CRC/C/15/Add.231
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(b)
Ensure that the Human Rights Commission has a clearly defined mandate to
monitor the implementation of the Convention, to deal with complaints from children in a
child-sensitive and expeditious manner and to provide remedies for violations of their
rights under the Convention;
(c)
Promote the establishment of local ombudsmen within prefectures, and
establish a system for them to coordinate with the Human Rights Commission once it is
established;
(d)
Ensure that the Human Rights Commission and local ombudsmen are
provided with adequate human and financial resources and easily accessible to children.
Data collection
16.
The Committee is concerned at the lack of comprehensive data on all areas of the
Convention for all children aged 0-18 years, and regrets the lack of information on resources
allocated to children aged 0-18 years.
17.
The Committee recommends that the State party strengthen existing mechanisms for data
collection, and, where necessary, establish additional mechanisms for data collection, in order to
ensure that data is collected on all areas under the Convention and that it is disaggregated,
inter alia, by age for all persons under 18 years, gender and ethnic and indigenous minorities. It
also recommends that the State party gather data on budgetary allocations for children,
identifying the amount and proportion of the State budget spent on children aged 0-18 years in
the public, private and NGO sectors in order to evaluate the impact of the expenditures and also,
in view of the costs, the accessibility, the quality and the effectiveness of the services for
children in the different sectors.
Cooperation with civil society
18.
While noting the information provided by the delegation that there is a growing tendency
to improve cooperation with civil society, the Committee is concerned about the lack of
interaction between the Government and NGOs, in particular, in the area of children’s rights.
19.
The Committee recommends that the State party systematically cooperate with civil
society in implementing the Convention and the Committee’s concluding observations.
Dissemination and training
20.
The Committee welcomes the training activities undertaken by the State party for judges,
teachers, police officers, officials at correctional institutes, probation officers and immigration
officers. However, it remains concerned that children and the public at large, as well as many
professionals working with and for children are not sufficiently aware of the Convention and the
rights-based approach enshrined therein.