CRC/C/KHM/CO/2-3
(b)
Condemn and take active measures against individuals and enterprises
that enable, facilitate or exacerbate sex tourism; and
(c)
Establish shelters for child victims of sexual abuse and exploitation, and
provide them with rehabilitation, recovery and social reintegration services.
Sale and trafficking of children
73.
The Committee welcomes the numerous measures taken by the State party to
combat child trafficking, including the establishment of the Anti-Human Trafficking and
Juvenile Departments at central and provincial levels and the creation of trafficking police
units. The Committee is however concerned that a large number of women and children
continue to be trafficked from, through and within the country for purposes of sexual
exploitation and forced labour. The Committee also shares the concern expressed in 2009
by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (E/C.12/KHM/CO/1, para. 26)
about the small number of prosecutions and convictions of traffickers.
74.
The Committee recommends that the State party intensify its efforts to combat
the sale and trafficking in human beings, especially women and children, for the
purpose of sexual exploitation and forced labour, inter alia, by prosecuting and
convicting offenders, supporting programmes and information campaigns to prevent
trafficking, providing mandatory training for law enforcement officials, prosecutors
and judges on the anti-trafficking legislation and increasing the provision of medical,
psychological and legal support for victims.
Refugee and asylum seekers
75.
Sharing the concern expressed notably by the Committee against Torture
(CAT/C/KHM/CO/2, para. 24) on the forced repatriation to China in 2009 of twenty
Uighur asylum-seekers, including two children, the Committee urges the State party
to uphold the principle of non-refoulement in accordance with international refugee
and human rights law, including the Convention.
Administration of juvenile justice
76.
The Committee welcomes the limits imposed by the new Criminal Procedure Code
of 2007 and Book 1 of the Penal Code of 2009 on the detention of children in police
custody and during pretrial, and the setting of a minimum age of criminal responsibility at
14 years. The Committee is however concerned that there are no children’s courts or
specialized judges or prosecutors in children’s rights, that children are often sentenced as
adults by the courts, and generally held in adult prisons. The Committee expresses further
concern that:
(a)
The 2001 Law on Aggravating Circumstances in Felony Cases increases
sentencing for theft if committed by two or more offenders and makes no distinction in
sentencing between adults and children;
(b)
The vast majority of children do not meet their lawyer until the start of their
trial;
(c)
There has been an alarming increase in children being detained in recent
years, and alternatives to detention are rarely used despite options provided for by the law;
(d)
Approximately half of children in prison are being held in pretrial detention,
often beyond the legal time limit of two months;
(e)
Poor and deteriorating living conditions prevail in detention centres where
children are held;
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