Lists of Issues - CRC - Solomon Islands

List of issues: Solomon Islands. 11/10/2002.

CRC/C/Q/SOL/1. (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 initial report of Solomon Islands (CRC/C/51/Add.6)

Part I

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

A. Data and statistics, if available

1. Please provide disaggregated statistical data (by gender, groups and region) covering the period 1999-2001 on:

(a) The number and proportion of children under 18 living in the State party;
(b) the rates of infant and child mortality;
(c) the proportion of children with low birth weight;
(d) the proportion of children affected by malnutrition;
(e) the number of children in domestic and intercountry adoptions. 2. In light of article 4 of the Convention, please provide additional data disaggregated by region for 1999-2002, on budget allocations and trends (in percentages of the national and regional budgets) allocated 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);
(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, including social insurance);
(c) children with disabilities;
(d) the protection of children who are in need of alternative care including the support of care institutions. 3. Please provide disaggregated statistical data (by sex, age, minority groups or ethnic origin, regions, urban or rural areas) covering the period 1999-2001 on the:

(a) number and percentage of children with disabilities;
(b) number of children with disabilities either taken care at home or living in institutions;
(c) number of children with disabilities being enrolled in regular education and how many benefit from the special education system. In addition please indicate the number of schools and teachers involved in the inclusive policy with regard to children with disabilities and provide information on the causes of disabilities.

4. Please provide disaggregated statistical data (by sex, age, regions, urban or rural areas) covering the period 1999-2001 in percentage of the relevant age group on the:

(a) rates of literacy, below and over 18 years;
(b) enrolment in percentage of children in primary and secondary schools;
(c) percentage of children completing primary and secondary education;
(d) number and percentage of drop-outs, repetition and retention;
(e) ratio teacher per children and number of children per class;
(f) number of children in boarding schools and number and locations of these schools;
(g) number of children who attend pre-school education. 5. Please provide disaggregated statistical data on adolescent health, including sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), HIV/AIDS, early pregnancy, early marriages, drug and alcohol abuse, violence and physical abuse, suicide and mental health concerns. 6. Please provide the following statistical data of children (disaggregated by sex, age, type of crime) for the last three years (1999-2001):

(a) number of minors who allegedly committed a crime reported to the police;
(b) number of minors who were sentenced by Courts to sanctions; the nature of sanctions (community service; detention; other types of sanctions);
(c) 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;
(d) number of suspended sentences;
(e) percentage of recidivism cases.

7. With reference to special protection measures, please provide statistical data (including by sex, age, urban/rural areas) per year between 1999 and 2001 on the number of children:

(a) involved in sexual exploitation, including prostitution, pornography, sale and trafficking and the number of those children who were provided access with rehabilitation treatments;
(b) involved in substance abuse and the number of those children who received rehabilitation treatments;
(c) living in the streets and the number of them receiving social (reintegration;
(d) involved in child labour (formal or informal sectors, and domestic work).

B. General Measures of Implementation

1. Please provide more information on the steps taken for the adoption of the Child Rights Bill and the National Policy on Children. More generally, what are the efforts undertaken by the State party to harmonize domestic law with the Convention and what is the legal status of the Convention in the domestic legal order?

2. Please provide information on any mechanism aimed at coordinating both at local and national levels the policies and programmes related to the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

3. Please provide more information on the National Advisory Committee on Children (its structure, functions, etc.) and indicate if there is any mechanism within or outside this body which is mandated to receive and handle individual complaints from children.

4. Please provide additional 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.

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

- new bills or enacted legislation
- new institutions
- newly implemented policies
- newly implemented programmes and projects

Part IV

The following is a preliminary list (that does not contain issues already covered in Part I) of major issues that the Committee intends to take up during the dialogue with the State party. They do not require written answers.

1. Formulation and implementation of a national plan of action.

2. Measures taken to end gender discrimination and discrimination against children, street children, children with disabilities.

3. Measures taken to improve birth registration

4. Violence against children, including in the context of law enforcement and acts committed by the general public; in particular corporal punishment, including in the family and in public and private institutions, including schools.

5. Children in armed conflict: ongoing recruitment of children by armed groups; status of former child soldiers and measures taken to rehabilitate them.

6. Child participation in decisions which affect them, including in schools and in the family.

7. Measures to address domestic violence, sexual abuse and incest and access for victims and perpetrators to recovery and reintegration assistance after abuse.

8. Quality of and accessibility to health services; analysis of infant and child mortality rate fluctuations and measures underway to reduce the rate of mortality.

9. Measures taken to address adolescent health concerns, including reproductive health, mental health, HIV/AIDS and early pregnancy.

10. The access of children with disabilities to education and professional training, and physical access to public buildings. The availability of special education facilities and professional teachers for children with disabilities in need of such assistance.

11. Efforts to regulate pre-primary education. Measures to make education compulsory. Progress made in increasing the numbers of children who complete pre-primary, primary and secondary education. Progress made in improving teacher training capacity. Policy with regard to the common entrance examination. Quality education.

12. Drug abuse.

13. Measures taken to address the situation of street children.

14. Measures taken to prevent the sale, abduction and commercial sexual exploitation of children.

15. Progress made in improving capacity to apply and respect international juvenile justice standards, including addressing the lack of institutions for children in conflict with the law and in need of special protection.