Committee on the Rights of the Child

Sixtieth session

29 May–15 June 2012

Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child

List of issues concerning additional and updated information related to the combined second and third periodic report of Turkey (CRC/C/TUR/2-3)

The State party is requested to submit in writing additional, updated information, if possible before 1 March 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 inform the Committee whether the State party is considering withdrawal of its reservations under articles 17, 29 and 30 of the Convention, as the Committee had recommended in its previous concluding observations (CRC/C/15/Add.152, para. 12)

2.Please provide updated information on which onebody in the State party has the mandate and authority to effectively coordinate the implementation of the rights of children under the Convention across relevant sectors, institutions and all regions.

3.Please provide information on steps taken to establish an independent national human rights institution in line with theprinciples relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (Paris Principles),andon how the mandate and structure of such an institution enable it to effectively address children’s rights, including by receiving complaints.

4.Please provide information on strategies to address regional disparities in the provision of health and social services and education. Please clarify how the State party collects data, conducts analysis and monitors that all children, including those of Kurdish, Roma and Greek origin, as well as those belonging to other non-Muslim groups, are provided equal enjoyment and protection of the rights set forth in the Convention.

5.Please provide updated information, where it relates to children, on the use of languages other than Turkish thatare spoken in Turkey, including the possibility for children to be taught in their mother tongue in schools. Please provide information on measures to facilitate access to relevant information in media, social and health services for children who do not have Turkish as their mother tongue.

6.Please provide information on measures undertaken by the State party to:

(a)Address the protection of children as part ofits measures to combat gender-based violence, honour killings and related suicides, including in the National Action Plan for Combating Domestic Violence against Women 2007–2010 and other more recentstrategies and/or policies;

(b)Prevent arranged, early and forced marriages.Please includeinformation on data, research and subsequent development of policy, programmes, legislation and awareness-raising measures in this respect;

(c)Provide shelters for women and children in all regions.

7.Please provide information on programmes to enhance children’s participation in governance and decision-making processes, including Provincial Child Rights Child Committees and school councils, as well as the plans to implement the National Strategy for Child and Youth Participation.

8.Please provide information on measures taken to adopt legislation to explicitly criminalize all forms of corporal punishment in all settings, including in the home and alternative care facilities. Please also provide information on programmes to reduce violence in schools, including progress on implementation of the strategy and action plan against violence in schools 2006–2011.

9.Please clarify which measures the State party undertook to ensure the protection and welfare of children in the recent cases of evictions of families in Istanbul in July 2011.

10.Please provide information on measures taken to improve maternal and infant health, including reducing regional disparities in access to health services, increasing the number of women who give birth in hospitals or attended bytrained health personnel, improving the low rate of exclusive breastfeeding for six months and adhering to the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes.

11.Please provide information on measures undertaken by the State party to:

(a)Ensure that children in prisons and detention facilities are not subjected to ill-treatment by other inmates, Government officials or related authorities. Please include information on the number and details of reported cases of ill-treatment of minors in prison and detention facilities, any subsequent investigations and/or prosecutions carried out and specific training given toGovernment officials on this matter;

(b)Improve the conditions of prisons and detention facilities where children are held and to reduce regional disparities in the conditions of such facilities.

12.Please clarify if the amendment in July 2010 of the Counter-terrorism Law has resulted in a de facto difference in the treatment of children charged with crimes of terrorism. Please provide relevant data as evidence of such change, including the number of children accused of terrorism that have stood trial in juvenile court or adult courts acting as juvenile courts. Please provide updated information on the effect on children of terrorism and counter-terrorism measures and measures to reduce the impact of terrorism on children.

13.Please provide information on the measures to ensure that refugee and migrant children have access to social services, education and health services, including through provision of information in relevant languages and required registration.

14.Please provide information on measures to combat trafficking in children, including the implementation of the Second National Action Plan to Combat Traffickingand the work of the National Task Force on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings. Please also provide information on the human and financial resources allocated for the implementation of the Second National Action Plan to Combat Trafficking, as well as on indicators to monitor its achievements.

15.Please provide information on specific follow-up to the concluding observations of the initial reports under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography and the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict. For the latter, please specify if any action has been taken with respect to the Committee’s recommendations in paragraphs 16 (a) and(d) and 17.

16.Please provide information and relevant data on children involved in armed groups and their participation in hostilities and any programmes to prevent such recruitment and provide counselling and rehabilitation of such children, in line with the information provided by the State party in the review under the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict.

Part II

Underthis section, the Committee invites the State party to briefly (three pages maximum) update the information provided 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, in particular the current Child Rights Policy and the National Child Rights Strategy for 2012–2016;

(d)Recent ratifications of human rights instruments.

Part III

Data, statistics and other information, if available

1.Please provide, if available, statistical data (disaggregated by nationality, age, sex, ethnic origin, geographic location and socio-economic status) for the period 2006–2010 on:

(a)Children reported as victims of abuse and/or negligence by parents or other relatives or caregivers, including data on general prevalence, investigation, prosecutions and convictions;

(b)The number of children in alternative care settings and the reasons for such placement;

(c)Incidence and prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases and early pregnancies;

(d)The number of internally displaced children with access to education, health and social services;

(e)The number of children in detention or prison and the crimes that such children have been charged with or accused of, as well as average time spent by children in detention and prison;

(f)The number of child courts, heavy penalty courts for children and child prosecution offices and their coverage of provinces;

(g)Updated data on child victims of trafficking (those in transit andthose trafficked domestically), prostitution, sexual exploitation, sale of children and child pornography, including data on prosecution and convictions for such crimes; and

(h)The numberof children working, including data on areas of work and prevalence of the worst forms of child labour.

2.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.