CRC/C/OPAC/IND/CO/1
Below is a short summary of some of the key issues from the Committee on the Rights of the Child's 66th session concluding observations for India. Read the full text, and you can find other documents related to the Committee's 66th session (including alternative reports submitted by NGOs and the Committee's concluding observations for other States reviewed in this session) on the Committee’s session page.
Age verification procedures: The Committee urges the State party to ensure consistent and effective verification of the age of individual recruits to effectively prevent the recruitment of children into the armed forces. The State party should take all necessary measures to ensure that all children are registered at birth.
Prevention of recruitment of children by non-State armed groups: The Committee urges the State party to expeditiously enact legislation that prohibits and criminalises the recruitment and use of children under the age of 18 years in hostilities by non-State armed groups. The
Committee further urges the State party to enact legislation that prohibits and criminalises recruitments of children under 18 years of age in the police forces and affiliated forces as well as in the village defence committees in all states and Union Territories in the State party.
Military schools: The Committee recommends that the State party take measures to ban military-type training, including on the use of firearms at military schools, for all children under the age of 18. Those recruited to military establishment should have an age verification document. The Committee further recommends that the State ensure that children who study in military schools are considered as civilians until they turn 18 and not subjected to military discipline.
Human rights and peace education: The Committee recommends that the State party take effective measures to include peace education in school curricula and encourage a culture of peace and tolerance within schools.
Attacks and/or occupation of protected civilian objects: The Committee urges the State party to take all necessary measures to prevent the occupation and use of, and attacks on, places with a significant presence of children, in line with international humanitarian law and take concrete measures to ensure that cases of unlawful attacks and/or occupation of schools are promptly investigated and prosecuted.
Extraterritorial jurisdiction: The Committee recommends that the State party take all necessary steps to ensure that domestic legislation enables it to establish and exercise extraterritorial jurisdiction over all offences under the Optional Protocol, when these offenses are committed by or against a person who is a citizen of, or has habitual residence in, the State party.
Measures adopted to protect the rights of child offenders: The Committee calls upon the State party to review its security-related laws with a view to prohibiting criminal and administrative proceedings against children under the age of 18 as well as prohibiting their detention in military detention centres. It recommends that all children under the age of 18 be handled by the juvenile justice system.
Disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration: The Committee urges the State party to develop a programme aiming at the identification, release, recovery and reintegration with their families of all children, who have been recruited or used in hostilities by non-State armed groups, and immediately ensure their effective and transparent demobilisation. The Committee further urges the State party to provide information on numbers of children identified and reintegrated with their families. For those who could not be reunited, the interventions to provide them with protective accommodation should be specified and assistance given.
Arms export: The Committee recommends that the State party enact legislation explicitly prohibiting trade and export of arms, including small arms and light weapons, to countries where children are known to have been or are involved in armed conflict and ensure that illicit activities are criminalised.
