Committee on the Rights of the Child

Sixty - first session

17 September–5 October 2012

Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child

List of issues concerning additional and updated information related to the consideration of the combined second to fourth periodic reports of Bosnia and Herzegovina(CRC/C/BIH/2-4)

The State party is requested to submit in writing additional, updated information, if possible before 2 July 2012.

The Committee may take up all aspects of children’s rights contained in the Convention during the dialogue with the State party.

Part I

In this section, the State party is requested to submit its responses to the following questions (30 pages maximum).

1.Please provide information on whether the State party has a comprehensive overarching strategy and system of coordination for the coherent and consistent implementation of the Convention. In doing so, please provide specific information on:

(a)Measures to ensure coordination of the above at the federal and local levels;

(b)Progress, if any, on thepreviously mentioned plan (CRC/C/BIH/2-4, paras. 60-63) to establish a Council for Children for the implementation of the Convention;

(c)Measures, including legislation, to ensure the provision of adequate human, technical and financial resources for the implementation of mechanisms necessary for the above.

2.Please provide information on measures, if any, taken by the State party to establish a coherent system for comprehensively collecting and analysing disaggregated data covering all areas of the Convention that, inter alia, takes into account sex, age, ethnic origin, geographic location and socio-economic background.

3.Please indicate measures taken by the State party to raise awareness on the Convention and its Optional Protocols among children and the general public as well as to ensure and provide training on its application among all professionals working with or for children, including professionals in the education system, health and social services as well as judiciary and law enforcement sectors.

4.Please provide detailed updated information on the State party’s anti-discrimination legislation, including on the current state of adoption of its Law on Prohibition of Discrimination and its accompanying proposal for the institution of the Ombudsman for Human Rights to monitor the application of this Law.

5.Please provide detailed information on specific measures, if any, taken by the State party to prevent and eliminate discrimination against:

(a)Children of ethnic minorities;

(b)Children in a street situation;

(c)Children with disabilities.

6.Please provide updated information on the measures taken by the State party to improve birth registration of all children, particularly for:

(a)Children of Roma and/or minority ethnicity;

(b)Children born outside hospitals;

(c)Children in remote areas of the State party.

7.Please provide detailed and updated information on legislation enacted, if any, explicitly prohibiting corporal punishment of children in all settings, including in the home and in alternative-care settings.

8.Please provide detailed information on progress, if any, to undertake the necessary measures, including enacting and/or amending legislation, to provide children deprived of a family environment with family-like care whenever possible.

9.Please provide detailed information on measures taken, if any, to ensure that the State party’s adoption legislation, processes and system are harmonized across all its entities, cantons and municipalities, and are in compliance with international standards, including the Convention.

10.Please provide updated and detailed information on the State party’s programmes and policy initiatives for specifically addressing the needs of children with disabilities, particularly with regard to access to healthcare and education.

11.Please provide information on the measures undertaken by the State party, if any, to strengthen the capacity of its social work centres to ensure adequate and equitable access to social welfare programmes for children and their families in all its entities, cantons and municipalities.

12.Please provide information on any measures taken by the State party to ensure that refugee, asylum-seeking, and/or internally displaced children are provided with:

(a)Birth registration;

(b)Access to adequate health care;

(c)Integrated education;

(d)Adequate standards of living, including appropriate accommodation;

(e)Access to legal aid, including in the context of any updates to its draft law on the right to legal aid free of charge.

13.Please provide updated information on measures taken by the State party to prevent and eradicate child labour, including:

(a)Assessments on the extent of its occurrence in all federal entities and territories of the State party;

(b)Measures to address its root causes;

(c)Legislative measures to ensure commensurate sanctions for perpetrators subjecting children to such exploitation.

14.Please provide detailed updated information on measures, if any, taken by the State party to adopt juvenile justice legislation which is in compliance with international standards and in application throughout its entities, cantons and municipalities.

15.Please provide updated information on measures taken by the State party to implement the Committee’s previous recommendations on the implementation of the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict with regard to, inter alia, mine-awareness campaigns, demining activities, and special rehabilitation programmes for children affected by the explosion of mines and other consequences of the armed conflict(CRC/C/OPAC/BIH/CO/1, para. 20).

16.Please provide updated information on measures taken by the State party to implement the Committee’s previous recommendations (CRC/C/OPSC/BIH/CO/1, inter alia, paras. 9, 27 and 31), including on ensuring that its legislation at the level of the State, entities and Brčko District includes all offences under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography in therespective Criminal Codes in a harmonized manner, and enables extraterritorial jurisdiction for offences under the Optional Protocol.

Part II

In this section the Committee invites the State party to briefly (three pages maximum) update the information presented in its report with regard to:

(a)Newly implemented policies, programmes and plans and their scope;

(b)Newly established institutions or institutional reforms and their respective mandates;

(c)Newly developed training programmes for professionals working with children;

(d)Newly enacted bills and their regulations;

(e)Recent ratifications of human rights instruments.

Part III

Data, statistics and other information, if available

1.Please provide data, both in terms of proportion in relation to other allocations as well as absolute quantities, on the annual budget spent on health, education and social welfare, at the national, regional and local levels.

2.Please provide data on the prevalence of mono-ethnic schools and “two schools under one roof”.

3.Please provide data on the number and geographical dispersion of schools with curricula that include mandatory religious classes.

4.Please provide data, disaggregated by age, sex, ethnic origin and socio-economic status, on the following:

(a)Cases of violence in the family and the issuance of protective measures in the context of domestic violence;

(b)The number of children receiving different types of alternative care in residential settings, and specify the type of care being provided;

(c)Cases of malnutrition and stunting;

(d)The percentage of children with disabilities attending integrated or inclusive education

5.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.