1. Please indicate whether any study has been undertaken to review national legislation and its compatibility with the provisions and principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

2. With regard to information provided in paragraph 48 of the report, please specify if the draft Act on the Rights of the Child has been enacted and, if so, please provide a copy of the new law.

3. In the light of the different mechanisms intervening in the field of child welfare policies for children, please indicate:

a) in what ways these mechanisms ensure coordination of their activities, including between federal and provincial levels, to promote all the rights of the child recognized by the Convention and monitor their implementation;

b) in what way these mechanisms relate to non-governmental organizations in the country.

4. Have mechanisms been developed for the determination of appropriate indicators and the collection of disaggregated data concerning the status of children, in order to design policies and programmes for the implementation of the Convention? How effective are these mechanisms? Is international assistance needed in this regard?

5. Has machinery guaranteeing the application of legislation, or the protection of human rights been devised as set out in paragraphs 46-47 of the report?

6. Please indicate the status and responsibilities of the Commission on Minors Affairs of the Cabinet of Ministers (para. 78 of the report).

7. What measures have been taken, or are planned, to train professional groups such as: judges, lawyers, law enforcement officials, personnel working in institutions or other places of detention for children, teachers, health personnel and social workers, about the Convention on the Rights of the Child? In addition, what measures have been taken to raise the awareness of Government officials, legislators, non-governmental organizations and the mass media about the Convention on the Rights of the Child?

8. What proportion of the national budget is devoted to social expenditure, i.e. health and education, for children at central, regional and local levels? Please provide additional information on the implementation of article 4 of the Convention in regard to the allocation "to the maximum extent of (...) available resources" for the rights of the child.

9. What measures have been taken by the Government to reduce the impact of economic transition and structural adjustment policies on children, especially those belonging to the most disadvantaged groups? What targets have been identified and established to monitor these effects? What is being done to protect the most vulnerable groups?

10. 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?

11. According to paragraph 124 of the report of the Government of Azerbaijan submitted under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR/C/81/Add.2), in Azerbaijan the minimum age for marriage without parental consent is fixed at 18 years for boys and 17 years for girls. Does the Government intend to review its legislation in light of the Convention, and in particular article 2 governing non-discrimination?

12. At what age may children seek redress in the courts if their rights have been infringed?

13. Please provide detailed information on the minimum legal age for the following: legal counseling without parental consent, conscription into the armed forces, sexual consent and voluntary testimony.

14. Are there any specific legislative provisions on non-discrimination relating to children?

15. Please indicate whether any measures have been taken to prevent and combat discrimination against children belonging to minorities, in terms of access to education, health care, etc.

16. How is the principle of the best interests of the child reflected in legislation, or other actions undertaken by social welfare institutions, courts of law and administrative authorities?

17. Please indicate ways in which the principle of respect for the views of the child is reflected in practice in all matters affecting the child, including within the family, at school and at administrative and judicial levels.

18. What concrete measures have been taken to sensitize public opinion and educate personnel working with children about the need to encourage children to exercise their participatory rights?

19. How effective is birth registration, especially in remote areas, and what measures have been taken to encourage the population to register new born children? What provisions have and are being made to encourage parents of disabled children to register them? What mechanisms exist for the registration of children born at home?

20. What concrete steps have been taken to protect individual children, for instance those who are victims of physical or sexual abuse? Have any cases of ill-treatment of children been submitted to the national courts?

21. Please give clarifications on the exercise of the right to freedom of religion, including with regard to minorities.

22. What assistance is available to parents who are unable to fulfil their parental responsibilities as laid down in article 18 of the Convention?

23. What mechanisms are in place to ensure that both parents assume equal parental responsibility (i.e. Article 18 of the Convention), particularly when the parents are divorced or separated?

24. What recent measures have been taken by the State party to provide day-care facilities to working parents? How are those facilities supervised by the State?

25. What steps are being taken to ensure the right of the child to be in contact with both his/her mother and father when one or both of the parents live abroad or when the parents are separated or divorced? Please indicate what mechanisms are in place for family reunification.

26. Are the views of the child taken into account in matters relating to the rights of visit when separated from parents?

27. Are any legislative measures being taken relating to inter-country adoption? Has the Government considered the possibility of becoming a State party to the Hague Convention of 1993 on the Protection of Children and Cooperation in respect of Intercountry Adoption?

28. What improvements have been made in the material assistance given to children in State institutions /boarding schools/juvenile detention centers and to their standard of living? What arrangements have been made for the periodic review of such institutions and their conditions? Are there any plans to establish a minimum standard which all institutions must reach?

29. Please indicate the present policy of the authorities in relation to the choice between institutional care and care in foster homes or similar arrangements.

30. What measures have been taken to prevent and monitor the abuse of children, including sexual abuse, in the family as well as the ill-treatment/neglect of children in State institutions /boarding schools/juvenile detention centers?

31. Have any surveys been conducted regarding the number of children with disabilities and their particular problems? Please provide any available data focusing on disability.

32. With regard to information provided in paragraph 71 of the report, please explain what type of action the authorities are taking to overcome the lack of specialized programmes and staff for the care of disabled children. What steps are being taken to improve the education, training, recovery, rehabilitation and assistance available to children with disabilities?

33. What concrete measures have been taken to reduce the mortality rate from accidents?

34. What measures is the Government taking to overcome any shortages in medical supplies? What are the Government's medium and long-term policies to ensure sustainable immunization programmes?

35. What is being done to educate the population about family planning and in the use of contraception? What has been done to tackle shortages and to make available the various contraceptive devices?

36. Given the problems of free access to primary health care in general, and in particular in mountainous regions, what improvements have been made, in particular in relation to pre, peri and ante-natal care? What has been done to reduce infant and child mortality?

37. Have there been any measures taken to tackle environmental problems such as excessive residual pesticides, which are damaging both child and maternal health? Have any targets been set for improvements in the environmental situation? Is international cooperation needed in this area?

38. What further steps have been taken to mitigate the effects the Nagorny Karabakh conflict has had on education provision in Azerbaijan? How many schools have been either built or repaired to replace those destroyed?

39. Please indicate whether children may be taught in minority languages.

40. Please provide further information on whether the school curricula have been adapted in order to include instruction on the provisions of the Convention and human rights issues in general. How successful has the Ministry of Education and UNICEF project been in producing textbooks for school children regarding their rights, and what has been done to improve the supply of printing paper?

41. To what extent is the Government's policy towards refugee and displaced children consistent with the principles of non-discrimination, the best interests of the child, the right to life, survival and development and respect for the views of the child?

42. With regard to information provided in paragraph 12 of the report, please give details of the steps that have been taken to improve the situation of refugee children, particularly those whose parents have either disappeared or been killed, and those who have been injured in the conflict. What concrete programmes are there for assisting children who have returned to their home areas after the war?

43. Is the situation of refugee children working and living on the streets a problem? If so, what measures are being taken to tackle it?

44. What concrete measures have been taken by to prevent and combat the illicit use by children of narcotic drugs?

45. It is stated in paragraph 55 of the State Party report submitted under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, that in exceptional circumstances, "adults may be held in cells accommodating minors". Please specify what these circumstances are, and what provisions are made to ensure the protection of minors. Please also provide more information on the situation of children in the detention centers in the Baku area.

46. With regard to information in paragraph 75 of the report, please provide further information, in the light of articles 37, 40 and 39 of the Convention, in particular on:

a) the use of arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child as a measure of last resort and for the shortest period of time, indicating the number of detained children ;

b) 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;

c) special education for judges for cases involving children;

d) 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;

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

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) the amount of children detained;

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

d) whether complaint procedures are available to deal with issues such as ill-treatment;

e) educational facilities;

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

48. Has a list of hazardous occupations that children must be protected from performing been compiled? What mechanisms exist to enforce this prohibition?

49. In the light of article 32 of the Convention, please provide more information on the implementation of an effective system of supervision, an inspection system and procedures for applying appropriate sanctions.

50. Please provide information on the existence of concrete measures to combat the exploitation of children, including:

a) sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, including prostitution;

b) other forms of exploitation;

c) sale and trafficking of children.

51. With regard to information provided in paragraph 6 of the report, what further measures are being considered to ensure that all the rights covered by the Convention of children belonging to different nationalities and minorities are protected and safeguarded?