Committee on the Rights of the Child

List of issues in relation to the combined sixth and seventh periodic reports of Mexico *

1.The State party is requested to submit in writing additional, updated information, of 10,700 words maximum, by 15 June 2024. 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 provide information on:

(a)The practical implementation of the General Act on the Rights of Children and Adolescents and progress in harmonizing the federal, state and municipal legislative frameworks with the General Act;

(b)The results of the National Programme for the Protection of Children and Adolescents and the National Strategy for Early Childhood Care at the federal, state and municipal levels;

(c)The reasons for the reduction in the budget allocated to the National System for the Comprehensive Protection of Children and Adolescents and the System’s incorporation into the National System for the Comprehensive Development of the Family;

(d)Measures adopted to strengthen the Special Protection System;

(e)Steps taken to provide for a progressive increase in the budget allocated to programmes and services for children and adolescents;

(f)The activities of local human rights institutions working to uphold the rights of children and adolescents;

(g)The existence of data disaggregated by location, age, gender, ethnic group, disability, socioeconomic situation and migration status.

3.Please inform the Committee about policies and measures adopted to:

(a)Address discrimination against children and adolescents on the basis of, inter alia, age, sex, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity, and migration status;

(b)Ensure that public servants of the administrative, legislative and judicial authorities at the federal and state levels apply the principle of the best interests of the child;

(c)Reduce poverty rates and socioeconomic inequalities among vulnerable children and adolescents, particularly those belonging to Indigenous Peoples;

(d)Guarantee the availability of forums enabling the active participation of children and adolescents and mechanisms which ensure that children, adolescents and representatives of civil society do not face reprisals or persecution;

4.Please provide information on the measures envisaged to ensure universal access to birth registration, including on the draft general law to harmonize and standardize civil registers.

5.Please provide information on the measures envisaged to guarantee for children and adolescents the exercise of the right to preservation of identity, freedom of expression, the right to information, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of association and peaceful assembly, the right to privacy and access to appropriate information, as established in the General Act on the Rights of Children and Adolescents.

6.Please provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to achieve harmonization of the definition of the offence of torture in all states;

(b)The impact of the incorporation of the prohibition of corporal punishment in federal legislation and the legislation of some states, the practical implementation of the prohibition in states and the possibility of extending the prohibition to all other states;

(c)The impact of prevention measures in combating violence against children and adolescents;

(d)Specific measures and judicial action taken to address gender-related killings of girls and adolescents (femicide/feminicide), homicides and disappearances of children and adolescents;

(e)The results of measures to prevent violence against and ensure protection for children and adolescents in school settings;

(f)Specific actions to address domestic violence against children and adolescents, including, in particular, action to prevent impunity, and the results thereof;

(g)Measures taken to ensure that children and adolescents are protected in the digital environment, with an indication of whether such measures are based on empirical data and specialized studies;

(h)Measures taken to ensure access to justice and remedies for all children and adolescents, including victims of violence, and the results thereof.

7.Please provide additional information on:

(a)Measures taken to accelerate the harmonization of federal and state legislation on sexual abuse and exploitation, including in the digital environment and the tourism sector, and to ensure their effective implementation;

(b)Existing protocols, mechanisms and specialized services for reporting, investigating, prosecuting and punishing cases of sexual abuse and exploitation, as well as measures in place to ensure rehabilitation and reparation for those affected by such cases;

(c)Specific action taken to establish protocols for digital platforms with a view to protecting children and adolescents from harmful content and sexual abuse and exploitation;

(d)The number of investigations initiated into cases of sexual abuse and exploitation in all judicial districts, how many of these investigations that have been completed, and the results thereof;

(e)Specific measures for identifying and handling cases of abuse and sexual exploitation of children and adolescents with disabilities.

8.Please describe the steps taken to ensure the effective implementation of the federal and state regulations that prohibit child marriage in all circumstances.

9.Please provide information on:

(a)Specific action taken towards the development of a national policy for the deinstitutionalization of children and adolescents at the state and federal level;

(b)Progress made under the National Foster Care Programme in terms of increasing the availability of foster homes and alternative care measures;

(c)Efforts to strengthen oversight of the activities of social assistance centres and progress made towards finalizing the National Register of Social Assistance Centres.

10.Please provide information on:

(a)Specific measures taken to guarantee universal access to quality health services, with special attention paid to early childhood;

(b)The increase in the resources allocated to the National Strategy for the Prevention of Teenage Pregnancy;

(c)Specific action taken to prevent pregnancy among adolescent girls;

(d)The results of measures taken to combat malnutrition in children and adolescents, including measures to combat obesity;

(e)Progress achieved and obstacles faced in the implementation of the National Programme for the Advancement and Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities, particularly in terms of steps taken to stop the institutionalization of children and adolescents with disabilities and keep them in their family environment.

11.Please provide information on:

(a)The results of the National Early Education Policy and progress towards achieving universal coverage of early education;

(b)Progress made and obstacles faced in the implementation of the National Strategy on the Movement to Combat School Dropout;

(c)Specific measures taken to remedy the decline in the quality of education and address learning gaps based on socioeconomic status;

(d)The reasons for the cancellation of the Full-Time Schools Programme and the results of the “School is Ours” (La Escuela es Nuestra) programme.

12.Please provide additional information on:

(a)Specific action taken to ensure protection for returned migrant children and adolescents of Mexican nationality and that adequate account is taken of their special needs;

(b)Measures, procedures and programmes designed to ensure respect for the rights of child and adolescent migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees, stateless children and adolescents and child and adolescent migrants in transit;

(c)Legislative and political measures to prevent internal displacement and specific actions to guarantee special protection for children and adolescents who are victims of internal displacement;

(d)The practical impact of the creation of the Road Map for Comprehensive Protection of the Rights of Children and Adolescents in Situations of Migration;

(e)Specific measures to end the detention of child and adolescent migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees and stateless children and adolescents;

(f)Specific action to ensure the collection of data disaggregated by age and sex on child and adolescent migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees, returned child and adolescent migrants of Mexican nationality, child and adolescent migrants in transit and minors who are unaccompanied or have been separated from their families;

(g)Whether adequate resources have been allocated for the effective implementation of the amendments to the Migration Act;

(h)Guarantees of the rights to education and health for migrant and asylum‑seeking children and adolescents.

13.Please provide information on the following:

(a)Measures taken to adapt federal and state policies, practices and legislation to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, including measures to prevent the recruitment of children and adolescents and the provision of training for children and adolescents by the Armed Forces;

(b)Measures taken to adapt federal and state policies, practices and legislation to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

Part II

14.The Committee invites the State party to provide a brief update, of 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, and institutional reforms;

(c)Recently adopted policies, programmes and action plans and their scope and financing, especially those relating to oversight of activities conducted under the National System for the Comprehensive Protection and Advancement of Children and Adolescents;

(d)Recent ratifications of human rights instruments.

Part III

Data, statistics and other information

15.Please provide consolidated information for the past three years on budget lines for children and social sectors, indicating the percentage of the total national budget and gross national product that each budget line represents. Please also provide information on the geographical distribution of these resources.

16.For the following questions, please provide, if available, updated statistical data for the past three years, disaggregated by age, sex, ethnic origin, national origin, geographical location and socioeconomic status.

17.Please provide the statistical data indicated in paragraph 16 on:

(a)Deaths of children caused by abuse and neglect, suicide and accidents, including road accidents;

(b)Complaints, investigations, prosecutions and sentences related to the sexual abuse or sexual exploitation of children, including within the family;

(c)Teenage pregnancies, including information on whether the pregnancies were terminated or carried to term;

(d)Children who abuse substances, with an indication of the type of substance;

(e)Child and adolescent victims of disappearance;

(f)Children and adolescents involved in non-State armed groups or criminal groups.

18.Please report, in accordance with paragraph 16, on the number of children deprived of a family environment:

(a)In alternative care facilities;

(b)Placed with foster families;

(c)Who have been adopted.

19.Please provide data, disaggregated by type of disability and in accordance with the indicators enumerated in paragraph 16, on the number of children with disabilities who:

(a)Live with their families;

(b)Live with foster families;

(c)Live in institutions;

(d)Attend regular primary schools;

(e)Attend regular secondary schools;

(f)Attend special schools;

(g)Do not attend school;

(h)Have been abandoned by their families.

20.Please provide information on the social and economic situation of asylum-seeking, refugee and stateless children and adolescents and their access to health care, housing, education and the justice system.

21.Please provide data, disaggregated by type of disability and in accordance with the indicators enumerated in paragraph 16, on the number of children and adolescents who are or have been:

(a)In the juvenile justice system;

(b)Arrested;

(c)Referred to diversion programmes;

(d)In pretrial detention;

(e)Serving a custodial sentence, with an indication of the length of 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 these 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 because more recent data have been collected or as a result of other new developments.

24.In addition, the State party might list areas affecting children that it considers to be of priority with regard to the implementation of the Convention.