COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

Forty-third session

11-29 September 2006

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTIONON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

List of issues to be taken up in connection with the consideration of the third periodic report of JORDAN (CRC/C/JOR/3)

Part I

Under this section the State party is requested to submit in written form additional and updated information, if possible, before 5 August 2006 .

A. Data and statistics, if available

1.Please provide disaggregated statistical data (by sex, age groups, ethnic groups, urban and rural areas) covering the years 2003, 2004 and 2005 on the number and percentage of children under the age of 18 living in Jordan.

2.In the light of article 4 of the Convention, please provide disaggregated data on budget allocations and trends (in absolute figures and percentages of the national and regional budgets) for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 regarding the implementation of the Convention, evaluating also the priorities for budgetary expenditures given to the following:

(a)education (different types of education, i.e. pre-primary, primary and secondary); health care (different types of health services, i.e. primary health care, vaccination programmes, adolescent health care, HIV/AIDS and other health-care services for children, including social insurance);

(b)programmes and services for children with disabilities;

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(c)support programmes for families;

(d)protection of children who are in need of alternative care, including kafalah, and the support of care institutions;

(e)programmes and activities for the prevention of and protection from child abuse, child sexual exploitation and child labour;

(f)programmes and services for refugee children; and

(g)juvenile justice and the recovery and social reintegration of juvenile offenders.

Please also indicate the estimated expenses of the private sector, in particular for health and education.

3.With reference to children deprived of a family environment and separated from parents, please provide disaggregated data (by sex, age groups, if possible ethnic groups, urban and rural areas) for the years 2003, 2004 and 2005 on the number of children:

(a)separated from their parents;

(b)placed in institutions; and

(c)placed through kafalah.

4.Please specify the number of children with disabilities, up to the age of 18, disaggregated by sex, age groups, if possible ethnic groups, and urban and rural areas, covering the years 2003, 2004 and 2005:

(a)living with their families;

(b)living in institutions;

(c)placed through kafalah;

(d)attending regular schools;

(e)attending special schools; and

(f)not attending schools.

5.Please provide disaggregated statistical data (by sex, age groups, if possible ethnic groups, urban and rural areas) covering the years 2003, 2004 and 2005 on:

(a)rates of infant and child mortality;

(b)rates of immunization;

(c)rates of malnutrition;

(d)children infected with and/or affected by HIV/AIDS;

(e)adolescent health, including early pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), mental health problems (e.g. suicide rates, eating disorders, depression), tobacco use, alcohol and drug abuse; and

(f)the number of health professionals working in the health-care services for children.

6.With reference to child abuse, please provide disaggregated data (by sex, age groups, if possible ethnic groups, and types of child abuse reported) covering the years 2003, 2004 and 2005 on the:

(a)number of reported child abuse cases;

(b)number and percentage of reports that have resulted in either a court decision or other types of follow-up; and

(c)number and proportion of child victims who have received counselling and assistance in recovery.

7.Please specify the criteria for “poverty” and indicate the number of children living below the poverty line. Please also specify the support for children living below the poverty line.

8.With reference to the right to education, please provide disaggregated statistical data (by sex, age groups, if possible ethnic groups, urban and rural areas, immigrant children) covering the years 2003, 2004 and 2005, in percentage of the relevant age group, on the:

(a)rates of literacy (under the age of 18);

(b)rate of enrolment in pre-primary, primary and secondary schools;

(c)percentage of children completing primary and secondary education;

(d)number and percentage of dropouts and repetitions; and

(e)teacher per child ratio and number of children per class.

9.Please provide disaggregated statistical data (including by sex, age groups, and type of crime) covering the years 2003, 2004 and 2005, in particular on the number of:

(a)persons under the age of 18 who have allegedly committed a crime, reported to the police;

(b)persons under the age of 18 who have been charged with a crime, and of those sentenced, and the type of punishment or sanctions related to offences, including length of deprivation of liberty;

(c)detention facilities for persons under the age of 18 in conflict with the law, and the capacities of these facilities;

(d)persons under the age of 18 detained in these facilities and persons under the age of 18 detained in adult facilities;

(e)persons under the age of 18 kept in pretrial detention, and the average length of their detention;

(f)reported cases of abuse and maltreatment of persons under the age of 18 that occurred during their arrest and detention; and

(g)persons under the age of 18 tried and sentenced as adults.

10.With reference to special protection measures, please provide statistical data (including by sex, age groups, if possible ethnic groups, urban and rural areas) for the years 2003, 2004 and 2005 on the number of children:

(a)involved in sexual exploitation, including prostitution, pornography and trafficking, and the number of children provided with access to recovery and other assistance;

(b)involved in substance abuse, and the number of children who received treatment and recovery assistance;

(c)involved in child labour; and

(d)the numbers of unaccompanied asylum-seeking, refugee and displaced children.

B. General measures of implementation

1.The Committee would appreciate receiving specific information on activities intended to implement recommendations contained in the Committee’s previous concluding observations (CRC/C/15/Add.125) on the second periodic report of Jordan (CRC/C/70/Add.4) that have not yet been fully implemented, in particular those related to legislation and reservations (paras. 10-17), the age of criminal responsibility (paras. 26 and 28), non-discrimination, including the right to a nationality (paras. 29-32), the right to life (paras. 35-38), ill-treatment in the family (paras. 41-42), children with disabilities (paras. 43-44) and sexual exploitation (paras. 61-62). Please explain the obstacles to implementation and how the State party envisages overcoming them.

2.Please provide information on the legal status of the Convention after ratification. Does it have the force and effect of domestic law? Does it require approval by Parliament and gazetting to become domesticated?

3.Please provide updated information on the status of the comprehensive Child Rights Act, which was submitted to the National Assembly in 2004.

4.Please provide information on cases, if any, where the Convention has been directly invoked in domestic courts, and if so, please provide examples of such cases.

5.Please describe measures undertaken to strengthen data and statistics collection mechanisms and procedures with regard to the implementation of all provisions of the Convention.

6.Please provide updated information on the activities of the National Centre for Human Rights particularly related to the implementation of the Convention, and on the number of individual complaints investigated and their outcomes, and provide specific information on cases involving children (e.g. number and nature of complaints filed by, or on behalf of, children). Furthermore, please indicate how the independence of the National Centre for Human Rights is ensured, in the light of the Paris Principles (General Assembly resolution 48/134, annex), and when its permanency will be assured, as it currently exists through a temporary law.

7.Please provide information on the State party’s initiative to create an ombudsman’s office, and please clarify whether or not it will have a focus on children’s issues.

8.Please provide updated information on the activities of the National Council on Family Affairs and its Child Welfare Unit.

9.Please provide information on the measures taken to implement the Jordanian National Plan of Action for Children for the Years 2004-2013, published in October 2004, as well as on measures taken to monitor and evaluate its implementation.

10.Please provide information on the content, and results, of implementation of:

(a)the Early Childhood Development Strategy in Jordan published in December 2000 and the subsequent Plan of Action for the Years 2003-2007;

(b)the National Strategy for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour published in February 2003; and

(c)the National Youth Strategy for Jordan for the Years 2005-2009 adopted in December 2004.

11.Please provide information on the Juvenile Justice Reform Programme in Jordan and the State party’s collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in this respect, in particular on how many of the aims of this reform have been achieved.

12.Please provide updated information on efforts to disseminate the Convention, the State party report and the previous concluding observations of the Committee (CRC/C/15/Add.125).

13.Please provide updated information on efforts made to provide training on and awareness of the Convention and human rights in general, to children, parents, teachers, social workers and other professionals working with and for children.

14.Please provide updated information on the cooperation between the State party and the national and international communities, including non-governmental organizations, in the efforts to implement the Convention.

15.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

Please provide the Committee with copies of the text of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in all official languages of the State party as well as in other languages or dialects, when available. If possible, please submit these texts in electronic form.

PART III

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

new or enacted legislation;

new institutions;

newly implemented policies; and

newly implemented programmes and projects, and their scope.

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 no require written answers . This list is not exhaustive, as other issues might be raised in the course of the dialogue.

1.The enforcement of domestic legislation relating to the rights of the child;

2.Discrimination against vulnerable children, such as children with disabilities, children born out of wedlock, refugee and asylum-seeking children, children living in poverty, and children in conflict with the law and children living in rural areas;

3.Leniency in relation to crimes committed in the name of “honour”;

4.Respect for the views of the child;

5.Right to a nationality;

6.Violence against children, including corporal punishment, in the family, schools and other institutions;

7.The situation of children with disabilities, access to social and health services, equal opportunities to education, recovery and recreation, public attitudes towards children with disabilities;

8.The health status of children and their access to adequate social and health services;

9.Adolescent health concerns and reproductive health issues, mental health-care services;

10.National progress in poverty reduction;

11.Educational system, including early childhood care and education, enrolment in primary and secondary education, literacy, repetition rates, non-formal education services and training, and religious education;

12.Children affected by landmines;

13.Asylum-seeking and refugee children;

14.Children of migrant workers;

15.Sexual exploitation, including child prostitution, trafficking and sale of children; and

16.Children belonging to ethnic or national, religious and linguistic minorities.

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