COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILDForty-third session11-29 September 2006

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTIONON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

List of issues to be taken up in connection with the considerationof the second periodic report of BENIN (CRC/C/BEN/2)

PART I

Under this section the State party is requested to submit in written form additional and updated information, if possible, before 5 August 2006 .

A.Data and statistics, if available

1.Please provide disaggregated data (by sex, age groups, urban and rural areas) covering the years 2003, 2004 and 2005 on the:

(a)number and proportion of children under the age of 18 living in the State party; and

(b)number and proportion of children belonging to refugee and internally displaced groups.

2.In the light of article 4 of the Convention, please provide additional disaggregated data for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 on budget allocations and trends (in absolute figures and in percentages of the national and regional budgets or gross domestic product) allocated to the implementation of the Convention, evaluating also the priorities for budgetary expenditures given to the following:

(a)education (different types of education, i.e. pre-primary, primary and secondary);

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(b)health care (different types of health services, i.e. primary health care, vaccination programmes, adolescent health care and other health-care services for children);

(c)programmes and services for children with disabilities;

(d)support programmes for families;

(e)support for children living below the poverty line;

(f)the protection of children who are in need of alternative care, including the support of care institutions;

(g)programmes and activities for the prevention of and protection from child abuse, child sexual exploitation and child labour;

(i)juvenile justice.

Please also indicate the expenses of the private sector, in particular for health and education.

3.With reference to children deprived of a family environment and separated from parents, please provide disaggregated data (by sex; age groups; urban, rural and remote areas) for the years 2003, 2004 and 2005 on the number of children:

(a)separated from their parents;

(b)placed in institutions;

(c)placed with foster families; and

(d)adopted domestically or through intercountry adoptions.

4.Please specify the number of children with disabilities, disaggregated by sex and age groups, covering the years 2003, 2004 and 2005:

(a)living with their families;

(b)in institutions;

(c)attending regular schools;

(d)attending special schools; and

(e)not attending any school.

5.With reference to child abuse, please provide disaggregated data (by sex, age groups, and types of violations reported) for the years 2003, 2004 and 2005 on the:

(a)number of individual complaints received per year in the last three years; and

(b)number and percentage of reports that have resulted in either a court decision or other types of follow-up.

6.Please provide disaggregated data (by sex; age groups; urban, rural and remote areas) for the years 2003, 2004 and 2005 on the:

(a)enrolment and completion rates, in percentages of the relevant group, in pre‑primary schools, in primary schools and in secondary schools;

(b)number and percentage of dropouts and repetitions;

(c)number and percentage of children not attending school at all; and

(d)ratio of teacher per child.

7.Please provide disaggregated statistical data (by sex; age groups; urban, rural and remote areas) on infant and child mortality, malnutrition, early pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), mental health, suicide, drug use, and alcoholand tobacco abuse for the years 2003, 2004 and 2005. Please also provide numbers of health professionals working in the health‑care services for children.

8.Please provide disaggregated statistical data (including by sex; age groups; urban, rural and remote areas) on children infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS.

9.Please provide appropriate disaggregated data (including by sex, age groups, and type of crime) for the years 2003, 2004 and 2005, in particular on the number of:

(a)persons under the age of 18 who have allegedly committed a crime, reported to the police;

(b)persons under the age of 18 who have been sentenced, and type of punishment or sanctions related to offences, including length of deprivation of liberty;

(c)detention facilities for persons under the age of 18 and these facilities’ capacity;

(d)persons under the age of 18 detained in these facilities and the number of persons under the age of 18 detained in adult facilities;

(e)persons under the age of 18 kept in pretrial detention, and the average length of their detention; and

(f)reported cases of abuse and maltreatment of persons under the age of 18 occurring during their arrest and detention.

10.With reference to special protection measures, please provide statistical data (including by sex, age groups, urban/rural areas) for the years 2003, 2004 and 2005 on the:

(a)number of street children and children involved in sexual exploitation, including prostitution, pornography and trafficking;

(b)number of children involved in sexual exploitation who received recovery treatments and social reintegration assistance;

(c)number of children involved in child labour (formal and informal sectors) and videmegon;

(d)number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee children; and

(e)number of children living in prisons with their parent(s).

B. General measures of implementation

1.Please provide further information on those recommendations contained in the Committee’s previous observations (CRC/C/15/Add.106) that have not yet been fully implemented, including on data collection (para. 8), non-discrimination (para. 14), right to life (para. 16), abuse and neglect (para. 23), health (para. 24), education (para. 28), trafficking (para. 33), and the juvenile justice system (para. 34).

2.Please provide information on cases, if any, in which the Convention has been directly invoked in the courts, and if so, please provide examples of such cases.

3.Please provide updated information on the CNDE (Comité national des droits de l’enfant) and on the local committees to fight trafficking of children (Comités locaux de lutte contre la traite des enfants), including on their mandates, activities and resources.

4.Please provide further information about the activities, mandate, budget and total number of the Brigades for the Protection of Minors.

5.Please provide information on the existence and content of a national plan of action for children.

6.Please provide information on the drafting process of the second Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, in particular on its human rights and child rights components, and the differences between the first and the second PRSPs. Please also indicate how its implementation will be coordinated.

7.Please provide further information on the existing practice, structures and/or agreements regarding cooperation between the Government and non-governmental organizations involved with the promotion and protection of children’s rights.

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

PART II

Please provide the Committee with copies of the text of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in all official languages of the State party and in other languages or dialects, as well as the simplified (child-friendly) version of the Convention. If possible, please submit these texts in electronic form.

PART III

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

new bills or enacted legislation;

new institutions;

newly implemented policies; and

newly implemented programmes and projects, and their scope.

PART IV

The following is a preliminary list of major issues (which does not contain issues already covered in Part I) that the Committee may take up during the dialogue with the State party. They do not require written answers . This list is not exhaustive, as other issues might be raised in the course of the dialogue.

1.Measures to strengthen the Convention’s implementation, with particular attention to the general principles of the Convention with regard to non-discrimination (art. 2); the best interests of the child (art. 3); the right to life, survival and development (art. 6); and the right of the child to be heard (art. 12);

2.Children with disabilities;

3.Children living in institutions, including orphans;

4.Adoption and protection of children placed in foster care;

5.Violence against children, including ill-treatment and corporal punishment;

6.Access to quality health care, including issues related to HIV/AIDS and STIs, and adolescent health;

7.Access to quality education, including issues related to dropouts, repetition, and violence in school;

8.Child labour and videmegon;

9.Sexual exploitation and the trafficking of children;

10.Juvenile justice, including alternative forms of sanctions for young offenders;

11.Standard of living;

12.Street children; and

13.Refugee children.

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