Committee on the Rights of the Child

List of issues to be taken up in connection withthe consideration of the combined third andfourth periodic reports of Lithuania, adopted by the Committee at its pre-sessional working group for the sixty-second and sixty-third sessions (8–12 October 2012)

The State party is requested to submit in writing additional, updated information, if possible before 24May 2013.

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 training provided to professionals working with and for children to ensure that all children are listened to in all instances, including, but not limited, in child custody cases. Please also inform the Committee how the Law on Minimum and Medium Supervision of the Child – which requires that the views of the child are taken into account in child supervision cases –is implemented in practice. Please also provide the Committee with information on other instances where the child’s views are respected.

2.Please provide information on the status and provisions of the draft Law on Child Protection and its main differences with the Law on Fundamentals of Child Rights Protection.

3.Please clarify what are the legal guarantees to ensure that the principle of the best interest of the child is observed in all instances, including, but not limited to, child custody cases.

4.As the number of reported cases of ill-treatment and abuse against children is increasing, especially in public care institutions, please inform the Committee of measures taken to enable children to report such cases and ofmechanisms to monitor the situation in care institutions. Please also inform the Committee of the legal proceedings engaged against persons who ill-treat and abuse children and their outcome.

5.Please provide information on legislation and measures in place to guarantee and protect children’s privacy in the media and to prevent the disclosure of their data and image.

6.Please provide information on measures taken to prevent institutionalization of children, especially those under the age of 3. In particular, please indicate what response has been given to the 2011 Ombudsman for Children Rights inquiry (No 15/05/16-2011/KI-13) “on the problems of situation of children under the age 3-4 in infant homes with special needs and other care institutions”.

7.Please provide information on measures taken to ensure the effective implementation of its legislation on children with disabilities and in particular on the practicalsteps taken to ensure that children with disabilities fully enjoy their rights to health and to have effective access to inclusive education. Please also inform the Committee of measures taken to prevent the placement of children with disabilities in institutions.

8.Please explain what intervention measures, including prevention measures, have been taken to address the existence and proliferation of “baby boxes” in the country since 2009 and the prevalence of infanticide.

9.Please indicate whether the State party has established specialized juvenile courts in all provinces of the State party. Please also provide information on the steps taken to train judges, prosecutors and all those working in the juvenile justice system on children’s rights and juvenile-justice-related matters, including efforts undertaken to ensure child-sensitive administration of justice.

10.Please provide more information on the measures taken to implement the Committee’s previous recommendations (CRC/C/LTU/CO/2), in particular those relating to banning corporal punishment (para.38), the reform of the alternative care system, the support to the system of foster care and the periodic review of placement in alternative care institutions (para.42), the reproductive health education programmes (para.51) and the provision of adequate social and economic support to the social risk families (para. 42).

11.Taking into account the high suicide rate among teenagers, please inform the Committee of measures taken to study the root causes of this phenomenon and prevent suicide among adolescents. In this context, please indicate whatproportion of the health-care budget is allocated to mental-health services for children.

12.As a follow up to the Committee’s 2008 concluding observations (CRC/C/OPSC/LTU/CO/1) under the Optional Protocol on sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, please inform the Committee of the measures taken to criminalize all acts and activities listed in article 3 of the Optional Protocol as well as to include a definition of child prostitution and child pornography in the Criminal Code. Please provide information whether the State party is planning to ratify the 2007 Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse and implement it to strengthen the protection of child rights.

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, 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, statistical and other information, if available

1.Please provide data for the last three years on the budgets allocated for children at the national, provincial and municipal levels (in absolute terms and as a percentage of the national budget and of gross domestic product) in the fields of education, health, social services and child protection.

2.Please provide, if available, statistical data for the last three years on children living in alternative care disaggregated by sex, age, geographic location and socioeconomic background.

3.Please specify the number of children with disabilities, up to the age of 18, disaggregated by age, sex, geographic location, socioeconomic background and type of disability covering the last three years:

(a)Living with their families;

(b)Living in institutions;

(c)Placed in foster care;

(d)Attending regular schools;

(e)Attending special schools; and

(f)Not attending school.

4.Please provide, if available, statistical data covering the last three years on:

(a)The number of children who have been victims of ill-treatment and abuse as well as number of complaints investigations and prosecutions carried out in this regard;

(b)The number of children who have been victims of sexual abuse and exploitation, including victims of trafficking, as well as number of complaints, investigations and prosecutions carried out in this regard; and

(c)The number of working children disaggregated by age, sex, geographic location and socioeconomic background.

5.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.