Committee on the Rights of the Child

Eighty-sixth session

7–25 September 2020

Consideration of reports of States parties

List of issues in relation to the combined third to fifth periodic reports of Djibouti

The State party is requested to submit in writing additional, updated information (10,700 words maximum), if possible before 15 June 2020. 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 state:

(a)Whether the State party intends to adopt a comprehensive law on children’s rights;

(b)What human, technical and financial resources have been allocated for the full implementation of laws relating to children;

(c)How the specific needs and views of children are taken into account in the National Strategic Plan for the Children of Djibouti, the budgeting process and the National Strategy for the Development of Statistics;

(d)What measures have been taken to ensure the transparency of budgeting processes, particularly in relation to international development aid.

2.Please describe how the National Council for Children ensures effective coordination between the various ministries and government departments implementing activities related to children’s rights. Please provide information on the human, technical and financial resources allocated to the subcommission of the National Human Rights Commission for the implementation of the Convention, and on the measures taken to bring the Commission fully into line with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles).

3.Please provide information on the steps taken to ensure that human rights defenders working on children’s rights can exercise their right to freedom of expression, association and opinion without threats or harassment. Please inform the Committee of the status of the draft amendment to article 14 of the Family Code to remove all exceptions to the prohibition of marriage of persons under 18 years of age (CRC/C/DJI/3-5, para. 102).

4.Please describe the policy and awareness-raising measures taken to eliminate discrimination faced by, inter alia, children not registered at birth, children living with HIV/AIDS, migrant children, child victims of violence, children deprived of a family environment, children with disabilities and children in conflict with the law. Please describe the procedures in place to ensure that the principle of the best interests of the child is integrated and consistently applied in all legislative, administrative and judicial proceedings and decisions.

5.Please provide the results of the study on the birth registration system carried out by the ministry responsible for decentralization and indicate the measures taken to overcome the challenges identified in the studies of 2012 and 2017, particularly as regards home births (CRC/C/DJI/3-5, paras. 168 and 171; A/HRC/WG.6/30/DJI/1, para. 23). Please specify plans to improve data collection on stateless children and ensure their access to nationality, education and health care. Please explain how children’s rights as set out in articles 13 to 17 of the Convention are safeguarded and protected.

6.Please clarify whether corporal punishment is expressly prohibited by law in all contexts, and provide information regarding public education and awareness-raising programmes on the harmful effects of corporal punishment. Please also describe the action taken, particularly the strategies and measures adopted in accordance with the provisions on prevention under article 87 of the Code of Legal Protection of Minors, to prevent and address child neglect and abuse, including sexual violence. Please inform the Committee of the measures introduced to ensure that child victims of sexual violence, particularly child rape victims, have access to justice and to protection and rehabilitation systems, and of the steps taken to prevent their revictimization in extrajudicial settlement procedures. Please indicate whether the State party plans to incorporate the social work profession into the civil service.

7.Please provide information on the results of all awareness-raising programmes to combat child marriage and female genital mutilation (CRC/C/DJI/3-5, paras. 103 and 182; HRI/CORE/DJI/2010, para. 203). Please inform the Committee of any legal proceedings taken in this regard.

8.Please provide information on the measures taken to promote foster care for children who cannot stay with their family, and on the application of amendments to the Family Code that allow adoption for protection. Please provide more detailed information on the National Strategy for the Protection of Children with Special Needs, with particular regard to the situation of children with psychosocial or intellectual disabilities.

9.Please provide information on the concrete measures taken to:

(a)Provide confidential, objective and age-appropriate reproductive and sexual health services and information to adolescents;

(b)Carry out a multidimensional analysis of child poverty;

(c)Combat child malnutrition and ensure adequate access to food and drinking water during droughts and floods.

10.As regards education, please provide information on:

(a)The assessment of the master plan for the period 2010–2019 and the achievement of the quantitative and qualitative targets (CRC/C/DJI/3-5, paras. 112 and 113);

(b)The measures taken to abolish secondary school fees;

(c)The integration and inclusion of disadvantaged and vulnerable children, particularly children living far from schools and children with disabilities, in the education system.

11.Please provide information on the measures taken to:

(a)Make it easier for child migrants born before 2013 or outside of refugee camps to obtain birth certificates;

(b)Protect child refugees and migrants, particularly children who are unaccompanied and/or in street situations, from sexual and economic exploitation and trafficking, and facilitate their access to foster families and homes and to basic social services;

(c)Warn migrant children of the dangers of the migration route through Yemen and monitor such children.

12.Please provide additional information on:

(a)The progress made in adopting decrees implementing the Code of Legal Protection of Minors of 2015;

(b)The use of non-custodial alternatives to detention;

(c)The steps taken to ensure that children are not detained together with adults;

(d)Rehabilitation and reintegration programmes for children in conflict with the law.

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 of those resources.

15.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)Complaints lodged with the National Human Rights Commission by or on behalf of children, disaggregated by type of complaint or human rights violation, and the outcome of the investigations;

(b)Cases of corporal punishment;

(c)Cases of violence against or abuse, neglect or exploitation of children documented by the National Council for Children (CRC/C/DJI/3-5, para. 41);

(d)Investigations and prosecutions of cases of sexual violence and rape involving child victims, including information on the penalties imposed on perpetrators, and on redress and compensation offered to the victims;

(e)Child victims of harmful practices, including female genital mutilation, child marriage and polygamy;

(f)Children covered by health insurance (CRC/C/DJI/3-5, paras. 23 and 24);

(g)Child mortality, including in prisons;

(h)Teenage pregnancies and abortions, including the number of deaths resulting from unsafe abortions;

(i)Use of drugs and alcohol by children;

(j)Children suffering from malnutrition, and children who have benefited or are benefiting from the National Food Security Programme for the period 2012–2017 (CRC/C/DJI/3-5, para. 31), the National Family Solidarity Programme, the “Social Safety Nets” National Social Protection Strategy, and the programmes of the Ministry of Agriculture, Water, Fishing, Husbandry and Fishery Resources;

(k)Children and their families living in poverty who have been provided with housing by the State party;

(l)Migrant children in the State party’s territory;

(m)Children internally displaced as a result of chronic drought.

16.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:

(a)Separated from their parents;

(b)Living with family members under a kafalah arrangement;

(c)Placed in an institution;

(d)Placed in a foster family;

(e)Who have been adopted.

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)Living 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.

18.Please provide, if available, 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)Referred to diversion programmes;

(c)Held in pretrial detention, including data on the average length of such detention;

(d)Convicted and are serving a sentence in detention, including data on the length of the sentences.

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.