Committee on the Rights of the Child

Seventieth session

14 September–2 October 2015

Item 4 of the provisional agenda

Consideration of reports of States parties

List of issues in relation to the fifth periodic report of Bangladesh

The State party is requested to submit in writing additional, updated information (10,700 words maximum), if possible before 15 June 2015.

The Committee may take up any aspect of the children’s rights set out in the Convention during the dialogue with the State party.

Part I

In this section, the State party is requested to respond to the following questions.

With reference to paragraph 24 of the State party’s report (CRC/C/BGD/5) and the Committee’s previous recommendations, please provide information on whether the State party intends to withdraw its reservations to article 14, paragraph 1, and article 21 of the Convention.

Please provide updated information on the current status of laws and policies pending review or adoption, including the new Education Act and the draft law on the administration of juvenile justice.

Please provide information on the measures taken to revise the mandate of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs in order to strengthen its role in coordination, monitoring and advocacy by establishing a children’s department within the Ministry, at boththe central and local levels.

With reference to paragraph 76 of the State party’s report, please provide information on the activities undertaken in the area of children’s rightsby the Child Rights Committee. Please indicate whether that mechanism has been provided with authority as well as sufficient financial and human resources to monitor and address violations of children’s rights. Please also inform the Committee of any progress achieved in developing and adopting standard operating procedures for handling complaints of children’s rights violations.

Please provide updated information regarding the application of a child-sensitive budgeting framework when formulating the national budget.

Please indicate the steps taken to publish statistical data on children and to make such datawidely available and accessible. Please also provide information on steps taken to establish a comprehensive and coordinated system of data collection on the implementation of the Convention and its two Optional Protocols.

Please provide updated information on the measures taken to harmonize existing legislation on the minimum age for marriage, and to bring it into line with the definition of the child in the newly enacted Children Act.

Please provide information on measures taken to ensure the effective implementation of the Births and Deaths Registration Act and to comply with the Committee’s previous recommendations to increase birth registration, including conducting awareness-raising campaigns for parents, implementation of a mobile registration system to reach remote areas and the introduction of a national electronic birth registration system.

Please clarify whether all forms of violence, including corporal punishment,are now explicitly prohibited in all settings and whether legislation condoning violence, such as the 1909 Whipping Act, has been repealed.

Please inform the Committee of the measures taken to protect girls from sexual violence, both within and outside of marriage. Please provide information on steps taken to criminalize marital rape, regardless of age; to enforce the Dowry Prohibition Act 1980 and legislation prohibiting violence against women and girls under 18 years; and to ensure that victims have access to the resources necessary to benefit from those legal protections.

Please provide updated information on the establishment of the national child protection system to ensure the protection of children, including children without parental or family care, at the national, district and upazila levels.

Please provide information on the measures taken to develop community and family support programmes in order to prevent the institutionalization of children. Please also inform the Committee of the measures taken or envisaged: (a) to develop family-based alternative care; (b) to regulate and supervise the conditions of admission to and the living conditions in alternative care facilities; (c)to reintegrate children separated from their parents into the community or a family environment; and (d)to protect all children deprived of a family environment.

Please provide information on the measures taken to prevent adolescent pregnancy and ensure access to high quality reproductive health-related information and services.

Please indicate the steps taken to put an end to the use of children in violent political demonstrations, which has resulted in the death or serious injury of children.

Please provide information on the growing trend of violence and armed rivalry in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, including data on child victims, as well as information on disarmament, demobilization and social reintegration assistance for children involved in the conflict.

Please provide information on the progress achieved in the area of prevention of child trafficking, in particular with regard to the signing of a memorandum of understanding between India and Bangladesh.

Please provide information on the measures taken to ensure that refugee or asylum-seeking children are provided with adequate advice, support, legal aid and counselling. Please provide information on whether children born in the State party to refugees, inside and outside the two official camps, are registered at birth. Please indicate any progress towards the ratification of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol.

Please provide information on the measures taken to increase the minimum age of criminal responsibility, in accordance with internationally accepted standards.

Part II

In this section, the State party is requested 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

In this section, the State party is requested to provide data, statistics and other information, if available.

Please provide consolidated budget information for the past three years on budget lines regarding children and social sectors, by indicating the percentage of each budget line in terms of the total national budget, gross national product and geographic allocation.

Please provide, if available, updated statistical data (disaggregated by age, sex, ethnic origin, national origin, geographic location and socioeconomic status), for the past three years, on:

(a)Children abandoned by parents in the Baby Homes;

(b)Children who have been victims of sexual abuse and exploitation, including victims of trafficking, as well as the number of complaints, investigations and prosecutions in that regard;

(c)Children who have been victims of child marriage, as well as the number of complaints, investigations and prosecutions in that regard;

(d)Working children;

(e)Children in institutional care, including information on the reasons for their placement in institutional care;

(f)Refugee and asylum-seeking children and/or children in other irregular migration situations and children currently held in detention;

(g)Children sentenced by the courts and the average length of deprivation of liberty.

Please provide data, disaggregated by age, sex, type of disability, ethnic origin and geographic location, for the past three years, on the number of children with disabilities:

(a)Living with their families;

(b)In institutions;

(c)Attending regular primary schools;

(d)Attending regular secondary schools;

(e)Attending special schools;

(f)Out of school;

(g)Abandoned by their families.

Please provide the Committee with an update of any data in the report which may have become outdated by more recent data collected or other new developments.

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.