CRC/C/TKM/CO/1 page 9 Adoption 40. The Committee regrets the lack of information on the number and types of adoptions (domestic/intercountry) in the State party and notes that while adoptions are registered at the regional, city and district agencies of tutorship and guardianship under the Ministry of Interior, there is no centralized system for the registration of adoptions. 41. The Committee recommends that the State party consider setting up a centralized system for the registration of adoptions which would allow the availability of disaggregated data in this respect. 42. The Committee notes with concern that article 129 of the Marriage and Family Code (providing that a child’s adoption be kept secret), in conjunction with article 157 of the Criminal Code (establishing that it is a criminal offence to breach the confidentiality of the adoption against the adoptive parent’s wishes), may hamper the right of the child to know his or her parents. 43. The Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Take the necessary measures to ensure that article 129 of the Marriage and Family Code and article 157 of the Criminal Code do not impede the right of the child to know his or her parents; (b) Ensure that the best interests of the child are paramount consideration in all decisions concerning adoption; and (c) Consider ratifying the Hague Convention No. 33 on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption of 1993. Violence, abuse, neglect and maltreatment 44. The Committee, while welcoming the information that children who have been victims of violence have the right to lodge complaints with State or judicial bodies, regrets that there is lack of information and data on the extent of violence against children in the home, in institutions, in schools and in their communities. 45. In the light of article 19 of the Convention, and with reference to paragraphs 36 and 37 above, the Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Undertake a comprehensive study on violence in order to assess the extent, the causes, scope and nature of these violations; (b) Strengthen measures to encourage reporting of instances of child abuse in all institutions - including out-of-home placement, orphanages, psychiatric hospitals, schools and juvenile prisons - and to bring the perpetrators of these acts to justice; (c) Provide care, full physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration for children victims of violence.

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