Committee on the Rights of the Child

List of issues in relation to the combined fifth and sixth periodic reports of Burkina Faso *

1.The State Party is requested to submit in writing additional, updated information, of 10,700 words maximum, by 15 June 2025. 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

2.Please describe:

(a)The status of the draft child protection code, specifying whether it incorporates all the principles and provisions of the Convention and covers all its aspects;

(b)The current coordination mechanism for the Convention’s implementation, in view of the disbandment of the National Council for Children in 2022, and the human, financial and technical resources allocated to it;

(c)The renewal of the National Strategy for the Protection of Children and its action plans, following their expiry in 2024, as well as the results of their implementation.

3.Please provide details on:

(a)The results of the establishment, in 2016, of the National Human Rights Commission, particularly in terms of the complaints it received and examined concerning violations of children’s rights and investigations carried out in this regard, as well as the efforts made to raise awareness of this mechanism among children and to seek accreditation with the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions;

(b)The implementation since 2019 of budgeting that is gender-responsive and takes into account children’s rights, including the results of monitoring and evaluation, the allocation and use of resources earmarked for children, the securing of budget lines for vulnerable children and efforts to ensure the application of Act No. 082-2015/CNT, the Anti‑Corruption Act, of 24 November 2015;

(c)Steps to ensure that the permanent data-collection system covering all aspects of the Convention with disaggregated data is made fully operational, as recommended by the Committee in its previous concluding observations;

(d)Measures taken to ensure pathways for children to gain access to justice and remedies, including administrative complaint mechanisms and child-friendly judicial procedures;

(e)Measures taken to create a climate of trust and cooperation with civil society in the context of the security crisis;

(f)Measures taken to adapt the budget envisaged for child protection following the cessation of bilateral cooperation.

4.Please specify:

(a)Progress on the revision of the Personal and Family Code to standardize the age of majority and the minimum age for marriage at 18 for both sexes;

(b)The results of measures taken to combat forced child marriages, in application of article 531-4 of the Criminal Code, and the availability of shelters for victims, specifying to what extent programmes to prevent child marriage take account of the security crisis and the large number of displaced persons in the country;

(c)Whether articles 2 and 11 of the Constitution, on equality and non‑discrimination, are in line with article 2 of the Convention;

(d)The status of the adoption of a comprehensive strategy, in line with article 2 of the Convention, to eliminate discriminatory practices, prejudices and sociocultural beliefs, including with regard to girls, children with disabilities, children living with HIV or AIDS, children belonging to specific ethnic groups and other children in vulnerable situations, as well as institutional mechanisms to punish acts of discrimination;

(e)The status of the draft law banning homosexuality and its possible effects on teenagers.

5.Please describe the results of measures taken to:

(a)Guarantee that the principle of the best interests of the child is systematically taken into account and that the right of each child to be heard within his or her family is respected;

(b)Ensure that the views of the Children’s Parliament are taken into account in official procedures and that children can express themselves without fear of reprisals, even in a context of insecurity;

(c)Lower the number of child victims of road accidents;

(d)Protect children from information and material, especially on television and online, that is harmful to their well-being, and protect children’s privacy in the media, especially on social media.

6.Please provide information on the following:

(a)The results of measures taken to ensure free and universal birth registration and the free issuance of birth certificates, including for internally displaced and refugee children, as well as the possibility of late registration free of charge, in order to avoid recourse to the courts;

(b)The current rate of birth registration, including any variation by sex and region;

(c)The number of children without birth certificates who have access to education, healthcare and other social services;

(d)Progress in the adoption of the draft family code and in the digitization of birth registration, and measures taken to combat identity fraud and statelessness.

7.Please specify:

(a)The status of the adoption of legislation specifically prohibiting corporal punishment in all settings, of the establishment of a mechanism to monitor legislative provisions, particularly in schools, of the positive parenting programme and of the strategy to prevent and combat all forms of violence and abuse against children, including domestic violence, female genital mutilation and sexual violence, particularly in schools and related to rape, with details of prosecutions and sentences handed down;

(b)Specific services available for the comprehensive care of child victims of violence, including rape victims, to ensure their recovery and reintegration, providing statistics disaggregated by age, sex, region and marital status, for children benefiting from these services since 2010;

(c)Measures taken to protect children from the risks of violence and abduction in military and security operations.

8.Please provide updated information on:

(a)The difficulties encountered in following up on cases of abused or neglected children in their homes;

(b)Measures taken to combat polygamy and other discriminatory practices and stereotypical attitudes, with reference to the Committee’s previous concluding observations, and to promote equal sharing of parental responsibilities.

9.Please indicate:

(a)The current state of institutional care for children deprived of a family environment and the measures taken to prevent children from being removed from their families due to poverty and to increase the number of foster families and ensure quality care at centres for children in distress;

(b)Measures taken to end the practice of confiage;

(c)Measures taken to counter the adverse effects of environmental degradation and climate change, such as high temperatures, droughts, water scarcity, contaminated water supplies and sources, flooding and sandstorms, on the enjoyment of children’s rights;

(d)Measures taken to ensure that national policies and programmes dealing with environmental protection and climate change take into account the needs and views of children, including child-centred disaster risk reduction strategies;

(e)Measures taken to raise children’s awareness of climate change and prepare them to deal with it.

10.Please specify:

(a)The impact of measures relating to access to preschool, primary and secondary education and the enrolment rate, especially for girls, children with disabilities, children living in remote areas and internally displaced children;

(b)Measures taken to maintain schooling and enrolment rates at all levels and to ensure safety in schools, in view of the security crisis;

(c)Measures taken to improve the quality of education and eliminate illiteracy;

(d)The impact of measures taken to address the problem of out-of-school children and school dropouts, in particular by strengthening the system of vocational training institutions and non-formal education;

(e)The progress made in all regions of the country to ensure the accessibility of public buildings, safety at school, inclusive education and psychosocial, health and educational care for children with disabilities.

11.Please provide updated information on:

(a)The share of the State budget allocated to the health sector since 2017 and the progress made in reducing neonatal, infant, child and maternal mortality, and in ensuring access to HIV screening and retroviral treatment;

(b)Access to healthcare, including health centres, vaccination and neonatal care, in the context of the humanitarian crisis, for children living in crisis-affected areas and for internally displaced children, injured children, child rape victims and children with HIV/AIDS;

(c)Measures taken to end malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies and the nutritional impact of these measures, especially in areas where security is lacking;

(d)The effects of measures taken, in particular with the introduction of sexual and reproductive health at school, to address the prevalence of teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS among adolescents and on adolescents’ access to contraception and the treatment required for high-quality support;

(e)The legalization of abortion, if it is being considered, especially in view of dangerous clandestine practices;

(f)The mental health support services available to children, the impact of the humanitarian crisis on children’s mental health and the rate of suicide among children and adolescents;

(g)The incidence of drug addiction among children and adolescents and progress in adopting the national strategy to combat drug addiction;

(h)Progress in setting up a national health insurance fund and a social protection system and in ensuring access to drinking water and sanitation.

12.Please specify:

(a)The updated number and situation of internally displaced and refugee children, including their access to education, healthcare and recovery of birth registration documents, clarifying whether the legislation allows for the detention of asylum-seeking or migrant children;

(b)The results of the strategy to combat child labour developed in 2023 and the follow-up to this strategy, taking into account the security context and the prosecutions initiated and sentences handed down following the implementation of the decree setting out the list of hazardous types of work prohibited for children, taking into consideration estimates according to which 40.3 per cent of children work, and a third of them are engaged in hazardous work, and the preventive measures deployed in this regard and the extent of the use of children in drug trafficking;

(c)The updated number and condition of children in street situations, including talibé children, and the measures taken to ensure respect for children’s rights as part of “street clearance” initiatives, and to prevent situations of violence.

13.Please specify the status of the development of the juvenile justice system and the effects of the discontinuance of the juvenile court in 2019, and also specify the measures taken to:

(a)Process all children in conflict with the law within the regular juvenile justice system, including those accused of terrorism;

(b)Speed up adoption of the draft decree implementing non-custodial measures and use non-custodial measures for children deprived of their liberty, including children accused of terrorism;

(c)Improve conditions of detention and custody for children and ensure that they are held separately from adults;

(d)Improve the appointment and prompt availability of legal counsel for children;

(e)Ensure the protection of child victims and witnesses of crime, taking into account the humanitarian context;

(f)Prevent delinquency.

14.Please provide updated information on the measures taken to implement the Committee’s previous recommendations in relation to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. Describe in detail the measures taken to ensure the protection of children, especially girls and internally displaced children, in military and security operations.

15.Please provide updated information on the measures taken to implement the Committee’s previous recommendations in relation to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, and on measures to:

(a)Prevent grave violations against children in the armed conflict, including death and maiming, and end such violations;

(b)Prevent the recruitment and use of children by terrorist groups and facilitate the rehabilitation and reintegration of children associated with terrorist groups;

(c)Apply the memorandum of understanding on the transfer and care of children encountered during local security operations, signed on 12 September 2022, with regard to the transfer to social protection and reintegration of the children in question.

Part II

16.The Committee invites the State party to provide a brief update, of no more than three pages, on the information set out in its report with regard to the following:

(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

17.Please provide consolidated information for the past three years on the budget lines for children and for the social sector, indicating the percentages of the total national budget and the gross national product that each of those budget lines represents. Please also provide information on the geographic allocation of those resources.

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

(a)Cases of abuse of and violence against children, including torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, all forms of corporal punishment, child sexual abuse in and outside the home, domestic violence, bullying and online and sexual violence and abuse, in particular at school, in the context of travel and tourism and the armed conflict, as well as prosecutions and sentences handed down in the State party in such cases;

(b)Cases of abduction of children and their outcomes;

(c)Child deaths due to accidents, abuse and suicide;

(d)Children living with HIV/AIDS;

(e)Cases of child marriage and teenage pregnancy;

(f)Cases of female genital mutilation;

(g)Cases of levirate, repudiation and polygamy;

(h)Stateless children;

(i)Asylum-seeking, refugee, internally displaced and migrant children, including those in detention;

(j)Working children, including in the informal sector;

(k)Children in street situations;

(l)Children living in poverty;

(m)Cases of confiage.

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

(a)Separated from their families, including data on the duration of the separation;

(b)Placed in institutions, as well as the number of institutions, and data on the children placed in each institution, disaggregated by age and sex;

(c)Placed with foster families;

(d)Available for adoption;

(e)Adopted domestically and through intercountry and private adoption, including data on the country of residence of the adoptive parents.

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 who are or have been:

(a)Living with their families;

(b)Living in institutions;

(c)Attending day care for children;

(d)Attending preschool;

(e)Attending primary schools;

(f)Attending secondary schools;

(g)Receiving individualized support;

(h)Attending special schools;

(i)Out of school;

(j)Abandoned by their families.

21.Please provide updated statistical data, for the past three years, 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)Referred to diversion programmes;

(c)In pretrial detention;

(d)Held in detention together with adults;

(e)Convicted and are serving a sentence in detention, indicating the length of the sentence in each case.

22.Please provide information on how a children’s rights-based approach is integrated into the planning, implementation and monitoring of measures for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, including with regard to the participation of children and data collection, and how those measures promote the realization of children’s rights under the Convention and the Optional Protocols thereto.

23.Please provide the Committee with an update of any data in the report that may have become outdated by more recent data collected or other new developments.

24.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.