Committee on the Rights of the Child

Sixty - first session

17 September–5 October 2012

Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child

List of issues concerning additional and updated information related to the consideration of the combined third and fourth periodic report of Austria (CRC/C/AUT/3-4)

The State party is requested to submit in writing additional, updated information, if possible before 2 July 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 Federal Constitutional Law on the Rights of the Child of 16 February 2011is in full compliance with the Convention and whether there have been any measures taken to withdraw the State party’s reservations under articles 13, 15 and 17 of the Convention.

2.Please inform the Committee which state mechanism enumerated in the State party report has the authority to coordinate actions of the sectors and agencies implementing children’s rights, both at federal and Länder levels.

3.Please inform the Committee whether any steps have been taken to establish a single comprehensive system for the collection of data on children that can be disaggregated, analysed and regularly evaluated.

4.Please inform the Committee on measures taken by the State party to prevent discriminatory attitudes, manifestations of neo-Nazism, racism, xenophobiaand related intolerance towards migrant communities, including children. Please give examples of any impact that such activities have had on reducing such offences.

5.Please inform the Committee of the measures taken to fight against the “cybermobbing” or “happy slapping” of children on the Internet, as well as measures taken to educate children, parents and teachers on the protection of privacy on the Internet.

6.Please provide information as to whetherthere isany monitoring or evaluation of alternative care facilities, both at thefederal and Länder levels, as well as information on the resources available to such facilities, the training of personnel, the number of children in such facilities and the quality of services provided in alternative care settings.

7.Please inform the Committee as to whether there have been any measures taken to remove obstacles hampering the integration of children with disabilities into the society. Please also inform the Committee of the measures in place to protect children with disabilities, especially those in care institutions, from abuse and violence.

8.Please provide information on the obstacles preventing the adoption of youth protection laws in two Länder.

9.Please inform the Committee as to what reforms are being undertaken to further improve the system of treatment of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in order to bring it into compliance with international standards.

10.Please clarify whether the State party has adopted a prevention strategy to tackle the number of children in conflict with the law, especially children detained together with adults.

11.Please inform the Committee whether there have been any measures taken to develop a clear normative framework to regulate intercountry adoptions, especially from countries thatare not party to the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in respect of Intercountry Adoption, and to follow up onthe Committee’s recommendations under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

Part II

In this section the Committee invites the State party to briefly (three pages maximum) update 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

1.Please provide, if available, statistical data on how many children are living in foster-care settings, disaggregated by sex, age and socio-economic background.

2.Please provide information on the number of complaints and number of victims of sexual abuse and exploitation of children, disaggregated by sex and age, and the number of investigations and prosecutions carried out in this regard and pending cases.

3.Please specify the number of children with disabilities up to the age of 18, disaggregated by age, sex, type of disability(if relevant) and socio-economic background, covering the years 2009, 2010 and 2011:

(a)Living with their families;

(b)Living in institutions;

(c)Placed in foster care;

(d)Attending regular schools;

(e)Attending special schools;

(f)Not attending school.

4.Please provide, if available, statistical data on:

(a)The number of children in migrant situations and refugee children;

(b)The number of children and adolescents who abuse substances and alcohol.

5.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.