CRC/C/MKD/CO/2
well as medical history, and ensure that children are informed about the fact of their
adoption and have access to such information at the appropriate age and level of
development.
Access to appropriate information
36.
The Committee notes the mandate of the Broadcasting Council to protect children
from audio-visual content that is potentially damaging to their physical, psychological and
moral development, and that it has undertaken several measures in this regard. The
Committee, however, remains concerned about children’s access to appropriate information
in the different languages and about the presence of pornographic and other inappropriate
content in the audio-visual and print media.
37.
The Committee recommends that the State party continue and strengthen
measures to continue and raise efforts to ensure that children have access to
appropriate information and material and protect children from information and
material injurious to their well-being, in particular by enforcing existing legislation
and guidelines and systematically monitoring content in the audio-visual and print
media, with a view to removing pornographic and other injurious material.
Torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
38.
While welcoming the strengthening of anti-torture provisions through amendments
of the Criminal Code and the amending of the Law on the Ombudsman in 2009 to bring the
institution into line with the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, the
Committee is deeply concerned about allegations of solitary confinement, corporal
punishment and use of batons in the Educational-Correctional Institution.
39.
The Committee recommends that the State party take immediate measures to
remove batons and to abolish the use of corporal punishment in the EducationalCorrectional Institution. In line with article 37 (c), the State party should review or
limit as far as possible the use of solitary confinement in the institution.
Corporal punishment
40.
While noting the prohibition of corporal punishment in schools and the penal
system, the Committee is concerned that applicable law is not interpreted as prohibiting
corporal punishment in the home and is further concerned about the high prevalence of
physical punishment and aggression in the family.
41.
The Committee recommends that the State party:
(a)
Prohibit corporal punishment in the home as a matter of urgency;
(b)
Undertake a review of current legislation with a view to identifying
protection gaps and ending the use of corporal punishment in all areas, including in
schools, in the home, in the penal system, and in alternative care settings;
(c)
Take due account of the Committee’s general comment No. 8 (2006) on
the right of the child to protection from corporal punishment and other cruel or
degrading forms of punishment (CRC/C/GC/8).
Follow-up to the United Nations study on violence against children
42.
The Committee encourages the State party to prioritize elimination of all forms
of violence against children. With reference to the United Nations study on violence
against children (A/61/299), the Committee recommends that the State party:
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