COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

Forty-seventh session

14 January - 1 February 2008

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTION

ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

List of issues to be taken up in connection with the consideration of the

initial report of Timor-Leste (CRC/C/ TLS / 1 )

The State party is requested to submit in written form additional and updated information, if possible before 23 November 2007 .

PART I

A. Data and statistics

While noting the State party’s explanation, in the introduction to its report,that reliable data in many areas remain unavailable, the Committee would appreciate to receive statistical information relating to the above queries as far as this is possible:

GE.07-447281.Please provide statistical data, disaggregated by sex, age groups and urban and rural areas, on the number of children under 18 living in Timor-Leste. Please also indicate the number of children living below the poverty line, in accordance with the State party’s definition of poverty.

2.In the light of article 4 of the Convention, please provide data on budget allocations (in absolute figures and percentages of the budget) made during the years 2005, 2006 and 2007 in relation to the following:

Education (including pre-primary, primary and secondary education);

Health care (including primary health care, vaccination programmes, adolescent health care, HIV/AIDS and other health-care services for children, including social insurance);

Programmes and services for children with disabilities;

Support programmes for families;

Support for children living below the poverty line;

Protection of children who are in need of alternative care, including through the support of care institutions;

Programmes and activities for the prevention of and protection from child abuse, child sexual exploitation and child labour;

Juvenile justice and the recovery and social reintegration of juvenile offenders;

Programmes and services for abandoned children, including street children and children who are begging;

Programmes for the rehabilitation and reintegration of children formerly involved in armed conflict;

Other programmes and measures aimed at the implementation of the Convention.

General measures of implementation

Please provide information on the status and content of the draft children’s code. Please also inform the Committee on the status of the draft Civil Code and on its child-specific provisions.

Please inform the Committee of the date envisaged for the enactment of a draft legislation regarding children. Please also inform the Committee on measures taken to ensure compatibility with the Convention and harmonization of the drafts.

Please inform the Committee whether there are any cases in which the Convention, since its entry into force in the State party, has been directly invoked in domestic courts.

Please describe measures undertaken to strengthen data collection mechanisms and procedures with regard to the implementation of all provisions of the Convention.

With regard to the implementation of the Convention, please provide information on the coordination of relevant activities and programmes between the Office of the Human Rights Adviser to the Prime Minister, the National Division of Social Services of the Ministry of Labour and Community Reinsertion and the Ministry of Education and Culture. Please also provide information on progress made in the elaboration of an inter-agency approach undertaken by the National Division of Social Services.

Please inform the Committee whether the national commission for the rights of the child has been established, as envisaged by the State party, and whether a national commissioner has been appointed. Please indicate whether the State party envisages that it will be the coordinating body for children’s programmes.

Please provide information on the mandate of the Office of the Provedor de Direitos Humanos e Justi ç a, and inform the Committee whether a Provedor has been elected. Please also inform the Committee whether the Provedor will be independent from the Government, will monitor the implementation of the Convention and its Optional Protocols, and be able to investigate and resolve complaints from or about children.

Please provide information on the status of the National Human Rights Action Plan (NHRAP) and its child-specific provisions, if any.

Please indicate which measures have been taken to ensure that the principle of best interests of the child is a primary consideration of judicial decisions, including when traditional forms of justice are applied.

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

Please provide the Committee with copies of the text of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the two Optional Protocols in Tetum and Portuguese as well as in other languages or dialects if and when available. If possible, please submit these texts in electronic form.

PART III

Under this section, the State party is invited to update the information provided in its report, insofar as relevant information has not been provided under Part I above, with regard to:

-New bills or enacted legislation and their compatibility with the Convention;

-New institutions;

-Newly implemented policies;

-Newly implemented programmes and projects and their scope.

PART IV

The following is a preliminary list of major issues (that does not contain issues already covered in Part I) that the Committee may take up during the dialogue with the State party. They do no require written answers. This list is not exhaustive as other issues might be raised in the course of the dialogue.

The enactment and enforcement of domestic legislation relating to the rights of the child (including information on the status of the draft Penal Code and draft Penal Procedure Code, and on their provisions relating to the treatment of children in the justice system, the status and content of the law concerning domestic child maintenance, the decree law for childcare centres and boarding houses, and the draft procedures for adoption).

Allocation of the financial resources of the Petroleum Fund, including for the implementation of child’s rights and social services.

Plans to maintain and institutionalize training programmes on child rights.

Information on the measures taken to recruit, train and employ social workers.

Discrimination against children belonging to vulnerable groups, such as children of returnees, children living in extreme poverty, children living in the most remote areas of the country, street children, children in conflict with the law, children not in possession of a baptism certificate, etc.

Violence against children, including corporal punishment in the family, schools and other institutions.

Birth registration.

Alternative care policies and practices and national and inter-country adoption.

The issue of children separated from their families

The situation of children with disabilities, access to social and health services, equal opportunities to education, recovery and recreation, public attitudes.

The health status of children and their access to adequate social and health services. Prevention of injuries.

Adolescent health, including reproductive and mental health issues.

Educational system, including early childhood care and education, enrolment in primary and secondary education, literacy, repetition rates, non-formal education services and training, vocational training and religious education.

Economic exploitation of children, including measures planned to address the problem of child labour in the informal sector.

The administration of juvenile justice.

Sexual exploitation, including child prostitution, trafficking and sale of children.

Street children.

Measures taken for the rehabilitation of children traumatized during past conflicts, including any studies carried out on the full social implications of the experiences of the children involved in the armed struggle for independence, as recommended by UNICEF in its report on the subject issued in 2001.

The situation of children in internally displaces persons (IDP) camps.

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