COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
Twenty-fifth session
Pre-sessional Working Group
5-9 June 2000
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 Colombia
(CRC/C/70/Add.5)
GENERAL MEASURES OF IMPLEMENTATION
(arts. 4, 42 and 44, para. 6 of the Convention)
1. Please provide information on measures taken to integrate the rights of the child and other child-related issues in the agenda of the State party's peace process negotiations and within the Plan Colombia.
2. In light of the Committee's concern (see CRC/C/15/Add.30, para. 8) regarding the gaps between domestic legislation and the Convention, please provide further information concerning the review process of the Code of Minors (1989).
3. With regard to the Committee's recommendation (see CRC/C/15/Add.30, para. 14) regarding the need to strengthen coordination and monitoring of the Convention, please provide further information on measures taken to implement this recommendation.
4. In addition to the information on the National Plan of Action for Children (Pacto por la Infancia) and the Social Leap Forward Plan (El Salto Social) (1996-2000) and in view of the Committee's recommendation (CRC/C/15/Add.30, para. 16), please provide information about the concrete results of the above-mentioned plan and programme, and whether new programmes have been envisaged after the year 2000. Please also indicate whether the State party has conducted an evaluation of the impact of the economic reforms on children and, if so, what were the results.
5. Please provide further information on how governmental institutions cooperate with non-governmental organizations, especially concerning the participation of representatives of civil society in the design and implementation of policies and programmes for children.
6. Please provide updated information on measures taken to implement economic, social and cultural rights to "the maximum extent of [...] available resources" (art. 4 of the Convention) and to allocate budgetary resources for children, especially for those belonging to the most vulnerable groups , such as children belonging to indigenous and Black-Colombian groups, children belonging to internally displaced groups, and children living and/or working on the streets.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES
(arts. 2, 3, 6 and 12 of the Convention)
7. With regard to the implementation of article 2 of the Convention, provide further information on measures taken against the discrimination of vulnerable groups of children. Furthermore, please provide information on measures taken to reduce regional disparities, especially concerning access to health services and education.
8. In light of article 6 of the Convention and with regard to the Committee's recommendation (see CRC/C/15/Add.30, para. 17), please indicate measures taken to protect children from the harmful effects of the ongoing armed conflict and, in particular, regarding the threats posed by landmines to the life of children. Please provide further information on measures taken to protect "street children"from the so-called "social cleansing" practices by armed groups, and indicate the results of the investigations of these crimes.
CIVIL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS
(arts. 7, 8, 13-17 and 37 (a) of the Convention)
9. With reference to the high rate of unregistered children, please indicate specific measures taken to improve birth registration particularly in rural and remote areas of the State party, in light of article 7 of the Convention.
10. With regard to the Committee's recommendation (CRC/C/15/Add.30, para. 17), please indicate whether investigations on the cases of torture of street children, such as those recommended by the Committee in 1995, were carried out. Further, please indicate also the number of cases of police brutality against children which have been submitted yearly to domestic courts and whether rehabilitation has been provided for the victims of such crimes.
Family environment and alternative care
(arts. 5, 18 (1) and (2), 9, 10, 11, 19, 20, 21, 25, 27 (4), and 39)
11. With regard to the situation of children deprived of a family environment, and in particular in the context of the large number of internally displaced persons due to the ongoing armed conflict, please explain what measures have been taken to provide alternative care for this group of children.
12. Please provide further information about the allocation of additional resources, both human and financial, to prevent and combat domestic violence, in particular physical and sexual abuse of children. Has the State party envisaged further measures, including educational ones, to prohibit and eliminate the use of corporal punishment within the family, at schools, and in other institutions?
13. In relation to questions 11 and 12, please indicate whether any review of resource allocation to the Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar (ICBF) has taken place and if so, what are the changes it has brought about (e.g., new policy directives been adopted as a result of this review).
Basic Health and Welfare
(arts. 6, paras. 2, 23, 24, 26, and 18, para. 3, and 27, paras. 1-3)
14. With regard to adolescent health issues and especially in view of the high rate of maternal mortality, abortions, and teenage pregnancies in the State party, please provide further information on measures taken to improve children's access to reproductive health education programmes and related health services.
15. Please provide further information on measures taken to guarantee the social reintegration and physical rehabilitation of children with disabilities, in particular of former child combatants who are suffering from a disability.
16. Please provide additional information and statistical data, on adolescent health, including the consumption of illicit drugs, alcohol and other substance abuse; violence; suicide and other adolescent mental health concerns. Please describe the policies and programmes implemented and/or foreseen to prevent these problems and to provide appropriate counselling, treatment and care for adolescents faced with these concerns.
Education, Leisure and Cultural Activities
(arts. 28, 29, and 31)
17. Please provide further information on measures taken to improve children's access to pre-school education. In addition, please provide updated information on measures taken to reduce existing disparities in access to education between urban and rural areas, and in particular regarding children's drop-outs from school, repetition and illiteracy rates.
Special Protection Measures
(arts. 22, 30, and 32-40 of the Convention)
18. With reference to the recent enacted Act No. 548 (1999) prohibiting the enlistment in the National Army of children under the age of 18, please provide information about:
(a) measures taken to effectively prevent the recruitment of children in the National Army, including recruitment for the military police or other branches of the armed forces;
(b) measures taken to reintegrate in their communities children who have been dismissed from the National Armies;
(c) strategies (political, social and/or economic) developed and implemented to decrease and prevent recruitment of children by guerrilla and paramilitary groups;
(d) resources allocated to care for demobilized children from these groups;
(c) measures taken to implement the recommendations made by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict in his report on Colombia (see A/54/430, paras. 122-127 and E/CN.4/2000/71, paras. 60-71).
19. Please provide updated information on the situation of children belonging to internally displaced families, especially regarding their access to education and to health as well as other social services. Please also indicate measures taken to respond adequately to the high number of displaced children who arrived in 1999 in Bogotá and do not have access to education. In addition, please provide information on measures envisaged to adopt the recommendations made by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) on his report on Colombia (see E/CN.4/2000/83/Add.1 and Add.2).
20. With regard to the information provided in the report (paras. 194-221) concerning the administration of the juvenile justice system, please indicate what progress has been achieved to address the Committee's recommendation on this issue (see CRC/C/15/Add.30, para. 18). In particular, please provide information on measures taken to sensitize judges and lawyers on the principles and provisions of the Convention and on measures taken to enhance the capacity of the re-education centres to facilitate the social rehabilitation of children in conflict with the law.
21. Please provide information regarding the review of the Penal Code and its effectiveness in combating sexual exploitation and abuse of children. Please also indicate whether studies have been conducted on the scope and causes of this problem. Provide further information on the implementation of the National Plan of Action to combat the sexual exploitation of children.
22. Please provide information on the causes and scope of sale, trafficking and abduction of children, and measures taken to effectively address this phenomenon. In particular, please provide information about measures taken to prevent and combat abduction, hostage-taking, recruitment of children, and other violations of their rights in the "demilitarized" zones. Finally, please provide information on the role and effectiveness of the tripartite Task Force in that regard.