In light of the information contained in para. 31 of HRI/CORE/1/Add.27 please provide clarification as to: the status of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in the event of a conflict with national legislation; the provisions of the Convention which are considered to be self-executing; and whether provisions of the Convention have been invoked before the courts.

Please indicate whether the study reviewing national legislation as to its compliance with the provisions and principles of the Convention (mentioned in para. 14 (f) of the report) has been completed and, if so, please provide brief details of the major points raised in the above-mentioned study. What additional measures, if any, is the Government planning to take to respond to the requests contained in that study.

Please indicate any measures taken since the submission of the report to develop mechanisms for the determination of appropriate indicators as well as the collection of statistical data and other information and the undertaking of studies as bases for designing programmes to implement the Convention. Please indicate whether there is a need for further technical assistance in this regard. (Paras. 4, 62, 67, 94, 139-140, 142 and 156 of the report).

Please provide a fuller picture of the national strategy which exists for monitoring the implementation of the Convention. In this connection, please provide clarification as to the steps taken to ensure that the present institutional arrangements for the development and enforcement of State policies, including through the various plans and programmes set in place, to promote and protect the rights of the child do function in an effective and well coordinated manner. Has the Government also considered the possibility of establishing a national institution, such as an ombudsman for children, to further assist in the monitoring of the application of the rights of the child? (Paras. 14-15, 45, 60-65, 68-69, 72, 74, 76-89, 95-101, 110, 113-114, 131-134, 137, 140, 142 and 157 of the report).

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. What guarantees exist to ensure that regional/district/local authorities are also guided by this principle in their policy decision making? (Paras 1-3 of the report). In addition, please indicate the measures taken, in addition to those mentioned in paras 81 and 82 of the report, to ensure that regional disparities in the provision of social services are addressed.

Please indicate the measures taken to train professional groups such as social workers, doctors, lawyers, judges, teachers, immigration officials, police and security personnel, personnel in detention institutions as well as decision makers and government officials about the principles and provisions of the Convention.

Please provide further information on the measures adopted to publicize the Convention among children and adults alike and the active and appropriate means used to do so, including through raising awareness of the mass media and information and publishing agencies about the rights of the child and the development of national publicity campaigns. (Para. 14 (i) of the report).

What concrete measures have been taken to disseminate the report? Does the Government intend to make the summary records of the discussions with the Committee and the concluding observations adopted by the Committee following its consideration of the report of Lebanon widely available to the public?

Please provide information on the minimum legal ages for: legal and medical counselling without parental consent; sexual majority; marriage, the right to own private property; and the right to inherit. Please indicate whether boys and girls are treated differently in any of these respects.

With reference to paras. 5 b (ii), 34, 120, 121, 135 and 136 of the report, please provide clarification as to the age of criminal responsibility.

How is the Government ensuring that the principle of non-discrimination is respected in practice for refugee children, girl children, children with HIV/AIDS and children born out of wedlock? (Para. 71 of the report). Have any procedures been established to monitor tendencies of discrimination against children on the basis of gender, birth, disability or any other grounds? In this connection and with reference to the information contained in para. 62 of the report, please clarify whether there are any plans to make a deliberate effort to collect disaggregated statistical data so that such tendencies can be detected?

Do Palestinian children, including those who are not Lebanese citizens but residing in Lebanon, enjoy all the rights specified in the Convention or are there limitations existing in this regard?

Has the Government considered the possibility of undertaking a study or an evaluation of the manner in which the principle of "the best interests of the child" as provided for in article 3 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child are taken into account in practice in judicial, administrative and other proceedings. In addition, please provide clarification as to the situations in which a court may excuse a child from attending a trial if it deems this practice to be in the child's best interests. (Para. 117 of the report)

Please specify the measures taken to make a reality of the principle of respecting the views of the child, in particular as regards raising the awareness of families and the public in general of the need to encourage children to exercise their right to participate in the life of schools, the local community and society. In addition, how is the principle of the respect for the views of the child provided for and reflected in judicial and administrative proceedings and decisions, including those relating to care, protection and custody matters?

Please indicate the measures taken to ensure that all children are registered after birth. Is there any system provided for displaced persons?

In the cases where it appears that a differentiation is made on the grounds of gender of the parent in relation to a child's acquisition of nationality, how is the national legislation ensuring its conformity with the articles of the Convention, particularly the provisions of its articles 2, 3, and 7. (Para. 26 of the report)

Please provide further information on the measures in place to ensure the implementation in practice of the provisions of article 17 of the Convention, including as regards the production and dissemination of children's books. (Paras. 93, 98 and 107-109 of the report).

Is corporal punishment allowed in schools, boarding institutions, and other social or care institutions for children? Are there complaints procedures which can be used by the children themselves in the case of their ill-treatment or abuse?

Have any cases been reported of children who have been victims of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment? Is the beating of children in detention centres a problem? If so, please provide information on such cases and the remedies available in cases of abuse.

With reference to the information contained in paras. 37, 44 and 52 of the report, please explain how the principles and provisions of the Convention, including those of its articles 2, 3, 9, 11 and 18, are implemented in practice in matters relating to the child's maintenance of contact with both parents, custody, trusteeship, upbringing and maintenance of the child.

Is any information available as regards the existence of any practices by which parents treat their children with disrespect, parental authority is over exercised and corporal punishment is meted out against children in the family situation?

What measures are being taken to prevent, reduce and combat child abandonment? In this connection, is the Government considering undertaking studies on the causes of such phenomena in order to determine the most appropriate responses to address this matter? (Paras. 45 and 62 of the report).

Has the Government considered the possibility of providing family education and counselling and other information and awareness-raising campaigns in order to strengthen the system of protecting children and to prevent situations of the ill-treatment, abuse or neglect of the child within the family? (Paras. 59-60 of the report).

Please indicate the progress achieved in meeting the targets laid out in para. 63 of the report.

Has any evaluation been undertaken as to the effectiveness of present health information and education programmes, including with regard to prevention of disability, unwanted pregnancies and HIV/AIDS, safe motherhood, family planning services, sanitation, hygiene and nutrition? What further measures, if any, does the Government consider would be necessary to ensure the widest dissemination of information on health matters? (Paras. 80, 88-89 of the report).

Please indicate what further measures are being considered to evaluate the situation of disabled children. What measures are being planned to overcome the lack of specialized staff for the care of disabled children and to provide disabled children with education and training?

Has the Government considered undertaking measures to encourage and support the development of credit facilities and income generating projects as a means to raise the standard of living of families with children from the poorer sectors of the population? (Para. 97 of the report)

What measures are being taken to ensure that children from poor families are able to access to and continue their education? What concrete measures are being taken to encourage children to attend school and to prevent school-age children from engaging in employment activities? In this connection, please indicate the plans underway to provide for free compulsory primary education for all children in the country? (Para. 90 of the report).

What progress has been achieved in revamping the educational system, including in ensuring the provision of adequate educational facilities and in improving the quality of education and teaching? What efforts have been made since the submission of the report to develop curricula that is meaningful and relevant to the needs of all school-age children? (Paras. 72, 93, 95-97, 102, 110 and 150 of the report).

In view of the information contained in para. 94 of the report that the rate of illiteracy appears to be rising, please indicate the programmes the Government is planning to address this problem. In this connection, please provide clarification as to what extent Non-Formal Education programmes exist in Lebanon and reach out to illiterate children.

Please provide information on the measures being taken to address the problem of the absence of affordable leisure and recreational activities as mentioned in paras. 104 and 105 of the report. To what extent are children encouraged to participate and express their views in the planning and development of leisure and recreation facilities and activities at the community/local levels? (Para. 150 of the report).

Does the Government intend to become a party to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol? What measures has the Government taken to establish status determination procedures for non- Palestinian refugee children?

Do anti-personnel landmines still present a serious danger to the survival and health of children? To what extent has international cooperation been forthcoming to assist in the destruction of such mines and the rehabilitation of those injured by such weapons?

How many children have been able to benefit from the programmes which aim at alleviating the psycho-social effects of armed conflict (mentioned in para. 113 of the report)? Please provide clarification as to the extent to which children from poorer families have been able to participate in and benefit from such programmes. (See also para. 60 of the report).

Please provide statistics on the number of children deprived of their liberty and the reasons for such deprivation of liberty. Please provide such information disaggregated, if possible, by age, gender, nationality, ethnic or religious group.

With regard to the information contained in paras. 122 and 125 of the report, please provide information, including statistical data, on the measures applied to children found begging or taking the street or any public place as his/her abode and on the detention of "vagrant" children aged 7-12.

Please provide further information on the establishment of the "Juvenile Court" and the procedures for appointing special judges to such courts as well as the selection and appointment by the Juvenile Court of a lawyer to represent the child. Have these judges and lawyers been provided with special training courses on the Convention and other United Nations standards adopted in the field of the administration of juvenile justice. (Paras. 114-115 and 134 of the report).

Please provide more information on the reformatories and special places for the detention of children, mentioned in paras. 122, 127, 130 and 134 of the report, including with respect to:

- how the conditions of detention in such establishments are supervised?

- whether complaints procedures are available in case of ill-treatment?
- what educational possibilities and health services are provided in such establishments? and

- whether the staff in such establishments have been familiarized with the provisions of the Convention and other international legal instruments adopted by the United Nations relating to the treatment of young offenders?

Please provide further information on the application in practice of national legislative and other measures relating to the implementation of articles 37, 39 and 40 of the Convention, in particular with regard to:

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

b) the separation of children deprived of their liberty from adults;

c) the right of the child to maintain contact with his or her family;

d) no child being deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily; and

e) every child deprived of his or her liberty having the right to challenge the legality of the deprivation of his or her liberty.

Please provide information on the proposals being studied for raising the employment age and their compatibility with the provisions and principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international Conventions relating to the minimum age of employment for children. Would further technical assistance from the ILO be useful in this regard?

Please describe the concrete measures envisaged for the protection of child workers, including those employed in the informal sector, especially foreigners working as domestic servants, those employed in private family activities or children drawn into harmful commercial activities on the streets? (Paras. 139 and 154 of the report).