8. With regard to legislative, policy and other related measures, while
appreciating the measures that the Government has taken so far, the
Committee recommends that the Government of Senegal take all the
necessary measures to:
(a) Hasten the preparation and adoption process of the draft Children’s
Code and ensure that it addresses all areas covered by the African
Children’s Charter;
(b) Finalize and adopt bill to revise the penal code and the code of
criminal procedure;
(c) Pass the draft law establishing legal status and regulations for
Daaras or Koranic schools in order to stop the exploitation of children;
(d) Finalize and pass a decree establishing the National Children's
Parliament;
(e) Finalize and adopt the bill of law establishing the Child Ombudsman;
(f) Finalize and adopt Bill to reform of civil status in the family code;
(g) Finalize and adopt Children's Advocate Bill; and
(h) Speed up the adoption of the draft amendments to the Labor Code,
which aim to better protect children from work and at work place.
9. While commending the establishment of a number of institutions, such as
the National Inter-Sectorial Committee for Child Protection in 2014,
Ministerial Department of Good Governance and Child Protection and state
structures in charge for improving the life of vulnerable children, the
Committee remains concerned about the limited financial and human
resources allocated for the different institutions to implement the child
protection system, the challenge faced in the coordination of shared tasks
and the unclear and overlapping mandates of state institutions working on
the rights of the child, and the lack of clear procedures of coordination
between such institutions.
10. The Committee thus recommends the Government of Senegal to ensure
that the different institutions on child protection are provided with explicit and
defined responsibilities to coordinate all activities in relation to the
implementation of the African Children’s Charter; stressing that assignment
of mandates and responsibilities should be fully informed by research and
the best interests of children. The Committee would also like to recommend
the Government of Senegal to establish a robust coordination system, which
is permanent, integrated, stable, effective, participatory, adequately
accountable and guided by the best interests of the child. Moreover, the
Committee calls up on the state party to make sure that the different
institution on child protection get the necessary human, technical and
financial resources for their effective operation.
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