Distr.

GENERAL

CRC/C/15/Add.110
10 November 1999

Original: ENGLISH

Concluding Observations of the
Committee on the Rights of the Child : Russian
Federation.
10/11/99.

CRC/C/15/Add.110.
(Concluding
Observations/Comments)

Convention Abbreviation: CRC

COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

Twenty-second session

CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES
UNDER ARTICLE 44 OF
THE CONVENTION

Concluding observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child

RUSSIAN FEDERATION

1. The Committee considered the second periodic report of the
Russian Federation (CRC/C/65/Add.5) at its 564th and 565th meetings (see
CRC/C/SR.564-565), held on 23 September 1999, and adopted, at the 586th meeting,
held on 8 October 1999, the following concluding observations.

A. Introduction

2. The Committee welcomes the submission of the State party's
second periodic report and takes note of the detailed written answers to the
list of issues (CRC/C/Q/RUS/2) submitted by the State party. The Committee notes
with appreciation the high-ranking composition of the State party delegation
which appeared before the Committee, the delegation's frankness in discussion
and the constructive efforts made to provide additional information in the
course of the dialogue.

B. Follow-up measures undertaken and progress achieved
by the State party

3. The Committee takes note of the efforts made by the State party to
strengthen the legislative base for the protection of the rights of the child in
the Russian Federation, including amendments to the Family Code, Criminal and
Penal Codes and the Education Act, and the adoption of the 1999 Federal
Prevention of Child Neglect and Juvenile Crime Act and the 1998 Federal Law on
the Basic Guarantees of the Rights of the Child.

4. The Committee welcomes the institution of the Human Rights Commissioner in
1997, the establishment of the intersectoral committee and the appointment of
child rights commissioners in five regions and cities. The Committee notes with
satisfaction the commitment expressed by the State party delegation to the
establishment of an Office of Federal Commissioner for Child Rights, following
the recommendations of the Human Rights Commissioner, members of the State Duma
and national NGOs.

C. Principal subjects of concern, suggestions and
recommendations

1. General measures of implementation
(arts. 4,
42 and 44, para. 6 of the Convention)

Legislation

5. While the Committee takes note of the many laws that have been adopted and
amended in recent years, it remains concerned that the State party has not fully
complied with the recommendations made by the Committee in 1993 to ensure that
domestic legislation is in full conformity with the principles and provisions of
the Convention.

6. The Committee recommends that the State party take all appropriate
measures to expedite the process of law reform, especially with regard to
reforms improving upon the administration of juvenile justice and the criminal
justice procedure, the protection of the rights of children with disabilities,
the protection of children from alcohol, drug and substance abuse, the
protection of children from pornography, the protection of children from all
kinds of violence and abuse, including domestic violence, and the establishment
of standards and monitoring mechanisms with regard to all the different
child-related kinds of institutions.

7. The Committee encourages the State party to complete the process of
adopting the necessary resolutions and directives, and to allocate the
professional manpower and financial resources required for the effective
implementation of all child-related legislation.

Independent monitoring structures

8. While the Committee welcomes the institution in 1997 of the Human Rights
Commissioner and of pilot projects for child rights commissioners in a few
regions, it is still concerned at the limited powers and status of these bodies
and the crucial need for the State party to provide for an independent
monitoring structure to review implementation of the Convention within the State
party.

9. The Committee recommends that the State party consider the establishment
of an independent Ombudsman for children at the federal level, with clear links
to similar mechanisms at regional levels, each with a clearly defined and
appropriate mandate, including the monitoring of care and juvenile justice
structures, and powers and resources sufficient to guarantee effectiveness.

Coordination

10. While the Committee acknowledges the State party's efforts to set up a
coordinating committee to implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child,
it remains concerned at the lack of adequate coordination between various
federal government entities dealing with children and at the absence of any
focal point with overall responsibility for child rights strategies, policies
and activities within the State party. Further, the Committee is concerned that
the decentralization of responsibilities and actions from the federal
authorities to their regional counterparts lacks sufficient guarantees to
prevent disparities in the protection of children's rights.

11. The Committee encourages the State party to strengthen coordination
between the various government bodies involved in child rights at both federal
and regional levels, and to consider unifying the different agencies under one
focal ministry in order to promote better coordination. The Committee further
encourages the State party to ensure that the division of responsibilities
between federal and regional authorities provides for the best possible
protection of children's rights.

Budgetary issues/financial situation/State benefit
distribution/funding

12. The Committee is concerned that the prolonged financial crisis has had a
negative impact on the development of children, leading to a worsening of their
living conditions, as well as on the implementation of social investment
programmes and, ultimately, on respect for the rights of the child. In
particular, the Committee is seriously concerned at the widespread poverty, the
weakening of the family structure, the increasing numbers of neglected and
homeless children and children living and working in the street, the high
numbers of suicides, the extent of drug and alcohol abuse and increases in
juvenile delinquency.

13. The Committee recognizes the State party's efforts to temporarily
"target" existing assistance to families with the lowest incomes, however, the
Committee is particulary concerned that those families and children who will not
receive assistance during this interim period will suffer. The Committee is also
concerned at non-, or delayed, payment of State benefits, in particular child
allowances.

14. In the light of articles 2, 3 and 4 of the Convention, the Committee
recommends that the State party undertake all appropriate measures to the
maximum extent of its available resources to ensure that budgetary allocations
for health, education and other social services for children are adequately
protected, in particular for children belonging to vulnerable and marginalized
groups.

15. Furthermore, the Committee encourages the State party to seek additional
solutions to budgetary problems, such as retargeting expenditure or prioritizing
programmes and increasing the proportion of international assistance used to
further the State party's implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child.

16. The Committee urges the State party to ensure that all benefit payments
are made, that the use of targeted benefits is monitored and that the
presidential programmes included in "Children in Russia" all be appropriately
funded.

17. The Committee further recommends that the State party review its
budgetary allocation policies so as to maximize the available resources
allocated to the protection of the most vulnerable groups, and continue to
implement the Committee's 1993 recommendation regarding careful monitoring of
the impact of the economic crisis on the standard of living of children.

Involvement of NGOs

18. The Committee is concerned at the limited implementation of its 1993
recommendation concerning the need to support the involvement of NGOs in the
implementation of the Convention.

19. The Committee encourages the State party to increase its support for, and
cooperation with, NGOs in their efforts to provide training, disseminate
information about the Convention and to monitor implementation, including
through strengthening partnership in the reporting process and in the monitoring
of care and juvenile justice institutions.

Dissemination of the principles and purposes of the Convention

20. The Committee is concerned that the State party's efforts still need to
be increased in connection with the Committee's 1993 encouragement to continue
dissemination of the principles and provisions of the Convention.

21. The Committee recommends that the State party take further measures to
publicize and teach the principles and provisions of the Convention among the
adult population, including professional groups and parents, as well as among
children.

2. General principles
(arts. 2, 3, 6 and 12 of
the Convention)

Principle of non-discrimination (art. 2)

22. While the Committee welcomes the State party's adoption of legislation
banning discrimination, it remains concerned at the growing disparities between
regions, including notably the far north, and between urban and rural children,
in legislation, budgetary allocations, policies and programmes concerning
health, education and other social services and with the situation of children
in need of special protection.

23. The Committee is also concerned at the disadvantaged situation of girls
in rural areas, particularly with regard to access to education, health and
protection from sexual abuse and exploitation.

24. Furthermore, the Committee is concerned at general reports of a growth in
the incidence of racism and xenophobia in the State party.

25. The Committee recommends that the State party intensify measures to
reduce economic, social and regional disparities, and take further steps, along
the line of the Committee's 1993 recommendation, to prevent any discrimination
against children or disparities in their treatment, including with regard to
children with disabilities and children belonging to religious and ethnic
minorities.

The right to life (art. 6)

26. In the light of article 6 of the Convention, the Committee is concerned
at the threat posed to the child's right to life by the rapidly increasing rates
of child suicide and killings of children, in particular concerning boys.

27. The Committee recommends that the State party take all appropriate
measures with a view to bringing about a reversal in recent increases in child
suicide and killing, and to promoting preventive efforts, including a
strengthening of measures already taken to increase crisis intervention and
preventive support and counselling services to assist children, especially
adolescents, and families at risk.

3. Civil rights and freedoms
(arts. 7, 8, 13-17
and 37 (a))

Protection from torture (art. 37 (a))

28. The Committee is concerned at allegations of widespread practice of
torture and ill-treatment, and conditions amounting to inhuman or degrading
treatment, of children living in institutions in general and in places of
detention or imprisonment in particular - including acts committed by law
enforcement officials involving corporal punishment.

29. The Committee recommends that the State party take appropriate measures
to bring to an end and prevent these practices and to duly investigate
allegations and punish perpetrators of such acts. The Committee also endorses
the implementation of the recommendations made by the Committee against Torture
and the Special Rapporteur on torture with regard to these concerns.

30. Further, the Committee recommends that the State party monitor and bring
to an end corporal punishment practices in institutions.

4. Family environment and alternative care

(arts. 5, 18 (paras. 1-2), 9-11, 19-21, 25, 27 (para. 4) and 39)

Abuse/neglect/maltreatment/violence (art. 19)

31. While the Committee welcomes the growing awareness by the State party of
the dangers of domestic violence, the Committee remains concerned at the
persistent ill-treatment and neglect of children in the State party in the
context of the family. The Committee is also concerned at the widespread
incidence of violence against women and its impact on children.

32. The Committee recommends that the State party give special attention to
the problem of ill-treatment, neglect and abuse, including sexual abuse, of
children both within and outside the family.

33. The Committee stresses the need for information and education campaigns
to prevent and combat the use of any form of physical or mental violence against
children, in accordance with article 19 of the Convention.

34. The Committee also suggests that comprehensive studies on these problems
be initiated in order to facilitate the elaboration of policies and programmes,
including treatment and rehabilitation programmes.

35. Further, in the light of the Committee's recommendation contained in
paragraph 21 of its 1993 concluding observations (CRC/C/15/Add.4) the Committee
encourages the State party to promote child-friendly procedures for complaint,
investigation and presentation of evidence for child victims of violence and
abuse, and to reinforce the investigation of crimes committed, and the
prosecution and appropriate punishment of perpetrators.

Review of placement of children (art. 25)

36. The Committee expresses serious concern at prevailing policies and
practices of institutionalization and at the extremely high number of children
in institutions and the living conditions in these institutions. With reference
to article 25 of the Convention, the Committee is also concerned that periodic
review of placement is not systematically guaranteed, and that the Committee's
1993 recommendations in this regard have not been fully implemented.

37. The Committee refers to paragraph 19 of its 1993 concluding observations
(CRC/C/15/Add.4) and recommends that the State party seek to formulate national
policy on de-institutionalization, increase the use of alternative measures to
the institutionalization of children and consider measures to strengthen
community oriented social services.

38. In this perspective, the Committee encourages the State party to take
effective measures to provide families where children may be at risk of neglect
or abuse with support, education and counselling services, so as to prevent the
occurrence of abuse and the need to remove children from parental care. The
Committee also recommends the strengthening of adoption and foster care as
alternatives to institutionalization.

39. The Committee also recommends that appropriate procedures be adopted to
provide for the periodic review of all types of placement. In the light of
article 3, paragraph 3, of the Convention, the Committee further recommends the
reform, including legal reform, of the institutional system by the establishment
of standards for conditions in institutions and their regular inspection, in
particular by reinforcing the role and powers of independent inspection
mechanisms and ensuring their right to inspect foster homes and public
institutions without warning. In this regard, the Committee urges the State
party to seek technical assistance, inter alia from the United Nations
Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization.

Children with disabilities (art. 23)

40. The Committee is concerned at the situation of children with
disabilities, especially children with mental disabilities and children living
in institutions. In particular, the Committee is concerned at the current
diagnostic system and practices, at conditions for disabled children living in
institutions, at the lack of adequate professional assistance for the
development, treatment and rehabilitation of children with disabilities and at
the slow process of inclusion of children with disabilities in mainstream
education.

41. The Committee encourages the State party to pursue its efforts to improve
the early diagnosis of children with physical and mental disabilities and to
prevent as far as possible their being placed in institutions. It recommends the
strengthening of professional treatment services and the support and counselling
provided to families in order to enable children to live at home and to promote
their social inclusion.

42. The Committee encourages the State party to strengthen its efforts to
benefit from international cooperation, in accordance with article 23, paragraph
4, of the Convention, with a view to enhancing policies on integrating children
with disabilities into society.

Intercountry adoption (art. 21)

43. The Committee is concerned at the insufficient guarantees against the
illicit transfer and the trafficking of children out of the State party and the
potential misuse of intercountry adoption for purposes of trafficking, inter
alia for economic and sexual exploitation.

44. The Committee encourages the State party actively to consider
ratification of the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International
Child Abduction. The Committee welcomes the information that the State party is
considering ratification of the 1993 Hague Convention on the Protection of
Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption and urges the
State party to expedite its efforts to accede to the Convention. In the light of
article 21 of the Convention, the Committee recommends that efforts be
strengthened to establish procedures regarding intercountry adoption with a view
to protecting the best interests of the child.

5. Basic health and welfare
(arts. 6, 18, paras. 3, 23, 24, 26 and
27, paras 1-3)

Right to health (art. 24)

45. The Committee notes with appreciation the efforts undertaken by the State
party in the area of basic health and welfare, especially its efforts to improve
maternal health care and reduce infant mortality rates. It also welcomes the
success achieved in complying with the Committee's 1993 recommendation in regard
to immunization programmes. The Committee is still concerned at the persistence
of a high infant mortality rate and at the deteriorating health infrastructure
and services. Furthermore, the increase in parasitic, infectious and respiratory
illnesses (tuberculosis in particular) is an issue of great concern to the
Committee, as is also the increase in malnutrition and the small percentage of
children who are breastfed.

46. The Committee recommends that the State party consider seeking technical
assistance to continue its efforts to reverse the deterioration in primary
health care. In particular, the Committee urges the State party to continue
efforts to cure and prevent the spread of tuberculosis and other diseases, to
continue efforts to reduce the use of abortion as a means of contraception, and
to promote breastfeeding.

47. The insufficient information on preventive campaigns and rates of
HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) is a matter of concern to the
Committee.

48. The Committee recommends that the State Party guarantee the effectiveness
of measures taken to ensure access for adolescents to sex education, including
information about contraception and STDs, measures to promote adolescent health
by strengthening reproductive health and family planning services, as well as
counselling services, and measures to prevent and combat HIV/AIDS, STDs and
teenage pregnancy and abortions.

6. Educational, leisure and cultural activities
(arts. 28, 29, 31)

Right to education (arts. 28 and 29)

49. The Committee notes the State party's efforts on education, especially
the adoption of a new Education Act, which is aimed at ensuring the continued
provision of free and compulsory basic education and increasing the
accessibility of free secondary education. In this regard, the Committee remains
concerned at the growing drop-out rates, the reduction in enrolment rates for
vocational and technical secondary education - especially among girls - and the
deterioration of school infrastructure and of the conditions of service for
teachers, including low wages and delays in payment.

50. The Committee encourages the State Party to collect information on
drop-out rates and their causes, and on the situation of children expelled for
disciplinary reasons. It also encourages the State party to continue its efforts
to shelter the education system from the impact of the economic crisis and, in
particular, to give further attention to the conditions of service of teachers.
The Committee encourages the State party to introduce human rights, including
children's rights into the school curricula as an independent subject.

Access to medical and other social services

51. The Committee is concerned at reports that some municipal administrations
are continuing to prevent parents and their children from having access to
medical, educational and other social services in a city for which they do not
have a residency permit, notwithstanding this practice being prohibited by law.
Its practice is particularly harmful to internally displaced children, migrants
and asylum-seekers, and children working and living in the street.

52. The Committee urges the State party to end this practice of
discrimination against children without residence permits through, inter
alia, training and awareness raising for local government and
law-enforcement officials.

7. Special protection measures
(arts. 22, 38-40,
37 (b)-(d), 32-36)

Refugee children (art. 22)

53. The Committee is concerned at the treatment of asylum-seekers and at the
practice of refusing children and their families, in particular those not
arriving from former territories of the Soviet Union, the right to register
their application for asylum.

54. The Committee encourages the State Party to ensure adequate legal
protection of refugee children, including access to health, education and other
social services.

55. The Committee recommends that a review be undertaken of procedures,
policies and practices concerning the right to register applications for asylum,
especially on behalf of unaccompanied children.

Children and armed conflict, and their recovery (arts. 38 and 39)

56. The Committee is concerned at the lack of respect for the rights of
children in areas of ongoing armed conflict within the State party, such as in
Chechnya and Dagestan. The Committee is concerned, especially, at the
involvement of children in armed conflict, at violations of provisions of
international humanitarian law and at the number and situation of internally
displaced children. The Committee is also concerned at the application, by
courts in Chechnya, of the death penalty and certain corporal punishments,
including mutilation, when sentencing children. In addition, the Committee is
concerned at reports of alleged summary executions, involuntary disappearances,
arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment of children in the region.

57. The Committee encourages the State party to ensure that children and
other civilians are protected during periods of conflict and that support and
rehabilitative assistance, including psychological aid, is made available to
internally displaced children and children living in regions of armed conflict.

Child labour (art. 32)

58. The Committee remains concerned that child labour and economic
exploitation are a growing problem affecting children in the State party.
Additionally, the Committee is concerned at the high number of children working
and/or living in the street who require special attention because of their
increased vulnerability to involvement in juvenile crime, alcohol and substance
abuse and sexual exploitation - including through criminal organizations.

59. The Committee encourages the State party to give specific attention to
monitoring the full implementation of labour laws, in particular in the
"informal" sector, to protect children from being economically and sexually
exploited, including through prostitution. The Committee recommends that the
State party undertake research on the issue of children living and/or working in
the street with a view to improving policies, practices and programmes
concerning these children.

60. Finally, the Committee recommends that the State party consider seeking
technical assistance from the ILO-IPEC when developing a comprehensive policy to
prevent and combat the growing problem of child labour, that the State party
strengthen its efforts to implement the provisions of ILO Convention (No. 138)
Concerning the Minimum Age for Admission to Employment (1973) and that the State
party consider ratifying ILO Convention No 182 Concerning the Prohibition and
Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour (1999).

Drug abuse and other forms of substance abuse (art. 33)

61. The Committee is concerned at the growing problem of alcohol, drug and
other substance abuse among children and their families.

62. The Committee recommends that the State party undertake additional
efforts to prevent the abuse of alcohol by children and their involvement in the
distribution and consumption of drugs. The Committee also recommends that
further measures be undertaken to provide adequate treatment, rehabilitation and
support services to children and their families involved in alcohol, drug and
substance abuse.

Sexual exploitation and abuse (art. 34)

63. The insufficient legislation, policies and programmes to protect children
from commercial sexual exploitation, abuse and pornography is a matter of
concern to the Committee.

64. Further to the recommendation contained in paragraph 24 of its 1993
concluding observations (CRC/C/15/Add.4), the Committee recommends that the
State party undertake a comprehensive study on commercial sexual exploitation
and abuse and the use of children in pornography. The Committee also recommends
that additional legislative measures be undertaken and that services be expanded
in order to enhance the protection of children from sexual exploitation and
abuse, and to ensure the treatment and rehabilitation of child victims. The
Committee further encourages the State party, in its efforts to address
commercial sexual exploitation, to take into account the recommendations
formulated in the Agenda for Action adopted at the World Congress Against
Commercial Exploitation of Children, held in Stockholm in 1996.

Children of minorities or of indigenous peoples (art. 30)

65. While the Committee notes the 1996 Federal National Cultural Autonomy Act
and programmes designed to provide support to minorities, the Committee remains
concerned at the living conditions of ethnic minorities, especially in the
north, and their access to health, educational and other social services. The
Committee is also concerned at the growing incidence of societal discrimination
against children belonging to ethnic minorities.

66. The Committee recommends that the State party take all necessary measures
to protect minority children from discrimination and to guarantee their full
access to educational, health and other social services.

Administration of juvenile justice (arts. 37, 40 and 39)

67. The area of juvenile justice is a matter of persistent and serious
concern to the Committee, in particular regarding the insufficient
implementation by the State party of the Committee's 1993 recommendation on the
need to set up a system of juvenile justice, including the adoption of a law on
juvenile justice and the establishment of juvenile courts.

68. The Committee expresses its concern over reports of police brutality and
torture committed against detained juveniles during the investigation of their
alleged acts, and its concern over the extended periods of pre-trial detention
of juvenile detainees at the discretion of the Procurator. The Committee is also
seriously concerned at the treatment of juvenile offenders living in educational
colonies, places of pre-trial detention or in special educational
establishments, and at the poor conditions of detention and in prisons in
general.

69. In the light of the Committee's recommendations contained in paragraphs
22 and 23 of its 1993 concluding observations (CRC/C/15/Add.4), articles 37, 40
and 39 of the Convention, as well as the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules
for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (the Beijing Rules), the United
Nations Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency (the Riyadh
Guidelines) and the United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles
Deprived of their Liberty, the Committee recommends that the State party take
particular measures to implement, as soon as possible, the planned reform of the
system of juvenile justice, including the adoption of comprehensive legislation
on juvenile justice, the introduction of special juvenile courts with trained
juvenile judges and the revision of the Code of Criminal Procedure, so as to
transfer the power to order the arrest of juveniles from the Procurator to the
juvenile courts, to limit the term of pre-trial detention and to expedite court
procedures and the training of law enforcement and judicial officials in child
rights and the rehabilitative aims of juvenile justice, as provided for by the
Convention on the Rights of the Child.

70. The Committee strongly urges the State party to use the deprivation of
liberty only as a measure of "last resort" in dispensing juvenile justice, as
required by the Convention. To this end, the Committee urges the State party to
make wider use of alternatives to deprivation of liberty, to make the necessary
resources available for administering such alternatives and to restructure
juvenile reform institutions with a view to enhancing the rehabilitation of
juvenile delinquents.

71. The Committee also urges the State party to take immediate measures to
protect the rights of children deprived of their liberty, by providing legal
assistance to children and by improving conditions in places of detention,
including pre-trial detention centres and educational colonies. Further, the
Committee recommends the establishment of an appropriate and independent
child-friendly complaint mechanism in cooperation with NGOs, the timely
addressing of rights violations observed and programmes to assist in the
rehabilitation and reinsertion into society of juveniles following their release
from detention.

72. The Committee recommends that the State party consider seeking
international cooperation and technical assistance with regard to juvenile
justice from, inter alia, the United Nations Centre for International
Crime Prevention, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, UNICEF
and the International Network on Juvenile Justice through the United Nations
Coordination Panel on Juvenile Justice.

Dissemination of reports

73. Lastly, in the light of article 44, paragraph 6, of the Convention, the
Committee recommends that the second periodic report and the written replies
submitted by the State party be made widely available to the public, along with
the summary records of the relevant meetings and the concluding observations
adopted by the Committee. Such wide distribution should generate debate and
awareness of the Convention and the state of its implementation, particularly
within the Government, the relevant ministries, the Parliament and
non-governmental organizations.

©1996-2001
Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Geneva, Switzerland