Lists of Issues - CRC - Democratic Republic of the Congo

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

List of issues to be taken up in connection with the consideration of
the initial report of the Democratic Republic of Congo (CRC/C/3/Add.57)

Part I

Under this section the State party is requested to submit in written form additional and updated information, if available (before 6th April 2001):

1. Please indicate the amounts of the overall national budget for the years 1997-2001. Please provide statistical data on the allocation of budgetary resources (as a percentage of the total national budget) for the years 1997-2001 with respect to health care in general, primary health care and HIV/AIDS, children's primary and secondary education, children with disabilities, the demobilisation and reintegration of child soldiers, and assistance to children living on the streets. Please provide information on the proportion of budgetary assistance provided to the Ministry for human rights and to the Ministry of Social Affairs as a proportion of the resources provided to all Ministries.

2. Please provide data relative to poverty in the State party, including data on the proportion of the national population living under poverty levels, disaggregated by region.

3. Please provide disaggregated data indicating the numbers of children affected by HIV/AIDS, including those children whose parents are ill as a result of, or who have died from, HIV/AIDS.

4. Please specify for the years 1997-2000, and disaggregated by gender and age, the enrolment and completion rates, in percentages, in primary and secondary education.

5. Please provide data indicating the numbers of under-18 year olds recruited throughout the State party since 1997.

6. Please provide data, disaggregated by gender, age and region, on the numbers of children who have been internally displaced within the State party. Please also provide data on the numbers of children who are refugees within the State party and the numbers of children who have left the State party as refugees, including children who are nationals of the State party.

7. Please provide data indicating the numbers of children with disabilities, the type and cause of disabilities. Please provide information on the numbers and types of facilities providing specialised assistance to children with disabilities, and the numbers of children who receive assistance through such facilities. Please also provide data on the numbers of children with disabilities who have access to education, including the type of education. Please provide data on any assistance provided by the State to parents towards caring for children with disabilities.

8. Please provide recent statistical data (including by gender, age and type of crime) covering the period between 1997 to 2000 on the:

2) number of minors who were sentenced by Courts to sanctions; the nature of sanctions (community service; detention; other types of sanctions);

3) the number of juveniles detained and imprisoned, the location of their detention or imprisonment (e.g. police station, jail or other place) and the lengths of their detention or imprisonment, including pre-trial detention.

1. Please provide additional information indicating areas of inconsistency and imperfection in domestic law in comparison with the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In particular, please indicate whether the following legal instruments are fully compatible with the principles and provisions of the Convention and other relevant international human rights instruments - the "Code du travail", "Code de la famille", "Code pénal", "Code de procedure pénal", "Code civil", "Code de l'organisation et compétence judiciaires", "décret du 6 decembre 1950 relatif à l'enfance délinquance"? Where there are inconsistencies, please indicate what efforts are underway to amend domestic legal instruments. Please indicate what progress has been made towards ratification of ILO Conventions No. 138 concerning the Minimum Age for Admission to Employment and No. 182 concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour

2. Please indicate what progress has been made in implementing the National Plan of Action for the survival, protection and promotion of children and mothers (1997) and, in particular, the Plan's intended activities as described in the State party report (see page 11 SP report). Please also provide information on any plans for a review and update of the Plan.

3. Please explain how Government policy on the implementation of the Convention is co-ordinated including, inter-alia, with regard to the mandates of the Ministry for human rights and the Ministry of Social Affairs.

4. The State party report refers to the National Committee for childhood, and its role in providing follow-up to the 1990 World Summit for Children and the implementation of a national policy for the protection of childhood. Please provide details of the Committee's work to date, and of the main points of the national policy for the protection of childhood.

5. Please make an assessment of the relationship between Government and NGOs working in favour of children's rights. Please also provide information on the application of the 1999 law under which NGOs are governed. Please provide additional information regarding reports that NGO staff have been arrested and detained.

6. Please provide a brief analysis of the implementation of the Convention's principles and provisions in territory of the State party outside of Government control. Please indicate, in particular, the principal child rights concerns in these regions of the country.

7. Given the impact of the current armed conflict on children, please indicate what efforts are currently being made by the State party to end the armed conflict and achieve a lasting peace.

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.

Under this section, States parties are invited, whenever appropriate, to briefly (3 pages maximum) up-date the information provided in their report with regard to:

The following is a preliminary list of major issues that the Committee intends to take-up during the dialogue with the State party. THEY DO NOT REQUIRE WRITTEN RESPONSES. This list is not exhaustive as other issues might be raised in the course of the dialogue.

1. Plans and policies the government is considering or undertaking to promote and implement the rights of children through-out the country, and taking into consideration the fact that some regions are not under Government control.

2. Measures taken to address the various forms of de facto discrimination, e.g. based on gender, ethnic origin, social status, being born out of wed-lock, etc.

3. Legislative and/or other measures taken to implement in practice the principles of the best interests of the child (article 3) and the right of the child to be heard (article 12). Ways through which the principle of the best interests of the child has been fully taken into consideration in political and administrative decisions. What mechanisms exist to ensure that the best interests of children are considered in the course of the Government's work?

4. Information on the efforts made by the State party to investigate the alleged massacres of refugee children in the Eastern region of the State party in 1997 and early 1998. Efforts made by the State party to address concerns of human rights violations committed, inter-alia, against children and as described in the report of the UN investigative mission (E/CN.4/1998/64).

5. The existing legal and other guarantees which ensure that all children within the DRC have the right to a nationality, with particular attention to the right to nationality of children who are members of minority groups.

6. The practice of corporal punishment in schools, other institutions and in the family; the prohibition by law of the use of violence in the upbringing and education of children.

7. The State party's policy on health, the implementation of such a policy and, in particular, with regard to adolescent health problems and harmful practices.

8. The State Party's polices and programmes for children with disabilities aiming at full implementation of article 23 of the Convention.

9. Existing social services; the percentage of the population covered by social services; to what extent these or other services provide children with protection in cases of abuse. In this regard, also the State party's policy with regard to the placement of children in alternative care facilities.

10. The accessibility of primary education in particular for all children; the quality of teacher training and teaching facilities, including materials; the inclusion of human and children's rights education in school curricula, and the system of special education for children.

11. Measures taken to effectively implement State party programmes with regard to the demobilisation and re-insertion of child soldiers and the implementation of relevant recommendations made by the Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur reporting on the situation of human rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

12. Measures taken to protect the rights of children who are members of ethnic minorities. Efforts made to prosecute civilian or military officials responsible for killings of, or for inciting violence against, children and their parents who are members of ethnic minorities.

14. Measures taken by the State party to end the economic exploitation of children. Measures taken by the State party to end the sexual abuse and exploitation of children, including children living and/or working on the street. Measures taken with regard to the abuse by children of substances such as glue and tobacco.

15. Efforts made to address the sexual exploitation of children, including the prostitution of children.

16. Efforts made to strengthen the judicial process in the State party, including the establishment of a juvenile justice process and measures to strengthen legislation (in accordance with the Convention) that would protect the rights of juveniles in the judicial process. What is the minimum age of criminal responsibility in the State party? Are children aged 16 and above considered as adults for the purposes of criminal law within the domestic judicial system and do they receive the same treatment as adults in all aspects of the proceedings and in any related detention? Efforts made to ensure that juveniles are separated from adults in detention and imprisonment. Measures taken to prevent police brutality against children in the context of arrest and pre-trial detention. Number of children, when deprived of liberty, maintaining contact with family and how often.