Committee on the Rights of the Child

List of issues in relation to the fifth periodic report of Uzbekistan *

1.The State party is requested to submit in writing additional, updated information (10,700 words maximum), if possible before 15 February 2022. 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 update the Committee on measures taken or envisaged to:

(a)Ensure the protection of children’s rights in the context of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and to mitigate the pandemic’s adverse impact;

(b)Ensure that the Convention is directly applicable by courts or cited in court judgments;

(c)Develop a multisectoral national action plan and strategy on the implementation of children’s rights with committed and sufficient human, technical and financial resources;

(d)Establish a body at the interministerial level or entrust an existing body within its administration to coordinate all activities related to the implementation of the Convention;

(e)Facilitate the legislative process to establish an ombudsman on the rights of children;

(f)Strengthen the enforcement of laws and mechanisms to monitor corruption at all levels and in all sectors, and punish perpetrators of corruption with commensurate sanctions.

3.Please explain the steps taken to:

(a)Develop a monitoring and evaluation system with a children’s rights perspective for assessing and tracking the impact of resource allocations on children’s rights, including at the level of Mahallas;

(b)Improve access to and the quality of data related to all children in the State party, covering all areas of the Convention including violence against children, mental health, children in street situations and children from minority groups;

(c)Improve the engagement of civil society in the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of laws, policies, plans and programmes relating to the rights of children.

4.Please explain the steps taken to:

(a)Develop procedures and criteria to ensure that the principle of the best interests of the child is appropriately integrated and consistently applied in all administrative and judicial proceedings concerning children;

(b)Ensure the right of all children, including those under the age of 10, to be heard in judicial and administrative proceedings affecting children, especially in civil proceedings and alternative care proceedings;

(c)Ensure that children, including younger children, can fully exercise the right to be heard in the light of the policy and institutional development to increase participation of young people, defined as persons between the ages of 14 and 30 years.

5.Please provide an explanation on:

(a)How the Act on the Protection of Children from Information Harmful to Their Health of 2017 does not unduly restrict the right of children to freedom of expression and access to information;

(b)The progress made in providing broadband Internet access for all educational establishments and in implementing plans to increase connectivity for all children, in particular, children in remote areas and children from economically disadvantaged families.

6.Please describe the steps taken to:

(a)Improve the collection of accurate data on the prevalence and types of violence against children;

(b)Strengthen legislative and institutional frameworks regarding violence against children, and develop programmes for positive parenting;

(c)Establish safe and effective complaints mechanisms for any forms of torture or violence against children by law enforcement officials, and ensure effective investigation of complaints;

(d)Ensure available and accessible services for child victims of violence, and establish a help line.

7.Please update the Committee on the:

(a)Progress made in the implementation of the action plan on deinstitutionalization of 2019 and in the development of services to prevent the separation of children from their parents and to promote their family reintegration, as well as to increase support for substitute families;

(b)Plans to designate a governmental body to lead and coordinate the deinstitutionalization process;

(c)Measures taken to avoid placing children under 3 years of age in institutions.

8.Please provide information on the measures taken to:

(a)Introduce a human rights model of disability;

(b)Deinstitutionalize children with disabilities;

(c)Ensure access for children with disabilities, including those from remote areas, to inclusive education, health, rehabilitation services and reasonable accommodation in all spheres of life.

9.Please provide information on the steps taken to:

(a)Ensure the allocation of adequate human, technical and financial resources in all State health-care facilities to ensure the availability of, inter alia, required medicines, utilities and hygiene materials;

(b)Ensure the availability of mental health services and programmes for children and also ensure that qualified personnel, including child psychiatrists, psychologists, clinical social workers and other specialized personnel, are trained and available in all areas;

(c)Continue to implement programmes on sexual and reproductive health education.

10.Please provide information on the measures taken to integrate special vulnerabilities and needs and views of children into policies or programmes addressing the issues of climate change and disaster risk management, and increase children’s awareness and preparedness for climate change and natural disasters.

11.Please describe the measures taken to:

(a)Increase equitable access to early childhood education services;

(b)Address the disparities in performance in primary and secondary education on the basis of different socioeconomic backgrounds, residence in urban or rural areas, or gender;

(c)Ensure educational continuity during lockdowns related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and avoid the deepening of existing disparities;

(d)Improve overall quality in education, and participate in large-scale assessments such as the Programme for International Student Assessment and the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study.

12.Please provide information on the implementation of the presidential decree of 29 May 2017 regarding access to the territory and to asylum procedures for children in need of international protection. Please indicate the steps taken to facilitate access for asylum-seeking and refugee children to education, health care and social services.

13.Please provide information on the steps taken to:

(a)Establish a formal child justice system or ensure that only specialized professionals can work with children in the justice system;

(b)Ensure that children are not detained together with adults and only for the shortest possible time, including in police custody and pretrial detention;

(c)Promote alternative measures to detention, including restorative justice measures;

(d)Restrict the use of solitary confinement for children.

14.Concerning the Committee’s previous recommendations under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (CRC/C/OPSC/UZB/CO/1), please specify whether the provisions of the Optional Protocol have been fully incorporated into national legislation. Please explain whether extraterritorial jurisdiction has been established over all crimes under the Optional Protocol.

15.Please provide information on the implementation of the Committee’s previous recommendations under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict (CRC/C/OPAC/UZB/CO/1) and the measures taken to ensure extraterritorial jurisdiction over crimes under the Optional Protocol.

Part II

16.The Committee invites the State party to provide a brief update (no more than three pages) on the information presented 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

17.Please provide consolidated information for the past three years on the budget lines regarding children and social sectors by indicating the percentage of each budget line in terms of the total national budget and the gross national product. Please also provide information on the geographical allocation of those resources.

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

(a)Child victims of neglect, ill-treatment, violence and abuse, including sexual violence, and the number of complaints, investigations, prosecutions and convictions;

(b)Drug, alcohol and tobacco abuse among children;

(c)Children in street situations;

(d)Children working in the formal and informal economies;

(e)Children taught in national minority languages;

(f)Cases of abuse and violence against children, including domestic violence, corporal punishment and sexual abuse; investigations conducted; and the outcome of trials, including sentences imposed on perpetrators and redress awarded to victims;

(g)Immunization coverage.

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

(a)Separated from their parents;

(b)Placed in institutions, disaggregated by duration of the placement;

(c)Placed with foster families.

20.Please provide data, if available, disaggregated by age, sex, type of disability, ethnic origin and geographical location, for the past three years, on the number of children with disabilities who are or who have been:

(a)Living with their families;

(b)Living in residential care institutions;

(c)Attending regular schools;

(d)Attending special classes or schools;

(e)Receiving vocational or tertiary education;

(f)Out of school.

21.Please provide, if available, updated statistical data, disaggregated by age, sex, type of offence, ethnic origin, national origin, geographic location and socioeconomic status, for the past three years, on children in conflict with the law who have been:

(a)Investigated;

(b)Arrested;

(c)Referred to diversion programmes;

(d)In pretrial detention;

(e)Serving a sentence for which crimes in detention and the length of the sentence.

22.Please provide information on how a child 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.