1. In light of the recommendations adopted in the Declaration and Plan of Action of the World Conference on Human Rights, has the Government considered studying the possibility of reviewing its interpretative declarations to the Convention with a view to their withdrawal?

2. Please indicate the measures adopted to bring legislation and practice into line with the Convention. Please provide information on any new legal codes (or amendments to previous laws) which have been adopted in the spirit of the Convention.

3. What is the status of the Convention vis-à-vis constitutional or other national law? What is the status of the Convention in the event of a conflict with national legislation? Please give concrete examples, if any, of cases were the Convention has been invoked by courts.

4. Please indicate existing or planned national or/and local machinery for coordinating action on behalf of the child and to implement the principles and provisions of the Convention.

5. In view of the apparent absence of a national strategy to monitor the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, please indicate the effectiveness of present institutional arrangements to promote the rights of the child and monitor implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and whether there are plans to establish other institutions such as an ombudsperson for children.

6. Please provide information on the measures taken to develop mechanisms for the determination of appropriate indicators as well as the collection of statistical data and other information on the status of children as bases for designing programmes to implement the Convention. Please indicate whether there is a need for technical assistance in this regard. What research is undertaken or planned in this area?

7. To what extent do the mandate of both the Minister for Human Rights and the National Human Rights Observatory deal with children's rights issues? (see paras. 33 and 34 of the State Party report to the Committee against Torture, CAT/C/25/Add.8). To what extent and in what ways do these institutions relate to the non-governmental organizations in the country?

8. With regard to information provided in the State Party report

to the Committee against Torture in paras 16-31 (CAT/C/25/Add.8), please indicate the direct and indirect consequences on children of the proclamation on 9 February 1992 (extended on 6 February 1993) of the state of emergency and the enactment of a law on terrorism (Legislative Decree No. 92-03 of 30 September 1992).

9. With reference to information provided in para. 87 of the report (CRC/C/28/Add.4), please describe the policy in place in relation to the implementation of article 4 of the Convention with regard to the allocation "to the maximum extent of (...) available resources for the rights of the child", and indicate existing guarantees to ensure that local authorities are also guided by this principle in their policy decision making. How are children with special needs protected against the adverse effects of reductions in budgetary allocations?

10. Please indicate the measures adopted to publicize the Convention, its principles and provisions, among the adult population, including professional groups, and among children, and the active and appropriate means used to do so. How are the non-governmental organizations encouraged to spread awareness about the Convention?

11. What measures have been taken to train professional groups such as social workers, educators, teachers, doctors, judges, lawyers, law enforcement personnel as well as government officials and decision makers about the principles and provisions of the Convention?

12. To what extent is the Convention translated into Berber language?

13. Please provide more details about the process of preparing the report, in particular the extent to which the non-governmental organizations were involved.

14. To what extent is international cooperation designed to foster the implementation of the Convention? What proportion of international aid is allocated to programmes for children?

15. Please provide information on the minimum legal age for legal and medical counseling without parental consent, sexual consent, and to give testimony before the court.

16. With regard to information provided in para. 7. (h) of the report, please specify why a child aged under 16 years may, under the Code of Penal Procedure give his/her testimony "for information purposes only".

17. With regard to information provided by the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Executions in his 1995 report to the Commission on Human Rights (E/CN.4/1995/61, paras. 46-47), please explain how the Decree No. 90-30, which permits Special Courts to sentence minors between 16 and 18 years old to death penalty, is compatible with the provisions and principles of the Convention, especially its articles 37 and 40.

18. Are there any specific legislative provision on non-discrimination in relation to children? Please indicate the major problems encountered in the process of implementing the provisions of article 2 of the Convention.

19. What measures have been taken to ensure the use of disaggregated indicators on the basis of age, gender, ethnic or social origin, rural and urban groups ? Have any procedures been established to monitor tendencies of discrimination against children on the basis mentioned above?

20. Please provide information on steps taken to prevent and eliminate discriminatory attitudes or prejudices and to ensure an effective protection against discrimination towards the girl child.

21. Please describe the measures being implemented or planned and the factors and difficulties involved in reducing the differences between the rural and urban areas, particularly in relation with access to health, education and social services.

22. With regard to information provided in para. 18 of the report, please further explain the reasons why "a child who has not reached the age of 16 years is deemed not to possess discernment".

23. Please provide information on the ways in which the principles of the best interests and respect for the views of the child (art. 3 and 12) are reflected in all matters affecting the child, including in legislation, judicial and administrative proceedings.

24. What concrete measures have been taken to sensitize public opinion to the need to encourage children's participatory rights? How are the views of the child taken into account in the family?

25. Please indicate to what extent measures taken in the field of civil and political rights have had any positive impact on children. Are any difficulties encountered in the implementation of these rights for children?

26. With regard to information provided in para. 28 of the report, please give further details on the possibility for a child born of an Algerian mother and an alien father who himself is born abroad to acquire the Algerian nationality and the compatibility of the existing law with articles 2, 3 and 7 of the Convention.

27. With reference to information provided in para. 32 of the report, please explain why a minor cannot seek naturalization.

28. Have any cases been reported of children who have been victims of torture or other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment? If so, please provide information on such cases. Please indicate the measures taken to implement the provisions of article 37 (a) of the Convention.

29. Please describe the protection measures in place to support the family, including, in particular, in the case of single-parent families.

30. Please supply detailed information on the legal status of children born out of wedlock.

31. What are the main causes of abandonment of children and the proportions of rural vis-à-vis urban children in that situation?

32. What systems and procedures exist for the monitoring of institutions for alternative care?

33. Please provide further information on children in each of the following groups, disaggregated by age, gender, social, ethnic or national background and rural or urban environment:

a) homeless children;

b) abused or neglected children taken into protective custody;

c) children of one-parent families;

d) children placed in foster care;

e) children placed in institutional care; and

f) children placed through domestic kafala.

34. What are the procedures to regulate care of children of divorced parents? Please provide information on measures taken to enforce equal parental responsibilities for the maintenance of the child, especially when one parent is not living with the child. What is the State responsibility in this connection?

35. Please report on the research undertaken into the problem of ill-treatment and sexual abuse of children, including into the social factors which influence such violations. What procedures exist for intervention by the authorities in cases where a child needs protection from serious abuse within the family ? Can children lodge complaints of abuse and neglect?

36. Please provide information on the situation of disabled children, including their access to education, training, health care services, preparation for professional life, leisure possibilities and activities aimed at eliminating prejudice and social rejection of disabled children.

37. Please provide information on:

a) what percentage of the population has access to health care services;

b) the percentage of births attended by trained health personnel;

c) the measures taken for prenatal and postnatal care for mothers;

d) the prevalence of tuberculosis;

e) the nature and context of the most frequent illnesses; and

f) the occurrence and treatment of HIV infection among children and parents as well as measures taken to prevent AIDS.

38. How are children from poor families protected in the case of health institutions demanding payment for treatment?

39. With regard to information provided in para. 99 of the report, please provide details on the impact of the work carried out by the "Centre to Monitor the Rights of the Mother and the Child" since its establishment in 1992.

40. Please provide data on the percentage of population living below the poverty line.

41. Please indicate whether children may be taught in Berber language.

42. What measures have been taken to encourage regular attendance at school and the reduction of drop-out rates?

43. What measures have been taken or envisaged to ensure the inclusion of the rights of the child in the school curricula, as an illustration of education on human rights and what results have been achieved?

44. With reference to information provided, inter alia, in the State Party report to the Committee against Torture in Chapter C (CAT/C/25/Add.8),please provide information on the impact on children of the endemic violence prevailing in Algeria since 1992. Please also indicate the measures taken by the State party to promote physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration for children victim of violence.

45. Please explain in details the consequences of the laws on the state of emergency adopted since 1992 on the administration of juvenile justice.

46. Please provide further information, in the light of articles 37, 40 and 39 of the Convention, in particular on:

a) the prohibition of life imprisonment without possibility of release;

b) the use of arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child as a measure of last resort and for the shortest period of time including for children aged between 17 and 18 years old;

c) the possibility to have a prompt access to legal and other appropriate assistance, as well as for challenging the legality of the deprivation of liberty before a court or other competent, independent and impartial authority, and of having a prompt decision thereon;

d) special education for judges for cases involving children;

e) the right of the child alleged as, accused of or recognized as having infringed the penal law to be treated in a manner consistent with the child's sense of dignity and worth, which reinforces the child's respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms of others and which takes into account the child's age and the desirability of promoting a child's reintegration and the child's assuming a constructive role in society;

f) alternative measures to institutional care made available to deal with such children in a manner appropriate to their well-being; and

g) the establishment of laws and procedures specifically applicable to children alleged as, accused of or recognized as having infringed the penal law, in the light of article 40, para. 3 of the Convention.

47. Please provide further information on the treatment of juvenile offenders, in particular on the following;

a) the measures taken to ensure contact between the child and his/her family;

b) how the conditions of children in detention are monitored;

c) are there complaint procedures available to deal with issues such as ill-treatment;

d) educational facilities; and

e) services for the recovery and rehabilitation of offenders and their effectiveness.

48. In the light of article 25 of the Convention, is it possible to have periodic review of the placement decision?

49. What specific measures are taken to ensure observance of the minimum age of access to employment, reduce child labour and protect the working children? Are there sanctions provided for and enforced in cases of employment of children under 16?

50. Please supply information on the existence of concrete measures to combat prostitution. Please also indicate whether studies have been conducted in order to improve understanding of the problems of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children.