Committee on the Rights of the Child

Seventy-fi fth session

15 May-2 June 2017

Item 4 of the provisional agenda

Consideration of reports of States parties

List of issues in relation to the combined fourth and fifth periodic reports of Lebanon

The State party is requested to submit in writing additional, updated information (10,700 words maximum), if possible before 23 February 2017. 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 detailed information on the measures the State party has taken towards adopting a unified law on the rights of the child, including the definition of a child in accordance with the Convention.

2.Please provide information on the status of the draft law on the establishment of a national human rights institution, and progress with respect to the establishment of a children’s ombudsperson.

3.Please provide information on measures taken to ensure the equal enjoyment of the rights set out in the Convention by all children, particularly girls, migrant children and refugee children, especially Palestinian and Syrian children, children with disabilities, children born out of wedlock, and children from the Bedouin and Dom communities. Please indicate the measures taken to ensure the birth registration of children of migrant workers.

4.Please provide information on measures taken by the State party to prohibit corporal punishment in all settings and to promote positive forms of discipline. Please also provide information on the implementation of the national strategy for the prevention and protection of children from all forms of violence, abuse and neglect.

5.Please provide information on any investigations conducted into incidents of child abuse and neglect, including sexual abuse, particularly of Syrian refugee children and migrant children, as well as measures taken to prevent and combat child sexual abuse.

6.Please provide information on the situation of children in alternative care and on setting minimum standards and monitoring conditions of care in institutions. Please also provide information on measures taken to support families in situations of poverty to care for their children.

7.Please inform the Committee about social programmes aimed at assisting low-income families, as well as marginalized groups such as Palestinian and Syrian refugees, and children in street situations.

8.Please provide information on the implementation of Act No. 220 establishing the National Committee for Disabled Affairs. Please also provide updated information on the strategy on the rights of children with disabilities that has been drafted by a subcommittee of the Higher Council for Childhood. In addition, please inform the Committee about measures taken to increase the number of children with disabilities in mainstream education.

9.Please provide information on measures to:

(a)Promote breastfeeding, increase immunizations, address the rise of communicable diseases, and prevent and combat drug use and addiction among children;

(b)Ensure access to health services for all children in the State party, including those without birth registration and residency documents;

(c)Address the impact of the Syrian crisis on the State party’s health system.

10.Please inform the Committee about measures to improve the quality of education and of teaching in public schools, and to address the high number of children who are out of school, as well as the repetition and dropout rates. Please provide updated information on the Reaching All Children with Education strategy aimed at accommodating the refugee population and on coordination efforts with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and other international and local organizations in that regard.

11.Please provide information on measures taken to ensure that families in situations of poverty, including Syrian and Palestinian refugees, have access to adequate housing, safe drinking water and sanitation facilities.

12.Please update the Committee on efforts by the State party to increase the number of safe, child-friendly recreational areas, facilities and activities in the State party, particularly in Beirut and the surrounding regions, including for refugee children.

13.Please provide information on measures, including awareness-raising campaigns, to prevent and combat trafficking in persons, in particular children, for forced labour and prostitution, especially Syrian girls. Please provide information on the status of the draft law to sanction the exploitation of children in pornography, and the national anti-trafficking plan.

14.Please provide information on measures taken to ensure that children in the State party are not recruited by armed groups in Lebanon or the Syrian Arab Republic. Please also provide information on the workplan endorsed by the Ministry of Social Affairs in 2014 to prevent and respond to the association of children with armed violence in Lebanon, as well as rehabilitation and reintegration programmes for children involved in armed conflict.

Part II

15.The Committee invites the State party to provide a brief update (no more than three pages) on the information presented in its report (CRC/C/LBN/4-5) with regard to:

(a)New bills or laws, and their respective regulations;

(b)New institutions (and their mandates) or institutional reforms, including initiatives to reform the judicial system with a view to establishing a single civil court system guaranteeing access and proceedings to all children within the jurisdiction of the State party, as well as specialized training on the Convention for juvenile judges;

(c)Recently introduced policies, programmes and action plans and their scope and financing, including initiatives to establish a comprehensive national plan of action for children;

(d)Recent ratifications of human rights instruments, including progress with respect to ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Part III

Data, statistics and other information, if available

16.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.

17.Please provide, if available, updated statistical data disaggregated by age, sex, geographic location and socioeconomic status, for the past three years, on the number of:

(a)Stateless children;

(b)Children who have been injured or who have died as a result of road accidents, gun violence, landmines and unexploded ordnance;

(c)Child marriages;

(d)Cases of child abuse and neglect in families, foster families and other types of care and public and private institutions, such as children’s homes, schools, juvenile detention centres and prisons;

(e)Cases of child abuse and neglect reported to police stations, hospitals, schools and family development offices in each governorate, as well as information on the legislation and policies in force to ensure the mandatory reporting of suspected cases of child abuse and neglect;

(f)Investigations into cases of sexual violence and rape, and information on the outcomes of trials, including the penalties for perpetrators and redress and compensation offered to child victims;

(g)Children classified as malnourished, as well as those classified as obese;

(h)Children with HIV/AIDS;

(i)Cases of child labour in the formal and informal economies;

(j)Unaccompanied child migrants and children of migrant workers in the State party, including the number currently detained in immigration facilities;

(k)Children in any form of detention, including in pretrial detention.

18.Please provide data disaggregated by age, sex, socioeconomic background, ethnic origin, national origin and geographic location regarding the situation of children deprived of a family environment and separated from their parents, for the past three years, on the number of children:

(a)Separated from their parents;

(b)Placed in institutions and group homes;

(c)Placed with foster families;

(d)Adopted domestically (applicable to non-Muslim children) or through intercountry adoptions.

19.Please provide data, disaggregated by age, sex, type of disability 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.

20.Please provide data, disaggregated by age, sex, socioeconomic background, geographic location, national original and ethnic origin, particularly with respect to refugee children, minority (Dom and Bedouin) children, rural children, children in situations of poverty and children of migrant workers, for the past three years, on:

(a)Enrolment rates and completion rates, in percentages, of the relevant age groups in pre-primary, primary and secondary schools;

(b)The number and percentage of dropouts and repetitions;

(c)The number of children attending vocational schools and alternative programmes for children who have dropped out of school;

(d)The percentage of children attending public and private schools, respectively;

(e)The teacher-pupil ratio in both public and private schools.

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

22.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.