Committee on the Rights of the Child

Fifty-seventh session

30 May – 17 June 2011

Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child

List of issues concerning the fourth periodic report of Finland (CRC/C/FIN/4)

T he State party is requested to submit in writing additional updated information , if possible b efore 2 8 March 2011 .

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, t he State party is requested to submit its responses to the following questions within 30 pages .

1.Please provide updated information on the process of ratification of the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography by the State party.

2.Please indicate which government entity has the overall responsibility for coordinating child policies in the State party, and describe its mandate and the resources available for its work.

3.Please indicate whether the Policy Programme for the Well-being of Children and/or the Development Programme for Child and Youth Policy cover all the provisions of the Convention. Please also describe in more detail how these two programmes are coordinated, how they relate to the Convention, and if there is any overlap between the two programmes.

4.Please provide updated information on the process of reforming the legislation on non-discrimination in the State party (paragraph 111 of the State party’s fourth periodic report).

5.Please clarify if children under the age of 12 have the right to be heard in all judicial and administrative proceedings concerning them. Please also indicate if children who have reached the age of 12 may be interviewed in private in judicial proceedings, or if they have to testify in public hearings.

6.Please describe briefly how the State party has followed up on recommendation 3 of the Universal Periodic Review (A/HRC/8/24, paragraph 50) to compile information on violence against children within the family, as well as the recommendation of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW/C/FIN/CO/6, paragraph 178) to strengthen strategies to combat pornography and sexualization in media and advertising.

7.Please indicate if the Disability Policy Programme, which was under preparation when the State party submitted its report to the Committee, has been adopted. If so, please give details on how this programme takes into account the rights of children with disabilities.

8.Please provide information on refugee and migrant children within the State party’s jurisdiction who may have been involved in hostilities in their country of origin and on the assistance provided, if any, for their physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration, as requested by the Committee in its concluding observations in 2005 on the State party’s initial report on the Optional Protocol to the Convention, on the involvement of children in armed conflict (CRC/C/OPAC/FIN/CO/1, paragraph 5).

9.Please provide information on financial resources for children’s rights and well-being, particularly children living in vulnerable situations, including poverty.

Part II

In this section, the State party is invited 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;

(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 2008, 2009 and 2010 on:

(a)The number of children deprived of a family environment, the type of care they receive (foster homes, institutions or other) and the length of stay;

(b)The number of children living in prison with their parents, and the duration of their stay in prison;

(c)The number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children detained on arrival in the State party, in accordance with the Aliens Act;

(d)The number of child victims of trafficking who have been granted a residence permit based on amendment 619/2006 of the Aliens Act (2004/301); and

(e)The number of children in pre-trial detention, the number of convicted children serving a prison sentence, and the number of children detained with adults.

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.