Please provide clarification on the status of the Convention in relation to national law. Can the provisions of the Convention be invoked in court and have they been taken into account in judicial decisions?

Please provide information on the measures taken to improve mechanisms for collecting statistical data and other necessary information about the status of children to enable the government to monitor the implementation of the Convention and as a basis for designing programmes for the rights of the child.

What measures have been taken or are envisaged to incorporate education about the Convention in training or re-training programmes for professionals working with or for children such as teachers, social workers and judges.

In view of the recent adoption by the General Assembly of resolution 48/184 proclaiming the United Nations Decade of Human Rights Education, has the Government considered the possibility of using this opportunity to incorporate education about the Convention into school curricula?

Please describe the steps taken to implement article 4 concerning the obligation of the State to undertake measures to implement economic, social and cultural rights to the maximum extent of available resources. Please indicate what proportion of the official budget at both central and local levels is allocated to social priorities for children. What indicators or target figures are used in this context?

Please provide information on what measures are being taken or envisaged to ensure effective coordination between local, regional and national entities dealing with children's issues. Furthermore, please provide more details of the powers, status, functions and activities of the "Provedor de Justiça" (Ombudsman) in so far as the implementation of the Convention is concerned.

To what extent is international cooperation designed to foster the implementation of the Convention?

Please indicate the specific and concrete measures taken to combat discrimination against girls, rural children, children belonging to minorities (including Gypsy children), asylum-seeking children and disabled children, including measures to eliminate and prevent discriminatory attitudes and prejudices.

Please provide more information on the regional and social disparities relating to perinatal, neonatal and infant mortality. (Para. 126 of the report).

What concrete measures have been taken to sensitize public opinion and educate personnel working with children about the need to encourage children's participatory rights? Furthermore, what measures, if any, are being taken in the education system to implement article 12 of the Convention both in respect of the child's right to participate in decisions that individually affect him or her, and also in respect of the right to participate in the development of school policy and administration?

What concrete steps have been taken or are planned to protect children, in particular those who are victims of abuse, from harmful exposure in the media.

Does national legislation adequately provide, in practice, for the protection of the child from information and material injurious to his or her well-being, in conformity with article 17 (e) of the Convention?

Is research being undertaken into the problem of the ill-treatment and abuse of children, as well as into the factors which influence such violations? Please provide statistics, if they exist, on the occurrence of child abuse within the family.

Please provide further information on the procedures for monitoring the situation of children in institutions and other alternative care arrangements such as foster placement.

Please provide further information on how the views of the child are taken into account, in practice, when decisions are taken to separate children from their biological families and place them in alternative care or in the case of the divorce or separation of a child's parents, when one parent may be given custody of the child

Please describe in more detail the procedures for national and inter-country adoption, including their monitoring and supervision. What measures are being taken to ensure that parents giving up their children for adoption are allowed sufficient opportunity to weigh the consequences of and alternatives to adoption? At what age can a child him/herself influence a decision on adoption? Is the Government considering ratifying the 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Inter-Country Adoption?

Please provide further information on the situation of disabled children, including access to education, training, health care services, preparation for employment and recreation opportunities. Please also indicate any studies the Government has taken or envisages undertaking in order to become more informed about the general situation of disabled children in Portugal. Paragraph 130 of the report mentions that the establishment of district coordination units are under study. What progress has been made in this area?

Please provide further information on the measures taken to reduce the high number of accidents involving children.

Paragraph 126 of the report indicates that disparities exist between different regions of Portugal with respect to living conditions, especially as regards nutrition and hygiene/health standards. Has the Government developed additional specified targets and strategies to address this situation?

What measures is the Government taking to reduce the incidence of teenage pregnancies? Are the policies of the Department of Health directed towards tackling the high level of teenage pregnancies, and the policies of the Department for Education directed towards sex education fully coordinated on this issue?

In view of the information contained in para. 146 of the report, please provide further details on the results of any research undertaken into the effectiveness of the poverty-eradication programmes made possible through support from the European Social Fund.

Is the Government considering the possibility of raising social security allowances relating to children, which the Government itself has acknowledged as being "below the cost of maintaining a child" and "manifestly not commensurate with the cost of living" (paras. 142 and 146 of the report)? How are families made aware of the benefits available to them? How straightforward are the application procedures to receive these benefits and is assistance and guidance offered to ensure that they are "application friendly"?

Please provide statistical and other information disaggregated by rural/urban areas on the level of pre-school and school enrolment. What is being done to increase the number of children attending pre-school education and to encourage parents to involve their children in such education? What is being done to facilitate school attendance in remote areas?

What further measures are being taken to improve the quality of education and teaching and to ensure the adequacy of educational facilities?

Please provide further information on the ways in which access to the asylum seeking process is provided to children in practice. Do the status determination procedures vis-à-vis asylum-seeking children make use of any special mechanisms to cater for the psycho-social needs of the child?

What measures have been taken to avoid asylum-seeking children being kept in custody while they await deportation? In this connection, what rules, regulations or guidelines exist to ensure that detention is used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest period of time, as provided for in article 37 (b) of the Convention? What mechanisms exist to monitor such detention , if it exists? What alternative solutions have been developed to avoid the use of detention in such circumstances?

Please provide additional information on the number of children deprived of their liberty, reasons for such deprivation and the length of detention. In addition, please provide further details of the measures taken to ensure in practice that children deprived of their liberty are separated from adults?

Please provide further information on the treatment of young law offenders and, in particular, on the following questions:

- What types of institutions exist for the custody of young law offenders and what specific official rules are there for their treatment ?

- What is being done to ensure that young detainees are separated from adults?

- How are the conditions in such institutions monitored?

-Are there complaint procedures in cases of ill-treatment?

What further measures, if any, are envisaged to ensure more widespread recourse to non-custodial measures of guidance and supervision to children in conflict with the law, as detailed in paragraphs 196 and 197.

In light of the information contained in paragraphs 185 and 190, is the Government considering adopting additional legislative and other measures to ensure the implementation of the provisions of Article 40, paragraph 2(b) of the Convention?

Is the Government considering the possibility of providing for different legislative acts and supervisory measures which should apply to children within the system of the administration of juvenile justice and children requiring protection and assistance due to ill treatment, abandonment, etc? (Para 182)

With respect to the implementation of article 32 of the Convention, please provide further information on the number of inspection visits made, of non-observance of regulations reported and of sanctions imposed.

In light of the information contained in para. 219 of the report, please indicate the Government's plans with regard to the ratification of ILO Convention No.138.

What strategies is the Government adopting in response to the problem of children living and/or working on the street? To what extent does the Government cooperate with non-governmental organizations in their programmes to prevent, protect and reduce the number of street children? Are there any studies being undertaken to clarify the real causes and most effective solutions to combat the spreading of this phenomenon.(Paragraphs 123 and 236)

What measures have been taken to support the integration of immigrant children into Portuguese society. What is being done to improve their current living conditions, as well as preserving their linguistic and cultural origins. Paragraph 239 of the report mentions the Decree-Law No.212/92 passed to help regularize the situation of clandestine immigrants. Please provide details of the content of this decree, including as regards access to social services and education for children of such immigrants.