not require written answers . This list is not exhaustive as other issues might be raised in the course of the dialogue:

The status of the Convention in the State party’s legal system.

The establishment of an ombudsman for children.

Protection from discrimination, in particular with respect to children belonging to ethnic minorities, asylum-seeking children, immigrant children, children living in poverty, children with disabilities, children in alternative care and children in conflict with the law.

The State party’s strategy to significantly strengthen the Convention’s overall implementation, with particular attention to the general principles of the Convention (non-discrimination (art. 2), the best interests of the child (art. 3), survival and development (art. 6), and the right of the child to express his/her views and be heard (art. 12)).

Children in alternative care.

Domestic violence, including corporal punishment, child abuse and sexual abuse.

Children with disabilities, in particular their access to education and social and health services as well as cultural and recreational activities.

Basic health and welfare, access to health services, adolescent health (e.g. suicide, teenage pregnancies), mental health.

Children and education, including measures to address bullying in schools, special needs of children and human rights education.

Leisure and play.

Alcohol and substance abuse.

Trafficking and sexual exploitation of children, including support provided to the victims.

Administration of juvenile justice, in particular with regard to the age of criminal responsibility, conditions of places of detention for children, pre-trial detention, trials in adult courts and placement with adults.

Children belonging to an ethnic minority.

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