Under this section the State party is requested to submit in written form additional and updated information, if available (before 1 December 2000):

A. Data and statistics

- actual and as a percentage of the national budget - for the following: health care (total and disaggregated for children), primary and secondary education, children with disabilities, juvenile justice, and the protection of children who are in need of alternative care including the support of care institutions. Please also indicate the percentages of these allocations derived from international sources.

2. Please provide statistical data, disaggregated by age and gender and covering the last 3 years (1997-1999), on the number of:

i) arrests, intimate searches, criminal charges, trials and convictions of children, the types of offences for which children are convicted and the nature of the penalties received;

ii) complaints against Law Enforcement Officials made in relation to children and the action taken in relation to them;

iii) children's courts and the proportion of criminal cases involving children which are dealt with by children's courts;

iv) corporal and capital penalties which have been handed down, the number carried out and the types of offences for which these were given.

3. Please provide further statistical data covering the last three years (1997-1999), disaggregated by age and gender, on the numbers of children deprived of their liberty:

a) in relation to criminal law matters; where they are held; the length of their detention and whether this is pre-trial or post-trial;

b) who have not committed, or are not suspected of having committed, a criminal offence are held in detention (for example under the Children's Protection Act 1980); where they are held and for what reasons?

4. Please provide data on the numbers of individuals with HIV/AIDS (disaggregated by gender, age and region) and in relation to children who have one or more parents who have died of AIDS.

5. Please provide current data, disaggregated by region, age and gender, on:

a) pupil-teacher ratios, investment in primary and secondary educational infrastructure;

b) levels of enrolment in primary and secondary schools, including as a percentage of the total number of children; the number of children repeating a year at school; the number of children completing primary and secondary education and the ages of children who drop out.

6. Please provide more data, disaggregated by region, about the amounts of social security provided to children and their families, including the numbers of people who request and the numbers who receive social security assistance.

7. Please provide details of the numbers (actual and as a proportion of the total) of trained professionals (in particular doctors, health workers, social workers, and teachers) who have emigrated from Lesotho over the last three years.

1. Please indicate any problems relating to the current political context which is impacting on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Please indicate whether the Convention on the Rights of the Child has been incorporated into domestic legislation and whether international human rights law and standards are invoked in domestic courts. If so, please provide examples. Please also provide an up to date copy of the Constitution of the State Party.

2. Please provide further detail on the content and role of customary law in Lesotho, in particular the situations in which, customary law is relied upon. Please highlight any inconsistencies with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and any work that has been done to incorporate its provisions and principles into customary decision-making.

3. Please describe the progress made by the Lesotho Law Reform Commission and the Inter-Agency Committee for Child Law Reform, including any problems encountered by these bodies and details of any reforms undertaken. Please provide information as to the work of the Human Rights Unit within the Ministry of Justice and how it has dealt with children's rights affairs or any matters which affect children. Please provide a copy of the Children's Protection Act indicating whether it has been reviewed and providing a copy of any draft legislation which is intended to replace it.

4. Please explain which ministry has responsibility for the co-ordination and implementation of children's rights. Please list and provide a brief description of all children's rights policy making and monitoring mechanisms in the State party.

5. In light of article 4 of the Convention, please provide details as to how the National Plan of Action 1995-2000 has been implemented and an assessment of whether its goals have been achieved. Please indicate what long term efforts are being made to alleviate poverty in the State Party including Plans of Action or Poverty Reduction Strategies.

6. Please provide information on the action taken by the State Party to address the HIV/AIDS crisis including any national policy and which body is responsible for coordination.

7. Please provide information about the legal status of the non-governmental organisations and the degree to which consultation with them is incorporated into policy making.

Under this section, States parties are invited, whenever appropriate, to briefly (3 pages maximum) up-date the information provided in their report with regard to:

- new bills or enacted legislation

- new institutions

- newly implemented policies

- newly implemented programmes and projects

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 such issues as:

1. The definition of the child, including steps taken to promote and ensure consistency within domestic law and to bring it into line with the provisions and principles of the Convention. The minimum legal age at which it is legal a) to marry and b) to have sexual intercourse for girls and boys.

2. Measures taken to ensure that the principles of non-discrimination (article 2), the best interests of the child (article 3), the right to life, survival and development (article 6) and respect for the views of the child (article12) are reflected in legislation, customary law, administrative procedures and decisions, decisions of public bodies and in alternative care and schools. Examples of how this is done in practice.

3. Measures taken to combat discrimination including, inter alia, discrimination against women; the Asian and White populations; pregnant girls; children with disabilities; HIV/AIDS affected children and children born out of wedlock, and any steps taken to change any law relating to the legal capacity of women.

4. Measures taken to improve birth registration.

5. Measures taken to improve the system for the recovery of child maintenance. Measures taken for alternative care for children, including fostering and adoption law and practice and to regulate inter-country adoption. Care provided to children who are institutionalised in non-state institutions and levels of funding, supervision and monitoring of such institutions by the State. How Juvenile Training Centres are used as a form of alternative care.

6. Provision of health services and counselling for adolescents about sexual and reproductive health, in particular whether adolescents can obtain confidential access to medical advice. The nature and the extent of the practice of female genital mutilation in Lesotho.

7. Children's rights for children with disabilities including, inter alia, the nature of assistance provided by the Social Welfare Rehabilitation Unit and the Special Education Unit; efforts to integrate children with disabilities into mainstream education; measures taken to monitor the institutions where children with disabilities live and any draft legislation on children with disabilities; measures taken to improve accessibility to buildings for people with disabilities.

8. The Education Act 1995 and recent education reforms and any problems the State Party is experiencing in relation to applying this law to mission schools. Steps taken to end corporal punishment. Measures taken to alleviate problems with school attendance, achievement and literacy levels and programmes to improve access to education in rural communities, especially for herdboys.

9. Child abuse and neglect:

a) Measures taken to protect children from cruelty and ill-treatment in the private and public spheres.

b) Awareness raising campaigns or training to sensitise the public to the physical and sexual abuse of children.

b) Protection of children in court (for example, the degree of weight given to the evidence of minors, safeguards provided for child witnesses, etc.).

c) The existence of complaints mechanisms in relation to physical and sexual abuse of children.

10. Measures taken to decrease numbers of and provide assistance to street children and children who are drug abusers or any programmes to alleviate their situation. Information on practices of commercial exploitation of children and the law which prevent and combat this phenomenon.

11. The juvenile justice system, including

a) definition of criminal responsibility;

b) training provided to the staff and judiciary in relation to human rights, including children's rights; types of protection given to child defendants in court procedures (right to be represented to have access to legal advice and whether this is free);

c) how the chief's courts regulate children's behaviour, how this relates to the rest of the criminal justice system and how it is overseen to ensure fair procedures and to prevent child rights abuses;

d) how the courts ensure that deprivation of liberty is used only as a last resort and the periodic review and monitoring of children's placement;

e) the conditions in and the monitoring and supervision of detention centres.