List of Issues : Venezuela. 30/06/99.
CRC/C/Q/VEN/1. (List of Issues)

Convention Abbreviation: CRC
COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
Twenty-Second Session
Pre-sessional Working Group
7-11 June 1999


IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

List of Issues to be taken up in connection with the
consideration of the initial report of Venezuela (CRC/C/3/Add. 54 & 59)

GENERAL MEASURES OF IMPLEMENTATION
(Arts. 4, 42 and 44, para. 6 of the Convention)


1. In addition to information provided in the initial report (CRC/C/3/Add.54) and in the supplementary report (CRC/C/3/Add.59), please indicate steps undertaken for the full implementation of the recently enacted Organic Law for Protection of Children and Adolescents (Ley Orgánica para la Protección de Niños y Adolescentes).

2. With regard to information provided in the supplementary report (CRC/C/3/Add.59) on the process of decentralization of services for children, please provide further information on how the existing mechanisms (e.g., Ministry of the Family and Children's National Institute/INAM) coordinate activities with all the Ministries involved in children's issues as well as between local and central authorities.

3. With regard to the statistics included in the report and in the supplementary report please provide further information on whether indicators have been developed and disaggregated data collected concerning the status of the most vulnerable groups of children, such as children with disabilities, children infected or affected by HIV/AIDS, child victims of abuse and exploitation, children from single parent families, children belonging to immigrant families, refugee children and children belonging to indigenous communities. What difficulties were encountered in the collection and use of these data and indicators for the design of policies and programmes for the effective implementation of the Convention?

4. Please provide further details on how the existing mechanisms, both at central and local levels, monitor the implementation of the Convention. What consideration has been given by the State party to the establishment of an Ombudsperson for children's rights or a similar independent monitoring body? In addition, please indicate whether the National Human Rights Commission has a role in the monitoring of the implementation of the Convention and indicate whether this Commission is mandated to address child rights issues.

5. With regard to information provided in the supplementary information (CRC/C/3/Add.59, pp. 2-8) on the implementation of the "Agenda Venezuela" and its 14 compensatory programmes for children, 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, both at the local and central levels, especially for those belonging to the most vulnerable groups of society (e.g., children belonging to indigenous groups, children from rural areas, children with disabilities, etc.).

6. With regard to information provided in the initial report (CRC/C/3/Add. 54, paras. 20-30), please indicate what further measures have been taken for the implementation of the Intersectoral Plan of Action for Comprehensive Child and Youth, especially in the context of the macro-economic structural adjustment programme "Agenda Venezuela". In addition, please indicate whether the State party has conducted an evaluation of the impact of the economic reforms on children.

7. With reference to information provided in the supplementary report (CRC/C/3/Add.59), please indicate what further measures have been taken, or are planned, to train professional groups such as judges, lawyers, law enforcement and army officials, civil servants including at the local level, personnel working in institutions and places of detention for children, health personnel and social workers, about the Convention. In addition, please indicate measures taken to raise awareness of the Convention among Government officials, legislators, non-governmental organizations and the mass media, as well as the public at large including children themselves.

8. In light of the information provided in the supplementary information (CRC/C/3/Add.59) concerning the main problems related to the participation of civil society, please provide further information on how governmental institutions relate to non-governmental organizations for the promotion and protection of children's rights and on the involvement of NGOs in the design and implementation of the Convention.

DEFINITION OF THE CHILD
(Art. 1 of the Convention)

9. With regard to information provided in the report (CRC/C/3/Add.54), please indicate if the State party has envisaged harmonizing the legal minimum ages of marriage for boys and girls by raising the age for girls. In light of the information in paragraph 39 of the initial report, please indicate progress achieved in the area of legislative reform to introduce the use of the term "children" instead of "minor" in its domestic legislation.

10. With regard to the information provided in the report (CRC/C/3/Add. 54, para. 47), please further indicate whether the State party has plans to undertake legislative reform to raise the age of sexual consent.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES
(Arts. 2, 3, 6 and 12 of the Convention)

11. Please indicate which specific measures have been adopted to reduce economic and social disparities, including between rural and urban areas, to prevent and combat discrimination against the most disadvantaged groups of children, such as out of school children, refugee children, children belonging to indigenous groups, children with disabilities, children infected or affected by HIV/AIDS, children from single parents, and children belonging to immigrant families.

12. Please provide information on progress achieved on the implementation of specific measures taken or planned to ensure that the principles of the "best interests of the child" (article 3) and "respect for the views of the child" (article 12) are reflected in legislation as well as in actions taken by social welfare institutions, courts of law and administrative authorities. Please also provide some examples of implementation of these principles by courts and/or administrative bodies. Please explain measures taken to ensure that these rights are guaranteed within the family environment.

13. With regard to the implementation of article 6 of the Convention, please indicate whether the State party has undertaken any action on the alleged reports of the killing of children by members of security forces as a result of anti-crime operations.

CIVIL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS
(Arts. 7, 8, 13-17 and 37(a) of the Convention)

14. With regard to the information provided in the report (paras.86-87) and in the additional information, please indicate what further measures have been taken to ensure that birth registration procedures are widely known and used by the population. Please provide information on measures taken to ensure the prompt registration of children belonging to indigenous populations.

15. Please provide further information on measures taken by the State party to foster children's participatory rights as enshrined by articles 12, 13, 14 and 15 of the Convention. Additionally, please provide further information in relation to the participation of children in decision making in the school environment.

16. Please indicate the number of cases of ill-treatment or cases of police brutality against children which have been submitted to domestic courts. Please also indicate 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)

17. Please indicate whether the State party has considered the possibility of entering into bilateral international agreements on maintenance orders. Please indicate if the State party has envisaged acceding to the Hague Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Decisions Relating to Maintenance Obligations of 1993.

18. With regard to the information on adoption, please provide further information on the issue of (immediate delivery) "entregas inmediatas" of children. Please provide further information on how the State party has reformed its domestic legislation, institutional settings and practice as required by the Hague Convention of 1993 on Protection of Children and Cooperation with Respect to Intercountry Adoption.

19. In light of article 39 of the Convention and the information provided in the report (CRC/C/3/Add.54, para. 136), please provide further information on the programmes available, within the children's institutions, as part of the "Assistance Programme for the Child with Special Treatment Needs". Please indicate whether different programmes exist for different groups of vulnerable children.

20. Please indicate whether the State party has envisaged conducting research on the issue of child abuse. 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 other institutions?

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

21. Please provide further information on specific measures taken or planned, particularly in rural and marginal urban areas as well as among indigenous communities, to ensure access to basic services such as clean drinking-water and sanitation and to reduce infant, child and maternal mortality.

22. Please provide data and further information related to adolescent health including, teenage pregnancy, abortion, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), HIV/AIDS, alcohol, drug and substance abuse (e.g., tobacco, glue sniffing), mental health problems, including suicides. What policies and programmes are presently in place or planned for the prevention of these problems and for the provision of care and treatment for persons under the age of 18?

23. Please provide information on children with disabilities, including mental disabilities. Please indicate measures, including legal ones, taken to guarantee the fullest possible social integration, inclusion and individual development for children with disabilities, in the spirit of article 23 of the Convention.

Education, Leisure and Cultural Activities
(arts. 28, 29, and 31)

24. With regard to information on the State party's educational system, please provide information on the adoption and implementation of the National Educational Commitment (Compromiso Educativo Nacional) presented by the National Council on Education in August 1998. Please indicate what specific steps have been taken to improve school attendance rates and to reduce the drop-out rates.

25. In view of the information provided in the report (CRC/C/3/Add.54, paras. 235-236), please provide further information on the establishment of bilingual educational programmes for children belonging to indigenous groups.

26. Please provide updated information on the Ministry of Education's Resolution No 1484, which provides the inclusion of human rights, including children's rights, education in the school curricula.

Special Protection Measures
(Arts. 22, 30, and 32-40 of the Convention)

27. In view of information provided in the report (CRC/C/3/Add. 54, paragraph 182), please provide further information on whether the State party has envisaged enacting special protection measures, including legal ones, for the protection of asylum seeking and unaccompanied refugee children.

28. In view of the fact that the border region between the State party and Colombia has been recurrently referred as a "conflict area", please provide further information on the situation of children living in this region, who are exposed to the negative effects of anti-insurgency military operations.

29. With regard to the administration of juvenile justice (article 37 of the Convention), please provide additional information on the following issues:
- children placed in same cells as adults;
30. Please provide further details on the implementation and impact national policy to prevent and combat economic exploitation of children and to eradicate the most hazardous forms of child labour, especially in the informal sector. Additionally, please provide further information on whether the State party has implemented policies and programmes for the children living and/or working on the streets.

31. Please provide further information on concrete measures to prevent and eradicate the increasing abuse of alcohol and the use and sale of drugs by children. Please indicate measures taken to assist these children in their physical and psychological rehabilitation.

32. With regard to information provided in the report (CRC/C/3/Add.54, paras. 232-234) and in the supplementary information, please indicate further developments on the measures taken to adopt a comprehensive plan of action against commercial sexual exploitation of children?



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