Committee on the Rights of the Child

Fifty-sixth session

17 January – 4 February 2011

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 fourthperiodic reports of Ukraine (CRC/C/UKR/3-4)

The Committee may take up all aspects of children’s rights contained in the Convention during the dialogue with the State party.

The State party is requested to submit additional, updated information in writing, if possible before 2 August 2010 , not exceeding 30 pages.

Part I

1.Please provide additional information on the Inter-Ministerial Commission for the Protection of the Child, in particular, on the human, technical and financial resources at its disposal; and on its capacity to coordinate the setting of national policies and programmes relevant to the implementation of the Convention and the two Optional Protocols.

2.As regards the reported increase in the number of racially motivated attacks, please provide information on measures to challenge impunity for racially motivated crimes, to raise awareness among judges, prosecutors, and law-enforcement officers, and to promote tolerance in society; and on any evaluation of the impact of such measures.

3.Please provide information on training for law-enforcement officers and other measures aimed at ensuring that children are not subjected to torture or ill-treatment, notably during initial questioning in police stations. In addition, please provide information on measures specifically aimed at stopping police violence against children belonging to minorities, in particular Roma children, and to combat related impunity.

4.In light of the particular socio-economic and health challenges faced by families in Ukraine, please explain what services are available at the local level to prevent separation, in particular to provide support to parents in difficulty and for family reintegration of children temporarily placed in special protection. Please clarify further how the State party ensures the periodic review of placements of all children in alternative care and whether placement decisions are subject to judicial review.

5.Please indicate measures in place to guarantee that legislation concerning adoption, including intercountry adoption, is fully in compliance with relevant international standards (such as the Hague Convention No. 33 on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption).

6.Please provide information on efforts, including through the training of professionals, to prevent stigma and to ensure that children living with HIV/AIDS are not segregated in residential care institutions, and are under no circumstances turned away from medical facilities due to their HIV status.

7.Please provide information about any existing mental health policy and services for children with mental disorders, including for the prevention of suicides. Please further comment on progress towards adopting a law on universal salt iodization and towards eliminating iodine deficiency disorders among children.

8.Please comment on progress achieved towards introducing a system of juvenile justice and restorative justice, and towards establishing specialized juvenile courts. How does the State party ensure that arrest, detention and imprisonment are used as a measure of last resort?

9.Please specify whether safeguards are in place to ensure that the return of children, to and from Ukraine, is carried out only in accordance with the principles of non-refoulement, of family unity, and the best interests of the child in the context of the readmissions agreement with the European Union and the agreement for the return of minors with the Commonwealth of Independent States.

10.Please inform the Committee about progress towards strengthening labour inspection in the informal sector and identifying children working in illegal coalmines and engaged in the grading and loading of coal on the open surfaces.

11.Please indicate what specific measures have been taken to follow up on the Committee’s concluding observations upon the examination of the initial report under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, especially measures to criminalize all acts and activities concerning cases of the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography as defined in Articles 2 and 3 of the Optional Protocol, including improperly inducing consent, as an intermediary, for the adoption of a child.

Part II

In this section the Committee invites the State party to provide a brief update (no more than three pages in length) on the information presented in its report regarding:

(a)New bills or laws at both State- and entity-level, and their respective regulation;

(b)New institutions (and their mandates) or institutional reforms, and their financing;

(c)Recently introduced policies, programmes and plans and their scope;

(d)Recent ratifications of human rights instruments.

Part III

Data, statistics and other information:

Please provide disaggregated information (inter alia by age, sex, ethnic origin, geographic location, and socio-economic status) for the period 2007-2009 on:

(a)The total number of children under 18 years of age in the State party;

(b)The number of children who lacked personal identification documents;

(c)The number of children deprived of family environment and the number of children placed in alternative care, disaggregated by type of care, including residential institutions, foster care, family-type homes, etc.;

(d)The number of national and intercountry adoptions for 2007, 2008 and 2009 respectively;

(e)The number of registered children with disabilities, and the number of those who live with their family, or are placed in institutional or family-type care, respectively;

(f)The number and percentage of children who are not covered by any health-insurance scheme;

(g)The number of persons under the age of 18 years serving custodial sentences and the percentage of these children as a proportion of the total prison population, disaggregated by the crime for which they are convicted and type of institution where the sentence is being served; and the number of children serving non-custodial or community-based sentences as an alternative to detention;

(h)The number of children among irregular migrants and asylum-seekers in detention centres;

(i)The number of reported cases, complaints, investigations, prosecutions and convictions obtained for the crimes of sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography, including illegal adoption and sale for the transfer of organs for profit.

(j)In addition, the State party may list areas affecting children that it considers to be important with regard to the implementation of the Convention.