Kyrgyzstan - Second periodic reports of States parties due in 2001: Addendum [2004] UNCRCSPR 4; CRC/C/104/Add.4 (5 April 2004)

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COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES
UNDER ARTICLE 44 OF THE CONVENTION

H. The right not to be subjected to torture or other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
(art. 37 (a)) 152 -156 28

I. Abuse and neglect (art. 19), including physical and
psychological recovery and social reintegration
(art. 39) 201 - 205 33

C. Social security and childcare services and facilities
(arts. 26 and 18) 247 - 248 38

2. Children in armed conflicts (art. 38), including
physical and psychological recovery and social
integration (art. 39) 308 - 310 47

2. Children deprived of their liberty, including any
form of detention, imprisonment or placement in
custodial settings (art. 37 (b)-(d)) 321 - 329 48

3. The sentencing of juveniles, in particular the
prohibition of capital punishment and life
imprisonment (art. 37 (a)) 330 50

4. Physical and psychological recovery and social
reintegration (art. 39) 331 - 335 50

C. Children in situations of exploitation, including physical
and psychological recovery and social reintegration 336 - 367 51

Table 3 Financing of Asian Development Bank “Development of
the Education Centre” project 57

Table 4 Expenditure from republican budget on access to and quality
of education 58

Table 7 Expenditure per type of institution as percentage of
budgetary expenditure on education 60

Table 8 General-education schools and hospitals commissioned,
all sources of financing 61

Table 11 Number of children and adolescents in age range 7-17 not
studying in schools or other educational establishments
at start of 2001-2002 academic year (excluding children
not subject to education) 62

Table 12 Children certified by medico-pedagogical boards as not
subject to education, 2000 63

Table 14 Children’s homes and residential schools for orphans
and children left without parental care 64

Table 21 Trends in perinatal and early neonatal mortality, stillbirths
and maternal mortality 66

Table 26 Special education (especially for mentally or physically
handicapped children) 68

Table 27 General-education schools (all types and all forms
of ownership) and pupils at them 69

II. List of main laws and regulations adopted in 1998-2003 in application
of the principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child 73

1. In ratifying the Convention on the Rights of the Child on 12 January 1994, the Kyrgyz Republic took upon itself an obligation to embody the Convention in its domestic law and to secure both economically and socially the rights to which it refers. The requirements that the Convention makes of modern Kyrgyz society represent an important undertaking for the future, for concern for children is above all a duty for adults. Respect for the rights of the citizens of Kyrgyzstan begins with society’s attitude towards its children.

2. The present report has been prepared pursuant to the general guidelines regarding the form and contents of periodic reports to be submitted by States parties under article 44, paragraph 1 (b), of the Convention and the concluding observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child concerning Kyrgyzstan’s initial report, which was submitted to the Committee in 1998. It draws on information received from the ministries and administrative departments responsible for matters pertaining to the situation of children and the safeguarding of their rights, as well as from non-governmental organizations concerned with children’s issues. It outlines the situation of children in the Kyrgyz Republic, showing how it is related to contemporary social and economic processes, and provides information on the measures taken to fulfil the country’s obligations under the Convention, the progress made, the difficulties encountered and the plans for further work.

3. The report also analyses the principal legislation, including laws already in force, that has been adopted in Kyrgyzstan during the period in question to give effect to the provisions of the Convention.

4. The annexes to the report contain statistical tables and a list of laws and regulations and other relevant information.

5. The Kyrgyz Republic has recognized the principles and norms of international law, signed international treaties and agreements on human rights and the rights of the child and taken them into account in its own law. Everything necessary is being done to ensure that the rights of the child and human rights are not only proclaimed but also protected by law.

6. The standards enshrined in the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic are consistent with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants on Human Rights and other international human rights instruments. Under the law of the country, all citizens of Kyrgyzstan are equally entitled to the protection of their rights and freedoms, whatever their national or social origin, sex, language, political or other beliefs, religion, place of abode, property status or other characteristics. The protection of rights and freedoms by the courts is guaranteed.

7. The Minors’ Rights (Protection and Defence) Act, which was adopted in 1999, gives concrete expression to the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Act is of considerable importance: it lays the foundations for the future development of the country’s

system for the protection and defence of children’s rights and is also a model for the incorporation of the rules of international law regarding children into domestic law, which, although less than a decade old, is being comprehensively revised to ensure its consistency with the Convention. For example, following the amendments made on 31 May 2001, the Criminal Code, which was first drawn up on 21 September 1998, contains a separate chapter devoted to offences against the family and minors. The Code of Criminal Procedure of 30 June 1999 covers all the features of the rules of the criminal procedure applicable to minors, etc. In addition, pursuant to the Convention, the Procurator-General’s order of 18 May 2000 on measures to enhance the efficiency of procuratorial supervision of application of the law relating to minors and enhancement of its preventive effect takes into account the provisions of the Convention and of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (the Beijing Rules).

8. In addition to the provisions of the Constitution that contain the fundamental principles for the protection of human rights in Kyrgyzstan, there exists a number of laws and regulations aimed at providing additional guarantees of respect for human rights and the rights of the child. Before they were adopted, a careful review was made of the country’s legislation, with a view to removing contradictions and inconsistencies, including vis-à-vis the Convention. The improvements made to the country’s corpus of law, like the laws and regulations adopted in the period under consideration (1997-2001), are consistent in nature and content with the requirements of the Convention. The Government has adopted a formal decision on a bill whereby the country would accede to the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography of 25 May 2000 and the bill is now before Parliament.

9. With respect to the recognition in the Constitution and other Kyrgyz laws of the rights proclaimed in the Convention, the Convention takes precedence and procuratorial agencies, departmental monitoring bodies and the courts are all able to refer directly to its provisions. For example, judicial practice regarding juvenile offenders, which was generalized in 2001, shows that the courts try cases involving juvenile offenders according to current domestic law with, in most instances, direct reference by the courts themselves to the provisions of the Convention and direct implementation of those provisions by the relevant organs.

10. With a view to ensuring strict compliance with the Convention and the law of criminal procedure, including the rules that specially govern juvenile cases, a bill will be drawn up in 2002 for the amendment and supplementing of the Supreme Court of the Kyrgyz Republic and Local Courts of General Jurisdiction Act. The bill will provide for judges to be divided into groups specializing in juvenile cases.

11. All domestic law already adopted or pending adoption promotes the realization of children’s rights. However, for a number of practical reasons the present system for legal protection of the child is still not effective enough. The chief such reason is that there is as yet no integrated government policy for the comprehensive resolution of problems affecting children. In addition, there is no mechanism for ensuring that all the Government’s measures concerning children are put into effect or for monitoring the application of decisions and holding people to account for it.

12. In the year 2000, a total of 1,112 criminal cases involving minors came before local courts of general jurisdiction. Sentences were handed down in 888 of these cases; the remaining cases were closed for a variety of reasons. As in previous years, property crime was one of the commonest forms of juvenile offence. Most convicted juvenile offenders have no secondary education, come from a broken home or dysfunctional family and have less than satisfactory living conditions. In setting the dates for hearings on juvenile cases, courts look carefully into the justification for remanding the accused minor in custody, since the law provides that remand may only be ordered in exceptional circumstances, when conditions are such that it is the only option and it is warranted by the seriousness of the offence. The minor’s close relatives or lawful representatives, a child education specialist or a psychologist may be present at the hearing together with the court-appointed defence counsel, account being taken of the minor’s age. When an accused minor’s age cannot be determined (identity papers have been lost or no birth certificate is available), the courts will call for a forensic examination. When sentencing minors, the courts examine above all the possibility of imposing a non-custodial sentence and other relevant requirements are also observed.

13. Pursuant to the Constitution, the Procurator-General’s Office is responsible, within the limits of its authority, for supervising the precise and uniform implementation of legislation. Its agents carry out criminal investigations, participate in court hearings as and when provided for by law and implement judicial remedies, including for minors. Monitoring of the application of laws and other regulations is also the responsibility of the relevant ministries and government departments.

14. In 1999-2001, the Procurator-General’s Office carried out more than a thousand investigations into the application of laws concerning minors. Those investigations led to the issuance of 1,073 procuratorial reports, the calling to account on various grounds of 514 officials and the opening and completion of investigations in 35 criminal cases.

15. Verification of compliance with the standards and rules of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by everyone responsible for protecting children’s and adolescents’ lives, health and rights is among the principal aims of the investigations carried out by the Commission for Minors of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic, government ministries, the ProcuratorGeneral’s Office and the internal affairs, education, health and other authorities.

16. The substance of the measures taken to implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child is described in the corresponding sections of the present report. In pursuance of the Convention, the concluding observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on Kyrgyzstan’s initial report and the goals set in the country’s Comprehensive Development Framework, the “New Generation” State Programme for the Realization of Children’s Rights in the period up to 2010 was approved in government decision No. 431 of 14 August 2001.

17. The elaboration of this Programme was notable for the fact that, as well as representatives of State bodies, representatives of civil society, non-governmental and international organizations and children themselves took an active part in it. To ensure that public opinion was widely represented in the preparation of the Programme, two series of regional seminars involving a total of some 1,000 people were held in various parts of the country. They resulted in the submission of over 600 proposals that formed the basis of the Programme. The participants in these seminars also defined methodology, performance indicators and management machinery for the Programme. The Programme aims at creating conditions that will ensure the survival, growth and comprehensive development of all the country’s children, as well as their participation in the life of society and the reinforcement of ethical values in coming generations.

18. As its intended main beneficiaries are children, the Programme takes the interests of families into account. Consequently, in the context of the Comprehensive Development Framework for the period up to 2010, on the basis of the principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the National Strategy for Sustainable Development and in concert with civil society from the village to the oblast level, the Government has declared the greatest possible consideration for children’s welfare to be a key aspect of social and economic change and defined the development of children and the family as the principal focus of national social policy.

19. At all levels of the Kyrgyz Republic, there are bodies that deal with the problems of families, women and children. The Legislative Assembly of the Zhogorku Kenesh has a Committee on Education, Women, the Family and Youth which protects the interests of minors when new legislation is being debated in Parliament. The coordination and conduct of State policy on education and science is the responsibility of the Education and Science Commission within the Office of the President of the Republic. The Government has established a commission for minors and given it responsibility for: coordinating the efforts of State agencies and voluntary associations to prevent child vagrancy and juvenile crime; finding accommodation for, and protecting the rights of, children and adolescents; monitoring the reform of minors in the institutions attached to various ministries; assisting in work with children and adolescents,
and so on. Similar bodies have been established in the regions. For example, further to government decision No. 3 of 3 January 2001 on the implementation of the two presidential decrees of 28 December 2000 on the reorganization of the central organs of State management and measures for the further improvement of State bodies’ management structures, a section to oversee respect for human rights and freedoms and compliance with the laws on minors, the enforcement of judicial sentences and drug-abuse control has been established within the ProcuratorGeneral’s Office. This section is also responsible for defending children’s
rights and ensuring that they are observed and has ties with a number of international and nongovernmental organizations, including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the International Organization for Migration. Similar structures have been established in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and Culture, etc.

20. The “New Generation” Programme provides for effective coordination regarding policy towards children between central and local bodies and independent institutions.

21. In recent years, government agencies and non-governmental and international organizations have begun to conduct joint activities on behalf of children (verification of compliance with children’s rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, holding of conferences, forums and training courses, etc.). Over 500 family- and childrelated nongovernmental organizations are registered in the Kyrgyz Republic.

22. The education system has been extensively overhauled at all levels from preschool to postgraduate. Now the country’s educational policy is aimed at preserving the positive achievements of the past and reforming education through the introduction of new approaches and technologies conducive to adjustment to a market economy and integration in the global community.

23. The strategy for the development of education is based on the Constitution, the Education Act and the State Educational Doctrine that was adopted in 2000.

24. Elaboration of State educational standards continues. The efforts to reform curricula, create a greater variety of schools, adapt schools to pupils’ personalities and needs and the requirements of a free-market economy and decentralized management of the school system are aimed at the realization of children’s right to education. The educational system is becoming very open, thanks to the establishment of links with foreign institutions.

25. The country now has a multilevel education system comprising institutions that vary in type, form of ownership and focus of activity. There are over 1,130,000 pupils in State generaleducation schools and 7,500 pupils in general-education residential schools (see annex I, table 1).

26. The development of the country’s human resources presupposes the accessibility of good quality education. As money is short, efforts to support the education system continue in the light of the constraints of a market economy. Expenditure on education accounts for one fifth of expenditure from the State budget (see annex I, table 2) but fell as a proportion of GDP from 5 per cent in 1997 to 3.4 per cent in 2001. In connection with the country’s Bilim (“Knowledge”) Programme and in support of the Government’s policy for reform of the education sector, an Asian Development Bank programme, the Education Sector Development Programme, which covers the period 1998-2002 and is for a total amount of US$ 42.2 million, is now being carried out (see annex I, table 3). Expenditure under the Programme in 19992000 totalled 300.7 million soms, including 41.7 million soms as internal co-financing (Government share). To facilitate access to education, the heating systems have been rebuilt in 130 schools (cost: over 130,000 soms) and 22,000 desks, 44,000 chairs for pupils, 5,300 chairs for teachers, 1,600 tables for teachers and 1,600 cupboards for pupils have been supplied to educational establishments. The number of textbooks printed and distributed to schools in 19992000 was 619,000 and it is planned to supply 91 sets of equipment for the teaching of physics, chemistry or biology and to fit out 273 special-purpose rooms.

27. Because of the inadequacy and unreliability of financing, access to education has tended to become more difficult in recent years, especially for the poorer members of society. Since 1999, therefore, students from poorer families have been supported from the Education Fund (see annex I, table 4).

28. In addition, five children’s homes and 15 special residential schools catering for a total of some 3,000 children were transferred as from 1996 to funding from the State budget so as to ensure their full and timely financing.

29. Family-type children’s homes are also supported from the State budget (see annex I, table 5). The total allocation to them in 1997-2000 was 3.3 million soms.

30. Breakdowns of national-budget spending by type of educational establishment appear in annex I, tables 6 and 7.

31. To improve financing, the budget is now being prepared on a programme basis (redistribution of resources to basic education). This entails defining key objectives and activities in the education sector for the medium term and the inclusion in the budget only of highpriority measures that can be fully funded.

32. Because the allocations from the budget are inadequate, development is in hand of a system of voluntary contributions linked to supplementary education. This will provide additional financing for the general-education system and optimize the ways in which parents and the public at large participate in the operation of general-education schools.

33. The Government is giving what priority it can to the financing of the educational wage bill. The overall level of educational services and quality of teaching are currently declining as teachers move to commercial entities because of low wages. With a view to ensuring that schools are adequately staffed, changes have been made in grade differentials within the Unified Salary Rate System for budget-sector specialists and officials (government decision No. 609 of 3 October 2000) and the Status of Teachers Act has been amended so as to increase the salary supplements for heads of year to 75 soms in years 1-4 and 100 soms in years 511 and to augment the supplements paid to young specialized teachers according to their place of work (100 soms in towns, 200 soms in villages and 300 soms in border areas).

34. The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education and Culture are working together to coordinate the training of specialists in the required numbers and to eliminate duplicate training in higher and secondary vocational educational establishments and branches thereof. The plan for admission to specialized teacher training is being fine-tuned and machinery is being developed for encouraging people to train as teachers of technical subjects.

35. Pursuant to government decision No. 793 of 4 December 1998 on the reinvestment of savings in the health sector, there has been no decline in State budget expenditure on that sector. In 2000 and 2001, national-budget allocations to the health sector amounted to 320.5 and 365.3 million soms respectively, and the proportions of the allocations actually spent were 99.8 per cent (319.9 million soms) and 88.6 per cent (323.7 million soms) respectively.

36. In 1999, when the total national health budget was 275.5 million soms, spending on children’s health-care institutions (a clinical hospital, the Cholpon Ata hospital for children with tuberculosis, a midwifery and paediatrics institute and the Children’s Centre) amounted to 23,503,500 soms, or 100 per cent of the planned amount. Local-budget financing of children’s hospitals amounted to 78,617,000 soms in 1999, 86,426,500 soms in 2000 and 959,342,000 soms in 2001. Children are treated in specialized clinics and polyclinics along with adults.

37. Of the humanitarian assistance received in 1999, 3.7 million soms were spent on immunoprophylaxis, 1.3 million soms on medicines from UNICEF and 1.5 million soms on medical examinations for children.

38. Taking into account all sources of financing, hospitals with a total of 1,192 beds and generaleducation schools for a total of 34,384 pupils have been commissioned since 1997 (see annex I, table 8).

39. Many of the Government’s and other central authorities’ actions on behalf of children are undertaken with organizational, methodological and financial support from international organizations. This was true of the elaboration and adoption of the Comprehensive Development Framework for the period to 2010 (United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)) and the “New Generation” Programme for the same period (UNICEF, European Children’s Fund (United Kingdom), Save the Children (Denmark), etc.). As a further example, the Zhogorku Kenesh has this year passed a law ratifying the agreement between the Ministry of Health and Red Barnet on cooperation in establishing in Kyrgyzstan a centre for the reintegration and rehabilitation of orphaned and disabled children. Under an agreement
signed in April 1996 with the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection on cooperation in improving the situation of disabled children, Save the Children is providing help in the
amount of 4.8 million Danish kroner (730,000 dollars) for children in that Ministry’s three psychoneurological children’s homes and in the children’s home in Chui-Tokmok of the Ministry of Health.

40. In 1999, a day centre for 12 children was opened at the Chui-Tokmok children’s home. The United States Mercy Corps and Save the Children provided 31,500 dollars for its construction. Save the Children also provided 1.1 million Danish kroner (approximately 157,200 dollars) for the building and fitting-out at the Bishkek Specialized Children’s Home of a reintegration and rehabilitation centre for orphaned and disabled children.

41. In 1998, the Government of Norway provided 1 million dollars for the construction of the Bishkek Centre for Homeless Children. The Centre, which opened in October 2000, is one of the institutions providing services for children in Bishkek and houses 70 children in need of social and legal assistance.

42. The Ak Zhol children’s refuge in Bishkek was set up and operates thanks to voluntary contributions from international organizations.

43. The Meerim International Charitable Foundation does a great deal of useful work in support of education, orphaned and disabled children, mother and child health, and the development of moral and artistic standards among children and young people, including those who have particular gifts. Thanks to support from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNICEF and the Government, education centres and centres for the social rehabilitation of disabled children have been established in various parts (oblasts, towns and regions) of the country.

44. The principal results of the Orphans’ Support Programme have been the opening with the support of the Meerim Foundation, SOS-Kinderdorf International and SOS-Children’s Villages Kyrgyzstan, under the personal patronage of Mr. M.D. Akaev, Director of the Meerim Foundation, of a health and aid centre for young people and the building of the Altyn Balalyk Children’s Centre, which will be the country’s only intensive rehabilitation centre for children.

45. Under the Young Talents Programme there will be annual international festivals bringing together winners of regional and nationwide competitions as well as young people from neighbouring and more distant countries.

46. The Meerim Foundation provides grants for gifted children enabling them to take part in competitions in many parts of the world.

47. The principal bodies involved in the dissemination to adults and children of information about the principles and provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child are the Government and its Commission for Minors, the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Procurator-General’s Office and other relevant ministries and government departments, the mass media, non-governmental organizations and UNICEF, UNDP, the European Children’s Fund and Save the Children (United Kingdom).

48. The text of the Convention has been supplied to all the regions of the country and State and non-State structures. In 1994, it was published in the journal Ukuk (Law) and in 1997, with support from the Government and the education promotion fund of the city of DzhalalAbad, it was translated and published in 20,000 copies in three languages (Kyrgyz, Uzbek and Russian). In 2000, a children’s rights group published, for use in teaching children’s and human rights in generaleducation schools, 1,250 copies in Kyrgyz and Russian of an illustrated book containing both a simplified version and the official text of the Convention.

49. A children’s rights newsletter entitled “Chaika”(Seagull) designed for adults and children is published with the support of the National Endowment for Democracy.

50. The Convention is reflected in school curricula and in educational activities for parents. More than 2,000 copies of it were distributed within the education system and to the public at large during the reporting period.

51. To ensure that public officials and professional bodies that work directly with children or on their behalf know about the Convention, there are regular seminars, conferences, training courses and mass-media reports involving workers from the fields of education, health, employment and social protection, law enforcement, and non-governmental and international organizations. For example, in 1999-2001 procurators gave more than 300 presentations concerning the principles and provisions of the Convention through the mass media, seminars, lectures and round tables, including events for children in penal establishments or children’s homes or refuges. The ministries of education and culture and of labour and social protection, as

well as other ministries, are also active in this regard. Human rights teaching aids are available for pupils in schools’ senior classes. The International Committee of the Red Cross and the Ministry of Education and Culture have produced a textbook on “the individual and society” which sets out not only the mandatory course content but also the fundamental ideas of international humanitarian law relating to children.

52. Implementation of the Convention is the subject of a study tour to various parts of the country by the Government’s Commission for Minors and of review at the Commission’s meetings.

53. With the support of the Government and of non-governmental and international organizations, the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection hold annual children’s forums entitled “Children in the modern world”, “The rights of the child through the mouths of children” and “Children and the law”.

54. A national campaign in connection with the special “Say yes for children” session of the United Nations General Assembly encouraged young people and children in Kyrgyzstan to think and ask questions about the situation of minors and that of adults.

55. Measures to ensure wide public familiarity with the contents of the present report began during its preparation. Presidential order No. 133 of 10 April 2001 established an interdepartmental committee comprising representatives of government structures to draw up the report, a process in which representatives of six non-governmental and four international organizations were also involved.

56. The interdepartmental committee held a number of meetings and consultations in the course of its work. The draft report was circulated to all the country’s ministries, as well as to State committees, administrative departments and State commissions and to nongovernmental and international organizations, and their comments and suggestions were taken into account in preparing the final version. Special measures were taken to ensure that the report was widely accessible to the public, including printing it in large numbers, publishing extracts in the press and discussing it on radio and television.

57. The concluding observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the country’s initial report on implementation of the Convention were repeatedly discussed at meetings of senior members of the Government, in which representatives of governmental, nongovernmental and international organizations and members of Parliament also took part. The concluding observations were extensively used in the preparation of the “New Generation” Programme and were also publicized in the mass media and reported to all State structures and to nongovernmental and international organizations. Some 40 non-governmental organizations took part in the activities to give effect to the Committee’s comments.

58. The initial report is available in electronic form in two databases, Toktom and Advizer, that are accessible to government officials, students of law, political and economic analysts, lawyers, students and others.

59. Domestic law still contains no specific definition of the child as an independent entity with a clear legal status. However, the legal status of citizens of an age corresponding to that of a “child” as the term is employed in the Convention is governed by individual laws of the Kyrgyz Republic.

60. For example, the Minors’ Rights (Protection and Defence) Act defines a minor as follows: “In the Kyrgyz Republic, children are recognized as minors until they have attained the age of 18 years”. More specifically, a definition of minors that does not preclude identity of the concepts “minor” and “child” is given in the Civil Code, the Criminal Code and the Administrative Liability Code, according to which persons who have not attained the age of 18 years are considered minors.

61. Minors’ rights are regulated by the Constitution, the Marriage and Family Code, the laws on health, education and labour, the country’s civil, criminal and administrative law and other enactments.

62. As at 1 January 2001, the country’s permanent population of 4,907,600 people included 2,013,100 children and other persons below the age of 18 (see annex I, tables 9 and 10).

63. Under the Civil Code of the Kyrgyz Republic, the passive capacity to possess civil rights and duties arises at birth and expires at death, while the capacity actively to acquire civil rights and exercise them and to create civil duties for oneself and fulfil them comes fully into effect only when a person reaches majority, i.e. at the age of 18. By way of exception, full civil capacity may be acquired by persons who married before reaching the age of 18, and persons who have reached the age of 16 and are working under a labour agreement (contract) or who, with the consent of their parents, adoptive parents or guardians, are engaged in a business activity.

64. Kyrgyz law does not provide for a minimum age for obtaining legal or medical services without parental consent. As a citizen, a minor may independently seek legal advice from the child welfare authorities, the Commission for Minors and other State bodies. Medical and surgical treatment of minors are subject to parental consent except in cases where urgent medical assistance is required.

65. There is no stipulation in law of a minimum age for the completion of compulsory education, since every citizen of the Kyrgyz Republic is entitled to education whatever his/her age. As a rule, schooling begins not later than the age of 7, depending on the wishes of the child’s parents or legal representatives. Education from the primary level until graduation from secondary school (total duration: nine years) is compulsory and free. Parents may, subject to consideration of their children’s wishes and abilities, opt for their offspring to receive supplementary schooling or attend duly registered non-State institutions.

66. Minors are, to the extent that their age and level of development permit, entitled to choose their own educational establishment, field of study and form of education. Account must be taken in this regard of the opinions of the parents or persons acting in their stead.

67. The Criminal Code establishes penalties for preventing a child from receiving compulsory education, namely up to one year of corrective labour, a fine or the application of social measures.

68. Because of the country’s economic difficulties, there are instances where parents, being unable to afford maintenance or schooling, put their children in employment or leave them to their own devices.

69. Every year, more than 3,000 children leave school without having completed the compulsory nine years’ education (see annex I, tables 11, 12 and 13). The Government and the local authorities take such children under their wing, providing them with financial assistance and seeking to return them to school. The President of the Republic’s “Zhetkinchek” (Access to Education) programme, approved by presidential decree on 11 February 1999, the raising of voluntary funds for the support of education and of guardianship committees, measures to develop educational establishments’ income-generating activities, and the provision of targeted support to the children at risk are proving effective means of addressing this problem. The goals of the Zhetkinchek programme also include making education accessible to all children of school age and identifying and instituting new ways and means of safeguarding every child’s right to education.

70. Subject to their parents’ or legal representatives’ written consent, children may enter employment on attaining the age of 14 years. Minors aged 16 or more have full legal capacity as regards labour relations.

71. It is forbidden to employ minors for heavy labour, in harmful or unhealthy conditions, on night work or overtime, on statutory rest days, on public holidays or in ways that disrupt their receipt of a basic education (Labour Code of the Kyrgyz Republic).

72. However, an inadequate standard of living is forcing children and adolescents to leave school in order to earn money, to the detriment of their intellectual development. In practice, they find employment in unskilled jobs that are sometimes dangerous for growing boys and girls, and generally in the private sector, where, unfortunately, the requirements of the law are not always respected.

73. Article 18 of the Marriage and Family Code prohibits marriage before the age of 18 years. In exceptional cases, and at the separate request of each of the partners, the age at which a woman may marry can be lowered, but not by more than one year.

74. Under the Criminal Code, entering into de facto marital relations with someone who is below marriageable age, compelling someone to enter into such relations and abducting someone aged less than 16 for the purpose of entering into such relations are all punishable by three to five years’ deprivation of liberty.

75. Pursuant to the Universal Military Service Act, which prohibits conscription before the age of 18, the minimum age for military service is 18. Article 25 of the Minors’ Rights (Protection and Defence) Act prohibits the use of minors in armed conflicts.

76. Pursuant to the Criminal Code, the minimum age of criminal responsibility is 14 years. The legal status of minors suspected of, charged with or found guilty of a criminal offence is, like the procedure for criminal cases involving minors, defined in the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure as adopted in 1998 and 1999 respectively. Those Codes guarantee minors’ rights as regards both the general principles of judicial proceedings and individual matters relevant to investigations and trials in cases involving minors.

77. The principles in question include that of extralegal protection for minors: through twofold representation of their interests before the courts by their legal representatives, who are endowed with extensive powers, and by their counsel; with respect to specific matters relating to evidence in criminal cases, the elucidation of the minors’ living conditions and upbringing and of the involvement of adult instigators in the offence; with respect to additional matters considered by the courts in passing sentence, including the details of any penalty and its enforcement and the possibility of replacing a custodial by a non-custodial penalty; through the separation of minors’ cases from those of any adult accomplices; through the requirement that participants in the handling of minors’ cases have specialized knowledge; with respect to procedure for investigations and court proceedings; and with respect to awareness of the particular features of the juvenile justice system and to judges’, investigators’ and procurators’ knowledge of juvenile psychology.

78. From the age of 14, minor citizens who have committed a serious offence may be deprived of their liberty.

79. The preventive measure of remand in custody may only be applied to minors as a last resort.

80. Minors may be called as witnesses in civil and criminal cases, but only, as a rule, in the presence of the persons responsible for their upbringing.

81. When a minor’s first crime falls in the “not serious” or “less serious” category, criminal responsibility may be waived if it is felt that the offender’s rehabilitation can be achieved by means of compulsory educational measures.

82. Minors serve custodial sentences separately from adults. Pursuant to article 110 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, convicted minors held in a young offenders’ institution may, on reaching the age of 18, be left in the institution until they turn 21; this requires a decision by the head of the institution endorsed by a procurator.

84. Once a child reaches the age of 10, his or her views are taken into account by the courts in settling disputes between the parents over the child’s place of residence and upbringing (Marriage and Family Code). Citizens may change their given names, patronymics or family names once they reach the age of 16.

85. With the exception of persons deprived of their parental or adoption rights and those relieved of their duties of care or guardianship for failing to perform them properly, citizens over the age of 18 who have legal capacity may become adoptive parents or guardians. Access to information concerning the biological family may only be restricted in order to ensure the confidentiality of adoption.

86. Irrespective of the provisions of the will, the children (including the adopted children) of a deceased person who are under age or unable to work receive not less than two thirds of the share of the estate to which each of them would have been entitled by law (mandatory share).

87. Minors under the age of 14 are subject to certain restrictions on the independent performance of property transactions, which must be concluded entirely by their legal representatives acting on their behalf.

88. Minors are not subject to any restrictions as to their choice of religion or attendance at religious schools, providing the religion’s or schools’ aims and activities are not contrary to Kyrgyz law.

89. Pursuant to the trading regulations, the minimum age for the purchase of alcoholic beverages is 21 years.

90. Government statistics include figures on the numbers of children of various nationalities resident in the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic, numbers of children who have migrated into or out of the country with their parents, numbers of children born outside registered marriages, etc. In recent years, the overall birth rate has declined, but the percentage of children born outside registered marriages has risen.

91. The Minors’ Rights (Protection and Defence) Act provides that, in order to promote the development of their personalities and their social integration, disabled and physically or mentally handicapped children are entitled to general and vocational education in keeping with their condition and ability so that they can take part in what are for them manageable work and creative activities. A network of variously owned rehabilitation centres for such children is now being developed. There is a specialized centre for physically and mentally handicapped children. In 1999, it served as the basis for the construction, thanks to financial support in the amount of 33,000 dollars from Save the Children (Denmark), of a day-care centre for 10 disabled children.

92. The Meerim Foundation runs a social rehabilitation centre for 30 disabled children. This centre, in Bishkek, teaches disabled children to look after themselves in daily life and what is acceptable social behaviour and provides them with vocational training and therapy depending on their disorder.

93. Today, 97 per cent of all recipients of State benefits are children below the age of 16. Of the recipients of a unified monthly benefit, 90 per cent live in rural areas.

94. The social protection of children is closely targeted and takes the following forms: payment of a unified monthly benefit to low-income families and individuals; various concessions regarding payment for gas, electricity and heating; additional support for the most needy on the basis of local budgets and foreign humanitarian assistance. The State Benefits Act, which provides for the award of State benefits to children below the age of 16 living in lowincome families, was adopted in 1998. It introduced new benefits, such as allowances for individual children and for twins and triplets below the age of 16.

95. For persons with low incomes, the following components of the unified monthly benefit scheme have been reinstated: a one-off birth allowance, and a unified monthly benefit for children below 18 months of age. As at 1 January 2002, a total of 470,300 people, of whom 455,000 were children below the age of 16 years, were receiving low-income benefits. The national budget for 2002 provides for the expenditure of 557 million soms on State benefits at a monthly rate of 46.5 million soms.

96. In addition, social allowances are paid to full orphans, disabled children and children with cerebral palsy and provision has been made for payments to children who are HIVpositive or have AIDS.

97. As at 1 January 2002, there were 15,700 disabled children in the country, of whom 13,000 were aged less than 16 and 2,700 had cerebral palsy. In all, 11 million soms are paid out in social benefits each month, with the average benefit amounting to 268 soms.

98. The number of children receiving disability benefits is rising year by year. In 2001, there were 1,900 more children in receipt of such benefits than in 1999; they included 989 children below the age of 16. Medical reports indicate that the increase in the number of children with group 1 disabilities is attributable to, inter alia, child malnutrition, maternal anaemia, inherited disorders and delays in diagnosis and treatment. However, social benefits are not high, totalling 20 per cent of the minimum consumer budget. The strength of the national economy will determine whether they can be increased.

99. Since 1996, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection has had an agreement with Save the Children (Denmark) aimed at improving the situation of disabled children in the Kyrgyz Republic, including those in residential institutions. The Ministry also cooperates with local and international humanitarian organizations, including Mercy Corps International, the International Red Cross and so on.

100. A presidential decree of 31 July 1998 set up under the President of the Republic a national council on gender policy. In 2001, this body became the National Council on Women, Family and Gender Development. Its secretariat, or executive body, is within the Presidential Administration.

101. Preparation of the draft National Action Plan for the Advancement of Women and Gender Equality for the period 2002-2006 (for the further implementation of the Beijing Platform of Action) is now complete.

102. Measures in support of women and the family and for the reduction of maternal and child mortality taken under a national programme entitled “Ayalzat” include:

Arrangement of holidays for children below the age of 14, mothers of large families, and orphaned and disabled children;

Conduct of a medico-sociological survey in Dzhalal-Abad oblast and elaboration of a gender-education programme for young women;

Elaboration of programmes aimed at preparing adolescent girls psychologically for family life and at protecting their rights and resolving conflict situations;

Establishment of a confidential telephone hotline to provide emergency psychological assistance to adolescent girls.

In Naryn oblast, the Centre for Women’s Initiatives and medical staff jointly give lectures and run discussion groups on reproductive health for adolescent girls. A number of competitions have been held, such as “Kyz adebi kymbat” (A Young Girl’s Honour) and “Ene sozu kyzdyn demooru” (A Mother’s Advice Is a Young Girl’s Boon);

In Issyk-Kul oblast, the Centre for Women’s Initiatives has organized permanent support for orphaned girls;

In Dzhalal-Abad oblast, there is a support programme called “Kyz bala” for young girls.

104. The protection of the rights of refugee children and the procedure for the award of refugee status are regulated by the Legal Status of Aliens Act and the Refugees Act and by the Temporary Regulation on Refugees in the Kyrgyz Republic approved in government decision No. 340 of 20 July 1996. Kyrgyzstan has ratified the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees.

105. Abduction of a woman for the purpose of entering into marriage with her against her will is punishable under the Criminal Code.

106. On the basis of the principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the National Strategy for Sustainable Development and in concert with civil society, the Government has declared the greatest possible consideration for children’s welfare to be a key aspect of social and economic change and has called for the development of a socially active

population through the application of the Comprehensive Development Framework for the period to 2010 and the “New Generation” State Programme for the Realization of Children’s Rights in the period up to 2010.

107. The guaranteeing of children’s rights to life and development depends on the economic stability of the State and the level of development of the social security system. The Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic gives children the right to maintenance and education and spells out parents’ rights regarding the upbringing of their children, as well as their responsibilities and civic duties.

108. The Marriage and Family Code lays down the procedure whereby, in circumstances that threaten a child’s life or health, the child-welfare authorities may take a decision to deprive the parents of their parental rights or to have the child adopted. The right to do this is also embodied in government decision No. 825 of 15 November 1994 concerning the procedure for the placement for adoption of children left without parental care.

109. Kyrgyz law entitles children to apply to the child-welfare authorities for protection of their rights and interests when these are infringed by the parents or persons acting in their stead. A draft Family Code now under examination in ministries and government departments provides for a new method of protecting children’s rights and interests in accordance with international practice, namely the right for children to seek redress in the courts from the age of 14.

110. The Labour Code guarantees every citizen the right to work in the light of his or her education, wishes and capabilities. It also grants a number of privileges to minors and prohibits their employment for work that endangers their health or prevents their receiving a basic education.

111. With a view to protecting the life and dignity of the child, the Criminal Code defines the offence, fixes the punishment and establishes the liability of persons found guilty of involving minors in crime, begging or prostitution, of reducing minors to a state of intoxication, or of involving children or adolescents in the non-medicinal use of medicaments and other substances having a narcotic effect.

112. Caring for and bringing up one’s children is every citizen’s constitutional duty. The Marriage and Family Code defines parents’ duties and their responsibility for their children’s education and physical development. It also defines the legal rules governing relations between parents and children and the basis for their respective rights and duties. To protect children, parental rights are subject to limits and may only be exercised in the interest of the child.

113. However, in view of the country’s economic instability, the legal and practical measures that have been taken are insufficient to ensure that the child’s best interests are always served. There are cases in which, because of a lack of clothing or school supplies, children drop out of school and so fail to receive an education. Children’s labour rights are infringed and there are

problems in the criminal justice system: there is a shortage of staff specially trained to work with children, and minors do not always benefit from the guarantees given to them by criminal law and the law of criminal procedure.

114. For the same reasons, violations of minors’ rights also occur in the penal correction system. Because of funding shortfalls, young offenders’ institutions are unable to provide inmates with proper maintenance and training. Because the country has no girls’ reformatory, female minors serve their sentences in places of detention together with adult female offenders.

115. In a reaffirmation of the Kyrgyz Republic’s attachment to respect for fundamental human and civil rights and in recognition of the need to reform the penal system and bring Kyrgyz law into line with international standards, the presidential decree of 24 October 2001 on measures for the further improvement of the country’s penal correction system provides for the transfer of that system from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the Ministry of Justice.

116. Under the Constitution, every citizen has the right to life and to the free development of his or her personality.

117. The Public Health Act defines the general legal, economic and social foundations of public health, as well as citizens’ constitutional right to health care and the use of the network of State health-care institutions.

118. Caring for children’s health is one of the State’s most important tasks. There is an entire system, based on guarantees, for the social protection of children. As part of the reform of the health-care sector, the system is now undergoing changes aimed at ensuring that the population, especially people in rural areas, has access to guaranteed medical assistance.

119. The introduction of medical insurance began on 1 January 1997. The strategy is for the introduction to proceed gradually, with the programme for compulsory medical insurance being fully coordinated with the reform of the health-care sector. Since funds for medical care are additional to special financing, priorities for the financing of the basic compulsory medical insurance programme were set from the outset; they concern the supply of medicines for the insured population and the provision of financial incentives for medical personnel. As a result of the adoption on 18 October 1999 of the Medical Insurance for Citizens Act, the proportion of the country’s population covered by the compulsory medical insurance system had risen by the year 2000 to over 70 per cent. The persons covered include children under the age of 16 who are studying in general-education institutions; their coverage extends until they complete their education or turn 18, whichever comes sooner.

120. So far as financial resources permit, the public throughout the country has access to qualified medical assistance. This is provided in 86 general hospitals.

121. The programme of State guarantees for the provision of medical and sanitary assistance in 2001 began in January 2001. The Programme defines the types of medical service that are available free of charge or at reduced rates and the extent and conditions of that availability. For example, all registered persons, including children, are entitled to free primary care from groups of family doctors as follows:

Prophylaxis (vaccination according to the national vaccination calendar), disease prevention and anti-relapse treatment;

Treatment and the provision of medicines for sugar and non-sugar diabetes, tuberculosis, level IV oncological disorders, syphilis (including congenital syphilis), mental disorders, bronchial asthma, leukaemia, haemophilia, aplastic anaemia;

122. August 2000 saw the introduction of a further programme for the supply of medicines to patients at the primary-care level. Under this programme, part of the cost of the medicines is paid from the Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund. Government decision No. 5 of 9 January 2001 on the introduction of a new mechanism for the financing of health-care institutions as from 2001 waived co-payment for children in general up to the age of 1 year and for disabled children up to the age of 16 years. Since one of the principles of the compulsory medical insurance scheme is to protect the interests of insured citizens, the Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund and its local departments constantly check the quality of medical care both at the primary level and in inpatient institutions and have set up telephone hotlines.

123. A comprehensive survey of child health in Kyrgyzstan has shown that only 4.4 per cent of the country’s children are in health group 1 (“quite healthy”), while 83 per cent are in group 2 (“rarely unwell”) and 12.6 per cent are in group 3 (“frequently unwell”). Of children below the age of 3, 50 per cent suffer from varying degrees of anaemia, 26 per cent exhibit moderate or retarded growth and 11 per cent have moderately or very low body mass for their age.

124. The Constitution requires citizens to respect the rights, freedoms, honour and dignity of others, including children. Everyone in the Kyrgyz Republic has the right to the free expression and dissemination of thoughts, ideas and opinions.

125. Human rights and freedoms are decisive in the shaping of the country’s legal infrastructure.

126. The Education Act stresses the humanistic nature of education, the free development of the child’s personality and the free formation and expression of views. That is borne out by judicial practice.

127. The Marriage and Family Code takes the child’s opinion into account in connection with changes of name, the determination of paternity and adoption or the determination of adoption, provided the child has reached the age of 10 years.

128. In the case of housing matters, minors’ opinions are taken into account in connection with the privatization and sale of accommodation and minors’ right to housing is guaranteed. The sale of buildings and apartments where minors reside is subject to the opinion of the child welfare (tutorship and guardianship) authorities.

129. The participation of minors in proceedings before courts of general jurisdiction is permissible in criminal, civil and administrative proceedings in which the views of a minor are relevant. The minor may be heard directly or through his/her legal representative or the representatives of tutorship and guardianship authorities, the commissions for minors of government agencies or the minors’ inspectorates of internal affairs agencies.

130. When courts hear disputes between parents concerning places of residence or children’s upbringing, account is taken of a child’s opinions if he/she is aged 10 or more.

131. Pursuant to the Marriage and Family Code, births may be registered with the civil status authorities either at the child’s place of birth or at both parents’ or one parent’s place of residence. Registration requires an oral or written declaration by one or both of the parents or, in the event that the parents are ill, dead or otherwise unable to make a declaration, a declaration by relatives, neighbours, the medical institution where the mother gave birth or other persons.

(a) A certificate from a medical institution attesting to the child’s birth. In exceptional cases, the birth may be confirmed by the signatures of two witnesses;

(c) Any document that justifies the recording of information about the father and mother and the issuance of a birth certificate.

133. To facilitate the timely registration of births, a system has been introduced whereby officials of the civil registration authorities can (two or three times a week) issue birth certificates directly in maternity homes.

134. Pursuant to government decision No. 596 of 9 August 1994 on the State programme “A Healthy Nation for 1994-2000”, State statistical and health authorities make annual joint surveys of the comprehensiveness of the registration of births and deaths, including of children below the age of 1 year.

135. In application of the “New Generation” programme for the period up to 2010 approved by government decision No. 431 of 14 August 2001, this work will continue irrespective of newborns’ status or place of residence.

136. The Constitution provides that everyone (including children) has the right to: life, physical and moral inviolability; personal freedom and security, freedom of personal development; personal and family privacy, and confidentiality of postal, telephone and telegraphic communications. It also provides that the basic rights and freedoms belong to everyone from birth and are recognized as absolute, inalienable and protected by law and the courts from violation by anyone whatsoever.

137. Under the Civil Code, intangible assets such as life, health, good name, business reputation, and personal and family confidentiality are protected by law.

138. The Minors’ Rights (Protection and Defence) Act provides that the State shall protect the rights recognized to the child in the Convention on the Rights of the Child to inviolability of the person and preservation of identity (including citizenship, name, family relations, sex, nationality and native language), as well as to: honour and dignity; freedom of conscience and religion; an upbringing, education and health, and other personal and property rights.

139. To add to what was said in the initial report, among the active ways in which children express their opinions are their participation in the creation of their own means of information, particularly in schools, and their expression of their opinions in mass media (Ai-Danek children’s newspaper). In the past two years, Kyrgyzalko, a State joint-stock corporation, has done such things as providing subscriptions to Ai-Danek to children’s homes in remote areas and organizing speeches by children on radio and television. Unfortunately, these progressive trends in the sphere of communication still lack a proper legal basis and the necessary financial resources.

140. Citizens’ right to free expression and dissemination of their thoughts, ideas and opinions, spiritual freedom and freedom of religion are widely reflected in the Constitution and the Freedom of Religion and Religious Organizations Act.

141. There are now open in the country a total of 1,338 mosques, 260 houses of prayer and 20 religious sites of a less conventional nature. There are also 50 religious schools, of which 40 are Muslim (the total number of children studying in a madrassa or Islamic institution is 1,863) and 40 Christian (812 pupils). The strong increase in religious awareness among citizens has had an influence on religious activity among young people and children, including their adherence to non-traditional faiths and teachings.

142. State agencies, society and teaching institutions take care that children receive a decent secular education, since there are cases where parents force their children to study in religious educational establishments instead of general-education schools.

143. Pursuant to the Constitution, everyone has the rights to freedom of assembly, to associate peacefully, without weapons, and freely to hold meetings and demonstrations.

144. In exercise of their right to freedom of assembly, pupils in general-education schools are able to establish school management committees, school parliaments, environment groups and voluntary associations. To coordinate the activities of children’s and youth associations and provide organizational assistance, the Ministry of Education and Culture’s “Seitek” Republican Centre for Children and Youth has set up an information and coordination centre for the development of the youth movement in the Republic. The “Manas” child and youth organizations are active and the scouting, environmental and legal-studies movements are growing. Other successful institutions include the Children’s Academy of Civic Freedoms and the Children’s Media Centre. The Academy organized a campaign in commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Media Centre has for two years been publishing a magazine for adolescents entitled Neboskreb Munara.

145. A fundamentally new development has been the creation of children’s associations attached to non-governmental organizations. There are children’s and youth voluntary associations in 1,900 of the country’s 1,953 schools; they have a total membership of over 700,000.

146. Under the Civil Code of the Kyrgyz Republic, life and health, personal dignity, the inviolability of the person, honour and good name, business reputation, inviolability of private life, personal and family confidentiality, freedom of movement, choice of place of residence and abode, and other intangible assets are protected by law. The Code also provides that personal non-property rights are exercised and protected in accordance with the law.

147. The Constitution provides that culture, art, literature, science and the mass media are free. The State protects historical monuments, fosters and provides the necessary conditions for the development of literature, art, science, the mass media and sports, and is also responsible for ensuring access for children to museums, cinemas and stadiums.

148. “Human Rights”, a national programme for the period 2002-2010, was approved by a presidential decree on 2 January 2002. It devotes considerable attention to the question of access to relevant information and provides for the establishment under the Human Rights Commission of a centre for coordinating human rights education.

149. With the help of partnering States and non-State organizations and funds, work is in progress on providing the necessary textbooks and other teaching materials for the implementation of the programme. Since the reform began, 35 per cent of textbooks and teaching materials have been updated. As regards textbooks, 32 titles were published in the year 2000 (total number of copies: 588,000); 22 of the intended 47 titles were published in 2001, and the manuscripts of the remaining 25 are 80-90 per cent complete.

150. Efforts are under way to involve parent groups and non-governmental organizations in building up the collections of school libraries so as to improve the supply of textbooks for pupils. In 2001-2002 there was a pilot project in Karakol (Issyk-Kul oblast) and other areas in which textbooks were freely available on sale and children from needy families were supplied from their school libraries.

151. That having been said, the country’s financial difficulties have affected book publishing, including the publishing of art and popular science books for children and young people and of textbooks and teaching materials for educational establishments, and book prices have risen.

H. The right not to be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment or punishment (art. 37 (a))

152. The Constitution provides that no one may be subjected to torture, ill-treatment or degrading inhuman punishment.

153. The Minors’ Rights (Protection and Defence) Act prohibits exposing minors to any kind of mental or physical pressure and forcing them to give evidence as witnesses, to admit guilt or to testify in the absence of counsel.

154. Cruelty towards children is prosecutable and punishable under the country’s criminal law. Minors suspected or accused of offences may not be questioned for more than two hours without a break or for more than four hours in any one day. At the request of their counsel or legal representative or by decision of the court, juvenile defendants may be removed from the courtroom during the examination of evidence in order to prevent their being negatively influenced by any of the parties. When they return to the courtroom, the presiding officer must inform them what happened during their absence and give them the chance to put questions to the persons who were examined when they were not present.

155. There are a number of programmes on themes such as street children and violence and children. They are being carried out by governmental, non-governmental and international organizations. For example, with the support of the Soros Foundation Kyrgyzstan, regional seminars on preventing violence have been held over the past two years for teachers, health-care professionals, staff of internal affairs agencies, members of commissions for minors, etc.

156. Nonetheless, cases of harsh treatment of children do occur. Improper methods of education, mental and physical violence and degradation can be found in families, in places of deprivation of liberty and in educational establishments and other institutions.

157. In addition to what is said on this matter in Kyrgyzstan’s initial report, it should be noted that, under the Minors’ Rights (Protection and Defence) Act, interference by the State in parents’ discharge of their rights and duties regarding a minor is permissible only in the cases provided for by law and only in the minor’s interest.

158. The Minors’ Rights (Protection and Defence) Act provides that parents and persons acting in their stead must create the conditions needed for minors’ full development and for their upbringing and education and the strengthening of their health, and must prepare them to live independent lives in the family and society.

159. Both parents are equally responsible for their children’s upbringing. They must care for their children properly, ensure their upkeep and provide them with a place to live.

160. In the event of a paternity (maternity) dispute, account must be taken of all possible evidence to the effect that a given person is the minor’s father (mother).

161. Parents or persons responsible for a minor’s upkeep who violate his/her rights or infringe his/her lawful interests incur the liability provided for by law.

162. If minors break the law, their parents or the persons replacing them incur the liability provided for by law.

163. It should be noted that, because of budget constraints, the State is unable fully to provide the support needed by parents and guardians in order to fulfil their obligations.

164. Supporting the family, i.e. taking economic, social and legal measures to safeguard children’s right to life in a family, upholding families’ ability to maintain and educate their children and improving the family way of life, is a fundamental goal of the “New Generation” State Programme for the Realization of Children’s Rights in the period up to 2010.

165. Achieving that goal will require the gradual implementation of measures connected with arrangements for supporting families and children by monitoring families’ socio-economic potential (“social passporting” of families) and the situation of children in families of varying kinds, especially the most vulnerable, and by providing more extensive initial and further training in working with families for social workers and other specialists (psychologists, teachers, lawyers, doctors, etc.).

166. With financial and technical support from the European Children’s Fund, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection has, since 1999, been implementing a pilot family support project in Osh. The project provides preventive social services for children and for families at risk of breaking up.

167. Social protection measures for children are closely targeted and, depending on the level of need, take the form of the payment of a unified monthly benefit to low-income families and individuals, concessions as regards payment for electricity and heating and additional support for the most needy on the basis of local budgets and foreign humanitarian assistance.

168. The Minors’ Rights (Protection and Defence) Act provides that every minor has the right to live in a family, to know and to be cared for by both his/her parents, and the right to live with them except in cases where separation from one or both parents is necessary in his/her interests.

169. On reaching the age of 10, minors are entitled to elect to live with one of their parents.

170. Minors who are separated from one or both of their parents have the right to maintain personal relations and contact with both parents and with close relatives except when that would be to their (the minors’) detriment.

171. Minors are entitled to be given information about a missing parent if that would not be detrimental to their well-being and development. They also have the right to have their adoption kept secret.

172. In the event of initial inquiries, a preliminary investigation or a court hearing in connection with the commission of an offence by a minor, the participation of counsel is obligatory from the time the minor is detained. Minors may only be committed to preventive custody as an extreme measure.

173. The parents or the persons acting in their stead may be present at any stage of criminal proceedings involving a minor unless that would be contrary to the minor’s interests.

174. When it would be dangerous to leave a child with its parents, a court may decide to remove the child, to deprive the parents of their parental rights and to place the child in the care of the tutorship and guardianship authorities.

175. A minor whose parents live in different countries has the right to personal contacts and communication with both of them.

176. Minors and minors’ parents are entitled, for the purposes of family reunification, freely to leave and enter the Kyrgyz Republic in accordance with the established procedure (Minors’ Rights (Protection and Defence) Act, Marriage and Family Code).

177. The State is bound, under domestic and international law, to take measures against the illicit transfer and non-return of minors from abroad, against the abduction of minors and against child trafficking for any purpose and in any form.

178. Kyrgyz law does not as yet include any provisions for combating the illegal transfer and non-return of children from abroad. There is no liability for publicity leading to an increase in prostitution or the recruitment and transfer outside the country of young girls, including minors, for exploitation as prostitutes. In accordance with international humanitarian law, the internment and evacuation of children in time of war have, since 1992, been exceptional measures justified only by considerations of safety.

179. The Criminal Code establishes penalties for abduction of someone else’s child, the substitution of a child for gain or personal motives, and hostage-taking.

180. Pursuant to the State Pension Social Insurance Act of 21 July 1997, children who lose one or both parents are entitled to a pension for loss of breadwinner. In the event of the loss of both parents, the pension is paid separately for each of them.

181. Loss-of-breadwinner pensions are payable until the child reaches the age of 16. If the beneficiary is studying in a vocational, specialized secondary or higher educational establishment, the pension is payable until he/she reaches the age of 21. If a child entitled to a loss-of-breadwinner pension is disabled before age 16, the pension will be payable, irrespective of the child’s age, until the disability ceases.

182. Children who are entirely supported by the State receive full loss-of-breadwinner pensions.

183. As at 1 January 2001, there were 51,845 recipients of loss-of-breadwinner pensions and they were receiving pensions for 94,245 dependants.

184. Women who have had five or more children and raised them to the age of 8 years and mothers of congenitally disabled children who have raised them to the same age are entitled to an old-age pension five years before the normal time.

185. As at 1 January 2001, the number of mothers in the above categories receiving an old-age pension was 24,623.

186. The cost of providing early old-age pensions for mothers in the above categories is borne from the national budget.

187. Pursuant to the Regulations for the provision of social insurance allowances approved by government decision No. 34 of 8 February1995, a care allowance is payable if one of the parents of a sick child aged less than 14 takes leave from work to care for the child. The allowance will be payable until the illness is over if the child is in inpatient care and for 14 calendar days from the commencement of the parent’s leave if the child is treated as an outpatient. In the event that a parent takes leave to care for a sick child aged more than 14, a care allowance is payable for seven calendar days from the commencement of the leave.

188. Pursuant to government decision No. 281 of 15 May 1998 on improvement of the system of social protection for low-income families and citizens, children in receipt of a lossofbreadwinner pension enjoy concessions regarding payment for electricity, heating and natural gas.

189. The rights of orphaned minors and minors left without parental care are safeguarded by the State, primarily through placement of the children in a family for adoption or under tutorship (guardianship) or in a family-type children’s home, or through recourse to other forms of family upbringing.

190. When minors cannot be placed in families, they are placed in a children’s home or a residential school. The State pays all the costs. Minors may only be transferred from one such institution to another in their own interests, in urgent situations.

191. The allowances, pensions and other payments to which a minor is entitled and the money recovered from his/her parents for his/her upkeep are either paid to the person to whose care the minor has been entrusted or, if the minor has been placed in a children’s institution, credited to his/her personal account.

192. To ensure their full physical, intellectual and moral development and their readiness for life as independent persons, minors in residential homes of whatever kind are given all the necessary conditions in a family-like environment and are enabled to keep up their mother tongue, their native culture, customs and traditions.

193. Staff at children’s homes, residential schools or the like whose behaviour towards the children in their care is inconsistent with their role as teachers or immoral are subject to dismissal from their posts as provided for by law.

194. After children whose time in residential institutions was fully paid for by the State leave the institutions, the protection of their rights and interests, the priority provision to them of accommodation, the payment to them of the financial support to which they are entitled and arrangements for their insurance and employment are the responsibility of the institutions’ authorities and local government.

195. The country has five children’s homes and four boarding schools for children deprived of parental care. They house a total of 1,178 children, of whom 702, or 50 per cent, have parents but are without parental care, and the remaining 476 are orphans whose parents have died (see annex I, table 14).

196. Bearing in mind nutritional requirements, the standard allocation for the children’s food has been set at 64 soms per child per day. However, the amount provided from the national budget is 17 soms, with the result that the children cannot be given adequate nourishment.

197. The Ministry of Labour and Social Protection has under its authority three residential homes for mentally retarded children between the ages of 4 and 18. They house, under medical supervision, a total of 400 children.

198. Local central-government agencies provide additional assistance to all children’s homes and residential schools for children left without parental care, etc.

199. In addition to government agencies, the following provide significant help in improving the lot of children in institutions and establishing centres and temporary shelters for abandoned

children: the Meerim Foundation, UNICEF, the European Children’s Fund, Save the Children United Kingdom, Save the Children Denmark, the Soros Foundation Kyrgyzstan, UNDP, private persons, etc.

200. In the year 2000, there were 2,696 known orphans and children left without parental care in the country. The commonest ways of ensuring care for such children are adoption and tutorship. As at 1 January 2001, children under tutorship numbered 6,267, including 3,159 girls, and 8,638 children had been adopted. The country currently has 10 family-type children’s homes (group homes) housing more than 70 children and an SOS Children’s Village
for 140 children. Placement in a foster family is a novel alternative to the conventional tutorship system. The first experiments with this form of childcare are under way in the Sokuluk region and in the city of Osh.

I. Abuse and neglect (art. 19), including physical and psychological
recovery and social reintegration (art. 39)

201. Parents or other persons having responsibility for the upkeep of minors who abuse or neglect the minors, violate their rights or infringe their lawful interests incur liability as provided for by law.

202. Judicial protection is guaranteed for all of citizens’ rights and freedoms. The Criminal Code establishes penalties for failure to maintain children, to make maintenance payments or to discharge duties as a tutor. The Marriage and Family Code provides that parents and persons acting in their stead may be held liable for ill-treatment, neglect and abuse of their rights. The penalties include deprivation of parental rights (some 35 families are so penalized every year and there have been cases where adoption or tutorship or guardianship decisions have been reversed).

203. The Civil Code requires compensation to be paid, in cash or in kind, for causing a person moral harm (physical or moral suffering).

204. The procedure for the filing of complaints is governed by the Citizens’ Proposals, Petitions and Complaints (Procedure for Consideration) Act and the presidential decree of 17 January 2001 on further improvement of local authorities’ handling of citizens’ petitions and complaints. Neither of these instruments places any limit on minors’ ability to lodge complaints either directly or through a representative.

205. It must be said that because children, adolescents and young people know little about the law and the tutorship and guardianship authorities and commissions for minors (which are responsible for monitoring children’s welfare) lack the resources to function effectively, children are not protected from abuse and violence as well as they should be. In addition, despite the existence of adjustment and rehabilitation centres for homeless and other children, full coverage of children in need of physical and mental care and social reintegration is still not possible.

206. For mentally and physically retarded children, the country has 19 special schools and residential homes with a total of 3,500 places.

207. As at 1 January 2001, the number of disabled children stood at 14,839, of whom 2,542 were suffering from cerebral palsy.

208. Disabled persons received wheelchairs and material support from local budgets, sponsors and various funds, as well as from humanitarian aid supplied to the Republic.

209. There are rehabilitation centres for children with disorders of the musculoskeletal apparatus. The centres are financed from the national budget and international funds. There are also related programmes, including for the rehabilitation of disabled adolescents through work therapy, encouragement of labour activity, vocational training and job placement.

210. The Government is seeking ways of improving the situation of children with mental and physical disabilities.

211. Inclusive education of children with disabilities in schools and pre-school institutions in the places where they live is becoming more common. Education of this kind demonstrates disabled children’s right and ability to learn alongside normal children, to live in families and to adapt to a normal environment from an early age. In all, 23 educational establishments offering inclusive education have been established in Naryn, Osh and Chui oblasts and in Bishkek.

212. In 2001, the country had 1,697,000 children aged between 0 and 14 years; of these, 507,500 were below age 4 and 95,064 were less than 1 year old. Children and adolescents make up 37 per cent of the total population. Some 500,000 new cases of illness are registered among children every year. Outpatient monitoring covers some 200,000 children with chronic disorders a year. Overall, the commonest disorders among children are respiratory diseases (37 per cent), infectious and parasitic diseases (11.3 per cent), nervous disorders (8.3 per cent), and physical injuries and poisoning (3.9 per cent) (see annex I, table 16).

213. Since respiratory and diarrhoeal diseases account for a high proportion of child mortality, there have been joint campaigns with UNICEF since 1994 to reduce their incidence among children under five. The medicines for these campaigns are paid for by UNICEF. Cooperation with this international organization over the past five years has led to a decline in infant mortality from respiratory and diarrhoeal diseases.

214. Kangaroo care for low-birth-weight infants and prevention of hypothermia by temperature monitoring in accordance with the WHO/UNICEF recommendations are being widely introduced. Clinical protocols and standards for the treatment and diagnosis of paediatric illnesses are in the process of elaboration and a start has been made in pilot regions (DzhetyOguz, Zhail and Aravan) on application of the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) technique.

215. A joint project with Red Barnet (Denmark) to improve the lot of mentally and physically handicapped children has been in operation since 1996. Achievements include the opening of two rehabilitation units at the Children’s Centres in Tokmak and Bishkek and work on reuniting children with their biological families. An agreement on further cooperation up until 2003 was concluded in 2001 and it is planned to build a rehabilitation unit for the Osh Children’s Centre.

216. Since 1994, Save the Children (Denmark), operating within the framework of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, has provided specialized children’s institutions with aid amounting to 4.8 million Danish kroner (9,730,000 dollars) for improving the situation of disabled children by financing diagnosis and treatment, family reunification, staff training, building repairs and the construction of rehabilitation centres.

217. With the cooperation and financial support of SOS Kinderdorf International, the Meerim Foundation has built and operates the Children’s Village Kyrgyzstan and is engaged in building a children’s rehabilitation centre on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul.

218. Immunoprophylaxis plays a significant part in reducing child morbidity and mortality from controllable infections. The national immunoprophylaxis programme adopted in 1994 was completed in the year 2000. Based on the principles of the WHO Expanded Immunization Programme, it significantly increased immunization coverage of the country’s children.

219. In October 2000, the European Regional Commission for the Certification of the Eradication of Poliomyelitis certified the country to be free of this terrible infection, of which there had been no recorded cases since 1993. The Government is currently examining a draft national immunoprophylaxis programme for 2001-2005 and a bill on immunoprophylaxis of infectious diseases.

220. A programme of planned immunization against diphtheria has confined the epidemic and reduced the number of cases from 704 (intensity indicator 15.7) in 1995 to 66 (intensity indicator 1.4) in 1999.

221. Planned immunization against viral hepatitis began in 1999 and will protect the population against the most virulent forms of hepatitis-B. Purchase of the vaccine is being financed by donor organizations and from the national budget.

222. The continuing incidence of tuberculosis among children and adolescents is a source of particular concern. The number of cases has more than doubled in the past five years (see annex I, table 17). A national tuberculosis control programme was adopted in 1995 to ensure timely detection and treatment of the disease and to reduce mortality. In addition to the traditional methods of tuberculosis control already in place (vaccination of infants and revaccination of children with the BCG vaccine, tuberculin diagnosis and large-scale fluorograph examination of the population), new, highly effective methods of diagnosing and treating tuberculosis (the DOTS strategy) recommended by WHO are now being introduced throughout the country. They will enable early detection of the disease by means of sputum smear testing and the curing of 70-80 per cent of patients detected within the first 48 months after infection. A World Bank loan for tuberculosis control has been used to buy 1.2 million dollars’ worth of drugs, sufficient to cover the country’s needs until 2000, and, in order to improve diagnosis, 170 binocular microscopes.

223. The national tuberculosis control programme has also benefited from a grant from the Government of Germany which has been used to buy medical equipment and drugs to a value of 16 million German marks.

224. The number of children with iodine-deficiency disorders has been rising in recent years, owing to the import and consumption of non-iodized salt. To ensure the urgent taking of corrective measures, the Government adopted in September 1994 a decision on the eradication of iodine-deficiency disorders in the country’s people through, inter alia, the production in Kyrgyzstan of iodized table salt.

226. Relevant legislation includes the 1999 Radiation Safety Act, the Mining Tailings Ponds and Waste Heaps Act of 26 July 2001, the Production and Consumption Wastes Act of 13 November 2001 and government decision No. 76 of 14 February 2000 on implementation of the Radiation Safety Act. They have strengthened controls over the importing of radioactive sources and the performance of radiological examinations and provide for detailed terrestrial gamma surveys of uranium tailings ponds and waste heaps in the vicinity of inhabited areas and the prevention of environmental damage (see annex I, table 18).

227. Having a sensible, balanced diet is important if children are to develop harmoniously and stay healthy. Hence, great attention continues to be given to ensuring that young children are properly nourished. Breastfeeding is a traditional practice among Kyrgyz women and, in keeping with WHO/UNICEF recommendations, there is active encouragement for and promotion of exclusive breastfeeding. As a result, the proportion of children being breastfed at the age of 6 months has risen from 35 to 80 per cent and the rate of exclusive breastfeeding (without recourse to water or other liquids) has risen from 15 to 56 per cent.

228. Pursuant to the National Programme for the encouragement and support of breastfeeding, all the country’s maternity homes have switched to keeping mothers and their children together and all have adopted the practice of placing newborns on the mother’s breast immediately after birth. Two of them have received international accreditation as “child-friendly hospitals” and two more are to go through the certification process in 2001-2002.

229. The transition to a market economy and the privatization of State property have given rise to serious difficulties in ensuring adequate availability of infant and dietetic foods, in part because more than 80 per cent of the public milk dispensaries for children of breastfeeding age have closed over the past eight years. Strenuous efforts have been under way since 1998 to reopen such centres and 44 of them have in fact resumed operation in the past two years (see annex I, table 19).

230. The scientific and manufacturing facilities needed for the industrial-scale production of infant and dietetic foods have been established. Research into the organization of child nutrition has already been under way at the Kyrgyz Midwifery and Paediatrics Research Institute for the past five years and has provided the basis for the manufacture of specialized formulas and unique bioadditives that are not only used in Kyrgyzstan but also exported to neighbouring countries.

231. Thanks to such efforts infant and child mortality per 1,000 live births have fallen respectively from 28.1 and 41.3 in 1995 to 22.6 and 33.2 in 2000 (see annex I, tables 20 and 21).

232. To ensure comparability of the mortality statistics with those from Europe, work has begun on recalculating them by live births and stillbirths as recommended by WHO.

233. Iron-deficiency anaemia remains a problem both among pregnant women and nursing mothers and among children, especially those less than 2 years old. It is particularly pronounced among pregnant women in the southern and mountainous areas of the country.

234. A campaign to monitor and control anaemia began in 1995 with the support of UNICEF. Naryn oblast and the Kara-Sui district of Osh oblast have been designated as pilot areas.

235. The epidemiological situation regarding meningococcal infection, brucellosis and hepatitis is deteriorating (see annex I, table 22).

236. The Drinking Water Act was adopted on 29 September 2000 for the purposes of controlling typhoid fever and intestinal infections and protecting the environment.

237. The Government has approved a programme for the control of venereal diseases, including HIV/AIDS. It includes provisions for medical care and educational activities, including among minors (see annex I, table 23).

238. As at 15 November 2001, the number of persons registered as HIV-positive was 172, of whom 80 per cent were injecting drug users and 60 per cent were in the 17-29 age bracket.

239. Under the UNDP programme for the prevention of AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases in the Kyrgyz Republic, as adopted by the Government, UNDP, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education and Culture, programmes of instruction on creating a healthy lifestyle have been developed for schools. They cover the prevention of HIV/AIDS and venereal diseases, as well as family planning.

240. Nowadays, the curriculum at general-education establishments includes a “health lessons” module and courses on alcohol abuse, drug abuse, AIDS and a healthy lifestyle.

241. As part of a United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) project,
the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Ministry of Health have conducted
sociological surveys in various parts of the country to identify and assess schoolchildren’s reproductivehealth needs. A teachers’ handbook entitled “A Healthy Lifestyle” has been published in 22,750 copies in Kyrgyz, Uzbek and Russian.

242. In 1999-2000, more than 300 teachers underwent specialized training in this subject at 17 training seminars.

243. UNDP, UNFPA, WHO, UNAIDS, Médecins sans frontières and the Soros Foundation Kyrgyzstan all make significant contributions to the efforts at prophylaxis.

244. Procurement of modern drugs for the treatment of syphilis began in 1996 with
the assistance of UNDP. The country bought 17,000 phials of retagen for an amount
of 6,500 dollars in 1998 and 15,000 phials of benzatine penicillin for an amount of 7,000 dollars in 1999.

245. In all, more than 1,000 people were treated in the year 2000 in the 17 centres and surgeries that offer confidential examinations and care for venereal diseases.

246. Statistics of congenital syphilis have been kept since 1993. They show that there were 93 cases in 1999 and 55 in 2000.

247. The social protection of orphaned minors and minors left without parental care, disabled children, children with special needs and children in other categories is guaranteed by the Constitution, the Marriage and Family Code and other laws and regulations providing for such children’s education, maintenance and upbringing.

248. The situation as regards the availability of pre-school institutions has improved considerably in recent years. As at 1 January 2001, there were 460 functioning pre-school institutions catering for a total of 45,768 children. There were thus seven more such institutions than in 1997 (see annex I, tables 24 and 25). With a view to making pre-school institutions more accessible, adjustments have been made in the cost of their services. Nonetheless, a large proportion of the population still finds them too expensive.

249. The right of every child to living conditions conducive to its all-round development and the responsibility of parents or persons acting in their stead and the State are established in numerous legal instruments, including the Constitution, the Marriage and Family Code, the Education Act and the Minors’ Rights (Protection and Defence) Act. Additional guarantees are provided in presidential decrees and government decisions.

250. With the transition to a market economy, measures to protect low-income families with children have acquired special urgency.

251. It is envisaged that benefits provided at the national level might be supplemented by the regions and individual enterprises and organizations, where broader criteria for the granting of benefits might also be applied.

252. Despite the problems of the transitional period, children’s situation has stabilized in many respects. In the sphere of social protection there has been a switch to targeted support for the neediest families with children and social services, including for minors, have been further developed.

253. The Comprehensive Development Framework for the period up to 2010 presupposes the exercise of children’s rights and the improvement of living standards in keeping with the country’s social and economic development plans.

254. The priorities in the State’s social policy are not financial assistance, but the furthering of the development of the family and children and the creation of opportunities for individuals to become involved in society and take responsibility for their own lives. As a first step, work began in 1999 on the “social passporting” of the population, with a view to classifying families by their social prospects. This will assist in shifting the focus of State support so that it is no longer solely on ensuring families’ biological survival but more on promoting their social and economic progress through the provision of seed capital (microfinancing, microcredit, land, equipment, and basic knowledge and retraining for the employment market).

255. Efforts are under way in general-education establishments to find extrabudgetary funds for assistance to vulnerable groups of children. Measures that can help in keeping education accessible for such children include the purchase of school uniforms and supplies, the free issue of textbooks from school libraries and the production of food on subsidiary personal plots. In a number of towns there are school catering services and free school transport and parental contributions to the procurement of teaching materials have been wholly or partially waived for children in the “risk” category. In 2001, using funds from the Asian Development Bank under the “Zhetkinchek” access-to-education programme, 21,250 pupils from disadvantaged groups, including children from children’s homes and boarding schools for orphans, received help in the form of clothing, footwear and writing materials. However, the country’s economic difficulties are such that children’s material needs cannot always be met and that naturally affects their standard of living.

256. The Constitution and other enactments provide comprehensive coverage of rights in the field of education.

257. The Minors’ Rights (Protection and Defence) Act states that every minor has the right to free education in State general-education establishments and to initial vocational training in accordance with the Education Act.

259. Parents may, taking into account the minor’s wishes and abilities, opt for a higher standard of education and for attendance at duly registered non-State institutions.

260. Parents and persons acting in their stead who prevent a minor from receiving an education incur liability in accordance with the law.

261. With a view to their development and social rehabilitation, disabled and physically and mentally handicapped children have a right to general and vocational education consistent with their physical condition and capabilities that will equip them to take part in suitable labour and creative activities.

262. In 1997, the country elaborated a National Sustainable Development Strategy. This calls for the development over a period of 15 years of: an appropriate level of culture and ethics in society; the institution of the family; and individuals’ social and economic activity. A number of national programmes have been devised under the Strategy: “A Healthy Nation”, “Manas” (healthcare), “Bilim”, “Human Resources for the Twenty-first Century”, “Education through Culture”, “Zhetkinchek” (education), “Araket”, “Emgek” (employment and poverty control), “Zhashtyk” (youth policy).

263. The goals of the Zhetkinchek programme are to make education accessible to all children of school age and to identify and institute new ways and means of safeguarding every child’s right to education. The following are the main lines of this programme:

Increase public sensitivity to the problems connected with children’s right to education;

Increase the responsibility of parents and State and local authorities for the education and upbringing of school-age children, especially orphans, disabled children and children from vulnerable families;

2. Put in place the arrangements and the legislation needed for the elaboration of new mechanisms for supporting vulnerable groups of children with a view to:

Ensuring that children have unhindered access to State schools wherever they live and whatever their living conditions;

Taking account of the educational needs of children from ethnic minorities, child refugees, homeless children and working children and elaborating appropriate curricula, etc.

264. Access to all forms of education is guaranteed by the Constitution and, as State financing of the education system confirms, is one of the State’s priorities.

265. However, the State does not have enough money fully to support educational establishments. As a result, families’ spending on educating their children is rising. These problems will be alleviated by the application of a Comprehensive Development Framework for the period up to 2010 and the “New Generation” State Programme for the Realization of Children’s Rights in the same period.

266. The country has a progressive, continuous and multistage system of education and training (pre-school, elementary school, extra-scholastic, secondary, special, vocational and higher).

267. New types of extra-scholastic institutions are now widespread. These include:

“Children’s educational centres”, which aim at ensuring equal opportunities for children from all parts of the country and integrating them into world educational programmes. The centres’ tasks are to make computer, environmental and language instruction more effective and to develop children’s and young people’s moral and aesthetic sensitivities;

The Children’s Educational Museum of the Meerim Foundation (Bishkek), a centre for teaching children new technologies, introducing them to world educational and scientific programmes and educating them through the world of art.

268. As regards general secondary education, steps were taken during the reporting period to preserve the existing system and to modernize and develop it in the light of the country’s new circumstances. Taking all forms of establishment and ownership into account, the country now has 2,000 schools (an increase of 407, or 85,900 places, since 1997) and some 500 pre-school institutions, and 1,166,316 children of pre-school or school age (97.3 per cent of the possible total) are in education.

269. At the secondary level, there are 104 grammar schools and 60 lycées, as well as 19 specialized general-education establishments which cater for some 4,000 pupils with developmental problems. Private education is gaining strength and there are a number of interState schools (see annex I, tables 27 and 28).

270. Kyrgyz is the main language of instruction. It is used in 1,665 schools; 228 schools have Uzbek, 457 Russian and 8 Tajik as a language of instruction. For pupils from small ethnic groups there are classes in their native languages (Dungan, Uighur, Ukrainian, Kazakh, Turkish and German).

271. Inclusive education of children with disabilities in schools and pre-school institutions in the places where they live is becoming more common. Education of this kind demonstrates disabled children’s right and ability to learn alongside normal children, to live in families and to adapt to a normal environment from an early age.

272. New subjects are now being taught in schools: “Introduction to economics”, “Management of the country”, “Man and society”, “Morals”, “A healthy lifestyle”, etc. The technology for giving instruction and assessing pupils’ performance is being improved. A national testing centre is in operation. Draft State standards have been drawn up for all the main subjects taught in general-education schools. The government construction programmes for the period up to 2005 provide for the building of 140 schools. At present, 57 villages have no
school and the buildings at 127 schools are in desperately poor condition and need major
repairs. At 1,483 schools, including 1,250 village schools, teaching takes place in two shifts;
at 105 schools, it takes place in three shifts.

273. In 1999, the State budget funded the purchase for newly built schools, most of which were in rural areas, of 1,400 desks for a total amount of 1,335 million soms. In the year 2000, using funds from the Asian Development Bank, schools were supplied with 22,000 desks and 6,900 tables and chairs for teachers and other staff to a total value of 1,475,021 dollars.

274. In 2000-2001, thanks to funds from the State budget and the Asian Development Bank, schools received more than 400,000 dollars’ worth of computers, televisions and video equipment.

275. As spelled out in the Education Act, the national programmes “Bilim”, “Human Resources for the Twenty-first Century” and “Zhetkinchek” and other regulatory instruments, State policy aims at the full satisfaction of children’s diverse educational interests and needs and the development of their personalities, talents and mental and physical abilities.

276. To ensure an individual approach, new teaching standards have been adopted, alternative textbooks and flexible curricula are being introduced, innovative programmes are being encouraged, optional courses arranged and non-traditional educational institutions opened. Gifted children can compete for places in special music, art and sports schools.

277. Tertiary education is now open and accessible to all who wish to undertake it. In addition to their traditional programmes, tertiary institutions now offer bachelor’s and master’s degree programmes and the best programmes from Russia and higher educational establishments in Europe, the United States of America, Japan and elsewhere.

278. The higher-education system is based on principles proclaimed in international agreements and covenants and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as on the population’s humanist values, world culture and the principles of democracy.

279. Access to higher education is open only to people having a certificate to prove that they have completed their general secondary education or secondary vocational education.

280. Higher education is dispensed in licensed State and non-State institutions duly certified or accredited by the State. There are such institutions in all regional centres and the highereducation network therefore covers the entire country. The number of students per 10,000 inhabitants rose from 130 in 1999 to 350 in 2001.

281. The problem of access to education has become more acute in recent years and the school dropout rate is high. The measures taken to resolve the situation include the approval by presidential decree of the Zhetkinchek (“Access to education”) programme, the raising of private contributions to support education and the provision of targeted assistance to children in risk groups. They also include the availability of alternative types of education according to the general-education curricula (independent study as an external student, home tutoring). In 2001, the numbers of persons following the standard nine-year general-education curriculum and secondary general-education curriculum as external students were 114 and 582 respectively. The Minister of Education and Culture and local authorities check every year that school-age children have equal access to basic education and define ways and map out strategy for ensuring that access.

282. The vocational education system, reacting flexibly to the restructuring of the economy, has embarked on a course of reform. During the reporting period (since 1997) trade schools have, in order to ensure social justice for adolescents, been converted into vocational lycées, where, at the same time as being taught a trade, the students receive a general secondary education.

283. The List of Professions for Elementary Vocational Training mentions 125 professions and more than 350 specialities. The new economic circumstances and the general situation in the country, with the shift towards self-employment, have necessitated revision of the list and the setting of new priorities for vocational training. Training for work in the following sectors is now considered to be the most important: services; tailoring; food; agriculture; business; preservation and development of ethnic traditions and popular art forms. Vocational training is now readily accessible to the least advantaged members of society (children from low-income or large families or broken homes, orphans and children left without parental care). In all, 26,400 people are now taking vocational training and 21,400 of them are paid for by the State. One in every three vocational-training students comes from the above categories. Two relevant government decisions were adopted in 1999: No. 566 of 15 October 1999 on measures to ensure orphans’ access to elementary vocational training in educational establishments, and No. 658 of 2 December 1999 on measures for the social and labour rehabilitation of minors from lowincome families, orphaned and disabled children, children from children’s homes and other socially vulnerable categories. For full orphans the food allocation has been increased to 30 soms.

284. In the light of data and other documents and notwithstanding the country’s difficult social and economic situation, trade-school pupils receive a guaranteed minimum in the form of a grant, food, travel benefits and housing. Orphans receive a social grant equivalent to 80 per cent of the minimum wage. In addition, each educational establishment provides them with seasonal clothing, educational supplies and additional food, using for this purpose the income it derives from productive activities.

285. In recent years, children with disabilities (hearing or speech defects, physical or mental handicaps) have begun to study at vocational schools. In Bishkek, rehabilitation centres have been established on the basis of vocational lycées Nos. 4 and 18. They have developed a method for teaching children with hearing and speech defects and curricula for children with physical handicaps. The children study shoemaking and the making of traditional handicrafts. Instruction in this latter field is now available in Naryn oblast and has proved suitable even for children with category 2 disabilities. It is planned to establish similar centres in all parts of the country.

286. Teaching of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations is among the main principles of State policy. Both State structures and non-governmental organizations work to inform the population, including children, of the contents of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Ministries, government agencies, non-governmental and the international organizations, UNICEF, Save the Children United Kingdom and the European Children’s Fund have all contributed financially towards the making of a series of informative radio programmes aimed at children, called “The rights of the child in Kyrgyzstan”. Compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child is

a frequent topic in the national affairs sections of radio and television broadcasts. For example, in 2000-2001, explanation and implementation of the Convention were constant themes in the work of the performing arts groups Zhash Tolkun and Zhiger and of the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Corporation (programmes entitled “The rights of the child”, “The world through children’s eyes”, “Kush Kabar”, etc.).

287. Through the introduction of new topics in schools, children are also taught to respect their parents, their own cultural identity, language and values and civilizations that differ from their own.

288. There are regular children’s festivals, competitions, exhibitions and other events in celebration of the cultures of the peoples living in the Kyrgyz Republic.

289. As regards the preparation of the child for responsible life in a free society, in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance and respect for others, including religious, ethnic and national groups, there is no discrimination on grounds of nationality, religion or sex. Except in a few cases, boys and girls are taught together.

290. Only people having the necessary education and a teaching qualification may become teachers. The country has more than 100,000 teachers, of whom 29,000 teach in higher educational establishments and 71,000 at lower levels; 69.3 per cent of teachers underwent tertiary education and 20.5 per cent specialized secondary education. Improvement of the quality of the country’s teaching staff has been facilitated by the adoption in 2001 of the Teachers’ Status Act, which provides for material and other incentives for teachers and for support for young specialists working in rural areas. The State grants special and honorary titles and awards for special services by persons working in the education system. In 2001, the President of the Republic created the country’s highest teaching title, “National Teacher of the Kyrgyz Republic”, for particularly outstanding services in the education and upbringing of children and young people.

291. Nonetheless, for various reasons only 87 per cent of regional education authorities’ demand for teachers can be met. The country has more than 100,000 teachers, of whom 29,000 teach in higher educational establishments and 71,000 at lower levels.
Because of a shortage of funds, refresher training can only be provided for a little over 1,000 teachers a year. To tackle this problem, a distance-learning system for teachers is being established with the help of a loan from the Asian Development Bank. In 2002, resource centres for this system will be set up throughout the country. The “New Generation” State Programme for the Realization of Children’s Rights in the period up to 2010 provides for the staged implementation of measures for: the full execution of State education programmes; the elaboration of new educational criteria; the development of research and of a system of special and remedial education; the expansion of preventive and diagnostic activities in the education system with a view to the early detection and correction of children’s problems; the development of a psychological rehabilitation system; the development of a range of study options (part-time study for people in employment, home tutoring, independent study as an external student); improvement of the teachers’ salary system; better forecasting of teachers’ needs and improvement of support for young specialist teachers, etc.

292. Children’s rights to rest and leisure are covered in the Constitution, the Minors’ Rights (Protection and Defence) Act and other laws and regulations. The Minors’ Rights (Protection and Defence) Act provides that minors have a right to rest and leisure consistent with their age, health and needs. All minors have the right to leisure and to the choice of extracurricular activities in keeping with their interests, abilities and objectives. Local authorities prohibit the degradation of physical facilities of use for children’s leisure activities and seek additional sources of financing for their development (contributions from enterprises and funds, grants).

293. The “New Generation” programme provides for campaigns in children’s and adolescents’ neighbourhoods, the development of special-interest clubs (engineering, arts, sports) and the holding of cultural events.

294. The country has a network of 130 institutions for out-of-school activities (see annex I, table 29) in which more than 100,000 people are involved. These institutions offer children and adolescents a variety of leisure activities, develop their artistic talents, provide them with supplementary education and sports training, etc.

295. To promote the healthy development of children and adolescents, the country has facilities including 55 sports stadiums, 613 children’s sports grounds, 12 swimming pools, 80 sports schools and 12 physical education centres. There are annual nationwide events for children from general-education schools, such as a competition in 10 sports and another in 12 academic subjects, tourist rallies, environmental forums and friendship
festivals.

296. The activities of non-governmental organizations, which are mainly financed from international funds, have increased considerably in recent years. Such organizations do very appreciable work on implementing projects in the spheres of education and culture. Foremost among them is the Meerim Foundation, which is very active in preserving the Kyrgyz people’s cultural heritage in the form of the epic “Manas” and in supporting gifted and talented orphans and disabled children. It organizes festivals, competitions and children’s events. The development and support of folklore and classical art form a large part of its work. In addition, the Soros Foundation Kyrgyzstan has carried out numerous educational and other projects.

297. Although, because of high travel costs, funding for summertime leisure activities for children and adolescents is insufficient, the Government organizes activities of this kind every year. The budgetary allocation for this purpose is in excess of 2 million soms.

298. The attention the State pays to children’s leisure, recreational and cultural activities is attested by the holding of traditional nationwide events and festivals, such as Child Protection Day, the President’s Christmas party “Altyn Balaty”, the Students’ Ball and competitions for young people before and after conscription.

299. The Government has adopted a number of decisions on general measures to assist people forced to leave Tajikistan and Afghanistan for the Kyrgyz Republic and to provide for their reception and accommodation.

300. The principal texts relevant to refugee children are two United Nations conventions, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. Both have been ratified by Kyrgyzstan, which also adopted its Refugees Act on 25 March 2002.

301. On 1 October 2001, the number of refugee children stood at 4,490, of whom 4,183 were from Tajikistan and 307 from Afghanistan. Kyrgyz law requires that all young refugees aged 16 or more be individually certificated as refugees; refugees below age 16 are registered on their parents’ papers.

302. Government decision No. 340 of 24 July 1996 approving the provisional regulations on refugees in the Kyrgyz Republic defines refugees’ legal status in the country and the procedure for recognizing a person as a refugee and established legal, economic and social guarantees for refugees’ rights within the country.

303. All refugee children have the same rights to education and medical services as citizens of the Kyrgyz Republic. In the second year of the course at general-education establishments in Bishkek, children from Afghanistan are given instruction in Afghan.

304. Sunday schools have been opened for refugee children in the Kadamzhai, Nookat, BazarKorgon and Zhail districts and in the town of Kon-Yangak. The Soros Foundation Kyrgyzstan has provided 7,700 dollars of funding for them. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other international organizations provide considerable assistance in the areas of education and health care.

305. Unfortunately, because of the country’s economic problems, not all refugees can be given the statutory social assistance or pensions or provided with employment. This affects children’s situations. For economic reasons, more than 20 per cent of refugee children do not attend school; most of them are of an age to be in senior classes but are forced to work in order to ease their families’ financial plight.

306. Among refugee children’s problems is that they lack identity papers (birth certificates or passports). This makes it difficult for them to enrol in secondary or higher educational establishments. To alleviate this problem and by agreement with the Embassy of Tajikistan, the Tajik consul has, since 2001, been holding monthly “surgeries” to advise refugees on citizenship, the issue of passports and birth certificates and other matters of interest to them. Of the refugees from Tajikistan, 52 have already taken out Kyrgyz citizenship. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are working to finalize a draft agreement on refugees’ citizenship.

307. In the year 2000, refugee status was granted to a minor citizen of Afghanistan, Bakhtiar Asadulla, who was born in 1988. In 2001, with the assistance of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the national Red Crescent Society, he was reunited with his family, which was in Pakistan. Asylum-seekers included seven minors from Chechnya.

2. Children in armed conflicts (art. 38), including physical and
psychological recovery and social integration (art. 39)

308. Pursuant to Kyrgyz law, children in situations of emergency, in particular refugee children and children involved in armed conflicts and natural disasters who are in need of physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration, receive material, medical and other assistance and, where necessary, are found places in a children’s home or clinic. Under the national EmergencyPrevention and Disaster-Management Programme, which was approved by government decision in 1999, the Ministry of the Environment and Emergencies alone has carried out 6 million soms’ worth of repairs at seven schools and built five schools with a total of 902 places at a cost of 1,935 million soms. Repairs at a surgical centre in Bishkek and a polyclinic in Karakol have cost 1,480,000 soms and 9.8 km of water pipe have been laid in settlements in remote and mountainous areas of the country.

309. By law, persons under the age of 18 years may not be called up for service in the armed forces. Persons under the age of 15 are completely under the care of their parents or persons acting in their stead or are brought up in State boarding institutions.

310. All refugee children are immunized and receive medical care on an equal footing with Kyrgyz children. Polyclinics for refugees have been opened in Osh and Bishkek and have teams of doctors that go to the neighbourhoods where there are large concentrations of refugees to conduct surgeries and examinations. The polyclinics provide medicines for refugee children free of charge.

B. Children in conflict with the law
1. The administration of juvenile justice (art. 40)

311. The new versions of the Criminal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and Penal Enforcement Code, the Administrative Liability Code and the Regulations on commissions for minors that were approved by government decision No. 646 of 3 November 2000 all provide for special measures to protect minors. These instruments contain, for the first time, special sections concerning cases involving minors, thereby satisfying one of the main requirements of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, namely that no child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily. The Minors’ Rights (Protection and Defence) Act prohibits exposing minors to any kind of mental or physical pressure and forcing them to give evidence as witnesses, to admit guilt or to testify in the absence of counsel.

312. The law provides that individuals who commit an offence after reaching the age of 16 are criminally responsible. For more serious offences, criminal responsibility begins at the age of 14. Minors suspected or accused of offences may not be questioned for more than two hours without a break or for more than four hours in any one day.

313. When minors commit a criminal offence, account is taken of their age and the objectives pursued are to return them to normal life and socially useful activity and to develop in them a sense of dignity and respect for others.

314. In sentencing minors, account is taken of their living conditions and upbringing, their level of mental development and other personal characteristics, as well as of the influence exerted on them by older persons.

315. A minor’s age is taken into account as a mitigating circumstance together with other mitigating and aggravating circumstances (Criminal Code, art. 79).

316. Instead of a criminal sentence, compulsory remedial education may be ordered if it is felt that a minor who has committed a minor or less serious offence can be rehabilitated in that way (Criminal Code, art. 83).

317. The participation of the child’s legal representatives is obligatory in cases involving crimes committed by minors.

318. The participation of a defence counsel is obligatory if a suspect, accused person or defendant in criminal proceedings is aged less than 18. In addition to a lawyer, a parent or teacher must be present during questioning of a minor charged with an offence.

319. Convicted minors serve their sentences separately from adult offenders. They may not be subjected to such security measures as straitjacketing. Because funds are lacking to build an appropriate young offenders’ institution, convicted girls (of whom there are 15-20) serve their sentences together with women convicts in a correctional colony.

320. Persons who were under 18 years of age when they committed a crime may not be sentenced to more than 15 years’ deprivation of liberty. Minors may not be sentenced to death. Opportunities to receive school and vocational education exist for minors serving sentences in correctional institutions.

2. Children deprived of their liberty, including any form of
detention, imprisonment or placement in custodial
settings (art. 37 (b)-(d))

321. The law provides that no one may be arrested other than by court order or with the approval of a procurator. Arrest consists in being taken into custody. A lawyer may intervene in a criminal proceeding from the moment anyone is detained or arrested, and in juvenile cases the participation of defence counsel is mandatory. Minors can be detained and taken into custody only in exceptional circumstances, when justified by the seriousness of the legally defined offence. The detention of a minor must be reported immediately to the parents or the persons acting in their stead and to the procurator’s office.

322. Pursuant to the country’s criminal law, minors deprived of liberty may not be subjected to a prison regime.

323. For male juvenile offenders, the country has one reformatory and one remand centre. On average, they have 80-100 inmates a year. Contrary to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, girl convicts, of whom there are about 20, have to be housed with women convicts.

324. The new Penal Enforcement Code, which became law in December 1999, regulates the serving by minors of custodial sentences, for which ordinary, eased, concessionary or strict conditions may be ordered. Benefits available to inmates of the country’s young offenders’ institution where sentences are served under ordinary or eased conditions include the following:

Adjustment of their conditions of detention depending on their behaviour and the results of the reform process;

Access to education, in the form of general education, vocational training and work experience;

Psychological assistance from diagnostic, vocational guidance and psychological counselling units;

325. Pursuant to government decision No. 171 of 16 April 2001 approving the Regulations on the advisory board for the young offenders’ institution, an advisory board comprising representatives of State organizations, voluntary associations and other institutions and persons acting in their own capacity has been set up to assist the reformatory’s authorities in making arrangements for the inmates’ education, improving the reformatory’s material resources, ensuring social protection for inmates and finding them jobs and facilitating their return to society on their release. The Penal Enforcement Code Implementation Act provides for the construction in 2000-2005 of one strictregime reformatory, limited to 150 places, for male young offenders and one general-regime reformatory, limited to 100 places, for female young offenders.

326. Because it lacks the necessary financial resources for the upkeep of minors who have been convicted or remanded in custody, the country is unable fully to implement the international rules for the treatment of prisoners or the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (“The Beijing Rules”).

327. The Minors’ Rights (Protection and Defence) Act provides that the commitment of a minor to an educational institution for children and adolescents in need of special care may be ordered by a court or a municipal or regional commission for minors’ affairs on application by the competent authorities. In reaching its decision, the court or commission must hear the minor’s opinion and take it into account in accordance with his/her age and maturity and hear the opinion of the minor’s parents or the persons acting in their stead.

328. Minors in whose regard there exist contraindications as defined by the Instructions on Medical Examination of Children and Adolescents may not be committed to special educational institutions.

329. The participants in proceedings for the commitment of a minor to a special educational institution must include a procurator and a lawyer. Minors in such institutions are entitled to humane treatment, health care, vocational education, meetings with their parents and relatives and other persons and holidays, as well as to engage in correspondence and receive parcels and broadcasts. The purpose of their presence in such institutions must be to reeducate them and return them to normal life and work. In the light of the changes in the law regarding minors, government decision No. 646 of 3 November 2000 approved the revised Regulations on commissions for minors, which now provide not only for the mandatory participation of a procurator and a lawyer, but also for closer monitoring, pursuant to the principle of the best interests of the child, of compliance with the legislation on the protection and defence of children’s rights.

3. The sentencing of juveniles, in particular the prohibition
of capital punishment and life imprisonment (art. 37 (a))

330. Pursuant to the legislation on juvenile offenders, minors deprived of liberty may not be subjected to a prison regime. Persons under 18 years of age may not be sentenced to more than 15 years’ deprivation of liberty and are subject to special rules regarding parole. The death penalty is not applied to minors and the penalty of life imprisonment does not exist in Kyrgyz criminal law.

331. A number of forms and methods of social, medical and other work to promote the physical and psychological recovery, social reintegration and social protection of children have acquired special significance in recent years because of the country’s difficult social and economic circumstances and other problems. The legislation on, above all, refugees, as well as that on the social protection of categories of children including orphans, children left without parental care and disabled children, reflect a comprehensive approach to those difficulties and problems.

332. The period under review saw the adoption on 15 October 1999 of government decision No. 566 on measures to ensure orphans’ access to elementary vocational training in educational establishments and on 2 December 1999 of decision No. 658 on measures for the social and labour rehabilitation of minors from low-income families, orphaned and disabled children, children from children’s homes and other socially vulnerable categories.

333. Since 1997 there has been a significant increase in the number of centres and shelters providing children and adolescents with social and psychological support and helping them to resolve social, psychological, educational, legal and moral problems they encounter as they grow up and to remedy situations in dysfunctional families. These institutions provide help to education, health and internal affairs authorities and other State and voluntary entities in their preventive work with adolescents.

334. A total of four homes and boarding schools for children left without parental care has been opened since 1997. In Bishkek, rehabilitation centres for disabled children and vulnerable minors have been established on the basis of vocational lycées Nos. 4 and 18; there is a social protection centre for 20 children between the ages of 3 and 7 in the Alamudun district and the Meerim Foundation has built a centre for the social rehabilitation of disabled children, a development centre for orphans and a health and charity centre for young people and is now constructing on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul the Altyn Balalyk Children’s Centre, which will be the country’s only intensive rehabilitation centre for children. Institutions for homeless children in Bishkek include a centre with 70 places that was built with financial support from the Government of Norway and the Ak Zhol children’s refuge.

335. The Comprehensive Development Framework for the period up to 2010 defines the greatest possible consideration for the interests of children to be a key aspect of social and economic reform.

C. Children in situations of exploitation, including physical
and psychological recovery and social reintegration
1. Economic exploitation, including child labour (art. 32)

336. The Government’s policy and its course of democratic reform have laid a firm foundation for the protection of the interests of the child. The Minors’ Rights (Protection and Defence) Act provides that minors are entitled to participate in labour activity in accordance with their age, health and level of general education and vocational training.

337. In labour relations, minors have equal rights with adults, but with respect to labour protection, working time, holidays and some other aspects of working conditions they enjoy the privileges provided for by law.

338. Minors may not be used for forced or unhealthy work of any kind at enterprises or institutions, in organizations or cooperatives, in family businesses or under leasing contracts.

339. Minors may not be used for night work, work involving the lifting and carrying of weights exceeding the legal standard, or underground work.

340. Persons studying in educational establishments may not be employed during the academic year in agricultural or other work unconnected with their studies. Whether their work is manual or not, minors are guaranteed the right to rest. They enjoy reduced working hours and extended annual leave and are entitled to take leave in the summer or at another time of year, as they wish.

341. Government agencies’ and local authorities’ commissions for minors and the State Labour Inspectorate of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection monitor and supervise observance of minors’ labour rights and ensure that minors are not subject to discrimination in any form.

342. However, because of the transition to a market economy, the country has encountered serious economic and social problems in recent years, including rises in unemployment and poverty, and these have adversely affected the most vulnerable segments of the population. This explains minors’ special situation on the labour market: many graduates of ordinary vocational schools or specialized secondary schools go to swell the ranks of the unemployed.

343. In this period of economic crisis, children are becoming more interested in earning their own living. Exploitation of their labour in family businesses and on farms is becoming more common as a result.

344. Under the Employment Act, citizens aged 16 years or more can be formally recognized as unemployed. There exists a number of national, oblast and municipal job agencies whose main function is to assist young people and adolescents in finding work. These agencies’ activities include the following:

Organization and provision of vocational-guidance and psychological and legal counselling services;

Conclusion with teaching centres of agreements enabling minors from particularly vulnerable groups to study at concessionary fees;

Conclusion with enterprises and organizations of agreements enabling minors to gain work experience and then enter employment;

Organization and holding of job fairs to publicize vacancies requiring no experience or skills;

Organization of publicity campaigns to inform adolescents about the situation on the job market.

345. In order to find summer jobs for minors, contacts are maintained with employers in the trade and service sectors.

346. In the second half of 2001, a total of 1,617 people between the ages of 16 and 18 sought work through the job centres. Employment was found for 567 of them, while 182 were assigned to community service activities and 803 to vocational training. Of the latter, 284 were found work.

347. Kyrgyzstan has approved a special programme drawn up by the International Labour Organization which provides for the development and implementation of special measures to eliminate child labour.

348. Government ministries and departments are currently examining the possibility of proposing ratification of ILO Convention No. 182, the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention.

349. The number of adolescents and young people being drawn into the drugs business has been rising in recent years. This is happening against a background of a deterioration in the drugs situation in the country. For example, because of the existence of extensive poppygrowing areas, there has been a sharp rise in the smuggling into Kyrgyzstan of Afghan opium, most of it in transit to other countries.

350. The country’s policy regarding drug-abuse control among young people is based on international legal instruments.

351. In 1994, Kyrgyzstan joined the international system for combating drug abuse by acceding to the 1961, 1971 and 1988 United Nations drug-control conventions. It has working relations regarding drug control with a number of international organizations. For example, on 30 November 2000, it signed an agreement on cooperation in this area between the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries.

352. The Government has approved a State Programme for combating drug abuse and drug trafficking during the period 2001-2003. This provides for measures for the timely identification and the treatment and rehabilitation of juvenile drug users.

353. A number of programmes have been developed to combat drug abuse among women and young people. They take regional characteristics into account. A substantial amount of work has been done in this regard in pursuance of the presidential decree proclaiming 2000 to be the Year of Youth and Education.

354. Under a tripartite project involving the Government, UNDP and UNAIDS, the Ministry of Health has designed and approved teaching modules concerning the effects of drug abuse, as well as an experimental syllabus for encouraging schoolchildren to adopt a healthy lifestyle. There are drug counselling centres for adolescents in Bishkek and Osh oblast. They provide treatment and diagnostic services as well as counselling and support to adolescents and drug addicts. The similar centres that were opened in other parts of the country in 1999 have been closed for lack of money. Including those for adolescents, the country has a total of 303 beds for the treatment of drug abuse. There is a total of 49 drug surgeries attached to major city and district hospitals.

355. The country’s educational establishments hold themed events, lectures, seminars and exhibitions of newspapers, magazines and books concerning drug abuse. Since early 2000, there have been regular United Nations-supported broadcasts - more than 20 so far - by the Ministry of Health concerning drug-abuse control.

356. Non-governmental organizations are also involved in the efforts to prevent drug abuse. They include in particular: “Students against Drugs”, which was founded in Bishkek and has a branch in Osh; “Kyrgyzstan against Drugs”; the international fund “Children against Drugs” and “SANITAC”, a charity for combating abuse of alcohol, drugs and tobacco. Kyrgyzstan is currently considering joint action with friendship and cooperation societies from other CIS countries (Russia and Kazakhstan) on a comprehensive programme entitled “A Healthy Generation”, under which the countries would pool their efforts to promote young people’s moral, intellectual and physical development and protect them against the ill effects of drugs by encouraging them to adopt a healthy lifestyle.

357. Inciting minors to consume drugs or to engage in non-medical consumption of medicines and other narcotic substances are offences under the Criminal Code.

358. At present, there are 552 adolescents on probation as episodic abusers of drugs and alcohol. In the year 2000, drug-related crimes accounted for 15 per cent of all recorded juvenile crimes.

359. Kyrgyz law provides for a variety of measures to protect children from sexual abuse, including regulation of the admission of children to video-viewing establishments (clubs) and prohibition of the import of pornographic material and works glorifying violence and cruelty.

360. Under the Criminal Code, rape of a female minor, sodomizing of a male minor, sexual intercourse with a person under 15, entertaining of de facto marital relations with a person under marriageable age, and the involvement of minors in criminal activity, particularly prostitution, constitute aggravated offences punishable by deprivation of liberty.

361. The country also strives to comply with the international standards against the sexual exploitation of children through the application of recent instruments, including ILO Convention No. 182 of 1998, the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime of 2000, the outcome document of the United Nations General Assembly’s special session on children and the draft final document of the Second World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children.

362. Liability is envisaged for publicity leading to an increase in prostitution or the recruitment and transfer outside the country of young girls, including minors, for exploitation as prostitutes. The “New Generation” programme for the period up to 2010 lays down measures for improving the situation in this regard.

363. According to investigations by the National Security Service, 10 per cent of the country’s commercial sex workers are minors.

364. The Minors’ Rights (Protection and Defence) Act provides that the State shall, in accordance with current national legislation and the rules of international law, take measures against the unlawful movement of children across the country’s borders and failure to return them and against the abduction and trafficking of children for any purposes and in any form.

365. Substitution of children, trafficking in children, and the abduction of persons under 16 years of age for the purposes of entry into de facto marital relations are offences under the Criminal Code.

366. Despite the measures that have been taken, instances do occur of young children being forced to work or to engage in begging or theft. They are the fault of the children’s parents and of organized crime, which has highly developed international ties and draws children into a criminal environment and prostitution.

367. New forms of exploitation of children have emerged: hostage-taking as a way of promoting settlement of disputes between economic agents; incitement of children to engage in unlawful sexual practices; and trafficking in children for the purpose of exploiting them in prostitution.

368. Pursuant to the Constitution, children belonging to national minorities have equal rights irrespective of origin, sex, race, nationality, language, religion or religious beliefs.

369. The Teachers’ Status Act, which was adopted in 2001, provides that the principles of teachers’ activity should be: a humanist approach ensuring respect for pupils’ rights and freedoms and ethnic and cultural traditions; the inadmissibility of direct, covert or indirect discrimination against or favouritism towards pupils or restriction of their rights on the grounds of sex, ethnic origin, language, religion or any other personal or social conditions or circumstances.

370. The association The Assembly of the People of Kyrgyzstan has as its aims the realization and protection of the interests of the ethnic minorities that, together with the Kyrgyz, constitute the people of Kyrgyzstan.

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001, budgeted
Local budget
Pre-school institutions	377	380	381	384	387
Children	41 385	41 526	40 639	39 357	40 487
Schools	1 844	1 886	1 898	1 922	1 928
Pupils	1 033.2	1 058	1 089	1 094	1 121
Boarding schools	29	30	30	32	32
Pupils	7	7	6	6	7
Music schools	82	86	88	85	86
Institutions for extra-curricular activities	120	129	134	136	136
Vocational schools	50	46	47	46	44
Specialized secondary schools	16	16	16	16	16
Higher educational establishments	0	0	0	0	0
Republican budget
Pre-school institutions	18	18	18	18	18
Children	1 410	1 415	1 390	1 420	1 420
Schools	3	3	2	4	4
Pupils	2.4	2.4	2.3	4.5	4.6
Boarding schools	3	3	3	3	3
Pupils	0.7	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.9
Music schools	1	1	1	1	1
Institutions for extra-curricular activities	5	5	5	5	5
Vocational schools	55	58	57	58	60
Specialized secondary schools	28	28	28	28	28
Higher educational establishments	21	21	21	21	25
State budget
Pre-school institutions	395	398	399	402	405
Children	42 795	42 941	42 029	40 777	41 907
Schools	1 847	1 889	1 900	1 926	1 932
Pupils	1 035.6	1 060.6	1 091.1	1 098.5	1 125.5
Boarding schools	32	33	33	35	35
Pupils	8.1	7.7	7.0	6.9	7.5
Music schools	83	87	89	86	87
Institutions for extra-curricular activities	125	134	139	141	141
Vocational schools	105	104	104	104	104
Specialized secondary schools	44	44	44	44	44
Higher educational establishments	21	21	21	21	25

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001, budgeted
Local budget:
Budgetary funds Special funds	955 41	1 050 50	1 269 84	1 444 109	1 578 88
Total	996	1 100	1 353	1 553	1 666
Republican budget:
Budgetary funds Special funds	382 137	347 234	405 232	474 266	507 283
Total	519	581	637	740	790
State budget:
Budgetary funds Special funds	1 337 178	1 397 284	1 674 316	1 918 375	2 085 371
Total	1 515	1 681	1 990	2 293	2 456
Percentage of GDP	5.0	4.9	4.1	4.1	3.4
Percentage of total expenditure	22.6	23.0	21.4	20.3	18.7
GDP, billion soms	30.4	34.2	48.3	56	71.2
Total expenditure	6 695.6	7 298.3	9 311.9	11 308.2	13 116.9

Table 3
Financing of Asian Development Bank “Development of the Education Centre” project
(million soms)

Table 4
Expenditure from republican budget on access to and quality of education
(million soms)

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001, budgeted
Children’s homes	6.12	5	7.1	7.2	8
Special residential homes (for physically handicapped children)	18.2	17.9	25.2	18.7	26.2
Total, special institutions	24.3	22.9	32.3	25.9	34.2
Education fund	0	0	25	14.7	25
Summer leisure activities (for orphans and children from lowincome families)	2	2.5	2	2	2
Implementation of the “Human Resources for the Twenty-first Century” programme	0	3	0	1	3
Publication of textbooks	0	9	0	1.3	4

Table 5
Expenditure on family-type children’s homes (foster families)
(million soms)

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001, budgeted
Local budget
Kindergartens	75	90	102	112	120
General education	733	805	991	1 130	1 179
of which:
Primary	7	7	11	9	11
Incomplete secondary	37	39	45	48	55
Secondary	689	759	934	1 073	1 113
Boarding	30	34	40	45	51
Music	12	18	15	18	20

*Table 6 (continued)*

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001,budgeted
Institutions for extra- curricular activities	26	29	31	35	40
Vocational	25	21	29	34	46
Specialized secondary	22	28	24	27	31
Tertiary	0	0	0	0	0
Other	33	26	38	43	91
Total, local budget	955	1 050	1 269	1 444	1 578
Republican budget
Kindergartens	6	6	6	7	8
General education	4	7	8	7	9
of which:
Primary
Incomplete secondary
Secondary	4	7	8	7	9
Boarding	7	7	9	13	8
Music	1	1	1	1	1
Institutions for extra- curricular activities	4	3	3	3	3
Vocational	89	64	61	88	85
Specialized secondary	39	35	39	31	47
Tertiary	129	129	132	114	139
Other	103	97	146	210	208
Total, Republican budget	382	347	405	474	507
State budget
Kindergartens	81	96	109	118	128
General education	737	812	999	1 138	1 188
of which:
Primary	7	7	11	9	11
Incomplete secondary	37	39	45	48	55
Secondary	694	765	943	1 080	1 122
Boarding	37	40	49	58	69
Music	13	19	17	19	22
Institutions for extra- curricular activities	29	31	34	38	42
Vocational	114	85	90	122	131
Specialized secondary	61	62	63	59	77
Tertiary	129	129	132	114	139
Other	136	123	183	253	299
Total budgetary resources	1 337	1 397	1 674	1 918	2 085

Table 7
Expenditure per type of institution as percentage of
budgetary expenditure on education

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001, budgeted
Local budget
Kindergartens	8	9	8	8	8
General education	77	77	78	78	75
Boarding	3	3	3	3	3
Music	1	2	1	1	1
Institutions for extra- curricular activities	3	3	2	2	3
Vocational	3	2	2	2	3
Specialized secondary	2	3	2	2	2
Tertiary	0	0	0	0	0
Other	3	3	3	3	6
Total	100	100	100	100	100
Republican budget
Kindergartens	2	2	2	1	2
General education	1	2	2	2	2
Boarding	2	2	2	2	2
Music	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3
Institutions for extra- curricular activities	1	1	1	1
Vocational	23	18	15	19	17
Specialized secondary	10	10	10	7	9
Tertiary	34	37	32	24	27
Other	27	28	36	44	41
Total	100	100	100	100	100
State budget
Kindergartens	6	7	6	6	6
General education	55	58	60	59	57
Boarding	3	3	3	3	3
Music	1	1	1	1	1
Institutions for extra- curricular activities	2	2	2	2	2
Vocational	8	6	5	6	6
Specialized secondary	5	4	4	3	4
Tertiary	10	9	8	6	7
Other	10	9	11	13	14
Total	100	100	100	100	100

Table 8
General-education schools and hospitals commissioned, all sources of financing

* Sources: 1999: first national population census, 24 March;
2001: estimate, 1 January.

	Total		Percentage of total		Males per 1 000 females
	1999	2001	1999	2001	1999	2001
Population as a whole	4 822 900	4 907 600	100	100	975	976
of which, by age in years:
0-9	1 149 200	1 093 500	23.8	22.3	1 038	1 034
10-19	1 076 100	1 117 400	22.3	22.8	1 020	1 018
20-29	818 400	845 200	17	17.2	1 018	1 018
30-39	696 900	699 300	14.5	14.3	995	995
40-49	473 900	522 300	9.8	10.6	948	952
50-59	221 800	234 300	4.6	4.8	892	909
60-69	226 700	222 800	4.7	4.5	799	810
70-79	124 400	136 600	2.6	2.8	596	649
80 and above	35 500	36 200	0.7	0.7	334	371
of which, by working age:
Below working age	1 837 300	1 800 600	38.1	36.7	1 032	1 029
Of working age*	2 541 300	2 671 100	52.7	54.4	1 033	1 018
Above working age	444 300	435 900	9.2	8.9	542	599

Table 11
Numbers of children and adolescents in age range 7-17 not studying in schools
or other educational establishments at start of 2001-2002 academic year
(excluding children not subject to education)

	Total number not studying (children and adolescents)	of whom: girls	of whom:
	Total number not studying (children and adolescents)	of whom: girls	Never studied (children and adolescents)	of whom: girls	Dropped out in years 1-4	of whom: girls	Dropped out in years 5-9	of whom: girls	Dropped out in years 10-11	of whom: girls
Kyrgyz Republic	2 512	855	453	176	414	149	1 033	320	612	210
Batken oblast	78	26	34	8	10	7	25	8	9	3
Dzhalal-Abad oblast	459	199	110	53	80	31	175	74	94	41
Issyk-Kul oblast	450	108	86	35	90	26	164	29	110	18
Naryn oblast	183	36	48	11	33	8	8	17	13	-
Osh oblast	16	7	12	6	-	-	3	1	1	-
Talas oblast	189	48	37	13	43	16	6	10	47	9
Chui oblast	1 010	377	97	41	129	44	44	157	330	135
Bishkek	127	54	29	9	29	17	6	24	8	4

Table 12
Children certified by medico-pedagogical boards as not subject to education, 2000

	Kyrgyz Republic	Batken oblast	Dzhalal-Abad oblast	Issyk-Kul oblast	Naryn oblast	Osh oblast	Talas oblast	Chui oblast	Bishkek
Total of whom:	2 336	144	489	304	495	296	114	463	31
Blind	75	3	31	9	4	13	1	14	-
Deaf and dumb	234	15	87	46	19	27	2	37	1
Mentally or physically handicapped	1 532	113	259	161	322	240	69	348	20
Other disorders	495	13	112	88	150	16	42	64	10

	Kyrgyz Republic	Batken oblast	Dzhalal- Abad oblast	Issyk-Kul oblast	Naryn oblast	Osh oblast	Talas oblast	Chui oblast	Bishkek
All children not attending	2 512	78	459	450	183	16	189	1 010	127
of whom, by reason:	820	20	238	152	77	-	55	260	18
Financial difficulties	294	8	78	24	23	12	31	106	12
Parents’ unwillingness	331	7	47	96	28	4	38	80	31
Family circumstances	337	2	31	28	18	-	18	212	28
Unwillingness to study	269	10	49	69	13	-	8	100	20
Ignorance of language	58	-	-	38	1	-	-	19	-
In employment	305	-	5	28	15	-	39	203	15
Other reasons	98	31	11	15	8	-	-	30	3

Table 14
Children’s homes and residential schools for orphans
and children left without parental care

Disorder	Recorded cases
Disorder	1999	2000
Total morbidity of which:	180.4	499.6
Infectious or parasitic	50.5	54.7
Endocrine system and substance exchange	48.9	86.6
Blood, haemopoietic organs, immune system	40.3	37.7
Nervous system	15.6	13.3
Respiratory system	160.1	149.5
Digestive system	39.1	33.5
Urogenital system	11.0	9.9
Congenital anomalies	3.7	4.0
Traumas and poisoning	19.9	18.2
Mental illness	10.6	4.6

	Wastes, all classes	of which, by class
		Class 1	Class 2	Class 3	Class 4
Kyrgyz Republic
Quantities in organized storages or landfills	47 879.8	28 088.5	0.0	0.2	19 791.1
Arisings during year	6 070.1	634.5	-	0.0	5 435.6
Use at enterprises	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.09
Baten oblast
Quantities in organized storages or landfills	25 328.4	20 196.1	-	-	5 132.3
Arisings during year	248.4	194.3	-	-	54.1
Dzhalal-Abad oblast
Quantities in organized storages or landfills	4 578.4	4 577.5	-	0.1	0.8
Arisings during year	440.6	440.0	-	-	0.6
Issyk-Kul oblast
Quantities in organized storages or landfills	14 658.1	0.1	0.0	0.0	14 658.0
Arisings during year	538.1	0.1	-	-	5 381.0
Chui oblast
Quantities in organized storages or landfills	3 314.8	3 314.8	0.0	0.0	0.0
Arisings during year	0.328	-	-	-	0.328
Bishkek
Quantities in organized storages or landfills	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.0
Arisings during year	0.02	-	0.0	0.0	0.02
Use at enterprises	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.1

Table 21
Trends in perinatal and early neonatal mortality, stillbirths
and maternal mortality

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
Perinatal mortality per 1,000 live and still births	12.5	12.3	12.5	13.2	13.0
Early neonatal mortality per 1,000 live births	6.5	6.0	6.2	6.9	7.2
Stillbirths per 1,000 live births	6.0	6.3	6.3	6.3	5.8
Infant mortality per 1,000 live births	28.2	26.1	22.7	22.6	21.7
Birth rate	22.0	22.2	21.4	19.7	19.8
Maternal mortality per 1,000 live births	62.7	33.6	42.3	45.5	41.8

		1997	1998	1999	2000
Total number with tuberculosis at year end	Persons	5 189	5 772	6 376	7 375
of whom:
Recorded with tuberculosis, ages 0-14	Persons	695	955	824	998
Recorded with tuberculosis, ages 15-17	Persons	200	270	259	304
Sexually transmitted diseases, new cases	Cases	18 272	17 214	15 821	14 567
of which:
Children (0-17) recorded with STDs	Cases	480	436	497	?60
Total recorded new cases of syphilis, females	Cases	3 721	3 356	2 591	2 073
of which, by age group:
0-14 15-17 18-19	Cases Cases Cases	65 134 331	54 122 277	58 68 193	43 37 168
Total recorded new cases of syphilis, males	Cases	4 007	3 402	2 768	2 221
of which, by age group:
0-14 15-17 18-19	Cases Cases Cases	58 97 368	63 44 235	62 31 155	30 22 80
Total recorded cases of gonorrhoea, females	Cases	889	968	760	684
of which, by age group:
0-14 15-17 18-19	Cases Cases Cases	22 26 114	18 33 88	24 23 59	10 15 55
Total recorded new cases of gonorrhoea, males	Cases	1 129	1 556	1 520	1 634
of which, by age group:
0-14 15-17 18-19	Cases Cases Cases	6 31 117	6 25 228	2 25 129	3 56 170
Total recorded cases of HIV infection	Cases	2	6	10	16
Children (0-17) recorded as HIV-positive	Cases	-	-	-	-
Registered alcoholics (at yearend)	Persons	1 061	904	894	1 083
of whom:
Registered alcoholics aged 1519	Persons	4	4	3	-
Registered drug addicts (at year-end)	Persons	866	721	1 062	758
of whom:
Registered drug addicts aged 15-19	Persons	41	26	20	31
Total registered invalids (at year-end)	Persons	10 905	11 159	8 970	9 033
Total children (0-14) registered as invalids during year	Persons	1 568	1 908	1 325	1 397

		1997	1998	1999	2000
Intake percentage	Percentage	8.3	8.7	8.0	8.7
Total children in kindergartens	Persons	46 067	46 601	45 004	45 768
of whom: In private institutions	Persons	373	457	435	428
By age:
Children under 3	Persons	10 194	9 653	9 153	9 279
Children aged 6	Persons	9 178	9 305	10 296	10 677
Children aged 7 or above	Persons	6 268	6 344	4 130	4 256
Total attendees	Persons	3 951	3 810	3 624	3 627
Total State expenditure on pre-school education	Million soms	87.2	109.3	133.9	46

Table 26
Special education (especially for mentally or physically
handicapped children)

Table 27
General-education schools (all types and all forms of ownership) and pupils at them

Type of school	1997		1998		1999		2000		2001
Type of school	Schools	Pupils	Schools	Pupils	Schools	Pupils	Schools	Pupils	Schools	Pupils
State:	1 919	1 041 881	1 949	1 080 188	1 961	1 103 117	1 982	11 179 447	2 021	1 120 346
of which:
Day	1 913	1 040 781	1 942	1 079 088	1 956	101 117	1 978	1 115 647	2 017	1 118 495
of which:
Primary	111	11 932	117	12 582	120	1 990	125	11 531	140	13 688
Incomplete secondary	260	58 989	229	49 711	207	4 749	200	44 699	188	40 040
Secondary	1 523	966 615	1 577	1 013 850	1 607	1 408 774	1 631	1 055 881	1 667	1 061 026
Schools for children with development deficits	19	3 245	19	2 945	19	3 504	19	3 536	19	3 747
Night	6	1 100	7	1 100	5	2 000	4	2 300	4	1 851
Private	27	2 401	25	2 490	29	2 500	27	4 901	31	3 077

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
Total pupils/students of whom:	1 235 500	1 242 600	1 302 400	1 340 200	1 381 100
General-education schools	1 035 600	1 060 600	1 091 100	1 098 500	1 121 600
Vocational schools	25 000	25 500	25 500	26 500	25 900
Specialized secondary schools	27 100	26 800	26 600	26 400	26 500
Higher education establishments	97 800	129 700	159 200	188 800	207 400

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
Murder	11	12	10	9	9
Rape	15	17	5	12	8
Robbery	142	98	91	54
Theft of private, public or State property	1 084	939	1 043	930	654
Drug-related offences	49	29	45	44	25
Total convictions of which:	1 160	1 052	896	1 150	1 184
Suspended sentence	217	217	216	203	193
Percentage of total juvenile convictions	20	20	24.1	17.6	17.8
Deprivation of liberty	411	421	534	748	682
Percentage of total juvenile convictions		40	59.5	6.5	62.9
Parental or guardianship rights withdrawn	-	54	43	20	36
Divorces in couples with minor offspring	4 725	4 443	4 301	3 416	3 680

	1997	1998	1999	2000
Sexual relations with persons below age of sexual maturity	26	19	18	20
Indecent behaviour	13	10	7	15
Withholding of alimony or child support	189	203	284	246
Abuse of position as guardian	-	-	3	2
Publicizing of confidential adoption	3	-	2	1
Abduction or exchange of a child	-	3	4	5
Involving minors in criminal activity	-	86	94	61
Inciting minors to consume drugs or to engage in non-medical consumption of medicines and other narcotic substances	-	6	4	8
Conclusion of a marriage agreement with a person under marriageable age	40	37	22	30
Substitution of a child	2	1	-	-

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
Minors on file with minors’ inspectorates	6 980	7 059	6 760	5 912	5 189
Detained when drunk on streets or in other public places	497	370	253	242	270
Adolescents on file for non-medical consumption of drugs, medicines or other narcotic substances	127	124	162	106	49
Adolescents referred to internal affairs authorities for various reasons	8 437	8 501	9 569	9 788	9 906

LIST OF MAIN LAWS AND REGULATIONS ADOPTED
IN 1998-2003 IN APPLICATION OF THE PRINCIPLES
OF THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

Convention on the Rights of the Child (Ratification of Amendment) Act, 15 January 2000

Decision No. 1533-1 of 10 November 1999 of the Legislative Assembly of the Zhogorku Kenesh on adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Ratification of Amendment) Act

Decision No. 1069-1-18 of 17 December 1999 of the Assembly of People’s Representatives of the Zhogorku Kenesh on approval of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Ratification of Amendment) Act

Government decision No. 190 of 13 April 1998 on the report on implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Government decision No. 281 of 15 May 1998 on improvement of the system of social protection for low-income families and citizens

Government decision No. 252 of 7 May 1998 on the report on implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

Government decision No. 622 of 25 September 1998 on the initial report of the Kyrgyz Republic on implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

Government decision No. 42 of 19 January 1998 on approval of the Regulations on internal affairs authorities’ holding centres for persons with no fixed abode or identity papers and on special internal affairs authorities’ holding centres for persons under administrative arrest

Government decision No. 159 of 30 March 1998 on approval of the Regulations on family-type children’s homes (foster families)

Government decision No. 635 of 30 September 1998 on transfer to financing from the republican budget of the Belovodskaia general-education school for children and adolescents in need of special care

Government decision of 18 October 1999 on machinery for the granting of housing subsidies to lowincome families and citizens

Government decision No. 566 of 15 October 1999 on measures to ensure access for orphaned children to education in initial-vocational-training establishments

Government decision No. 658 of 2 December 1999 on measures for the social and labour rehabilitation of minors from low-income families, orphaned and disabled children, children from children’s homes and other socially vulnerable categories

Government decision No. 76 of 14 February 2000 on implementation of the Public Radiation Safety Act

Government decision No. 646 of 3 November 2000 on approval of the Regulations on commissions for minors

Government decision No. 775 of 10 December 2001 on parents’ participation in supporting the needs of general-education schools, pre-school institutions and institutions for extra-curricular activities for teaching supplies and facilities

Government decision No. 431 of 14 August 2001 on the “New Generation” State Programme for the Realization of Children’s Rights in the period up to 2010

[*] For the initial report submitted by the Government of Kyrgyzstan, see C RC/C/41/Add.6; for its consideration by the Committee, see documents CRC/C/SR.627 and 628 and CRC/C/15/Add.127.

UNITED NATIONS		CRC
	Convention on the Rights of the Child	Distr. GENERAL CRC/C/104/Add.4 5 April 2004 Original: ENGLISH

	1999			2001
	Totals	Males	Females	Totals	Males	Females
Population as a whole	4 822 900	2 380 465	2 442 473	4 907 600	2 424 000	2 483 600
Urban dwellers	1 678 623	802 256	876 367	1 706 700	815 500	891 200
Rural dwellers	3 144 315	15 782 09	1 566 106	3 200 900	1 608 500	1 592 400

	1997	1998	1999	2000
Percentage immunized of children subject to immunization:
Diphtheria, separately, ages 0-1 year	98.1	97.4	99.2	98.7
Whooping cough, separately	96.9	96.8	98.5	98.6
Poliomyelitis	99.1	97.4	99.2	98.7
Measles	98.0	98.0	97.5	97.8
Tuberculosis	97.1	94.4	98.9	97.8

Nosological forms	1999	2000	2001
Typhoid	56	47	?5
Acute intestinal infection	15 009	12 898	10 310
Brucellosis	178	230	327
Diphtheria	29	6	8
Viral hepatitis	6 316	17 071	8 466

	1997	1998	1999	2000
Prosecuted	1 414	1 455	1 521	1 502
Held in custody	405	654	694	636
Other preventive measures	690	861	914	838
Total offences by female juveniles	139	136	116	120

Age bracket, years	Number of persons
0-9	1 093 500
10-17	919 600
10-19	1 117 400

	Unit	1997	1998	1999	2000
General-education schools	School	27	23	32	14
	Pupil place	9 396	7 316	9 657	2 665
Hospitals	Bed	145	205	252	263

Year	Children’s homes	Pupils	Residential schools	Pupils	Total institutions	Total pupils
1997	5	582	4	567	9	1 149
1998	5	590	4	560	9	1 150
1999	5	590	4	570	9	1 160
2000	5	601	4	570	9	1 171
2001	5	603	4	576	9	1 178

	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
Infant mortality	28.1	25.9	28.2	26.1	22.7	22.6
Child mortality	41.3	36.4	42.1	40.7	35.5	33.2

Year	Number of institutions	Number of children attending
1997	423	46 067
1998	418	46 601
1999	416	45 004
2000	416	45 768

Year	Institutions	Attendees	Coverage of children %
1997	57	66.1	6.4
1998	61	59.4	5.5
1999	72	57.2	5.2
2000	129	78.3	7.0
2001	130	100	9.0

	1997	1998	1999	2000
Total number on file	6 880	7 059	6 760	5 912
of whom, as percentage:
Age 14	22.9 (1 582)	27.1 (1 911)	23.6 (1 598)	23.5 (1 380)
Age 14-15	34.8 (2 390)	37.3 (2 630)	37.9 (2 562)	38.6 (2 285)
Age 16-17	42.3 (2 908)	35.6 (2 518)	38.5 (2 600)	37.9 (2 241)

United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child - States Parties Reports

Kyrgyzstan - Second periodic reports of States parties due in 2001: Addendum [2004] UNCRCSPR 4; CRC/C/104/Add.4 (5 April 2004)