Lists of Issues - CRC - Romania - CRC/C/Q/ROM/2 (2002)

List of issues: Romania. 11/10/2002.

CRC/C/Q/ROM/2. (List of Issues)

Convention Abbreviation: CRC
COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
32nd Session
Pre-sessional Working Group
7 - 11 October 2002

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 Romania (CRC/C/65/Add. 19)

Part I

Under this section the State party is requested to submit in written form additional and updated information, if available, before the 29th November 2002.

A. Data and statistics

1. Please provide disaggregated data (by gender, age, minority groups, urban or rural areas) covering the period between 1999 and 2001 on the:

a) number and proportion of children under 18 living in the State party;
b) number and proportion of children belonging to minority, refugee and internally displaced groups;
c) rates of infant and child mortality and of malnutrition.

2. In light of article 4 of the Convention, please provide additional disaggregated data for 2000- 2002, on budget allocations and trends (in percentages of the national and regional budgets) allocated to the implementation of the Convention, evaluating alos the priorities for budgetary expenditures given to the following:

a) education (different types of education, i.e. pre-primary, primary and secondary education);
b) health care (different types of health services, i.e. primary health care, vaccination programmes, adolescent health care and other health care services for children);
c) programmes and services for children with disabilities;
d) support programmes for families;
e) support for children living below the poverty line;
f) the protection of children who are in need of alternative care including the support of care institutions;
g) programmes and activities for the prevention of and protection from child abuse, child sexual exploitation and child labour;
h) programmes and services for street children and abandoned children;
i) juvenile justice.

Please also indicate the percentages of these allocations derived from international sources and its connection to expenses for children's rights.

3. With reference to children deprived of a family environment and separated from parents, please provide disaggregated data (by age and gender) for the last three years on the number of children:

a) separated from their parents;
b) placed in institutions;
c) placed with foster families;
d) adopted domestically or through inter-country adoptions.

4. Please specify the number of children with disabilities, disaggregated by sex and age, covering the period 1999 - 2001:

a) living with their families;
b) in institutions;
c) attending regular schools; and
d) attending special schools.

5. With reference to child abuse, please provide disaggregated data (by age, gender and types of violations reported) over the period 1999 - 2001 on the:

a) number of individual complaints 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.

6. Please provide disaggregated data (including by gender, age, and urban/rural areas) covering the period between 1999 and 2001 on:

a) the 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 teacher per children.

7. Please provide disaggregated statistical data (including by gender, age, region) on adolescent health, including early pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), HIV/AIDS, mental health, suicide, drug and alcohol abuse covering the period between 1999 and 2001. Also, please provide numbers of health professionals working in the health care services for children.

8. Please provide appropriate disaggregated data (including by gender, age and type of crime) covering the period between 1999 and 2001, in particular on the number of:

a) minors, who have allegedly committed a crime, reported to the police;
b) minors who have been sentenced and type of punishment or sanctions related to offences including length of deprivation of liberty;
c) detention facilities for juvenile delinquents and their capacity;
d) minors detained in these facilities and minors detained in adult facilities;
e) minors kept in pre-trail detention and the average length of their detention;
f) reported cases of abuse and maltreatment of children occurred during their arrest and detention.

9. With reference to special protection measures, please provide statistical data (including by gender, age, urban/rural areas) per year between 1999 and 2001 on:

a) the number of children involved in sexual exploitation, including prostitution, pornography and trafficking;
b) the number of children involved in sexual exploitation who received rehabilitation treatments;
c) the number of children involved in child labour who are under 16;
d) the number of street children.

B. General Measures of Implementation

1. Please provide information on the reasons some of the recommendations contained in the Committee's previous observations (CRC/C/15/Add.16) have not yet been fully implemented, in particular those related to coordination (para. 12); legislation (para. 14); legislation on adoption (para. 18); children with disabilities (para.19); active non-discrimination policy (para 21).

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

3. Please give information on the implementation and content of any child rights policy or national plan of action based on the Convention. Please also explain how such policies are developed. Please also explain how the Convention's implementation is coordinated across the action of different relevant ministries, including at national and local levels. Is there a single body with overall responsibility for coordination? If so, what are its mandate, powers and budget?

4. Given the existence of poverty among the population, and continuing serious economic difficulties facing the country, please provide information on policies and measures to reduce poverty indicating how, and to what extent, children benefit from these initiatives. Please indicate, in addition, specific efforts that have been made to ensure that respect for children's rights is not adversely affected by the structural adjustment programme.

5. Please provide information on the progress achieved in the creation of a Commissioner for the Rights of the Child. Please provide additional information on the mandate of the Commissioner with regard to monitoring the implementation of the Convention and receiving individual complaints by children.

6. Please describe measures undertaken to strengthen data collection mechanisms and procedures with regard to the implementation of the whole 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 to briefly (3 pages maximum) up-date 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 responses.

1. The State party's strategy to significantly strengthen the Convention's overall implementation with particular attention to the general principles of the Convention (non-discrimination (art.2), the best interests of the child (art.3), the right to life, survival and development (art. 6) and the right of the child to be heard (art.12)) .

2. Efforts to provide training and information on the Convention and on human rights in general.

3. Legislation, policies, programmes and monitoring of these programmes, to counter discrimination, with particular regard to children with disabilities, children with HIV/AIDS and children belonging to minority groups, in particular the Roma.

4. Birth registration, with a particular regard to minority groups, especially the Roma.

5. Corporal punishment in the home, in schools and other institutions.

6. The situation of abuse and neglect, including sexual abuse within the family and domestic violence.

7. Family policy and institutionalisation and alternative care mechanisms, procedures and facilities.

8. Progress made in strengthening access to and the quality of health services, national health insurance, including hospitals and mental health.

9. Respect for the rights of children with disabilities, including availability of health and education services, assistance with transport, access to buildings, discrimination.

10. Programmes implemented to address the problems of children living with HIV/AIDS;

11. Education, including with regard to the quality of education, enrolment in primary (compulsory) and secondary schools, the access of vulnerable groups to education.

12. Measures taken to counter the exploitation of children, including trafficking of children for such purposes (including economic exploitation, commercial sexual exploitation).

13. Alcohol and drug abuse.

14. Measures taken to implement policies and programmes to prevent the phenomenon of street children and to counter it in a child-sensitive manner.

15. With respect to the system of administration of justice, issues regarding the establishment of a juvenile justice system and the conformity of legislation and practice in the area of juvenile justice with international juvenile justice standards.