COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILDFifty-third session11 - 29 January 2010

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTION

ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

L ist of issues to be taken up in connection with the consideration of the fourth periodic report of Norway (CRC/C/NOR/4)

Under this section the State party is requested to submit in written form additional and updated information, if possible before 19 November 2009

PART I

Please briefly provide information on the work and findings of the committee appointed by the Government in 2007 (State party’s report, CRC/C/NOR/4, para.102) to examine whether a more comprehensive discrimination legislation should be proposed.

Please briefly inform the Committee on the outcome of the hearing on amendments regarding the subject of Christianity and Religious and Ethical Education (CREE) and on whether or not Parliament has approved the law proposals the State party intended to bring before it in 2008.

Please provide the Committee with updated information on the State party’s intention to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and on the impact study regarding the implications of ratifying the Optional Protocol to the aforementioned Convention. In light of the Government’s stated intention in 2006-07 to revise the Strategy plan for families with children who have disabilities, please also provide updated information on the proposed revision of the Strategy plan.

Please briefly inform the Committee on the findings of the research project on child poverty that was followed up on by the Ministry of Children and Equality and that was to have been completed in 2008 and on any actions taken thereafter.

Please provide further details on the State party’s proposal to add a new chapter 5A, Centres for Minors, to the Child Welfare Act.

Please provide updated information on the revised plan of action (2006-2009) against trafficking, and in particular please inform the Committee on any measures for the care and recovery and reintegration of children who have been trafficked.

PART II

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

-New bills or enacted legislation;

-New institutions;

-Newly implemented policies;

-Newly implemented programmes and projects, and their scope.

PART III

Data and statistics, if available

In light of article 4 of the Convention, please provide updated data for 2007, 2008 and 2009, on budget allocations (including trends analysis) regarding the implementation of the Convention throughout Norway in the areas of education and health.

Please provide updated data for 2007, 2008 and 2009, disaggregated by sex and ethnic group, on the number of children in detention, the reason for their detention and the duration of their stay.

Please provide updated data for 2007, 2008 and 2009, disaggregated by sex and ethnic group, on levels of substance abuse by children and adolescents.

Please provide updated data for 2007, 2008 and 2009, disaggregated by sex and ethnic group, 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.

Please provide updated data for 2007, 2008 and 2009 on the number of Norwegian citizens involved in sexual exploitation of children abroad and indicate the types of offences. Please also provide information on investigation, prosecution and punishment of the perpetrators.

Please provide updated data for 2007, 2008 and 2009, disaggregated by sex and ethnic group, on the current trend of disappearances of children from reception centres.

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:

Coordination, including the role and responsibilities of the Child Welfare Services

Dissemination, awareness and training

Non-discrimination: measures, plans and programmes to combat discrimination.

Respect for the views of the child

Violence against children, including corporal punishment and the review of the provision allowing “lighter smacks” (30 November 2005, HR.-2005-01865-A)

Children without parental care, foster care, including policies to provide support to families in order to avoid separation of children from their parents

Adolescent health, including the plan of action for physical activity (2005-2009), the waiting period for mental health care for children and young people, and suicide rates

Harmful traditional practices, including forced marriages

Drug, tobacco, alcohol and other substance abuse, including the “escalation plan” in the area of preventing substance abuse problems for adolescents

Right to an adequate standard of living, including minority children living under the poverty line and the child poverty research project by Ministry of Children and Equality

Education, particularly early childhood education and care of migrant children

Children belonging to minority groups, including the Sami children

Unaccompanied, asylum-seeking and refugee children, including disappearances from refugee centres

Sexual exploitation and abuse (including incest), including legislative amendments to the Penal Code

Juvenile justice, including detention of children, particularly in pretrial detention, and the Plan of Action “Together against child and youth crime (2005-2008)

-----