Committee on the Rights of the Child

Fifty-fourth session

25 May-11 June 2010

Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child

List of issues related to the consideration of the third and fourth periodic reports of Nigeria (CRC/C/NGA/3-4)

The Committee may take up all aspects of children’s rights contained in the Convention during the dialogue with the State party. The present list of issues covers only some priority questions on which the Committee would like additional information before the dialogue.

Part I

In this section the State party is requested to submit additional, updated information in writing, if possible before 6 April 2010 .

1.Please provide information on measures taken by the State party to ensure the compatibility of national legislation with the Convention (concluding observations of the Committee (CRC/C/15/Add.257, para. 12)), especially with respect to the definition of the child, the prohibition of corporal punishment and the minimum age of criminal responsibility. What steps have been taken by the State party to enact the Child Rights Act in all states and what are the obstacles posed by Sharia and customary law to ensure its full application?

2.Please provide information on the intention of the State party to ratify the two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

3.Please inform the Committee whether the State party envisages adopting special measures to engage traditional leaders (Sultans, Emirs and Chiefs) as proactive actors of child rights implementation at the stateand local level.

4.Please provide information on measures taken to ensure a comprehensive system of coordination relating to the implementation of the Convention between federal, state and local level (CRC/C/15/Add.257, para. 15).

5.Please provide information on progress made in the establishment of a centralized system of data collection on the implementation of the Convention throughout the State party.

6.Please provide information on the evaluation of the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategies (NEEDS I and II) and on measures taken by the State party to ensure that its new development framework, Vision 2020, and its subsequent development plan, are child-rights oriented. Please also provide information on the procedures taken by the State party to articulate a new Human Rights Action Plan. How are children’s rights included in this Action Plan and when is it expected to be adopted?

7.Please provide information on specific measures adopted by the State party to (a) ensure appropriate and equal budget allocations to social sectors in all the states and (b) fight corruption, with a view to reducing the high levels of poverty, particularly in the most disadvantaged states in the North East and North West geo-political zones.

8.In light of the Action Plan developed by the National Population Commission to create a permanent and sustainable birth registration system, please provide information on progress. Is the State party promoting and extending the establishment of monitoring bodies like the Osun state committee for birth registration in the other states?

9.Please provide information on measures taken by the State party to meet its obligations under the Convention with respect to children deprived of their family environment, including information on the allocation of adequate budgetary resources to promote alternative and family care and to enhance the quality and availability of child care services.

10.Please inform the Committee on measures taken by the State party to (a) increase the immunization of children below the age of one; (b) address the low level of prenatal and post-natal care; and (c) reduce the increase in HIV/AIDS infections among children?

11.Please provide up-to-date information on specific strategies and policies adopted by the State party to prevent and eradicate female genital mutilation,tribal marks and tattoos, the phenomenon of early marriages in northern geo-political zones and its strong correlation with school dropout rates, particularly among girls, and other harmful practices.

12.Please provide information on specific measures to ensure the right to education for all children in the State party, especially steps taken to address the high percentage of non-enrolment in primary schools (19 per cent), the low primary school completion rate (12 per cent) and the situation of the alamjiri children.

13.In view of the challenges facing children with special protection needs, especially children with disabilities, children in street situations, and refugee and asylum-seeking children, please provide information on specific measures adopted by the State party to ensure that they enjoy their full rights and that they are not discriminated against.

14.Please provide information on steps taken by the State party to enhance protection of children in conflict with the law, including through the establishment of family courts in states that have passed the Child Rights Act and the abolition of “status offences” from its criminal laws. Please provide information on measures taken to protect young children kept in prison with their mothers. Please also inform the Committee on measures taken to ensure that deprivation of liberty of children is only a measure of last resort and for the shortest period possible.

15.Please provide information on all measures, including investigation,undertaken by the State party to effectively eliminate the belief and stigmatization of children accused of witchcraft, including by raising awareness among parents and religious leaders and by replicating the good practice of enactingand implementing state legislation prohibiting such practices, as done in Akwa Ibom state.

16.Please provide information on steps taken by the Government to adopt a national policy for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and a system for registration and verification of IDPs, especially in view of the internal displacement caused by inter-communal unrest and violence.In this vein, what measures have been taken by the State party to prevent the involvement of children in conflict and communal violence?

17.Please provide information on measures taken to prevent and protect children from child labour, in particular those involved in forced labour in agriculture, construction, mining and quarrying, and the use of girls used as domestic workers. In this respect, please also provide information on steps taken to harmonize and raise the minimum ages for admission to employment and work.

18.Please indicate the issues affecting children that the State party considers to be the priorities requiring the most urgent attention with regard to the implementation of the Convention.

Part II

New measures

Under this section, the State party is invited to briefly (3 pages maximum) update the information provided in its report with regard to:

New bills or enacted legislation at federal and national level;

New institutions and their mandate;

Newly implemented policies and programmes;

Recent ratifications of international human rights, or related to human rights, instruments.

Part III

Statistical and other information, if available

Pursuant to article 4 of the Convention, please provide updated data relating to the following areas.

1.Please provide up-to-date data (if possible, disaggregated by age, sex, nationality and location) on the number of asylum-seeking children, including unaccompanied children, and how many of them were granted refugee status during the reporting period.

2.Please provide data (if possible, disaggregated by age, sex and type of criminal offence) on the number of children currently deprived of their liberty and the number of complaints received on any form of ill-treatment experienced by children deprived of their liberty. Please provide information on the number of prosecutions and punishments of perpetrators undertaken with respect to such complaints.

3.Please provide information on the number of complaints on abuse, neglect or violence against children investigated by the competent authorities and percentage of complaints that resulted either in a court decision or other types of follow-up, including prosecution.