Under this section, the State party is requested to submit in written form additional and updated information, if possible before 3 December 2001:
1. In light of article 4 on the implementation of the Convention and with reference to the information provided notably in paragraph 215 of the report, please provide additional information and disaggregated data (by age, sex, ethnic group and region) on the amount and proportion in percentage of national budget, allocated to children at central, local levels, preferably in the last 3 years (1999-2001), evaluating also the order of priority given to these policies within the comprehensive budget, to:
(a) education (different types of education, i.e. primary and secondary education);
(b) health care (different types of health services, i.e. primary health care, vaccination programmes, adolescent health care and other health-care services for children, including social insurance);
(c) children with disabilities;
(d) the protection of children who are in need of alternative care including the support of care institutions.
2. Please provide disaggregated statistical data on birth registration covering the period 1998-2000.
3. Please provide disaggregated statistical data (by sex, age, minority groups or ethnic origin, regions, urban or rural areas) covering the period 1998-2000 on the:
(a) number and proportion of children with disabilities;
(b) number of children with disabilities either taken care of at home or living in institutions;
(c) number of children with disabilities being enrolled in regular education and how many benefit from the special education system. In addition please indicate the number of schools and teachers involved in the inclusive policy with regard to children with disabilities.
4. Please provide disaggregated statistical data (by sex, age, minority groups or ethnic origin, regions, urban or rural areas) covering the period 1998-2000 on the:
(a) rates of literacy, below and over 18 years;
(b) enrolment in percentage of children in primary schools;
(c) enrolment in percentage of children in secondary schools;
(d) percentage of children completing primary and secondary education;
(e) number and percentage of repetitions and drop-outs;
(f) ratio teacher per children and number of children per class;
(g) number of children in boarding schools;
(h) number and location of boarding schools;
(i) number of children who attend pre-school education.
5. Please provide disaggregated statistical data on the number of schools and teachers.
6. Please provide disaggregated statistical data on adolescent health, including sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), HIV/AIDS, early pregnancy, early marriages, drug and alcohol abuse, violence and physical abuse, suicide, mental health concerns, and health problems due to road accidents.
7. Please provide the following statistical data of children (disaggregated by sex, age, type of crime, type of sanction) for the last three years (1998-2000):
(a) number of minors who allegedly committed a crime reported to the police;
(b) number of minors who were sentenced by courts to sanctions; the nature of sanctions (community service; detention; other types of sanctions);
(c) the number of juveniles detained and imprisoned, the location of their detention or imprisonment (e.g. police station, jail or other places) and the lengths of their detention or imprisonment, including pre-trial detention;
(d) number of suspended sentences;
(e) percentage of recidivism cases.
8. Please provide disaggregated statistical data on the number of juvenile magistrates, and information on their location in the country.
9. With reference to special protection measures, please provide statistical data (including by sex, age, urban/rural areas) per year between 1998 and 2000 on the number of children:
(a) involved in sexual exploitation, including prostitution, pornography, sale and trafficking and the number of those children who were provided access with rehabilitation treatments;
(b) involved in substance and alcohol abuse and the number of those children who received rehabilitation treatments;
(c) street children and the number of them receiving rehabilitation treatment;
(d) involved in child labour (formal or informal sectors, domestic work, and agriculture);
(e) seeking asylum and provided with refugee status;
(f) Pygmy children and other indigenous children.
B. General measures of implementation
1. Please outline the measures taken to address the inconsistencies between customary, statutory law and the principles and provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Please provide also information on the cases where the Convention has been invoked in domestic courts.
2. Please outline the measures taken to establish a coordinating mechanism to facilitate the implementation of the Convention and of the various National Plans of Action or strategies regarding children. Please provide also information on monitoring and evaluation mechanisms of these plans of action and strategies. Further, please provide additional information on NGOs working with and for children and on their programmes and activities and the extent to which the State party collaborates with them.
3. Please provide information on the activities of the National Commission on Human Rights and how it contributes to implementing and monitoring the rights of the child. Please indicate whether this Commission is mandated to receive and address individual complaints.
4. In light of article 4 of the Convention, please provide information on budgetary allocations for children to "the maximum extent […] of available resources". Please provide also information on the measure undertaken to ensure that financial resources allocated to the implementation of the Convention are efficiently used to this purpose.
5. Please provide information on the Children's Parliament, the election process, its activities and their follow-up.
6. Please outline the measures taken to introduce a more systematic and sustainable approach to training, education and awareness-raising on the principles and provisions of the Convention, particularly among professional groups, including magistrates and others in the justice system, teachers, social workers, police and military personnel, community leaders and parents. Additionally, please outline the measures taken to incorporate the Convention into the school curriculum.
Please provide copies of the text of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in all official languages of the State party as well as in other languages or dialects, when available. If possible, please submit these texts in electronic form.
Under this section, the State party is invited to briefly (3 pages maximum) update the information provided in its report with regard to:
- new bills or enacted legislation
- new institutions
- newly implemented policies
- newly implemented programmes and projects and their scope
The following is a preliminary list of major issues that the Committee intends to take up during the dialogue with the State party - THEY DO NOT REQUIRE WRITTEN RESPONSES. This list is not exhaustive as other issues may be raised in the course of the dialogue.
The dialogue with the State party might include issues such as:
1. General principles of the Convention (arts. 2, 3, 6 and 12):
(a) the practical implementation of the general principles by social welfare institutions, courts of law and administrative authorities;
(b) sensitization of the public about the general principles, including those living in traditional communities;
(c) promotion of the participatory rights of children - the practical implementation of the rights of children to freely express their views, including within the school environment and in other institutions, and within the family;
(d) policies and programmes to ensure non-discrimination against children, especially children with disabilities, street children, girls, children from economically disadvantaged families, children living in rural communities, Pygmy children and other indigenous groups, and other vulnerable groups.
2. Legal minimum ages for criminal responsibility and sexual consent, including under customary law.
3. Early marriage. Measures to prevent and discourage such practices.
4. Children deprived of a family environment; alternative care; and adoptions:
(a) programme to support families in need;
(b) procedures which lead to the separations from parents;
(c) financial and human resource allocations;
(d) adequacy of alternative care facilities, including training for professionals;
(e) domestic and inter-country adoptions - policies, administrative procedures, and review of placements;
(f) foster care;
(g) guardianship;
(h) orphans and the protection of their rights, including their right to inheritance.
5. Child abuse:
(a) measures to prevent and combat domestic violence, ill-treatment and abuse of children, including child sexual abuse;
(b) mechanisms to facilitate timely reporting of ill-treatment and abuse of children; and
(c) measures to prohibit and eliminate the use of corporal punishment in schools and in other institutions as well as within the family.
6. Basic health and welfare:
(a) measures undertaken to improve the basic health system;
(b) preventive and rehabilitative policies, programmes and services to address adolescent health concerns, including mental health issues;
(c) measures to curb the rates of infant, under-5 mortality, maternal mortality rates;
(d) measures to increase the rate of vaccination;
(e) nutrition; breastfeeding and the Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes;
(f) disabled children;
(g) HIV/AIDS: programmes and policies for children infected and affected, including orphans;
(h) reproductive health right, sexual education and the large number of illegal abortions;
(i) social security: measures to improve the system.
7. Education:
(a) measures to make primary education free and compulsory;
(b) accessibility, especially in rural communities;
(c) the discrepancy between girl enrolment in primary schools and the high illiteracy rate among women;
(d) dropout and repetition rates;
(e) discipline at schools;
(f) training of teachers;
(g) quality of education;
(h) aims of education;
(i) human rights education.
8. Measures to prevent and combat economic exploitation, including child labour, domestic work, and forced child labour. Measures to protect vulnerable children, especially street children. Consideration to ratify ILO Convention No. 138.
9. Measures to prevent and combat the use of children in commercial sexual exploitation. Rehabilitative programmes and services for children. Measures to prevent the criminalization of child victims of sexual abuse.
10. Measures to prevent and combat the sale and trafficking of children. Inter-country cooperation agreements and programmes. Consideration to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.
11. Asylum seeking and refugee children. Measures taken for refugee children, including their access to education and health services, as well as assistance provided to these children and their families.
12. The situation of Pygmy children and children belonging to minorities, including their access to education and health services.
13. The conformity of legislation and practice in the area of juvenile justice with international standards, including plans to establish a juvenile justice system; conditions of detention and the separation of children from the adult detainees; length of criminal proceedings; complaints procedures to deal with issues such as ill-treatment and violations of children's rights; and guarantees to ensure special protection measures for all children below the age of 18 years.