Lists of Issues - CRC - Nicaragua

List of issues : Nicaragua. 21/10/94.

CRC/C.8/WP.2. (List of Issues)

COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS
OF THE CHILD
Eighth session
Pre-sessional working group
17 to 21 October 1994

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 Nicaragua
(CRC/C/3/Add.25)

General measures of implementation
(Arts. 4, 42 and 44 para. 6 of the Convention)

1. Please provide more details about the process of preparing the report, particularly with regard to the involvement of non-governmental organizations.

2. What is the status of the Convention in national law? Can the provisions of the Convention be invoked in court?

3. Please provide information on measures taken to improve mechanisms for collecting statistical data and other necessary information about the status of children as a basis for designing programmes for the rights of the child. Please indicate whether there is a need for technical assistance in this area.

4. Please indicate what proportion of the local and central budgets are allocated to social priorities for children, particularly in the areas of health and education.

5. In view of the information contained in paras 87 to 91 and 115 of the report, please provide details of the progress made in amending the Protection of Minors Act to ensure that its provisions are compatible with those of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, including, in particular, with regard to the system of the administration of juvenile justice.

6. Has the Office of Human Rights Ombudsman been established in Nicaragua? Has the Government considered the possiblity of establishing an Ombudsman for children?

7. To what extent is international cooperation focusing on enhancing the implementation of the Convention? What share of international assistance received by Nicaragua is devoted to programmes which benefit children?

Definition of the Child
(Article 1 of the Convention)

8. With regard to information contained in paras. 16, 26 and 115 of the report, please provide details of any suggestions or recommendations forthcoming from the study being conducted on possible changes to be introduced in national legislation concerning children, including any proposals to ensure the compatibility of national legislation with article 1 of the Convention.

9. How does the minimum age for admission to employment compare with the age of completion of compulsory schooling?

General principles
(Arts. 2, 3, 6 and 12 of the Convention)

10. Please provide further information on the measures taken or envisaged to implement the provisions of article 2 of the Convention, relating to non-discrimination.

11. With reference to information contained in para. 132 of the report, please provide information on the pilot project introduced to provide training for children in survival strategies so that they themselves can disseminate and promote their rights and ensure that adults observe them.

Civil rights and freedoms
(Arts. 7, 8, 13-17 and 37 (a) of the Convention)

12. Please indicate the measures taken or envisaged to ensure that all children are registered after birth. How is registration ensured in the rural areas? What measures have been taken to address the problem of the non-registration of children during the period of the war? In what ways, if any, does the failure to register a child's birth affect the full enjoyment of the other rights provided for in the Convention?

13. In view of the information contained in paragraph 135 of the report, please indicate whether the Government is considering developing and implementing a major campaign to ensure that the new system of identification papers being introduced reaches the entire population.

14. In view of the information contained in paras. 140 and 147 of the report, please indicate the measures being taken by the Government to further sensitize media editors or owners of their obligation to protect children from harmful exposure in the media.

Family environment and alternative care
(Arts. 5, 18 paras. 1 and 2, 9, 10, 27 para. 4 20, 21, 11, 19, 39 and 25 of the Convention)

15. Are there plans to develop comprehensive family education programmes to improve the guidance given, especially to young people, on the responsibilities of parenthood?

16. Have country-wide campaigns, using the mass media, been introduced to prevent violence within the family and sexual and physical abuse of children?

17. Please indicate the measures being taken or considered to prevent the high incidence of rape. (Para. 76 of the report.)

Basic Health and Welfare
(Arts. 6 para. 2, 23, 24, 26, 18 para. 3 27 paras. 1 to 3 of the Convention)

18. Information available to the Committee indicates that children suffer from a lack of adequately nutritious food and that breastfeeding of children is not sufficiently widespread. In view of this, please indicate the additional measures being taken by the Government to ensure that all segments of the population are adequately provided with basic knowledge on nutrition as well as the advantages of breast-feeding.

19. Please provide information on the number of children born to girls under the age of 18.

20. In view of the information given in para. 122 of the report that clandestine abortions are one of the major causes of maternal mortality, particularly among the very young, please provide further information on the availability of family planning education and services in Nicaragua.

21. With regard to the information contained in para. 195 of the report that the health and social security systems are now seeking new alternatives, including the possiblity that some services may be charged, and others may be semi-subsidized and others may be completely free for priority sectors, please provide clarification as to the measures being taken to ensure that such initiatives do not place too great a financial burden on the 70% of the population already living in a situation of poverty.

22. Has the Government taken any steps towards developing a comprehensive housing policy consistent with the State party's obligations under international instruments?

Education, leisure and cultural activities
(Arts. 28, 29 and 31 of the Convention)

23. In view of the information contained in para. 40 of the report please provide details of the costs of sending a child to school. Are any measures being taken or envisaged to assist children from poor families to continue their education?

24. Please provide details of any factors and difficulties encountered and progress achieved with regard to the measures taken to improve the quality of education (para. 51 of the report).

25. Please indicate the progress made towards decentralizing the educational sector (para. 54 of the report).

26. In view of the 150,000 children of school age presently outside of the educational system and the generally poor nutritional value of children's diet provided by the family has the Government considered introducing free school meals as an incentive to encourage school attendance?

Special protection measures
(Arts. 22, 30 and 32 to 40 of the Convention)

27. Please provide information on the extent to which landmines may be considered as a problem affecting children's lives in Nicaragua and whether efforts have been undertaken to remove any landmines still remaining in the country.

28. What concrete measures is the Government taking to halt and prosecute the abuses ranging from searches of homes to the murder of entire families, in which children are not spared, which are caused by re-armed irregular units that are still active in the mountain areas that were the scene of warfare? (Para. 146 of the report)

29. Please provide detailed information on the system of administration of juvenile justice particularly as regards the measures taken:

- to prohibit capital punishment and life imprisonment without possiblity of release

- to ensure that arrest, detention or imprisonment are used as a measure of last resort and for the shortest possible period of time.

30. In addition, please indicate:

- the number of children deprived of their liberty and the reasons for their detention;

- the specific rules which exist for the treatment of young law offenders in the institutions used at present for the custody of such offenders;

- how conditions in such institutions are monitored;

- whether any complaints procedures in cases of ill-treatment exist;

- what education and health facilities exist in these institutions; and

- what measures are taken for the physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration of children involved in the administration of juvenile justice in a manner which fosters the health, self-respect and dignity of the child.

31. What measures are being taken to invest in the prevention of juvenile delinquency at the national level? In addition, please provide further details of any measures being taken to establish suitable centres for the treatment of young law offenders, including through any amendments being considered to the law to provide treatment that is suitable to juveniles. (Paras. 155 and 189 of the report).

32. In view of the information contained in paras 150 to 155 of the report, please indicate the measures being considered to provide training to law enforcement officers and prison personnel about the provisions of the Convention and other international instruments relating to the administration of juvenile justice. Has the Government requested international technical assistance in this regard?

33. Is the Government considering undertaking a comprehensive study or diagnosis of the problem of child labour which could form the basis for designing appropriate policy and strategies to address this issue?

34. Is the Government considering establishing as an offence, the trafficking in children?

35. Please provide brief details on the situation of minority and indigenous children living in Nicaragua, particularly those residing in the Atlantic coast regions and Central North zones.