Committee on the Rights of the Child

Seventy-eighth session

14 May-1 June 2018

Agenda item 4

Consideration of reports of States parties

List of issues in relation to the combined fifth and sixth periodic reports of Argentina

The State party is requested to submit additional, updated information in writing (10,700 words maximum), if possible before 16 February 2018. The Committee may take up all aspects of children’s rights set out in the Convention during the dialogue with the State party.

Part I

1.Please explain how the State party ensures that laws and administrative standards are applied in the same manner in all the provinces in full accordance with the Convention and its two Optional Protocols (see CRC/C/ARG/CO/3-4, para. 14), including in terms of the establishment of provincial administrative bodies with expertise in the area and the adoption of public social policies, given that some provincial legislation has yet to be updated.

2.In relation to paragraphs 36 and 37 of the State party’s report (CRC/C/ARG/5‑6), please provide a more detailed account of how the coordinating bodies in the provincial and municipal governments ensure the effective coordination of their efforts to apply the Convention. Please provide information on the specific achievements of the Federal Council for Children, Adolescents and the Family in promoting cooperation among provincial and municipal institutions.

3.In view of the austerity policies that have been applied since 2015, please furnish information on the steps taken to ensure the availability and sustainability of resources allocated for the promotion of the rights of the child and for the application of national strategic plans, policies and laws on matters relating to children and adolescents. Please explain how measures adopted, especially at the provincial level, to alleviate poverty and to guarantee the allocation of budgetary resources for groups in vulnerable positions are increased and are distributed equitably.

4.Please provide information about how the State party assesses the impact of business activity on the exercise of children’s and adolescents’ rights, including the health-related impact of the use of toxic agricultural chemicals, mining activity and environmental pollution. Please report on children’s and adolescents’ enjoyment of the right to prior consultation.

5.Please report on the steps taken to project a positive image of adolescence and to prevent discrimination against adolescents, with special emphasis on adolescents who are living in poverty in urban centres or in the streets, migrants, members of indigenous groups, pregnant adolescents and minors who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex persons. Please also report on the measures adopted to make certain that school regulations ensure that no child or adolescent will be discriminated against.

6.Please provide information on the steps taken to eradicate violence, including gender violence and violence in family and school settings. Please report on the steps taken to implement the National Plan of Action for the Elimination of Violence against Women in the case of girls and female adolescents in the various jurisdictions in the country. Kindly provide a detailed description of the measures adopted to address the sexual harassment of children and adolescent via the Internet and new technologies.

7.Please report on the measures adopted for the inclusion of children and adolescents with disabilities in all spheres of society. Kindly provide a detailed description of the steps taken to align national and provincial policies, practices and standards with the Convention in respect of all children and adolescents with disabilities throughout the State party. Please also report on the steps taken to ensure that the eligibility requirements for non-contributory pensions set out in Decree No. 432/97 are in accordance with the Convention.

8.Please report on the steps taken to provide sexual and reproductive health information and to ensure the availability of sexual and reproductive health services and access to family planning services and methods to children and adolescents in urban and rural areas in accessible formats and in indigenous languages. Please indicate what advisory services there are for children and adolescents between 10 and 18 years of age. Please report on the measures taken by the State party to address the increase in the number of teenage pregnancies and infant mortality.

9.Please report on the steps taken towards finalizing the adoption of the bill drafted by the National Commission on Refugees for the protection of unaccompanied and separated child and adolescent asylum seekers and refugees. Kindly report on the steps taken to safeguard and to protect the lives of child and adolescent asylum seekers and refugees and to prevent them from falling victim to homicides and disappearances.

10.Please provide information on special measures for eliminating discrimination against indigenous children and adolescents and for ensuring that they have access to quality health care and education in their own languages. Please indicate what measures are in place to stop children and adolescents from dropping out of school, particularly in rural and indigenous areas, and what arrangements have been made to upgrade the quality of educational services, including those involving the use of communications technologies and the Internet.

11.Please provide information on the steps taken to reinforce the coordination of the efforts of government agencies and non-governmental organizations to combat the trafficking and sexual exploitation of children and adolescents. Please provide information on the steps taken to set up a registration, analysis and monitoring system for evaluating the investigations undertaken in all trafficking cases involving children or adolescents and on the protection and support provided to child trafficking victims. Please report on the assistance provided to child trafficking victims and their families.

12.Please provide information on the stage reached in the implementation of reforms in the juvenile criminal justice system in accordance with the Convention. Please report on the steps taken to do away with the non-punitive deprivation of liberty of children and adolescents and to develop and implement non-custodial sanctions so as to ensure that deprivation of liberty is used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest amount of time possible.

13.Please provide information on the measures adopted in connection with the recommendations made to the State party by the Committee in connection with the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict (CRC/C/OPAC/ARG/CO/1) and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (CRC/C/OPSC/ARG/CO/1).

Part II

14.The Committee invites the State party to submit a brief update (no more than three pages) of the information presented in its report (CRC/C/ARG/5-6) with regard to:

(a)New bill or laws and their accompanying regulations;

(b)New institutions and their mandates and funding;

(c)Recently introduced and implemented policies and programmes and their geographical scope;

(d)Recent ratifications of human rights instruments.

Part III

Data and statistics, if available

15.Please provide information for the last three years on the allocations made from the consolidated budget, disaggregated by budget lines, for children (including those in early childhood) and adolescents. Also please indicate what percentage of the total national and provincial budgets and of gross domestic product (GDP) each budget line represents. Please also provide the budget information disaggregated by age, sex, disability, ethnic origin and nationality, rural/urban population and geographic location. Please provide data covering the last three years on consolidated social investment on behalf of children (nation/province), by category and as percentages of GDP.

16.Please provide statistics covering the last three years (disaggregated by age, sex, disability, socioeconomic status, ethnic origin and nationality, rural/urban population and geographic location) on:

(a)The number of child and adolescent victims of sexual exploitation, pornography and child prostitution, the type of assistance provided to child victims, the compensation received and the follow-up actions undertaken, including the prosecution of those responsible and the judgments handed down in the State party;

(b)The number of child and adolescent victims of sexual violence, sexual abuse and harassment, the cases that have occurred, in particular, in educational centres and the types of punishments imposed upon those responsible;

(c)The number of child and adolescent victims of abuse and violence, together with additional information on the type of violence (physical ill-treatment, corporal punishment, domestic violence, street violence, etc.), the type of assistance provided to child victims, the compensation received and the follow-up action undertaken, including the prosecution of those responsible and the judgments handed down in the State party.

17.Please provide data covering the last three years (disaggregated by age, sex, disability, socioeconomic status, ethnic and national origin, rural/urban population and geographic location) on:

(a)Infant mortality;

(b)Maternal mortality;

(c)Undernutrition;

(d)The number of children and adolescents infected or affected by HIV/AIDS (specify the number of cases of mother-to-child transmission);

(e)Birth weight;

(f)Vaccination coverage;

(g)Child and teenage pregnancies;

(h)Child and adolescent suicides;

(i)Number of children and adolescents who use narcotic drugs;

(j)Actual coverage of drinking water supplies and sanitation facilities;

(k)Number of children and adolescents living in poverty and in extreme poverty.

18.Please provide data covering the last three years (disaggregated by age, sex, disability, socioeconomic status, ethnic origin, rural/urban population and geographic location) on the number of children and adolescents who:

(a)Are living with their families;

(b)Have been abandoned;

(c)Are separated from their parents;

(d)Are living in institutions;

(e)Are living with foster families.

19.Please provide data covering the last three years (disaggregated by age, sex, type of disability, socioeconomic status, ethnic origin, rural/urban population and geographic location) on the number of children and adolescents with disabilities who are:

(a)Living with their families;

(b)Living in institutions;

(c)Attending regular primary school;

(d)Attending regular secondary school;

(e)Attending special schools;

(f)Not attending school;

(g)Being treated under special physical or mental rehabilitation health programmes.

20.Please provide data covering the last three years (disaggregated by age, sex, disability, socioeconomic status, ethnic origin, nationality, rural/urban population and geographic location) on:

(a)School enrolment and completion rates, given as percentages of each of the corresponding age groups in preschools, primary schools and secondary schools;

(b)The number of students in each type of school (State-run schools, State-subsidized private schools, private schools);

(c)The scores on academic achievement tests for each type of school mentioned in subparagraph (b) above;

(d)The qualifications of instructors in each of the types of schools mentioned above;

(e)The teacher:student ratio;

(f)The number and percentage of students who drop out of school and of students who repeat a grade. Give the reason in those cases in which it is known.

21.Please provide the Committee with an update of any data in the report that may have become outdated or on other new developments.

22.In addition, the State party may provide a list of subject areas relating to children and adolescents that it considers to be of a high priority with regard to the implementation of the Convention.