Committee on the Rights of the Child

Eightieth session

14 January–1 February 2019

Item 4 of the provisional agenda

Consideration of reports of States parties

List of issues in relation to the combined third to sixth periodic reports of Guinea

The State party is requested to submit in writing additional, updated information (10,700 words maximum), if possible before 12 October 2018. 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 indicate whether the necessary steps have been taken to expedite the revision of national legislation, particularly the Children’s Code and the Civil Code, with a view to making it fully compliant with the principles and provisions of the Convention.

2.Please indicate what human, technical and financial resources have been allocated for the implementation of the National Policy for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights and Welfare of the Child in Guinea and its first three-year action plan for 2017–2019 and clarify how implementation will be evaluated.

3.Please clarify the mandate and resources of the Guinean Committee on the Protection of Children’s Rights in the area of coordination and clarify the division of competencies and responsibilities between that Committee and the National Directorate for Children.

4.Please describe the policies and other measures adopted to combat discrimination against girls, particularly non-circumcised girls, children living in rural areas and those living in poverty, children born out of wedlock, children with disabilities, children living with HIV/AIDS, child survivors of Ebola, street children, and child migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.

5.Please clarify whether birth registration is mandatory and indicate the measures taken to remove the main barriers to birth registration and to ensure the registration of all children, including those living in rural or remote areas and those whose parents do not have personal documentation or are stateless. Please also provide information on the impact of the civil registry modernization programme.

6.Please inform the Committee of the progress made in revising the Criminal Code and the Children’s Code with a view to expressly prohibiting corporal punishment in all places and settings, including the home, the school and alternative care settings.

7.In view of the high prevalence of child marriage, particularly in rural areas, please provide additional information on the scope and impact of the National Action Plan to Combat Child Marriage and the results of the socio-anthropological study on child marriage mentioned in paragraph 54 of the State party’s report (CRC/C/GIN/3-6).

8.Please describe the measures taken to give effect to the law criminalizing female genital mutilation in all circumstances and to ensure that perpetrators are investigated, prosecuted and sanctioned. Please provide information on the impact of the National Strategic Plan to Combat Female Genital Mutilation and any campaigns designed to eliminate that harmful practice.

9.Please indicate what measures have been taken to reduce the infant mortality, maternal mortality and chronic malnutrition rates and to make drinking water and sanitation services universally accessible. Please inform the Committee of the measures taken to ensure that children infected by HIV/AIDS have access to appropriate medical treatment, and provide information on specialized health services for survivors of Ebola, including children, and clarify what specific needs they have.

10.Please inform the Committee of the measures taken to improve the quality of education and school infrastructure, to eliminate all school fees, to improve primary and secondary school completion rates, to reduce disparities between the sexes and regions, and to reduce the high dropout rate, particularly among pregnant girls. Please also provide information on the measures taken to oversee the content of the curriculum taught in Qur’anic schools.

11.Please inform the Committee of the measures taken to eliminate exploitation and the worst forms of child labour, including work in the informal sector, mines, agriculture and the fishing industry, and begging on the street and domestic work. Please indicate whether any regulations and measures have been adopted to protect children affected by the practice of confiage (entrusting them to a relative or friend) and to curb this informal practice and protect the children involved from exploitation, ill-treatment, abuse and violence.

12.Please indicate what measures are envisaged with regard to juvenile courts and the training of specialized judges and social workers. Please inform the Committee of the steps taken to ensure that the detention of children, including pretrial detention, is used only as a last resort and then for as short a time as possible, that children are held separately from adults in detention facilities, and that they have access to appropriate legal assistance.

13.Please provide information on the measures taken to implement the Committee’s previous recommendations regarding the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (CRC/C/OPSC/GIN/CO/1), in particular with regard to ensuring that the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography are explicitly defined and prohibited in the Criminal Code.

14.Please provide information on the measures taken to implement the Committee’s recommendations on the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict (CRC/C/OPAC/GIN/CO/1) with regard to criminalizing the recruitment of children by the armed forces and non-State armed groups. Please provide information on the measures taken to identify and assist children recruited for or used in hostilities abroad.

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 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

16.Please provide consolidated information for the past three years on the budget lines allocated to the children’s and social sectors, indicating the percentage of the total national budget and of the gross national product that each budget line represents. Please also provide information on the geographic allocation of those resources.

17.Please provide information for the past three years on the resources allocated to:

(a)Increase the percentage of children registered at birth or registered retroactively;

(b)Reduce the disparities between rural and urban areas with regard to access to basic health services;

(c)Improve the delivery of basic services, including health services, access to drinking water, sanitation and protection, for children in school;

(d)Implement the National Social Protection Policy, with particular regard to children.

18.Please provide, if available, updated statistical data for the past three years, disaggregated by age, sex, ethnic origin, national origin, geographic location and socioeconomic situation, on:

(a)Infant and maternal mortality (disaggregated by cause of death);

(b)The number of cases of abuse and violence against children, including in the form of corporal punishment, with additional information on the type of assistance offered to child victims and the follow-up given to such cases, including prosecutions and the sentences imposed;

(c)The number of cases of sexual violence and rape committed against children and adolescents, the number of investigations and legal proceedings instituted and the outcome of the trials, indicating the sentences handed down to the perpetrators and the redress and compensation afforded to the victims;

(d)Cases of child marriage;

(e)The number of recorded cases of female genital mutilation, indicating the follow-up given to such cases, the sentences handed down to the perpetrators and the redress and compensation afforded to the victims;

(f)Teenage pregnancies and girls receiving medical and professional support during pregnancy and delivery, cases of maternal mortality among girls and adolescents, and the number of girls imprisoned for having resorted to clandestine abortions;

(g)The number of children affected by sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS, and by malaria;

(h)Child survivors of Ebola and children who have lost their parents to Ebola;

(i)School enrolment and completion rates, expressed as a percentage for each age group at the preschool, primary and secondary levels, and the number and percentage of dropouts and grade repetitions;

(j)The number of child and adolescent victims of trafficking, the number of investigations and prosecutions conducted and the outcome of the trials, indicating the sentences handed down to the perpetrators and the redress and compensation afforded to the victims;

(k)Child labour and, with regard to the worst forms of child labour, the number of investigations conducted, indicating the follow-up given to such cases, the sentences handed down to the perpetrators and the redress and compensation afforded to the victims;

(l)The number of talibé children, the number of cases involving the economic exploitation of talibé children, the number of investigations and prosecutions conducted and the outcome of the trials, indicating the sentences handed down to the perpetrators and the redress and compensation afforded to the victims.

19.Please provide data for the past three years, disaggregated by age, sex, socioeconomic background, ethnic origin and geographic location, on the situation of children deprived of a family environment, indicating the number of children:

(a)Separated from their parents;

(b)Placed in an institution (disaggregated according to the duration of placement);

(c)Placed with foster families;

(d)Living in the street;

(e)Adopted in Guinea or abroad.

20.Please provide data for the past three years, disaggregated by age, sex, type of disability, ethnic origin and geographic location, 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.

21.Please provide information, disaggregated by age, sex, type of offence, ethnic origin, national origin, geographic location and socioeconomic status, on children in conflict with the law who have been:

(a)Arrested;

(b)Placed in detention;

(c)Placed in pretrial detention;

(d)Placed in diversion programmes.

Please also indicate the number of juvenile courts in Guinea.

22.Please provide the Committee with an update of any figures in the report that may have been superseded or that do not take account of new developments.

23.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.