BELARUS, CRC/C/BLR/CO/3-4

Data collection

18. The Committee appreciates the State party’s efforts to strengthen data collection in areas concerning children, notably through the creation of a national social and economic database, BelarusInfo. The Committee is, however, concerned at the lack of information on a number of specific areas covered under the Convention, such as the situation of children belonging to minority groups, in particular Roma children, as well as on stateless children, and violence against children.

19. The Committee recommends that the Committee strengthen the collection of disaggregated data, with special attention to violence against children, juvenile delinquency, child labour, abandonment, migration, children belonging to minority groups, particularly the Roma, stateless children, and women and children infected and affected by HIV.

Name and nationality

33. The Committee notes the high number of stateless persons in the State party, and is concerned at the lack of data on the number and condition of stateless children residing in the State party.

34. In accordance with article 7, the Committee urges the State party to ensure the implementation of the right of all children to acquire a nationality, as far as possible, in order to prevent statelessness. Inter alia, it should collect data on stateless children. In this regard, the Committee encourages the State party to seek technical assistance from UNHCR. The Committee further recommends that the State party consider ratifying the 1954 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, the 1961 United Nations Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, as well as the 1997 Convention on Nationality and the 2009 Convention on the avoidance of statelessness in relation to State succession of the Council of Europe.

Asylum-seeking and refugee children

67. The Committee welcomes the adoption in 2008 of the Law on granting refugee status, additional and temporary protection to foreign citizens and stateless persons, which expressly provides for equal access to health and educational facilities for asylum-seeking and refugee children on par with Belarusian citizens, as well as the right of refugees to family reunification. It regrets, however, that this law does not include gender-related persecution as a legitimate ground for asylum, and it does not reflect the principle of the best interests of the child.

68. The Committee recommends that the State party:

(a) Expressly identify the best interests of the child as a primary consideration when examining asylum applications of undocumented,  unaccompanied or separated children, and refrain from placing these children in detention centres;

(b) Train asylum- and migration officials in the application of the legislation governing asylum and complementary protection, including training in taking into consideration child-specific forms of persecution;

(c) Ensure, including through the signing of bilateral agreements containing appropriate safeguards, that decisions for return and re-integration of unaccompanied Belarusian children are carried out with the primary consideration of the best interests of the child; and

(d) Take into account the Committee’s views contained in its General Comment No. 6 on the treatment of unaccompanied and separated children outside their country of origin (CRC/GC/2005/6).