COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

Forty-first session

9-27 January 2006

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

List of issues to be taken up in connection with the consideration of

the second periodic report of LITHUANIA (CRC/C/83/Add.14)

Part I

Under this section the State party is requested to submit in written form additional and updated information, if possible, before 23 November 2005

A. Data and statistics, if available

1.Please provide disaggregated data (by gender, age groups, minority groups, urban, rural and remote areas) covering the years 2002, 2003 and 2004:

(a)on the number and proportion of children under 18 living in Lithuania;

(b)on the number and proportion of children belonging to minority groups, refugees, and asylum-seekers.

2.In light of article 4 of the Convention, please provide additional disaggregated data for 2003, 2004 and 2005 on budget allocations and trends (in absolute figures and percentages of the national and regional budgets and/or GDP) related to the implementation of the Convention, evaluating also the priorities for budgetary expenditures given to the following:

(a)education (different types of education, i.e. pre-primary, primary and secondary education);

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(b)childcare services, including day care centres;

(c)health care (different types of health services, i.e. primary health care, vaccination programmes, adolescent health care, mental health care and other health-care services for children, including social insurance);

(d)programmes and services for children with disabilities;

(e)support programmes for families;

(f)support for children living below the poverty line (please also specify the criteria for “poverty” and indicate the number of children living below the poverty line and any regional disparities in this respect);

(g)the protection of children who are in need of alternative care including the support of care institutions;

(h)programmes and activities for the prevention of and protection from child abuse, child sexual exploitation, trafficking in children and child labour;

(i)juvenile justice;

(j)juvenile crime prevention, recovery and reintegration;

(k)the protection and support of migrant, refugee, asylum-seeking children, in particular non-accompanied children; and

(l)other social services.

Please also indicate the estimated expenses of the private sector, in particular for health and education.

3.With reference to children deprived of a family environment and separated from parents, please provide disaggregated data (by gender, age groups, minority groups, urban and rural areas) for the years 2002, 2003, and 2004, on the number of children:

(a)separated from their parents;

(b)placed in institutions;

(c)placed with foster families;

(d)adopted domestically or through intercountry adoptions; and

(e)migrant unaccompanied minors.

4.Please specify the number of children with disabilities, disaggregated by gender and age, covering the years 2002, 2003 and 2004:

(a)living with their families;

(b)in institutions;

(c)attending regular schools;

(d)attending special schools; and

(e)not attending any school.

5.Please provide information on the number of children abducted from or to Lithuania.

6.With reference to child abuse, please provide disaggregated data (by age, gender, minority groups and types of violations reported) covering the years 2002, 2003 and 2004 on the:

(a)number of individual complaints/reports received per year in the last three years;

(b)number and percentage of reports which have resulted in either a court decision or other types of follow-up.

7.Please provide disaggregated data (including by gender, age groups, minority groups (including Roma, asylum-seekers and refugees), urban and rural areas) covering the years 2002, 2003 and 2004 on the:

(a)enrolment and completion rates in percentages of the relevant group in pre‑primary schools, in primary schools and in secondary schools;

(b)number and percentage of drop outs and repetitions;

(c)ratio of teachers to students/teacher per child ratio;

(d)number of children attending school abroad; and

(e)number of children not attending any school.

8.Please provide disaggregated statistical data (including by gender, age groups, minority groups, urban and rural areas) on infant and child mortality, early pregnancy, children infected and affected by tuberculosis, and data on sexually transmitted infections (STIs), suicide, mental health problems (e.g. eating disorders, depression), drug use, alcohol and tobacco abuse covering the years 2002, 2003 and 2004. Please also provide numbers of health professionals working in the health-care services for children.

9.Please provide disaggregated statistical data (including by gender, age groups, minority groups, urban and rural areas) on children infected or affected by HIV/AIDS as well as information on programmes implemented to address the problems of these children.

10.Please provide appropriate data (disaggregated by gender, age groups, minority groups, and type of crime) covering the years 2002, 2003 and 2004, on the number of persons below 18:

(a)who have allegedly committed a crime, reported to the police;

(b)who were sentenced and the type of punishment or sanctions related to the offences (e.g. community service, detention, other type of sanction);

(c)detained and imprisoned, the location of their detention or imprisonment (e.g. police station, jail or other place) and the length of their detention or imprisonment, including pretrial detention;

(d)detained in adult facilities; and

(e)reported cases of abuse and maltreatment which occurred during their arrest and detention.

11.With reference to special protection measures, please provide statistical data (including by gender, age, minority groups, urban and rural areas) covering the years 2002, 2003 and 2004 on the number of:

(a)children victims of sexual exploitation, including prostitution, pornography, sale and trafficking and the number of those children who were provided access to recovery and reintegration services;

(b)children victims of substance abuse and the number of those children who received recovery and reintegration treatments;

(c)unaccompanied migrant minors, asylum-seeking and refugee children, as well as the number of children awaiting expulsion;

(d)children involved in child labour (formal or informal sectors); and

(e)street children.

B. General measures of implementation

1.The Committee would appreciate receiving information on intended or planned activities related to recommendations contained in the Committee’s previous concluding observations (CRC/C/15/Add.146 of 21 February 2001) on the initial report of Lithuania (CRC/C/11/Add.21) which have not yet been fully implemented, in particular those contained in paragraphs: 9-10 (legislation); 11-12 (coordinated policy relating to children); 13-14 (budgetary allocations); 19-20 (general principles); and 21-22 (non‑discrimination).

2.Please indicate whether the Convention on the Rights of the Child has been invoked directly in domestic courts during the reporting period, and if so, please provide examples of such cases.

3.Please provide additional information on measures taken to improve the system for collection of disaggregated data on children under 18 in all areas under the Convention. In paragraph 25 of the State party’s report it is stated that the Ministry of Social Security and Labour is drafting a resolution on statistical data about children and that the approval of this resolution is envisaged in 2004. In paragraph 26 of the report it is stated that a register of data will be established in the municipalities in 2004. Please provide information on any progress in this respect.

4.In paragraph 29 of the State party’s report it is stated that the State party envisages the development of a State Policy Strategy on the Child’s Well-being. Please provide information on any progress in this respect, including the proposals on the development of a system of analysis and monitoring.

5.In paragraph 31 of the State party’s report it is stated that according to the National Plan of Action for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in 2004-2005, funds will be allocated for the development of a system for rehabilitation of children who are victims of violence. Please provide information on any progress in this respect.

6.Please provide updated information on the dissemination of the Convention, particularly among schoolchildren, teachers, medical professionals and the judiciary.

7.Please provide information on the role of non-governmental organizations in the implementation of the Convention as well as in the process of preparation of the State party report, if any.

8.Please indicate the issues affecting children that the State party considers to be priorities requiring the most urgent attention with regard to the implementation of the Convention.

Part II

Please provide the Committee with copies of the text of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in all official languages of the State party as well as in other languages or dialects, when available. If possible, please submit these texts in electronic form.

Part III

Under this section, the State party is invited to briefly (3 pages maximum) update the information provided in its report with regard to:

new bills or enacted legislation;

new institutions;

newly implemented policies;

newly implemented programmes and projects and their scope.

Part IV

The following is a preliminary list of major issues (that does not contain issues already covered in Part I) that the Committee may take up during the dialogue with the State party. They do not require written answers. This list is not exhaustive as other issues might be raised in the course of the dialogue.

1.Discrimination faced by minority, immigrant, refugee and asylum-seeking children, in particular in the areas of education, health and other social services.

2.Support for vulnerable families and children at risk.

3.Measures of protection against child abuse and the provision of counselling and recovery services for victims.

4.Children placed in out-of-home care.

5.Domestic violence.

6.Corporal punishment.

7.Education and the problem of bullying in schools.

8.Sexual exploitation of children, child pornography, trafficking and abduction.

9.Alcohol and drug abuse.

10.Juvenile justice.

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