Aruanne

Sotsiaalministeerium Suur-Ameerika 1 10129 Tallinn 18.11.2021 nr 10.1-7/6829-1 Lapse õiguste konventsiooni aruande koostamine Austatud proua Signe Riisalo Välisministeerium edastab Sotsiaalministeeriumile ÜRO lapse õiguste komitee küsimused, mille alusel tuleb koostada järgmine perioodiline aruanne ÜRO lapse õiguste konventsiooni täitmise kohta. Välisministeerium palub Sotsiaalministeeriumil koos asjaomaste asutustega 15. veebruariks 2023 koostada komitee küsimuste alusel Eesti viies kuni seitsmes aruanne ning valmistuda aruande aruteluks lapse õiguste komitees septembris 2023. aastal. Lugupidamisega (allkirjastatud digitaalselt) Eva-Maria Liimets minister Lisa: ÜRO lapse õiguste komitee küsimused 11 lk Mai Hion +372 637 413 [email protected] Islandi väljak 1 / 15049 Tallinn / +372 637 7000 / [email protected] / www.vm.ee / Registrikood 70002526  CRC/C/EST/QPR/5-7 ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSION Distr.: General 22 October 2021 Original: English English, French and Spanish only Committee on the Rights of the Child List of issues prior to submission of the combined fifth to seventh reports of Estonia* 1. The State party is requested to submit in writing the information requested below (21,200 words maximum), if possible before 15 February 2023. The replies should take into consideration the Committee’s previous recommendations (see CRC/C/EST/CO/2-4) adopted in 2017. The Committee may take up all aspects of children’s rights set out in the Convention and the Optional Protocols thereto during the dialogue with the State party. I. New developments 2. The Committee requests the State party to provide: (a) Information on the adoption or reform of laws, policies and programmes, and any other type of measures taken, such as the creation or reform of institutions, significant for the implementation of the Convention and its Optional Protocols on the involvement of children in armed conflict and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography; (b) Information on the measures taken to ensure the protection of the rights of children in the context of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and to mitigate its adverse impacts, including on children’s mental health, in view of the statement of the Committee of 8 April 2020 on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic; (c) Any other information that the State party considers relevant in this regard and that is not covered in the replies to the questions below, including information on obstacles and challenges faced. 3. The Committee also requests the State party to provide information on how the planning, implementation and monitoring of measures for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals integrate a child rights-based approach, including on child participation and data collection, and how they promote the realization of children’s rights under the Convention and the Optional Protocols thereto. * Adopted by the pre-sessional working group on 1 October 2021. GE. CRC/C/EST/QPR/5-7 II. Rights under the Convention and the Optional Protocols thereto A. General measures of implementation (arts. 4, 42 and 44 (6)) Legislation 4. Please provide information on the measures taken to: (a) Enforce and evaluate legislation in the areas covered by the Convention and the Optional protocols thereto, including the Child Protection Act, such as budgets allocated, regulations adopted and child-rights impact assessments undertaken; (b) Regulate the obligations of local governments with regard to by-laws establishing the position of child protection workers. Comprehensive policy, strategy and coordination 5. Please provide information on: (a) The measures taken to develop a comprehensive policy and strategy covering all areas of children’s rights under the Convention; (b) The mechanism for monitoring and evaluation of such a policy and strategy, and the main findings of the monitoring and evaluation; (c) The participation of children in the development, implementation and evaluation of such a policy and strategy; (d) The measures taken to strengthen the mandate of the Child Protection Council that coordinates activities relating to the implementation of the Convention at different levels. Allocation of resources 6. Please provide information on: (a) The measures taken to introduce a child-rights approach to budgeting, at the State and at the local levels, including a tracking system for the allocation and use of resources for children in the budgets; (b) Budget allocations for children in vulnerable situations, such as children with disabilities, children from disadvantaged households, children belonging to language and ethnic minority groups, child victims of abuse, children in situations of migration and children in institutions; (c) The mechanisms in place to ensure transparent and participatory budgeting, involving children and NGOs working in the area of children’s rights; (d) The measures taken to assess the impact of austerity measures, in particular in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, on children’s rights. Data collection 7. Please provide information on the measures taken to improve data collection to ensure that it covers all areas of the Convention, and in particular to: (a) Develop and implement a comprehensive and integrated system for examining the situation of children in the State party; (b) Ensure that adequate child-focused statistics, disaggregated by age, sex, disability, geographic location, ethnic and national origin and socioeconomic background, are collected and published in mainstream statistics on a regular basis; (c) Improve the collection and analysis of data on children with disabilities, children in alternative care, child victims of all forms of violence, including sexual violence, child victims of trafficking, asylum seeking, refugee and migrant children, stateless children and children with undetermined citizenship. 2  CRC/C/EST/QPR/5-7 Independent monitoring 8. With regard to the Chancellor of Justice, please provide information on the measures taken to ensure the visibility of its mandate regarding children’s rights, including with regard to complaints from children and among the Russian-speaking children. Dissemination, awareness-raising and training 9. Please describe the efforts made to: (a) Disseminate and promote the provisions of the Convention, including in child- friendly formats; (b) Provide systematic training on the provisions of the Convention, its Optional Protocols and the Committee’s concluding observations in 2017 to all relevant professionals; (c) Integrate children’s rights into the school curricula; (d) Make the mechanisms of individual complaints known to children. Cooperation with civil society 10. Please provide information on: (a) The progress in establishing a mechanism to systematically involve civil society and NGOs working in the area of children’s rights in the implementation of the Convention, including the preparation of reports, policymaking, programming, budgeting and legislative processes concerning children’s rights; (b) The efforts made to improve funding and financing for NGOs working in the area of children’s rights. Child rights and the business sector 11. Please inform the Committee about efforts made to engage the business sector on children’s rights and to establish a regulatory child protection framework for companies operating under the jurisdiction of the State party, including policies, legislation, regulations, mechanisms for conducting child rights impact assessments, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms and access to justice, in order to report and address children’s rights violations. International cooperation 12. Please provide information on any planned increase to the official development assistance with a view to meeting the internationally agreed target of 0.7 per cent of gross national income. B. Definition of the child (art. 1) 13. Please provide information on the measures taken to ensure that the minimum age of marriage is at 18 years and applied without exceptions and on the measures taken to eliminate child marriage. C. General principles (arts. 2, 3, 6 and 12) Non-discrimination 14. Please provide information on the measures taken to: (a) Revise the Equal Treatment Act (2009) to expand its scope of protection against discrimination relevant to children in line with the recommendations of the Human Rights Committee (CCPR/C/EST/CO/4, para. 11) and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (E/C.12/EST/CO/3, paras. 10, 11); (b) Raise awareness of children and the public about the Equal Treatment Act; 3 CRC/C/EST/QPR/5-7 (c) Provide effective remedies for child victims of discrimination and organisations representing them; (d) Ensure that children in vulnerable situations, including children from economically-disadvantaged households, children belonging to linguistic and ethnic minorities, including Russian-speaking children, migrant children, children with disabilities, child victims of violence and of trafficking, have access to essential services, housing, education, childcare facilities, health care, leisure, and State support; (e) Address discrimination, hate crime and harassment against children belonging to the above-mentioned groups, including the reported harassment of migrant families and children by border control authorities. Best interests of the child 15. Please provide information on the development and dissemination to all relevant professionals working with and for children of: (a) Policies, procedures, criteria and guidance to determine and consistently apply the best interests of the child as a primary consideration in programmes and administrative and judicial proceedings and decisions concerning children; (b) Best interests impact assessment of national legislation, policies and programmes at the national and local levels. Respect for the views of the child 16. Please provide information about the measures taken to: (a) Ensure the effective implementation of legislation recognizing the right of every child to be heard, according to his or her level of maturity, in all settings; (b) Encourage, promote and support the participation of children, particularly children in vulnerable situations, including children with disabilities, migrant children, children belonging to linguistic and ethnic minorities, within the family, community, in schools and in relation to environmental issues, and ensure that their views are taken into account; (c) Train professionals working with and for children on the right of the child to be heard. D. Civil rights and freedoms (arts. 7, 8 and 13–17) Nationality 17. Please provide information on the measures taken to prevent and reduce statelessness among children, including by establishing procedures for the identification and determination of persons as stateless, facilitating naturalisation of children with undetermined citizenship, collecting disaggregated data on stateless children and considering acceding to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. E. Violence against children (arts. 19, 24 (3), 28 (2), 34, 37 (a) and 39) Freedom of the child from all forms of violence 18. Please provide information on: (a) Existing policy, strategy and action plan to prevent and protect children from all forms of violence, including within the family, online and at school, particularly bullying and cyber-bullying; (b) The implementation of the 2016 Child Protection Act with regard to the prohibition of corporal punishment of children and measures taken to promote positive, non- 4  CRC/C/EST/QPR/5-7 violent and participatory forms of child-rearing and discipline for parents, teachers and care professionals; (c) Existing detection, reporting, protection and follow-up mechanisms in cases of violence against children, including on the impact of the implementation of the Memorandum on the Domestic Violence Action Plan for 2019–2023 on children; (d) Existing avenues to seek justice for child victims of abuse and neglect; (e) The existing system to collect and analyse data on the prevalence and incidence of all forms of violence against children. Sexual exploitation and abuse 19. Please provide information on: (a) The steps taken to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse of children, including raising awareness among the public and professionals alike on child sexual abuse and exploitation; (b) Reporting, investigation, prosecution and sanctions imposed in cases of sexual exploitation and abuse of children; (c) The measures taken to protect children from online sexual exploitation and abuse; (d) The progress in establishing child-friendly facilities for forensic interviews for victims of sexual exploitation and abuse; (e) Existing support services for child victims of sexual exploitation and abuse; (f) The impact of the measures taken on the prevalence of sexual exploitation and abuse of children. F. Family environment and alternative care (arts. 5, 9–11, 18 (1)–(2), 20, 21, 25 and 27 (4)) Family environment 20. Please provide information on the progress in: (a) Providing counselling and conciliation services at an affordable rate; (b) Protecting economic rights of women in de facto unions and their children in case of separation; (c) Enforcing child support orders; (d) Introducing the right to family reunification under the Aliens Act; (e) Promoting equal sharing of family responsibilities and support parents in taking care of young children; (f) Eliminating child poverty. Children deprived of a family environment 21. Please describe the steps taken to: (a) Ensure an adequate number of child protection workers; (b) Provide adequate support to families, with a view to avoiding separation, in particular for families of children with disabilities, and widely disseminate information about available support, including in Russian; (c) Phase out the institutionalisation of children, with particular attention to children under 3 years of age, child victims of violence and children with disabilities, and specify human, technical and financial resources allocated to this end; 5 CRC/C/EST/QPR/5-7 (d) Support and facilitate family-based care for children, including for children with disabilities; (e) Establish operating standards for substitute home services, shelter services and foster care, and strengthen the capacity of professionals and foster parents to care for children, including those with specific needs; (f) Ensure the periodic review of placement in alternative care, regularly monitor alternative care settings and establish a child-friendly complaint mechanism for the children concerned; (g) Provide support to children leaving care to enable them to reintegrate into family and society; (h) Protect the rights of children of incarcerated parents, including visitation rights. G. Children with disabilities (art.23) Children with disabilities 22. Please provide information on the measures taken to: (a) Remove physical barriers to enable effective access for children with disabilities to schools and other institutions and services; (b) Develop and implement inclusive education, including by training and assigning an adequate number of specialised teachers and professionals to assist children with disabilities in integrated classes; (c) Ensure access to specialized health and rehabilitation services for children with disabilities, including early detection and intervention programmes. H. Basic health and welfare (arts. 6, 18 (3), 24, 26, 27 (1)–(3) and 33) Health and health services 23. Please provide information on the measures taken to: (a) Address children’s mental health and prevent adolescent suicide; and ensure that the necessary psychological and psychiatric services are available to children, including by equipping schools with multidisciplinary health professionals who can diagnose the early signs of mental health concerns; (b) Address tobacco, alcohol and drug use by children, including through awareness-raising, and introduce community-based drug dependence treatment; (c) Regulate the organisation of rehabilitation institutions for children with addiction problems to ensure that the rights of the children receiving treatments are fulfilled, including with respect to the restrictions on their freedom of movement; (d) Combat obesity and overweight among children; and ensure an adequate provision of school meals; (e) Provide access to sexual and reproductive health services to all children, in particular to children from disadvantaged backgrounds, children with disabilities and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender children; (f) Ensure access to ante-natal and postnatal care; (g) Safeguard environmental health and take into account the special vulnerabilities and needs of children in the preparation, implementation and evaluation of specific policies and programmes. 6  CRC/C/EST/QPR/5-7 I. Education, leisure and cultural activities (arts. 28–31) Education, including vocational training and guidance 24. Please inform the Committee about the measures taken to: (a) Address the decrease in the enrolment rates in primary education and the reasons for the increase in drop-out rates, especially among boys; (b) Review the language and integration policies to facilitate the acquisition of mastery in Estonian for children in Russian-speaking schools to ensure that they learn core subjects that are taught exclusively in Estonian; (c) Ensure the availability of quality teachers, particularly in mathematics and science, including in Russian-speaking schools, and strengthen teachers’ status and benefits; (d) Regulate pre-school education and make it compulsory; (e) Strengthen the quality, availability and affordability of pre-school education for children in situations of vulnerability, including children from economically- disadvantaged households, children belonging to linguistic and ethnic minorities, migrant children and children with disabilities; (f) Enhance the quality of vocational education and encourage boys to enrol in and complete it; (g) Cultivate environmental awareness in school and promote participation of children in environmental issues. J. Special protection measures (arts. 22, 30, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37 (b)–(d), 38– 40) Asylum-seeking, refugee, non-accompanied and migrant children 25. Please describe the measures taken to: (a) End detention of children for migration purposes; (b) Provide adequate reception conditions for children and their families, especially in situations of emergency; (c) Strengthen the mechanism for the identification and assessment of special needs and vulnerability of children seeking asylum; (d) Provide unaccompanied children with qualified guardians and free legal representatives immediately upon their arrival, to represent them throughout the asylum proceedings; (e) Establish mechanisms to monitor the quality of guardianship. Sale, trafficking and abduction 26. Please provide information on: (a) The investigation, prosecution and sanctions in cases of human trafficking involving children; (b) The measures taken to strengthen the identification of child victims of human trafficking; (c) The rehabilitation and reintegration assistance and services provided to child victims of trafficking; (d) The efforts made to prevent trafficking in children and to address its root causes. 7 CRC/C/EST/QPR/5-7 Administration of child justice 27. Please indicate the measures taken to: (a) Establish a system of child justice and integrate restorative justice measures in child justice; (b) Ensure that deprivation of liberty is used as a last resort for the shortest possible time; promote alternatives to detention; and ban solitary confinement for children; (c) Improve conditions of detention, including with regard to access to education and health, privacy and confidentiality of correspondence and prevent violence between child detainees; (d) Ensure qualified and independent legal aid to children in conflict with the law from the very early stage of the procedure and throughout the legal proceedings. K. Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography 28. Please provide information on the measures taken to implement the Committee’s previous concluding observations (CRC/C/OPSC/EST/CO/1). In particular, please indicate whether “sale of children” and “child pornography,” which are distinct from trafficking in human beings, are defined and criminalised in accordance respectively with articles 2 and 3 of the Optional Protocol; whether children between the ages of 14 and 18 are explicitly protected from sexual exploitation in prostitution and their use in pornographic performances and materials; and whether children are not criminalised for consensual sharing of self- generated sexual images. L. Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict 29. Please provide information on the measures taken to implement the Committee’s previous concluding observations (CRC/C/OPAC/EST/CO/1). M. Optional Protocol on a Communications Procedure 30. Please provide information on the efforts made to accede to the Optional Protocol. III. Statistical information and data 31. The statistical information and disaggregated data provided by the State party should cover the period since the consideration of its previous reports on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocols thereto. The data should be disaggregated by age, sex, ethnic origin, national origin, type of disability, geographic location and socioeconomic status. 32. The provision of tables presenting trends over the reporting period is recommended and explanations or comments on significant changes that have taken place over the reporting period should also be provided. A. General measures of implementation (arts. 4, 42 and 44, para. 6) 33. Please provide information on the budget lines regarding children and social sectors by indicating the amount and the proportion of each budget line in terms of the total national budget. 8  CRC/C/EST/QPR/5-7 B. Definition of the child (art. 1) 34. Please provide data, disaggregated as described in paragraph 31 above, on the number and proportion of children under 18 years of age living in the State party. C. General principles (arts. 2, 3, 6 and 12) 35. Please provide data, disaggregated as described in paragraph 31 above, on the number of cases and prosecutions brought before the courts under the Equal Treatment Act on non- discrimination, and the sanctions issued to perpetrators. 36. Please provide data, disaggregated as described in paragraph 31 above, on the number of children who attempted or committed suicide. D. Civil rights and freedoms (arts. 7, 8 and 13–17) 37. Please provide data, disaggregated as described in paragraph 31 above, on the number of stateless children and children with undetermined citizenship. E. Violence against children (arts. 19, 24, para. 3, 28, para. 2, 34, 37 (a) and 39) 38. Please provide data, disaggregated as described in paragraph 31 above, on: (a) Number of cases of violence against children, including corporal punishment, reported to the authorities, investigated and prosecuted, and the sanctions issued to perpetrators, disaggregated by type of offence; and (b) Number and type of protective measures provided to child victims of violence. F. Family environment and alternative care (arts. 5, 9–11, 18, paras. 1 and 2, 20, 21, 25 and 27, para. 4) 39. Please provide data, disaggregated as described in paragraph 31 above, on the number and proportion of families and children receiving economic and other type of support services. 40. Please provide data, disaggregated as described in paragraph 31 above, on: (a) Number of children in institutional care and average days of stay; and (b) Number of children in family-and community based care. G. Children with disabilities (art.23) 41. Please provide data, disaggregated as described in paragraph 31 above, and by type of disability, on: (a) Number of children with disabilities; (b) Number of children with disabilities living with their families and living in family- and community-based care; (c) Number of children with disabilities in inclusive education and in special schools; and (d) Number of reported cases of inhuman or degrading treatment and neglect and sexual violence against children with disabilities placed in institutions, number of investigations and prosecutions carried out and sentences issued. 9 CRC/C/EST/QPR/5-7 H. Basic health and welfare (arts. 6, 18, para. 3, 24, 26, 27, paras. 1–3, and 33) 42. Please provide data, disaggregated as described in paragraph 31 above, on: (a) Number and rate of children with health insurance; and (b) Number of paediatric and mental health services and professionals specialized in young children and adolescents, disaggregated by region. 43. Please provide data, disaggregated as described in paragraph 31 above, on: (a) Number of adolescent mothers; (b) Number of children with drug and alcohol abuse; (c) Number of malnourished and obese children; (d) Number of sexual and reproductive health services available to adolescents, disaggregated by region. 44. Please provide data, disaggregated as described in paragraph 31 above, on the number and proportion of children living under the poverty line and in extreme poverty. I. Education, leisure and cultural activities (arts. 28–31) 45. Please provide data, disaggregated as described in paragraph 31 above, in respect of: (a) Number and proportion of children aged between 16 and 18 years not attending school; (b) Number and proportion of children dropping out of school; (c) Number of children in Russian-speaking schools; (d) Number of children in special schools and in special classes in regular schools for children with special educational needs arising from disabilities; (e) Number and proportion of children attending early childhood education and the average years of attendance; and (f) Number of children in public and private, including religious, schools. J. Special protection measures (arts. 22, 30, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37 (b)–(d), and 38–40) 46. Please provide data, disaggregated as described in paragraph 31 above as well as by country of origin, and accompanied or unaccompanied status, on: (a) Number of asylum-seeking and refugee children; (b) Number of children in situations of migration; (c) Number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children; (d) Number of asylum-seeking and refugee children, and children in situations of migration detained, including in transit centres; (e) Number of children expelled from the territory of the State party; (f) Number of asylum-seeking and refugee children, and children in situations of migration attending school and with access to health care. 47. Please provide data, disaggregated as described in paragraph 31 above and by types of violation reported, on: (a) The number of reported cases and the number of children involved in trafficking; 10  CRC/C/EST/QPR/5-7 (b) The number of such children who have been provided with access to rehabilitation programmes; and (c) The number and percentage of such cases that have resulted in sanctions, with information on the country of origin of the perpetrator and the nature of the penalties imposed. 48. Please provide data, disaggregated as described in paragraph 31 above, and by type of crime, on: (a) Number of children in detention facilities and the average stay, disaggregated by pre-trial detention, such as in police cells, and in prison; and (b) Number of children referred to diversion and non-custodial sentencing options. K. Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography 49. Please provide data, disaggregated as described in paragraph 31 above, on: (a) The number of reported cases of sale of children, sexual exploitation of children in prostitution and the use of children in pornographic performances and materials; (b) The number of such cases that have been investigated, prosecuted and sanctioned; and (c) The number of child victims of such crimes who have been provided with recovery assistance or compensation. L. Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict 50. Please provide data, disaggregated as described in paragraph 31 above, on: (a) The number of asylum-seeking and refugee children entering the State party from areas where children may have been recruited or used in hostilities; and (b) The number of children who benefit from physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration measures. 11