Lists of Issues - CRC - Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

List of issues : Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. 08/02/2002.

CRC/C/Q/SVG/1. (List of Issues)

Convention Abbreviation: CRC
COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
30th Session
Pre-sessional Working Group
4th – 8th February 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 St. Vincent and the Grenadines (CRC/C/11/Add.23)

Part I

Under this section the State party is requested to submit in written form additional and updated information, if possible, before 5th April 2002.

A. Data and statistics

1. Please provide disaggregated data (by gender, age, minority groups, urban or rural areas) covering the years 1999, 2000 and 2001 on the:

a) number and proportion of children under 18 living in the State party;

b) rates of infant and child mortality;
c) proportion of children with low birth weight;
d) proportion of children affected by acute and chronic malnutrition;
e) number of children with disabilities either taken care of at home or living in institutions;
f) number of orphans and abandoned children living either in families or in alternative care;
g) number of children in domestic and intercountry adoption programmes

2. In light of article 4 of the Convention, please provide additional information and disaggregated data (by age and gender) on the amount and proportion of the national budget, devoted to children at central and local level, preferably for the last 3 years (1999-2001), with regard to:
a) education (including pre-primary, primary and secondary education);
b) health care including, inter-alia, different types of health services, such as primary health care, vaccination programmes, adolescent health and related services and health services for children with disabilities;
c) children with disabilities;
d) the protection of children who are in need of alternative care;
e) the juvenile justice system.
f) family courts, in proportion to other courts.

3. Please provide disaggregated data (by age, gender and types of violations reported), on:
a) the number of reports on abuse committed against children received by police and courts per year in 1999, 2000 and 2001.
b) number and percentage of reports which have resulted in either a court decision or other types of follow-up.
c) the number of minors placed in alternative care and the length of time of such placements.
d) the frequency and nature of reviews of placements that are conducted.
e) the number of children provided with access to recovery and reintegration and other assistance.
a) the number of children involved in substance abuse; the number of children who received treatment and rehabilitative assistance; and the number of children who were hospitalised in mental health departments in relation to drug abuse.

4. Please provide disaggregated statistical data including by gender, age, minority groups and region, on adolescent health, including sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS, early pregnancy, covering the years 1999, 2000 and 2001.

5. Please provide disaggregated data (including by gender, age, minority groups and urban/rural areas) for the years 1999, 2000 and 2001on the:
a) rate of literacy below and over 18 years;
b) enrollment in percentage of children, from the relevant age group, in pre-primary education
c) enrollment in percentage of children, from the relevant age group, in primary schools;
d) enrollment in percentage of children, from the relevant age group, in secondary schools;
e) percentage of enrolled children completing primary and secondary schools;
f) number and percentage of drop-outs;
g) average ratio of teachers per children in schools;
h) number of children with disabilities integrated in regular schools.
i) number of children with disabilities in special schools.
j) number and percentage of children passing the common entrance and school leaving examinations;
k) number of children in school upon whom corporal punishment has been inflicted.

6. Please provide appropriate disaggregated data (including by gender, age, minority groups and type of crime) on children in conflict with the law up to the age of 18 for the last three years 1999, 2000 and 2001):
a) number who have allegedly committed a crime reported to the police;
b) number of children in pre-trial detention and the place and length of detention;
c) number who were sentenced by family courts and by criminal courts;
d) nature of decisions/sanctions (including dismissal of the case, imposition of fines, imprisonment, other) and the related offences, and the age of the children involved;
e) where the sanction is deprivation of liberty, please further specify the period of imprisonment;
f) percentage of recidivism cases;
g) number of reported cases of abuse and maltreatment of children that occurred during their detention and/or imprisonment.
h) number of children upon whom corporal punishment was inflicted in the context of detention, judicial proceedings and/or subsequent imprisonment.-

7. Please provide disaggregated data (by gender, age, minority groups, urban and rural areas) covering the years 1999, 2000, and 2001 on the numbers of:
a) abandoned children;
b) street children;
c) children involved in child labour (including the formal and informal sectors and domestic work).

B. General Measures of Implementation

1. Please indicate, with examples, the status of the Convention in domestic law and whether the Convention is invoked directly by courts and administrative mechanisms. Please also describe recent progress in harmonising domestic legislation with the Convention and other relevant international human rights instruments.

2. Please explain the State party's child rights policy. Please provide information explaining the mechanisms through which State policy with regard to children's rights is formulated. Please also indicate whether the State party has adopted a human rights plan of action which include a child rights perspective or a specific child rights plan of action.

3. Please provide a brief explanation of how the State party coordinates the Convention's implementation, indicate which organ is responsible for this task and describe its mandate and human and financial resources.

4. Please describe the mechanisms for monitoring the State party's implementation of the Convention, including a description of the mandate and activities of the State party's Committee on the Rights of the Child. In particular, please provide information on any independent human rights monitoring mechanisms that may exist. Please also indicate whether these or other suitable mechanisms are accessible to children who wish to make complaints of violations of their human rights.

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 of major issues that the Committee may 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 discrimination against children born out of wedlock, street children, child members of certain minorities such as the Caribs, children with HIV/AIDS, children with disabilities, and mothers.

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

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. Improvements to the library system, children's book publications, the broadcast of children's television and radio programmes. Efforts to monitor and address children's exposure to harmful information in the media.

6. Measures taken to strengthen and support the family, including single parent families, and address the abandonment of children.

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

8. 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.

12. Drug abuse and the use of alcohol and tobacco.

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 juvenile justice standards and respect for those standards, including addressing the lack of institutions for children in conflict with the law and in need of special protection.