COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILDForty-seventh session14 January-1 February 2008

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTION ON THERIGHTS OF THE CHILD

List of issues to be taken up in connection with the consideration of thesecond periodic report of the DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (CRC/C/DOM/2)

Part I

Under this section the State party is requested to submit in written form additional and updated information, if possible before 23 November 2007

A. Data and statistics, if available

1.Please provide disaggregated statistical data (by sex, age groups and social origin and in terms of migrants, refugees and urban and rural areas) covering the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 on the number and percentage of children under 18 living in the State party.

2.In the light of article 4 of the Convention, please provide disaggregated data on budget allocations for children and trends (in absolute figures and percentages of the national budgets) in public expenditure for the years 2005, 2006 and 2007, regarding the implementation of the Convention, with particular reference to the following areas:

(a)Education;

(b)Health care;

(c)Programmes and services for children with disabilities, children of migrants, children requiring alternative care and street children;

(d)Support programmes for families in various regions;

(e)Programmes and activities for the prevention of and protection from child abuse, trafficking in children, sexual exploitation and the use of children in pornography, and child labour. Especially the cases involving child labour which have been heard in the courts that have powers to impose penalties under labour law, including a list of the worst forms of child labour;

(f)The administration of juvenile justice and programmes of social and educational measures which offer alternatives to custodial sentences.

3.Please also indicate how the budget allocations referred to have been used and what machinery has been created to supervise this expenditure.

4.With reference to children deprived of a family environment and separated from their parents, please provide disaggregated data (by sex, age groups, ethnic groups and urban and rural areas) for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 on the number of children:

(a)Placed in institutions;

(b)Placed with foster families;

(c)Adopted domestically and also those adopted through intercountry adoptions.

6.Please specify the number of children with disabilities, up to the age of 18, disaggregated by sex and age groups and, if possible, ethnic groups and urban and rural areas, covering the years 2004, 2005 and 2006, who were:

(a)Living with their families;

(b)Living in institutions;

(c)Living in foster families;

(d)Adopted;

(e)Attending regular schools;

(f)Attending special schools;

(g)Not attending school.

7.Regarding health services, please provide disaggregated statistical data (by sex, age groups, ethnic groups and urban and rural areas) covering the years 2004, 2005 and 2006, 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)Children infected with malaria and dengue fever;

(f)Rates of early pregnancy among adolescents;

(g)Adolescents dying in childbirth;

(h) Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among adolescents;

(i)Drug, alcohol and tobacco abuse among adolescents;

(j)Suicide among adolescents and other mental health problems;

(k)Information on femicide.

8.With reference to child abuse, please provide disaggregated data (by sex, ethnic groups, types of child abuse reported and geographical area) covering the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 on:

(a)The number of reported child abuse cases, and measures taken;

(b)The number and percentage of reports which have resulted in a court decision or other types of measure;

(c)The number and proportion of child victims that have received counselling and assistance in recovery;

(d)The scope of existing programmes in the State party, including those set up by social and non-governmental organizations.

9.Please also specify the criteria used to define poverty and indicate the number of children living below the poverty line.

10.With reference to the right to education, please provide disaggregated statistical data (by sex, age groups and, if possible, in terms of ethnic groups, urban and rural areas and refugee/displaced children and immigrant children) covering the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 on:

(a)Rates of literacy among persons aged under and over 18;

(b)The rate of enrolment in pre-primary, primary and secondary schools and in vocational training establishments;

(c)The percentage of children who complete primary school and those who complete secondary school;

(d)The number and percentage of dropouts and repetitions and the related programmes;

(e)Vocational training programmes in the educational system;

(f)The number of children per teacher and the number of pupils per class.

11.With reference to juvenile justice, please provide disaggregated statistical data (by geographical region, sex, age and type of offence) covering the years 2004, 2005 and 2006, in particular on the number of:

(a)Persons under 18 who have allegedly committed an offence reported to the police;

(b)Persons under 18 who have been charged with an offence, how many of them have been convicted, and the type of punishment or sanction imposed;

(c)Persons under 18 who have been held in pretrial detention, and the average length of such detention;

(d)Persons under 18 who are the subject of social and educational measures as an alternative to custodial sentences;

(e)Persons under 18 who are in detention, including the duration of their detention;

(f)Detention centres for persons under 18 in conflict with the law, the capacity of such centres and the number of persons detained;

(g)Persons under 18 detained in centres together with adults;

(h)Reported cases of abuse and ill-treatment of persons under 18 which occurred during their arrest or imprisonment;

(i)Persons under 18 who have been tried and sentenced as adults.

Please indicate the minimum age of criminal responsibility.

12.With reference to special protection measures, please provide disaggregated statistical data (by sex, age and, if possible, in terms of social origin and urban and rural areas) for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 on:

(a)The number of children affected by sexual exploitation, particularly prostitution, pornography and trafficking;

(b)The number of children sold for adoption;

(c)The number of these children who have had access to recovery and/or reintegration programmes;

(d) The number of perpetrators of these offences who have been tried, and how many have been convicted;

(e)The number of unaccompanied child asylum-seekers and refugees, and the number of children awaiting expulsion;

(f)The number of children aged under 16 who are working, and the type of work in which they are engaged;

(g)The number of children living or working in the street, and the type of assistance they receive.

B. General measures of implementation

13.Please indicate which government body is responsible for coordinating the implementation of the Convention and the steps which have been taken to draw up a national plan for children (include existing sectoral plans).

14.Please indicate the policies devised and programmes drawn up by the National Council for Children and Adolescents (CONANI). Please indicate the programmes being implemented by CONANI.

15.Please indicate how the sectoral and local action plans are coordinated, with specific regard to children.

16.Please provide further updated information on the implementation and results of the measures and programmes to combat economic and sexual exploitation.

17.Please indicate the status of the process of reform of the Criminal Code. What changes are proposed which affect children and adolescents?

18.What indicators have been drawn up to monitor the implementation of policies and programmes for children? Do all stakeholders and social organizations have easy access to this information?

19.What steps has the State taken to collect statistical data from a children’s rights perspective?

20.What use has been made of allocations for children in the national budget?

21.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

22.Please provide the Committee with copies of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in the State party’s languages or dialects other than the official language, including indigenous languages, if available. If possible, please submit these texts in electronic form.

Part III

23.The State party is invited to briefly update (three pages at most) the information provided in its report with regard to:

(a)New bills or enacted legislation;

(b)Bills related to the rights of the child;

(c)New institutions.

Part IV

The following is a preliminary list of the major issues (not conta ining issues already covered in part I) that the Committee may take up during the dialogue with the State party . These questions do not require written answers . This list is not exhaustive, as other issues may be raised in the course of the dialogue.

24.The main issues are:

(a)Non-discrimination in the registration of children of Haitian origin, in particular the practices of the civil registry offices in this regard;

(b)Violence against children, especially domestic violence and corporal punishment in the family, schools, workplaces, nurseries and other institutions (legislation/measures);

(c)Care in institutions (checks of transitional measures/opportunities for complaints by children);

(d)Living conditions and regional disparities in this regard;

(e)The educational system and its reform, especially equal access to education for all children and adolescents and steps taken to improve the quality of teaching;

(f)Different forms of exploitation, including economic exploitation, child labour, in particular children working in the informal sector, commercial sexual exploitation, the use of children in pornography, trafficking in children and sex tourism. Results and evaluation of government programmes and initiatives, in particular for the rehabilitation and reintegration of victims;

(g)The situation of refugees, situation of stateless children.

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