Committee on the Rights of the Child

Eighty-third session

13–31 January 2020

Item 4 of the provisional agenda

C onsideration of reports of States parties

List of issues in relation to the second periodic report of the Federated States of Micronesia

The State party is requested to submit in writing additional, updated information (10,700 words maximum), if possible before 15 October 2019. 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 provide updated information on the drafting of family protection bills in Yap and Chuuk and on plans to renew the National Youth Policy or develop a comprehensive policy on children. Please explain how the Division of Social Affairs coordinates the implementation of the Convention and provide information on the budget and staff specifically allocated to its coordinating mandate. Please inform the Committee about any measures envisaged to prevent possible negative impact of the expiration of the financial provisions of the Compact of Free Association with the United States of America in 2023 on the welfare of children.

2.Please provide updated information on the establishment of an independent human rights monitoring body in the State party that covers the rights of the child, including information on the scoping visit by the Asia-Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions and its outcome.

3.Please provide information on measures taken to harmonize the definition of a child in relevant federal and state laws with the definition under the Convention, in particular with reference to having the same minimum age for marriage of 18 years for both boys and girls.

4.Please explain why the birth registration rate, as of 2015, was only 70 per cent (CRC/C/FSM/2, para. 69), while nearly 90 per cent of births occur in a health facility (CRC/C/FSM/2, para. 17). Please provide updated information on measures taken to improve the birth registration of children and preserve centralized data, especially on outer islands, including the request for assistance in the implementation of civil registration.

5.Please inform the Committee about the measures taken to address the disparities in children’s access to education, health and other public services and to information and communication technology among the four states. Please also inform the Committee about any measures to provide financial subsidies and social protection for children in female-headed households and families living in poverty.

6.Please inform the Committee about the measures taken to ensure that the best interests of the child are a primary consideration when drafting, adopting and reviewing legislation concerning children, and that decisions taken in the community and in the family are in the best interests of the child. Please indicate any federal and state measures to promote the active participation of children in schools, in public discourse and through public institutions as well as their access to information on issues affecting them, including on the environment.

7.Please provide information on:

(a)The steps taken to prohibit corporal punishment in all four states in law and in practice in all settings, including in the home, alternative care, day care and penal institutions;

(b)Legislative and other measures taken to combat domestic violence and sexual abuse;

(c)Whether there is a free, 24-hour helpline available to children;

(d)Any other child-friendly mechanisms to report instances of any type of abuse.

8.Please provide information on the actual application of the provision of the Juvenile Procedure Act on the liability of the parents for the acts of their child (CRC/C/FSM/2, para. 93).

9.Please provide updated information on the adoption of the new Disability Policy. Please indicate the steps taken to eliminate discriminatory language and discrimination against children with disabilities and to facilitate their full inclusion into society, particularly ensuring their effective access, from birth onwards, to health services, to diagnosis and assessment of their disability, to inclusive education and to social and transport services.

10.Please provide information on the steps taken to:

(a)Bring down the high rates of child and maternal mortality;

(b)Improve access to prenatal, maternal and child health care;

(c)Address the disparities in vaccination coverage among the states and the decrease in vaccination rates;

(d)Address malnutrition among pregnant women and infants;

(e)Reduce pneumonia, sepsis, diarrhoea and non-communicable diseases;

(f)Promote exclusive breastfeeding;

(g)Address teenage pregnancy, and improve sexual and reproductive health education and services for adolescents, including by strengthening family planning and safe abortion services.

11.Please provide information on the steps taken to:

(a)Make tertiary and vocational education and training available to all children, including in remote communities and the outer islands;

(b)Address the low enrolment rates in secondary schools and reduce the rates of adolescents with no training or occupation;

(c)Incorporate human and children’s rights education and climate change information in the compulsory school curricula in all states;

(d)Reduce the dropout rates of girls due to pregnancy and ensure their re-entry into school after giving birth.

12.Please inform the Committee about any measures taken to develop a specialized juvenile justice system, in particular to:

(a)Establish a clear and single age of criminal responsibility in all federal and state laws at an internationally acceptable level;

(b)Provide protection in the justice system to all children under the age of 18;

(c)Promote the use of diversion and non-custodial measures;

(d)Provide multidisciplinary training to all relevant professionals in the justice system working with and for children.

Part II

13.The Committee invites the State party to provide a brief update (no more than three pages) on the information presented 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

Data, statistics and other information, if available

14.Please provide consolidated information for the past three years on the budget lines regarding children and social sectors by indicating the percentage of each budget line in terms of the total national budget and the gross national product. Please also provide information on the geographic allocation (including to the outer islands) of those resources.

15.Please provide data disaggregated by age, sex, socioeconomic background, ethnic origin and geographic location regarding the situation of children deprived of a family environment, for the past three years, on the number of children, including those living on the outer islands, who are:

(a)Separated from their parents;

(b)Orphaned;

(c)Placed with extended families;

(d)Adopted (formally and informally).

16.Please provide updated data for the past three years, disaggregated by age, sex, socioeconomic background, national and ethnic origin, and geographic location, on:

(a)Infant and child mortality;

(b)Babies with low birth weight;

(c)Obesity among children;

(d)Teenage pregnancy and girls receiving medical and professional services for pregnancy and childbirth;

(e)Abortions;

(f)Suicides and attempted suicides;

(g)Tobacco, alcohol and drug abuse among children;

(h)Sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS.

17.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)Attending regular primary schools;

(c)Attending regular secondary schools;

(d)Attending special schools;

(e)Out of school;

(f)Abandoned by their families.

18.Please provide updated statistical data disaggregated by age, sex, type of offence, ethnic and national origin, geographic location and socioeconomic status, for the past three years, on children in conflict with the law who have been:

(a)Arrested;

(b)In pretrial detention;

(c)In post-trial detention;

(d)Under any form of judicial probation;

(e)In diversion programmes;

(f)Serving a sentence in detention and the length of the sentence.

19.Please provide information on how the planning, implementation and monitoring of measures for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals integrate a child rights-based approach, including with regard to child participation and data collection, and how they promote the realization of children’s rights under the Convention and its Optional Protocols.

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

21.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.