1. Please indicate whether the Government has undertaken a review of its reservation to the Convention with a view to its withdrawal.

On December 29 1991, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China, upon ratifying the Convention, made a statement: The People's Republic of China will, under the precondition of implementing the stipulations concerning family planning as contained in Article 25 in its Constitution and by following the provisions of Article 2 of the Law for Protection of Minors, carry out the obligations prescribed in Article 6 of the Convention.

China's aforesaid statement was made in view of the current situation of the country's economic and social development. Along with the economic and social advancement, China will modify its statement relating to the Convention at an appropriate time.

2. Please provide information on the implementation of the Convention by the courts, for example which articles of the Convention are considered self-executing and which articles of the Convention have been invoked before the courts and cited in the court decisions? (HRI/Core/1/Add.21, paras. 51-52)

The main contents as well as the basic principles of the Convention are in conformity with relevant Chinese laws and policies, and this is particularly true with provisions relating to the trial procedures involving minors.

According to the Chinese laws, when China's domestic laws are in conformity with international conventions which are ratified by China or of which China is a State party, the domestic laws will be applied and the relevant stipulations of the international conventions are implemented through application of the domestic laws. Only in cases which are not covered by the domestic laws, stipulations of the international conventions will be cited in the court decisions.

Since the stipulations of the Convention concerning the trial procedures of minors are in conformity with relevant Chinese laws, the Chinese courts always directly apply the Chinese laws in hearing cases involving minors and there is no need to invoke specific stipulations of the Convention.

3. Please provide clarification as to whether the State Council Committee on Women and Children is an advisory or an executive body. If the latter, please indicate to what extent and in what ways the State Council's recommendations are taken into account and followed-up on. In addition, please provide information on whether and to what extent the State Council coordinates the activities undertaken in the provinces, autonomous regions and directly administered municipalities as well as between different ministries for the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. (Paras. 10-11 of the report).

The State Council Working Committee on Women and Children is a coordinating and consulting body of the Council and its basic functions are: (1) to coordinate and promote relevant Government departments' efforts in safeguarding the rights and interests of women and children; (2) to coordinate and promote relevant Government departments' efforts in implementing the Outline of the Programme for Chinese Children's Development in the 1990s and the Outline of the Programme for Chinese Women's Development; (3) to coordinate and promote relevant Government department's efforts in providing necessary manpower, financial and material resources for the work of women and children; and (4) to guide, monitor and examine the work of the working committees on women and children in provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly administered by the State Council.

Its main working measures include: (1) to define the tasks of its member organizations in line with the Working Committee's objectives and plans, requiring each member organization to carry out its own responsibilities and regularly report, check and sum up its performance; (2) to map out annual work plans on the basis of investigations and studies and by stressing the key points; (3) to regularly study existing problems, exchange experiences and spread advanced experiences; (4) to swap information by publishing newsletters; and (5) to regularly check the work on guaranteeing the rights and interests of women and children.

4. Please indicate to what extent and in what ways the present institutional arrangements relate to the non-governmental organizations in the country. (Paras. 10-11 of the report)

The non-governmental organizations are usually called mass or social organizations in China. At present, there are more than 1,500 national social organizations registered with the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

The non-governmental organizations in China usually have close coordinating and cooperative relationships with Government departments: (1) Government's policies and programmes can be better publicized and implemented among masses by employing resources of the non-governmental organizations; and (2) the work and proposals of the non-governmental organizations are often understood and supported by the Government, and the non-governmental organizations independently conduct their work in light of their organizational characteristics and from their special angles, they monitor and observe the Government behaviours, evaluate its efficiency and achievements, and put forward their opinions and proposals.

The non-governmental organizations always join the efforts to carry out various policies, principles and plans of the State in an active manner. For example, the State Council Working Committee on Women and Children is composed of 16 Government organs and four NGOs. The four NGOs are: the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the All-China Students' Federation, the All-China Women's Federation and the China Association for Science and Technology. As official members of the Working Committee, the NGOs, together with the Government organs, conduct their work in light with their organizational characteristics and the division of responsibilities.

The Chinese Government attaches importance to and advocates non-governmental organizations' endeavour in participation in or administration and organizing of child welfare activities. In the Implementation Programme for Reforming the Social Welfare System, the Ministry of Civil Affairs makes it clear that one of the principles for reforming the social welfare system is to establish a sound socialized social welfare system which is supported by the Government and initiated by society so that the social welfare institutions in the country will be gradually turned into organizations run by local people, subsidized by the State and managed by legal persons. All registered NGOs in China are set up in accordance with relevant laws. They all enjoy the status of an independent legal person and engage in self-management and self-development. At present, the number of NGOs relating to child welfare keeps growing in China and they are seen in more diversified fields of specialties. At the national level alone, there are now more than 20 NGOs involved in child welfare projects and the figure is much larger at the provincial, prefectural and county levels. Such NGOs are playing an invaluable role in theory and policy study, publicity, organizing, mobilization, fund raising, dysentery prevention, rehabilitation, personnel training, consultancy and many other respects of the child welfare undertakings.

In China, the main NGOs involved in child welfare projects include:

(1) China Social Welfare Lottery Committee This is the only NGO in China with an official approval from the State Council to sell lottery tickets all year round in the country. It has local chapters throughout China. During the 1990-95 period, the committee and its local chapters had invested a total of RMB 2.4 billion yuan in the child welfare projects.

(2) China Charity Federation This is a national charity institution with 44 local member groups. In the past two years, it has raised more than RMB 100 million yuan, a substantial proportion of which was used on training orphans or to cover the cost of operation on disabled orphans.

(3) The China Association of Social Workers This is a national social organization featuring the volunteer participation of social workers engaged in practical activities and theory studies. In recent years, the organization has promoted the theoretical study in an active manner on child welfare undertakings and furthered exchanges and cooperation with child welfare social workers and organizations in other parts of the world.

(4) The China Association of SOS Children's Villages This is a non-governmental social welfare organization which provides a family-like care, treatment and education for orphans. China now has four SOS children's villages taking care of a total of 496 orphans. Another two are now under construction.

5. Please indicate whether consideration has been given to the establishment of a national institution, such as an ombudsperson for children to promote and monitor the implementation of the rights of the child.

To safeguard the rights and interests of women and children, China has already set up a general coordinating and consulting organization, namely, the State Council Working Committee on Women and Children.

Take the Ministry of Civil Affairs as an example. As a member to the Working Committee, the ministry is in charge of the guardianship, upbringing and settling down of orphans and its main responsibilities are: (1) to formulate and implement the policies, regulations and development programmes relating to social protection of orphans; (2) to set up child welfare institutions to take care of orphans and to provide guardianship for and guarantee the legitimate rights and interests of orphans; and (3) to act as the administrator of the child welfare institutions. The Government departments of civil affairs at all levels have set up special administrative offices, which have specialized administrative personnel and operate under an administrative leaders' responsibility system, to take care of the daily routines. For some important matters, however, they must report to the local people's government or the higher authorities or report directly to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Also, the higher authorities frequently send out administrative officials to inspect and direct the work of the child welfare institutions and to timely sum up experiences and resolve existing problems. After more than four decades of practice, China has already established a rather sound working system relating to social protection of orphans. Under the system, all administrative activities are being carried out in an effective way and the rights of orphans are adequately protected.

6. Please describe the steps taken to implement article 4 of the Convention indicating the measures being taken to ensure that regional disparities do not develop in relation to the provision of social services and that children throughout the country are protected against the adverse effects of any reductions in budgetary allocations, especially to the social sector.

No matter in economically-developed regions or in underdeveloped regions, the child welfare institutions in China are all guaranteed of budgetary allocations. Every year, the local governments work out development plans for the child welfare institutions in their jurisdiction in view of the current situation and then include such plans into their financial budgets, which will be submitted to the local people's congresses for approval. After the legal procedures, the entire fund will be allocated. In special cases, additional allocations might be granted. Due to the regional disparities in economic development, the allocations for child welfare institutions in different areas vary. In economically-developed regions, the average per capita monthly stipends for children in the care of the welfare institutions stand at RMB 400-500 yuan, while the figure in underdeveloped regions is RMB 200-300 yuan. (Para. 162 of the report. In 1992, the average per capita yearly income for urban residents in China was RMB 1,826 yuan and the figure for rural residents was RMB 784 yuan.) In addition, some local governments draw fund from their coffers to provide special extra allowances for orphans. Thanks to the relatively cheap commodity prices in China, the living expenses of children in the care of the child welfare institutions are usually not lower than the average level of local residents.

The local governments in China always maintain a certain growth rate in the budgetary allocations to the child welfare institutions and many have even institutionalized it into official documents. In 1993, the actual increase rate in such allocations reached 58.6% and the figure was 31.4% in 1994 and 27.24% in 1995. After deduction of inflation, the annual allocations for the child welfare institutions still see a substantial rise. During the 1990-94 period, the local governments alone had directly allotted RMB 515 million yuan for urban child welfare institutions to cover the living expenses of children there, ensuring that their basic needs were met.

All social sectors in China have shown great care for the child welfare projects and a mass aid-to-orphan drive is spreading across the country. In the past five years, social donations in this regard have come up to RMB 350 million yuan and the child welfare institutions have received large amounts of donated food, clothes, medicine, toys and other daily necessities. And such donations keep swelling every year. The Beijing Municipal Child Welfare Institution receives, almost daily, money and goods donated by local residents. In 1994 and 1995, the Shanghai Municipal Child Welfare Institution received a total of more than RMB 4 million yuan donated by various social sectors in the city.

7. In which of the main minority languages has the Convention been made available?

The Convention on the Rights of the Child has not yet been translated into any minority languages. However, laws on protection of women and children, such as the Protection of Minors Law and the Law Concerning the Guarantee of the Rights and Interests of Women, which fully reflect the principles of the Convention, have already been made available in Mongolian, Tibetan, Uygur, Kazak and Korean.

8. Please indicate the measures being taken to train local and central Government officials and professional groups such as social workers, doctors, health and family planning workers, teachers, judges, lawyers, police and personnel in detention facilities as well as decision makers about the principles and provisions of the Convention.

In training public servants and offering on-job training for relevant personnel, colleges and schools in China have included in their teaching programmes subjects on educating the trainees to execute their duties within the framework of the law and to protect the legitimate rights of citizens including that of the child. The competent authorities also sponsor seminars to discuss, summarize and exchange work experiences and measures in this field.

After China ratified the Convention, the Ministry of Justice immediately organized a one-month theme training course for police in the country's juvenile offender correctional institutions to ensure that they understand the principles and provisions of the Convention and they will conform their behaviour to the stipulations of the Convention. In August 1992 and May 1993, the Supreme People's Court sponsored two training courses for judges from courts at various levels in the country. Nearly 200 judges from 30 provinces, cities and autonomous regions attended the courses and most of them were serving in juvenile courts. By listening to the lectures given by famous Chinese juvenile law scholars and engaging in organized discussions, the participants studied the principles and provisions of the Convention by integrating it with the Protection of Minors Law. The two courses proved to be extremely helpful for the participants to understand the Convention's aim of guaranteeing the best interests of the child.

As required by the Supreme People's Court, those participants went back to their courts in various provinces, prefectures and counties to organize courses of different scales to train local judges and jurors of juvenile courts. Except for those in remote regions such as Tibet, Xinjiang, Qinghai and Gansu, who have not yet received such training due to personnel and fund difficulties, judges and especially judges from the juvenile courts in most provinces, prefectures and counties in China have been trained to different extents. In addition to lectures and discussions, many local-sponsored training programmes also include demonstration trials of juvenile courts which are closest to the standards of the Convention in order to standardize the trial procedures of the juvenile courts and conform them to the provisions of the State laws and the Convention.

9. In view of the information contained in para.16 of the report, please indicate to what extent the domestic news media, especially radio and television are being used to publicize the State party's report, particularly in remote areas of the country.

Copies of the initial report of China submitted to the Committee on the Rights of the Child have already been distributed to relevant government organs and organizations of education, public health, women, youth and children which are related to protection of the rights of the child. After China submitted the initial report in early 1995, the Central People's Radio aired a special programme on protection of the rights and interests of the child during the June 1 International Children's Day period. The programme offered audiences a comprehensive introduction to the international conventions, State laws and children development plans relating to protection of the rights and interests of the child. It also briefed the audience on the current situation of children in China. The contents of the programme derived mainly from the initial report of China.

It is accepted in China that besides survival, education is the most essential need and one of the basic rights of the child. Therefore, on occasions such as before a new school year, marking anniversaries of the promulgation of the Compulsory Education Law and the Education Law and after the national working conference on education, the State Education Commission usually publishes articles stressing the importance of children education in three major national newspapers, namely, the People's Daily, Guangming Daily and the China Education Journal, which are available in every township around the country. The Commission also requests the central and local radio and television stations, covering 78.7% and 84.5% of the country's population and regions respectively, as well as every broadcasting station of townships to publicize the right of the child to receive education among the masses and to call on people from all walks of life to care about the right. At the same time, while supporting the education projects undertaken by international organizations in China's poor regions, the local education departments publicize the benefits of children education in poor and remote communities and persuade parents to send their children to school by explaining to them that receiving education is a basic right of the child which must be guaranteed.

In 1966, China will mark the 10th anniversary of the promulgation of the Compulsory Education Law and the State Education Commission as well as education departments at other levels will organize a variety of activities to publicize the right of the child of receiving education and to urge people from all walks of life to care about the basic right of the child.

10. Please provide clarification as to the State regulations which permit the employment of children under the age of 16. (Para. 20 of the report)

Article 8 of the Regulations Prohibiting Child Labour, promulgated by the State Council in April 1991, states: "Literary and art, sports, and special handicraft work units, if really in need of recruiting literary and art workers, athletes and apprentices under the age of 16, must submit their applications to the labour administrative departments at and above the county level for approval." "The definition of literary and art workers, athletes and apprentices will be detailed by the State Council labour administrative department together with the State Council departments in charge of the cultural and sports work." Work units which have recruited children in accordance with the aforesaid provisions must take practical measures to protect the children's physical and metal health; promote their sound development of morality, intelligence and physique; and take the responsibility for creating the necessary conditions for the children to receive the compulsory education of the duration as prescribed by local regulations.

11. Have any procedures been established to monitor tendencies of discrimination against children on the basis of gender, ethnic origin, place of birth or any other grounds? Is there a deliberate effort to collect disaggregated statistical data so that such tendencies can be detected?

According to the division of labour, each member organization of the State Council Working Committee on Women and Children is taking care of its own responsibilities and periodically checks and sums up its performance. The legislative bodies at all levels also check the implementation of the relevant laws and regulations on an irregular basis. While conducting such procedures, one of the main tasks of the State legislative bodies, Government departments and NGOs is to collect the useful data.

The member organizations of the State Council Working Committee on Women and Children swap information through the Committee's newsletters, thus putting together the separately-collected data. Accurate national statistics about children in China, however, are hard to obtain due to the huge size of such data, regional disparities in development, application of different statistical methodology and the fact that a lot of data were collected at different times, in different regions and among different types of children.

12. Please provide information on the steps taken to prevent and eliminate discriminatory attitudes or prejudices and to ensure an effective protection against discrimination, particularly towards the girl child and disabled children. In addition, please specify, the measures taken to ensure non-discrimination in respect of unregistered children.

The State has adopted a variety of steps to prevent and eliminate discriminatory attitudes or prejudices against the girl child and disabled children and to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests.

The Chinese laws guarantee equal rights for men and women. Article 48 of the Constitution stipulates: "Women enjoy equal rights as men in political, economic, cultural, social, family and other respects." "The State protects the rights and interests of women, ensures that men and women enjoy equal pay for equal work, and trains and selects women cadres."

The Law Concerning the Guarantee of the Rights and Interests of Women, promulgated and put into effect on April 3, 1992, stipulates that women shall enjoy the same rights as men in respects such as politics, education, work, properties, marriage and family. Article 17 of the law requires that parents or guardians must carry out their obligation for ensuring that the girl child of school age receives the compulsory education. In view of the existing difficulties, the Government, society and schools shall take effective measures to ensure that the girl child receives the compulsory education of the duration as prescribed by local regulations. Article 35 also bans drowning, abandonment and victimizing of girl infants.

Besides the Law on Security for the Disabled and the Regulations on Education of the Disabled, China has continuously formulated and implemented the five-year work plans for the disabled and promotes rehabilitation, education, employment, cultural and sports projects for the disabled in a planned way. Such efforts have effectively improved the situation of equal participation of the disabled. The State, provincial and municipal radio and television stations have also introduced programmes with titles such as "Under the Same Blue Sky," "Let the World be Saturated with Love," "the World of the Disabled," "The Paradise of the Disabled" and "Friends of the Disabled" to advocate humanitarianism, care and aid for the disabled, and social harmony.

The Chinese Government also supports public welfare activities aimed at helping the girl child and disabled children. They include the Project Hope for helping poor children go back to school, the Spring Buds Project for aiding the girl child who misses school, the Young Pioneer Aid-to-the-Disabled Project, and the Hand-in-Hand Project. The Young Pioneer Project has been going on for nine years and has created a wide social influence. All such activities have strongly promoted social understanding, respect, care and assistance relating to the girl child and disabled children.

Children living in the child welfare institutions, including girls and the disabled, all enjoy appropriate care and treatment and are growing healthily in both body and mind.

The child welfare institutions usually have doctors, rehabilitation therapists, dietitians and their own clinics, rehabilitation centres, labs and dispensaries to provide timely and effective treatment for sick children there. With support from the Government, many child welfare institutions are now equipped with quite advanced medical facilities, such as B-somascope, electrocardiograph and electroencephalograph, which can meet the basic medical needs of the children at the institutions.

Most children who first come to the child welfare institutions are either seriously ill or severely handicapped. The institutions pay great attention to the medical treatment and rehabilitation of such children. To provide the best possible treatment for the sick and disabled children, they put them under special care and employ more medical workers to work on both day and night shifts. They send the severely handicapped to local hospitals for treatment. Some even spend a lot of their money and manpower to bring the disabled children to hospitals in big cities such as Beijing and Shanghai for treatment. In recent years, the medical and public health departments in Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Ningxia, Guangdong and other provinces and cities have frequently sent doctors to the local child welfare institutions to treat sick orphans there. They even provide free operations on the disabled children. After treatment and operation, more than 400 disabled children were cured in 1995.

At present, China has a contingent of specialized personnel who are devoted to the welfare undertakings of orphans and disabled children. Among the 3,280 employees at the 73 child welfare institutions in China, 32% are medical workers. Starting from 1995, the Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Civil Affairs have launched rehabilitation projects for orphans and disabled children around the country. A number of hospitals now voluntarily provide free hospitalization for orphans who need operation and only charge 50% of their operation and treatment fee. From the national to local levels, large amounts of fund

have been raised and the China Social Welfare Lottery Ticket Centre alone contributes RMB 5 million yuan to such fund every year. Statistics show that all orphans and disabled children now in the care of the child welfare institutions have taken part in the rehabilitation programmes to different extents and some disabled children have already recovered or basically recovered their body functions.

In the child welfare institutions, all orphans with a sound mind, no matter if they suffer from other physical disabilities, are receiving the compulsory education as normal children and their tuitions are covered by the State. And the institutions are obliged to send mentally-retarded, deaf and blind children to study at schools of special education. In addition, the State has set up more than 30 special schools for orphans to provide for them an education tailored to the mental and physical characteristics of orphans. Some of the schools have integrated the compulsory education with vocational education in order to arm the orphans with special skills upon their graduation. The child welfare institutions have all organized special education classes for the severely handicapped to teach them according to their aptitude and to help them learn to take care of their own daily life. Today, China has a unique contingent of instructors to provide special education for disabled children, including those living in the child welfare institutions. Since 1989, the Government has set up a special fund for the special education. In 1995, this fund amounted to RMB 23 million yuan, of which RMB 1.1 million yuan was used to cover the cost of special education classes of the child welfare institutions.

The child welfare institutions also pay special attention to girl children in view of their physiological and psychological characters.

(1) To strengthen family education in order to help girl children obtain a right conception of family during their childhood. Girl children tend to be more sensitive and emotional and they will become wives and mothers when they are grown up. So, it is very important to teach them to love others starting from their childhood. Workers at the institutions often show more mother-like care to girl children, such as helping them to get dressed up and guide them through various stages of growing up. Girl children are also encouraged to take part in "baby-caring" dances to cultivate their sense of mother love. With ripe conditions, some institutions even arrange for their girl children to spend Sundays in local households to experience the family life. (2) To help girl children to adopt a habit of paying attention to sanitation and hygiene. For instance, they are encouraged to take baths and change clothes more often and to match their dresses in colour and style. When they are 13-14 years old, the bedrooms for girl and boy children are separated. The workers at the institutions timely record the date of the first periods of girl children and the duration of their periods, offering them prompt and necessary advises. (3) To attach importance to the psychological and behaviour education to help girl children overcome the sense of inferiority. Classes, games, outings and social activities are used to cultivate the virtues of observing the discipline, stressing on manners, and respecting the old and cherishing the young. (4) To stress the vocational education. In view of the characteristics of girl children, the institutions have purchased musical instruments, typewriters and other equipment to better prepare them for future employment by helping them master one or two special skills.

13. Has there been an evaluation of the manner in which the principle of the "best interests of the child" has been taken into account in legal and administrative proceedings?

China's legislative bodies at all levels hear work reports from the courts every year and they also hear special reports on trials involving minors. They are the top authority in making the evaluation and the people's courts will examine and improve their work by taking into account the opinions of the legislative bodies.

One of the essential tasks of the State Council Working Committee on Women and Children is to organize the relevant government organs and NGOs in exchanging experiences and in spreading advanced practices. The Committee also conducts periodic work inspections on guaranteeing the rights and interests of women and children and corrects wrong or illegitimate acts which infringe upon or abuse the rights and interests of the child. Through the aforesaid practices, the principle of the "best interests of the child" has been taken into account in legal and administrative proceedings in China.

14. Please provide more information on the regulatory systems for public orphan care as mentioned in para. 94 of the report. In this connection please clarify whether, as is the case for kindergartens, the Department of Health assists in monitoring and guiding health and hygiene activities for children under the care of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, or equivalent provincial or municipal bodies. In addition, please provide details on the specialized training provided for the staff of State-run public care institutions, including at the provincial and municipal levels. What form does it take and how effective has it been?

During the process of developing the child welfare undertakings, a rather complete regulatory system has taken shape in China and the administrative manner featuring standardization, scientific methodology and institutionalization has been introduced in phases. The main documents in this regard include:

(1) Trial Measures on Management of Urban Social Welfare Institutions. The Measures were put into effect in April 1982. The document requires: The child welfare institutions should stress both upbringing and education of their healthy inmates and should pay attention to medical treatment of the disabled in addition to their upbringing and education. They should also gradually improve the living conditions and increase the welfare facilities. The living standards of the institutionalized children shall be set according to the average living standards of the local residents. The health and medical work there shall be carried out in a regular and institutionalized manner. Personal and environmental sanitation and food hygiene shall be well protected. Meanwhile, the institutions shall keep records on their inmates. By following the principle of being hardworking and thrifty, the institutions are required to set up a strict financial system, make economies, and introduce and improve various types of rules and regulations centering on the position responsibility system. They shall also train their staff by organizing job and technical training courses in a planned manner.

(2) Detailed Rules on Implementation of the Standards for the Classification of State-Level Public Welfare Institutions. This document was promulgated and put into effect in May 1994.

To classify the child welfare institutions is a key means employed by the Ministry of Civil Affairs to administrate the child welfare undertakings. Such classification is conducted once every two years. There are two categories, namely, the State Class I and Class II and Class I is the higher one. Besides, all provinces have defined the standards for institutions of Provincial Class I, Class II and a few other categories.

The Detailed Rules contain four chapters and 45 articles relating to the applicant's qualifications, administration, medical treatment, nursing, rehabilitation and logistic service. Each part of the document details specific requirements covering all aspects of the work of child welfare institutions.

The child welfare institutions in China integrate upbringing, medical treatment with education. The civil affairs departments are the competent authorities, but the child welfare institutions also benefit from the assistance and guidance from other related organs including the public health departments. The main efforts of the public health departments include helping to train medical workers, offering instructions on treatment and rehabilitation work, conducting operations on disabled orphans, treating serious illness, providing free immunization programmes, working out the nutrition menus, and promoting the social rehabilitation projects.

The Chinese Government pays great attention to the training of workers of child welfare institutions and requires in explicit terms that all staff of such institutions must take the pre-job training. Now a training network has already come into being. The network covers training organized by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, provincial civil affairs departments, the public health departments, the associations of the disabled, the Unicef, the Hongkong Rehabilitation, the child welfare institutions and training in foreign countries. There are a great variety of training courses, including long-term study and research, short-term training, and on-job training. Such training is provided at various times and levels. It can also be divided into full-time training and semi-off-the-job training. All training courses are conducted by full-time instructors following the formal teaching and studying programmes. Such courses also offer certificates and diplomas. The results are excellent and 100% of the trainees have reached the qualified and satisfying levels.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs frequently sponsors training courses for staff of the child welfare institutions. In 1994 alone, there were seven such courses: (1) listening and language hindrance rehabilitation training course, 30 participants/four weeks; (2) mentally-retarded rehabilitation training course, 30 participants/four weeks; (3) training course for disabled children early screening, 30 participants/two weeks; (4) disabled children limbs rehabilitation training course, 30 participants/four weeks; (5) secondary vocational training course for disabled children rehabilitation instructors, 30 participants/three years; (6) circulating training course for community rehabilitation, 60 participants/two weeks; and (7) training course for instructors to implement the Training of the Disabled in Communities, 45 participants/four weeks. Through a series of trainings in the past few years, the civil affairs departments now have a contingent of personnel specialized in the rehabilitation of disabled children. Those trainees, in turn, have conducted the second-level courses to train community workers and volunteers related to disabled children and parents of disabled children.

All provinces and municipalities also frequently organize training courses for staff of the child welfare institutions. For instance, the Nanjing Municipal Child Welfare Institution has sponsored 24 special training courses of various types since 1989 with a total of 591 participants. In addition, it has arranged 48 training courses for parents of disabled children, attracting 1,060 trainees.

15. Please provide further information on the reasons for children's separation from the family. In addition, please provide further information on the number of children in each of the following groups, disaggregated by age, gender, ethnic or national background and rural or urban environment:

a) homeless and abandoned;

b) children with disabilities;

c) children placed in old persons' homes;

d) children placed in institutional care; and

e) children supported "individually". (Para. 93 of the report)

Children lose family environment due mainly to the following reasons:

(1) Economic factor. China is a large agricultural country with a vast territory. At present, it is still underdeveloped in terms of the productive force. In some rural regions in China, people are still living at the mercy of the elements. So, natural disasters such as earthquake, hurricane and flood could bring devastating damages to their homeland, leaving behind groups of homeless children and children lo, some children from big families often leave their homes to seek a living somewhere else.

(2) Family factor. Family split or parents failing to undertake the obligation to support their children is one of the objective reasons forcing children to leave their homes. Take the divorce for example. On the one hand, after a divorce, a single parent (father or mother) usually faces numerous difficulties in rearing his/her child and on the other hand, after the father (or mother) is remarried, too often new problems will emerge between the children and their stepfather (or stepmother). Such problems tend to dilute the parents' sense of their guardianship and supporting obligations for their children. As a result, some single parent's children lose stable life supporting or suffer from physical and mental harms, forcing them to leave their homes. There are also other special reasons for children losing family environment. For instance, some children are put in the inadequate care and guardianship of their paternal or maternal grandparents or remote relatives or put in the alternative care and they may confront some setbacks in their life and become mentally sick.

(3) Education factor. Today, social competition is becoming very fierce and most families are trying to provide a better study environment for the children. However, inappropriate parental control may make things run awry, forcing some children to leave their homes. Some parents regard their children as their personal properties and demand absolute obedience from them, and others tend to pamper their children. Such parental behaviours may result in their children's fragile or antagonistic psychology, thus driving some children out of the family environment. Also, parents who have great ambitions for their children as well as some schools and teachers pursuing high grades and high college enrollment rate often put too much pressure on students of poor grade and neglect their moral education. Some students are even beaten up and scolded by their parents and discriminated against by their teachers and schoolmates simply because of their poor academic performance. Gradually, they develop a hostile feeling towards schooling. To change this situation, some children decide to drop out of school and leave their homes.

(4) Social factor. Various recreational facilities have a mesmerizing attraction for children. Because of their ignorance, children are more susceptible to the bad influence from some unhealthy, negative or low-taste art and cultural products. As a result, some children start to skip school or run away.

(5) Subjective factor. Children are all ignorant, simple, curious and loving to imitate others. So, their behaviours are vulnerable to external influences. Sometimes, children could be urged by the legend of a hero of a movie or story to behave queerly or become full of whims and fancies. Out of curiosity and following the example of movie heroes, some children leave their homes to seek opportunities to learn martial art. Today, some children also blindly drop out of school in order to earn a big buck.

In April 1987, China conducted a large-scale census with a sample base of 1.579 million people, including 460,000 children aged 0-14. According to the results, among the sampled children, 12,242 were disabled, accounting for 2.66%. So according to the census, China had an estimation of 51.64 million disabled people, including 8.1735 million disabled children, or 15.8% of the total disabled population in this country. Of China's 307.5 million children, 8.1735 million were disabled or 2.66% of the total.

Classification of disability: sight -- 180,000 or 2.2% of the total disabled children; hearing and language -- 1.16 million or 14.2%; limbs -- 620,000 or 7.5%; multi-disability -- 807,000 or 9.9%; mental retardation -- 5.39 million or 66%; and mental disease -- 14,000 or 0.2%.

Gender: boy -- 4.5388 million or 55.53%; girl -- 3.6347 million or 44.47%. The gender ratio is 124.87:100.

Nationalities: Han -- 7.1039 million or 86.9%; minorities -- 1.0696 million or 13.09%.

Urban and rural: urban -- 1.5002 million or 18.35%; rural -- 6.6737 million or 81.65%.

According to the Chinese Association of the Handicapped, 99.8% of the disabled children in China are living with their parents and only a very small number of them are put in the care of the child welfare institutions or the elders' homes.

The White Book on the Situation of Children in China was published in April 1996. It reveals that in China, there are about 20,000 children living in the child welfare institutions and other public welfare institutions which also take in children. By the end of 1995, there were 73 child welfare institutions funded by local governments around the country, taking care of 8,900 orphans and disabled children. More than 1,200 social welfare institutions in the cities and some rural elders' homes are also taking care of some orphans and abandoned disabled children. However, there are still a few who are supported or adopted by individuals according to the law.

16. In what way does the Adoption Act take into consideration the birth control policy in prescribing the strict procedures for adoption as mentioned in paras. 99 and 117 of the report. In addition, please describe in more detail any plans and programmes designed to facilitate or improve the possibility of children in institutionalized care moving to parental or other home-like care.

The Adoption Law regulates only the adoption-related behaviours and involves no questions about the birth control endeavour.

In order to put more children into home-like care, Chinese citizens have adopted nearly 10,000 children in recent years. At the same time, the social welfare departments have introduced various mechanisms to provide as much as possible the home-like care for children. For example, the Nanchang Municipal Social Welfare Institution and the Fuzhou Municipal Social Welfare Institution have entrusted all their young infants to the care of local families. The China Charity Federation has launched a "wet nurse village" project in Shanxi Province.

17. Please indicate what measures are envisaged to ensure the implementation of a legal framework for the effective protection of children in cases of intercountry adoption. In addition, pursuant to paras. 97 and 98 of the report, please clarify the measures in place to prevent and punish corruption and trafficking in the case of intercountry adoption and to monitor and supervise adoption agencies. Furthermore, please indicate whether the Government is planning to ratify the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption.

China has already taken measures in the following three respects to ensure the implementation of the laws relating to intercountry adoption:

1. The Chinese Government has approved the establishment of the China Adoption Centre. With entrustment from the Government, the centre is responsible for liaison in the case of intercountry adoption, establishing direct relationship with overseas adoption organizations with entrustment from their governments, handling the certificates and documents of foreign applicants, helping adopters to look for candidates, and notifying foreign adopters to come to China for going through the procedures.

2. Article 4 of Provisions Governing the Adoption of Children by Foreigners in the People's Republic of China states that foreign adopters must submit their applications and relevant certificates to the adoption organization with entrustment from the Chinese Government through their government or the adoption organizations with entrustment from their government. Middlemen are strictly prohibited from making benefits in the case of intercountry adoption.

3. The Adoption Law has laid down strict procedures for intercountry adoption in order to safeguard the rights of the child. Article 20 stipulates that foreigners who want to adopt children in China shall register with the civil affairs department and go through the procedures at the designated notary agencies. The adoption become valid as of the date of notarization. At present, the Chinese Government is considering introducing the China Adoption Centre supervising and management measures and plans to improve the intercountry adoption in China through the efforts of the Centre.

After promulgation of the Adoption Law and with approval from the State Council, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Justice jointly issued the Provisions Governing the Adoption of Children by Foreigners in the People's Republic of China. On March 8 and July 10, 1995, the Ministry of Justice issued the Circular on Notarization Procedures and Relevant Matters for Intercountry Adoption and the Circular on Tightening the Examination and Notarization Procedures in the Case of Intercountry Adoption, respectively.

In view of the Adoption Law and the aforementioned stipulations, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Justice jointly launched the China Adoption Centre (Preparatory Group), which is responsible for examination of the application documents in the case of intercountry adoption and for issuing the Notice on Adoption Permission to foreign adopters. In 1995, the Centre (Preparatory Group) examined and approved more than 3,000 applications of intercountry adoption, involving adopters from 14 countries.

In order to guarantee the healthy growth and necessary legal protection of the adoptees, China rejects adoption applications from foreigners if the State laws of the applicants' countries contradict the provisions of the Chinese Adoption Law; or the applicants do not have the capability or conditions for the upbringing and education of an adopted child; or the applicants lack moral integrity.

To ensure that the persons who offer a child for adoption and the candidate adoptees meet the criteria prescribed by the Adoption Law and to prevent sale of children masquerading as adoption, the Ministry of Justice requires that the notary agencies must carefully check out the qualifications, rights and behaviour capability of the persons who offer a child for adoption; examine the health situation of the candidates; and verify the true intention of the persons offering a child for adoption. If the child is offered for adoption by a public welfare institution, the agencies shall check out where did the child come from or whether the child was an orphan or abandoned infant.

According to the provisions, the intercountry adoption becomes valid only after going through the notarization procedures. To ensure its justice and legitimacy, the notarization certificates for intercountry adoption must be issued by the notary agencies approved by the Ministry of Justice. Notaries there have all received professional training.

Also, to ensure the smooth operation of intercountry adoption and the implementation of the Adoption Law, the Ministry of Justice is improving the coordination and cooperation with the civil affairs, public security and other relevant departments to resolve problems resulting from contradictions between the Chinese and foreign adoption laws.

As for the ratification of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, the Chinese Government is seriously studying the matter.

18. When was the statistical data detailed in paragraph 124 of the report compiled? How regularly are surveys focusing on disability undertaken?

The statistical data detailed in paragraph 124 of the report came from a nation-wide survey on the disabled conducted in 1987. A series of statistical data from this survey, such as those regarding the total population of the disabled, the classification and degree of disability and the basic living situation of the disabled, has become important references for the State in formulating policies and advocating equal participation of the disabled.

In recent years, many special surveys related to practical work for the disabled have been undertaken. For instance, a survey was conducted among the blind, deaf and mentally weak children in order to promote the compulsory education; a survey on mentally-retarded people and particularly mentally-retarded children was organized in order to support epidemics prevention efforts; and another survey on the disabled facing extreme financial difficulties was undertaken for helping the Government to formulate the aid-to-the-poor policies. Today, the local associations of the handicapped are conducting a general survey among the disabled to collect data for the scheme of issuing uniform certificates for the disabled.

19. From the information provided in paras. 123, 137 and 143 of the report, what measures are being taken to improve the school enrolment rate for disabled children of school age, particularly those in outlying provinces?

The Law on Security of the Disabled and many other Chinese laws all contain provisions on guaranteeing the right of the disabled children to receive education. The relevant Government departments have included the education of the disabled children into the framework of compulsory education and put it under unified arrangements for implementation. It is also clearly stipulated that the objective of the compulsory education is not achieved in a region if the school enrolment rate of the school-age disabled children fails to reach the set level there. After many years of exploration, China now is gradually introducing an education system for the disabled children. Under the system most of the disabled children will receive compulsory education in special classes or normal classes at ordinary schools and some will study in special schools. This is designed to enable the disabled children to receive compulsory education in local schools or schools close to their homes. Thanks to such efforts, today the enrolment rate of school-age disabled children has lifted to 60% from about 20% a few years ago. In a number of medium and large cities, the figure has already hit 90%-95%. Now various regions around the country are doubling their efforts in this regard and it is estimated that the nation-wide average school enrolment rate of the school-age disabled children will reach 80% by the end of this century.

20. Given that the rural health care network is incomplete, as recognized in para. 157 of the report, how successful have measures been taken to extend coverage of primary health care and to continue the reduction of infant and child mortality, including through the more equitable distribution of medicines, medical equipment and professional personnel to all health units in rural and poorer areas?

China is a large country and has a huge population consisting of many nationalities. More than 80% of the Chinese people are living in the rural areas and today there are still 65 million people living in poverty. During the 1991-94 period, the State allotted more than RMB 30.58 billion yuan financial aid to the poor areas to help them build infrastructure facilities, develop production and improve the living standards there.

The strategic task of China's health care programme is to improve the rural health care network. The State has all along paid great attention to the children's health in rural and poor areas. Since 1991, efforts have been made to upgrade the work of the township commune hospitals, the county health centres for women and children and the county sanitation and antiepidemic stations in order to better the medical and health care for rural children. Now, 36.6% of the country's total rural commune hospitals, 27.7% of the county health centres for women and children and 29.8% of the county sanitation and antiepidemic stations are newly built or recently renovated. And many of them are installed with obstetrical, first aid, child delivering and other basic medical equipment.

The advancement of the rural primary health care work has improved the health of rural children in China. In 1994, 843 counties which were up to the State-designated standards of the primary health care had reached the goals of reducing the infant and child mortality by 5%-20% from the 1990 figure and increasing coverage of primary health care for children to 80%. These goals were set for 1995 by the State.

While augmenting its input into the poor areas, the Chinese Government has been enthusiastic in seeking international cooperation projects. It helps to attract foreign aid for the poor areas and particularly for the health care projects for women and children in regions of minority nationalities. During the 1990-95 period, the Improving China's Grassroots Health Care for Women and Children and the Birth Control Service Programme covered 305 poor counties around China affecting one-tenth of the country's total population. The programme was jointly sponsored by China, the United Nations Children's Fund, the United Nations Fund for Population and the World Health Organization. Of the 305 poor counties, 161 or 52.7% were in nationality autonomous regions or in provinces with a sizable population of minority nationalities. During the six years, international organizations had provided a total of 27 million US dollars free economic aid to the provincial, prefectural and county health care centres for women and children in the aforesaid regions. Meanwhile, governments at various levels had pumped more than RMB 300 million into the 305 poor counties and provided 916,000 pieces of basic medical equipment for local townships and villages. In view of the needs of women and children in poor areas, efforts had been made to train 360,000 rural medical workers and form a backbone contingent of teachers. After six years of implementation of the programme, the coverage of health care for pregnant and lying-in women and children and the rate of hospitalized delivery had improved. The mortality rate among infants and children under the age of 5 had dropped from 6.801% and 8.437% to 4.39% and 5.43%, respectively. The number of midwives had grown from 0.57 to 0.85 per village. The rate of hospitalized delivery in rural areas witnessed a general rise.

In 1995, the Ministry of Public Health used the World Bank loan to launch the Comprehensive Project of Health Care for Women and Children in 295 poorer counties in eight provinces, affecting a combined population of 90 million people. The programme is aimed at improving the health of women and children through training of grassroots medical workers, provision of basic medical equipment and upgrading the health care services for women and children.

21. Please provide information on the cost of educating a child at the different levels of schooling, particularly in view of the statement in para. 178 of the report that students are forced to drop out of school due to miscellaneous expenses. In addition, please provide clarification as to what is meant by schooling fees mentioned in para. 120 of the report.

At present, China is still suffering from a tight budget for education and a shortage in overall fund supply. The average per capita education fund for students is nominal. In 1994, the average per capita expenditure for education of a child during the compulsory education period (e.g., education at the primary and junior middle schools) stood at RMB 487.22 yuan.

Cases of students being forced to drop out of school due to miscellaneous expenses as mentioned in para. 178 of the report happen mainly during the non-compulsory education period. This is because the State has made it clear that the compulsory education is free of charge and only miscellaneous expenses are payable.

The schooling fees mentioned in para. 120 of the report is part of the education cost of a student, which consists of the personnel fees and the capital construction fees. The schooling fee is charged only for the non-compulsory education and the State specifies that the compulsory education is free of charge. Even for higher education, the schooling fees paid by students make up only a small proportion of the total education cost and the rest is covered by the Government.

Governments at various levels have laid down specific criteria to govern the miscellaneous expenses, which are usually quite low for the compulsory education. According to a survey conducted by the State Education Commission in some provinces and counties, during the 1993-94 school year, schools charged an average of RMB 62.6 yuan for each student mainly to cover the cost of teaching materials. The miscellaneous expenses paid by an average student ranged between RMB 14-25 yuan. The figures were higher in large cities. For instance, an average student in the primary and middle schools in Beijing paid RMB 30 yuan for miscellaneous expenses. So, in most regions of the country there are no such cases as children dropping out of school because they could not afford the miscellaneous expenses. However, in some poor areas, households with financial difficulties or big families could find it hard to cover the miscellaneous expenses by themselves. To provide children from such families with the opportunity of receiving education, local governments have all adopted a policy of waiving such expenses for them and offering student grants for children from families facing extreme financial difficulties.

22. Do the statistics indicating an average of one million children in poor regions of China have "missed school" in recent years provide details of the proportion of girl children affected? What measures does the Government consider to be necessary to raise the level of school enrolment for girls beyond the steps outlined in the Spring Buds Scheme? What programmes besides those mentioned in paras. 187-188 of the report are in place to reduce the school drop-out rate of girls?

Since the founding of the People's Republic and particularly after the Compulsory Education Law was promulgated in 1986, the Chinese Government has made great efforts to make the compulsory education universal in the country and to protect the basic right of the child to receive education. In 1995, the school enrolment rate among the school age children in China reached 98.5% and the figure with girls stood at 98.2%. So, the difference between the male and female school enrolment was nominal. No matter in a developed country or a developing country, this should be deemed as a quite impressive achievement. However, due to the huge population in China, the 1.5% drop-out rate means more than 1 million children are outside school. The boy and girl children are enjoying the equal right of attending the education in most regions in China, but in some other areas, girls are suffering from disadvantages largely because of the low economic level, poor natural conditions and backward traditions and customs there. To change the situation, besides the Spring Buds Project launched by the All-China Women's Federation in poor areas, the Government has adopted a series of measures to help girls in poor districts to go back to school. First, efforts have been made to enhance the law enforcement to ensure that girls and boys have equal opportunity of receiving education and include the girl school enrolment rate into the criteria for checking whether a locality has made the compulsory education universal and for evaluating the performance of a local government. Also, law enforcement means shall be employed to guarantee the girls' education. Second, further endeavour will be made to deepen the reform of the education system to provide diversified forms and channels for girls to attend the compulsory education. Third, the publicity work in this regard will be improved to mobilize greater social sympathy for and participation in the drive to reduce the girl drop-out rate. Fourth, the local governments are planning to use all the fund available, including the Central Government special allocation for compulsory education, the World Bank loans, donations from overseas Chinese and various social sectors and the extra fund for education controlled by the Central Government, to promote the compulsory education mainly in the poor districts and areas of minority nationalities. When utilizing aforesaid fund, the local governments shall give priority to the needs of girl children and a certain amount of fund shall be earmarked for improving girls' education.

Moreover, the Chinese Government has entered cooperation with many international and non-governmental organizations in introducing special programmes for girls' education. For instance, the Government and Unicef have jointly launched the Promotion of Girls' Education in Poor Districts Project; the State has set up a student grant system to help children in poor areas to go back to primary or junior middle schools, which gives priority to girl children from poor families; and the Project Hope provides fund for children who have missed school to cover their textbooks and miscellaneous expenses, thus helping them to finish the compulsory education.

23. What progress has been achieved in reaching the target of the establishment of public primary schools in each village in Tibet by the end of the century? In the interim, what measures are being taken to provide schooling to the approximately 36% of children of school-age who are not enrolled? In addition, please indicate the additional measures being taken to address the problem of the high illiteracy rate.

Since the founding of the People's Republic, the Central People's Government has attached great importance to the social progress and economic advancement in Tibet. Before the Peaceful Liberation, there were almost no schools of the present genre in Tibet and the illiteracy rate exceeded 95% there. However, in the 36 years following the Peaceful Liberation and particularly, the Democratic Reform and establishment of a socialist system in 1959, Tibet has witnessed fundamental changes in its education undertakings thanks to the generous financial support from the Central Government. In March 1993, the people's government of the Tibetan Autonomous Region defined the target of the region's primary education by the end of this century: "To basically establish public middle schools in every county and public primary schools in every village, lifting the enrolment rate of school age children to more than 80%; and to make the three-year primary education universal in the animal husbandry districts, six-year primary education universal in the agricultural districts and the nine-near compulsory education universal in urban areas." With direct support from other provinces and cities around the country, the primary education in Tibet has made marked progresses towards the aforesaid target. By the end of 1995, Tibet had four universities and colleges, 103 secondary vocational schools, 650 complete primary schools and 3,300 lower primary schools in rural areas. The secondary school enrolment reached 33,000 students and the figure was 258,650 with primary schools. The school enrolment rate for school age children stood at 70% and the illiteracy rate dropped to 40%. After China ratified the Convention and during the 1993-95 period alone, the autonomous region had established 21 middle schools, 237 complete primary schools and 815 lower primary schools at the township level, boosting the school enrolment rate for primary schools from 52% to 70%. It is predicted that the target of the establishment of complete public primary schools in each township in Tibet can be reached in 1998. In addition, 29 provinces and municipalities in China have formed Inland Tibetan Classes with a total enrolment of 12,590 Tibetan students including 6,509 junior middle school students, 1,604 senior middle school students, 3,195 secondary vocational school students and 1,282 secondary normal school students.

In order to further boost education in Tibet and to provide schooling to the approximately 30% of children of school-age who are not enrolled, the government of the autonomous region plans mainly to adopt the following measures:

(1) To improve the local legislative work and to provide a legal protection for the development of the compulsory education in Tibet. In early 1994, the people's congress of the autonomous region promulgated the Rules of the Tibetan Autonomous Region on Implementation of the Compulsory Education Law of the People's Republic of China and the people's government of the autonomous region issued the Tibetan Autonomous Region's Programme on Implementation of the Compulsory Education. Such efforts have provided the legal guarantee for development of the compulsory education in Tibet;

(2) To introduce a multi-level schooling and management system for the primary education and to financially provide the guarantee for the development of the education undertakings. The education fund and the education capital construction investment accounts for 17% of the financial budget of the autonomous region and the same percentage of the capital construction investment in the local governments' financial budgets, respectively. About 15-20% of the prefectural and county budgets will be used to improve the school conditions. Also, efforts will be made to encourage masses' participation in the establishment and operation of the lower primary schools at the township and village levels;

(3) To waive schooling fees, miscellaneous expenses, textbook costs and any other charges for children from farmers' and herdsman's families and to provide a monthly per capita stipend of RMB 60 yuan for students whose schooling is higher than the fifth grade in the agricultural districts and fourth grade in the animal husbandry districts;

(4) The State has organized the Inland Tibetan Classes in 29 provinces and municipalities, which have proved to be a big attraction for children from farmers' families. The Tibetan Autonomous Region plans to continue to take advantage of such classes to train Tibetan teachers and to lure children to receive education;

(5) To make better use of the special education fund allocated to Tibet by the Central Government and the fund given to the autonomous region by the State for the Compulsory Education Project in Poor Districts in order to advance the primary school education in Tibet; and

(6) To further the specialized aid to Tibet provided by other provinces and municipalities. In 1995, RMB 20 million yuan was raised for Tibet education development projects.

While striving to improve the local primary education, the autonomous region has also taken some measures to reduce the illiteracy rate. In 1994, the regional government issued the Anti-Illiteracy Programme and decided to put aside each year a certain amount of outlay as the anti-illiteracy fund. The prefectural and county governments take the chief responsibility for eliminating illiteracy in local areas. Most of the literacy classes are arranged at night schools by making full use of the existing facilities and teachers of local primary schools. Since 1993, every year an average of 30,000 young people and people of the age between 30 and 40 get rid of illiteracy in Tibet. The illiteracy rate in the region is expected to drop below 30% by the year 2000.

24. Please provide clarification as to whether corporal punishment is permitted in schools? (Para 166 of the report).

Corporal punishment or covert corporal punishment is strictly prohibited in Chinese schools.

Article 38 of the Constitution states that the personal dignity of citizens is inviolable and any forms of insult against citizens by any means is prohibited. Article 49 stipulates that children are protected by the State and maltreatment of children is prohibited.

Article 42 of the Education Law states that education receivers has the right of "bringing a complaint or a suit according to law if the right of personal safety or property has been infringed upon by the school or the teacher."

Article 14 of the Compulsory Education Law requires teachers to show concern for their students and Article 16 states clearly: "It shall be forbidden to inflict physical punishment on students." Article 20 of the Rules on Implementation of the Compulsory Education Law also states: "The school and the teacher are not allowed to inflict upon students physical or covert physical punishment or other acts that violate their personal dignity." Article 42 stipulates that in a serious case of inflicting physical punishment on a student, "the relevant departments shall mete out administrative penalties; if the act violates the Social Security Penal Codes, the public security departments shall mete out penalties; and if the act violates the law, the criminal responsibility shall be affixed."

The Law for the Protection of Minors requires: "The teachers and staff members of schools and kindergartens shall respect the personal dignity of the minors in their care and are not allowed to inflict upon the minors physical or covert physical punishment or other acts that violate their personal dignity" (Article 15); "If a teacher or staff member of a school, kindergarten and nursery inflicts physical or covert physical punishment upon a minor student or child and the case is serious, the work unit or the higher authorities shall mete out administrative penalties" (Article 48); and "If the act of infringing upon the right of the person or other legal rights of a minor violates the law, the criminal responsibility shall be affixed" (Article 52).

In China, the departments in charge of education always attach importance to the training of teachers and are resolutely implementing relevant State laws and regulations on protection of the healthy development of children. In addition, they always handle cases of violating aforesaid laws and regulations in a serious manner and are never lenient to the offenders. In 1991, the State Education Commission and the National Teachers' Trade Union jointly issued the Ethic Code for Middle and Primary School Teachers. Generally speaking, most teachers can conscientiously abide by the code, make themselves an example of being a paragon of virtue and learning, and take good care of the healthy growth of the child.

Special Protection Measures

(Arts. 22, 30, 32-40 of the Convention)

25. With regard to the special agencies (juvenile courts) mentioned in para. 213 of the report, please provide further information on:

(a) the relationship between these special agencies and the independent juvenile tribunals; and

(b) the "special trial procedures" designed for minors which these courts follow.

In particular, has there been any analysis undertaken of the functioning of the special agencies and independent juvenile tribunals mentioned in para. 213 of the report in ensuring the effective application of the provisions of articles 37, 39 and 40 of the Convention?

The "special agencies (juvenile courts) to hear criminal cases involving juveniles" mentioned in para. 213 of the report are organized in two forms: one is the juvenile court attached to the criminal trial courts (formed by trials courts within a people's court), each having three judicial officers and hearing criminal cases involving juvenile defendants. In view of the current situation of juvenile law offending cases in China, most special agencies are in such a form. The other is the juvenile court established at the same level as other trial courts within a people's court. With a establishment system same as the criminal, civil and administrative courts, such juvenile court is also called the juvenile tribunal. By the end of 1993, there were 317 juvenile tribunals in China. The juvenile tribunal usually has more judicial officers than in the juvenile court and hears cases in a broader scope. Besides hearing cases involving juvenile offenders, the tribunal also handles criminal cases involving juvenile victims, such as those victimized in maltreatment, abandonment, abduction and forced drug-taking cases. In some regions the juvenile tribunals also hear civil cases with juvenile plaintiffs, such as demanding payment for cost of maintenance.

In view of the principles stipulated in the Criminal Procedure Law and by summing up the experiences of the juvenile courts in various regions, the Supreme People's Court issued the Trial Rules on Handling Criminal Cases Involving Juveniles in January 1991. Today, courts at various levels in China all follow the Rules in hearing criminal cases involving juveniles.

According to the Rules, the juvenile courts in hearing criminal cases involving juveniles must act in accordance with the following principles: First, the presence of the legal representative in the procedure. Before the hearing or during the adjournments, with permission from the juvenile court, the legal representative may meet the juvenile offender; and during the hearing, the legal representative has the right to ask for avoidance, raise questions and defend; after the juvenile defendant makes the final statement, the legal representative, with approval from the chief judge, may make further statements; and during the appeal period, the legal representative enjoys the right of independently filing appeals if the defendant is under the age of 18. Second, no open trials. According to the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Law and the Law for the Protection of Minors, no open trials shall be conducted if they involve juvenile defendants aged between 14 and 16 and the same rule is usually applicable for trials involving juvenile defendants aged between 16 and 18. However, the judgment shall be pronounced publicly and the legal representative shall be notified to be present. To protect the rights and interests of the juvenile defendants and to avoid publicity of their crimes in order to ward off adverse effect on their future life, the juvenile courts, while handling criminal cases involving juvenile defendants, are not allowed to make public or disseminate the relevant files and materials or make public the video images or photos of the defendants by any means. Third, comprehensive investigation. In handling criminal cases involving juvenile defendants, the juvenile court shall, in addition to collection and examination of the relevant facts and evidences, investigate the integrity and characters of the juveniles and the persons and events which have contributed to the making of the juveniles' special characters. Fourth, prompt handling of cases. Under the precondition of guaranteeing a fair trial and satisfactory social effects, the juvenile court shall pay great attention to the prompt handling of cases in order to bring the defendants, whether they are found innocent or sentenced to non-imprisonment punishment, back to normal life as soon as possible or to ensure that the juveniles who have been sentenced to confinement can be educated as early as possible. Fifth, including education into trial and punishment. The juvenile court shall include education in every steps of the whole procedure and shall, in view of each defendant's special characters, earnestly help them just like teachers treating their students, parents treating their children and doctors treating their patients. Usually after the criminal cases involving juveniles are accepted by the people's court, its juvenile court will make a thorough examination of the case. Then it will educate the defendants in an honest manner and help them to overcome fear and antagonistic feeling so that they may dare to point out the contradictions between the charges and the facts, thus ensuring a fair and smooth trial. The juvenile court also requires the judges to take a hearty attitude and use mild and simple language to explain to the defendants the facts and laws based on which the judgment is concluded and to inform the defendants that they have the right to appeal to a higher court.

Article 14 of China's Criminal Law states that any person who has reached the age of 14 but not the age of 16 and who commits a crime shall be given a lighter or mitigated punishment. Article 44 particularly stipulates that the death penalty shall not be imposed on persons who had not reached the age of 18 at the time the crime was committed. The juvenile court shall take into full account the fact that the juvenile offenders are violators of the social order but also victims of the adverse social environment. With facts as the basis and laws as the yardstick, it is necessary to impose adequate penalties on juveniles who have committed a crime. Otherwise, it will equate to tolerating crimes and prove to be detrimental to education of juveniles and to safeguarding the social order. However, the juveniles have their special characters, such as immaturity in their body and mind, lack of discerning power, and high remouldablity. Therefore, the juvenile offenders shall be given lighter or mitigated punishment than adults. The punishment shall be deemed as only a means, but education the purpose. For juvenile offenders who used to show good behaviours or who are first, fortuitous and accessory offenders or who have really shown signs of repentance or merit, the punishment imposed on them shall be avoided whenever it is possible; and in cases where the punishment must be meted out, the imprisonment shall be avoided as much as possible and shall be replaced by other penalties such as stay sentences and controls. The purpose is to minimize the restrictions imposed on the personal freedom of the juvenile offenders. In view of different cases, non-penalty disciplines such as receiving admonition, making public apology and paying compensations may be imposed on juveniles who have committed a minor offense and the competent departments may mete out administrative penalties to put them under social supervision, but offer them the opportunity to go back to school or to find a job and encourage them to turn over a new leaf of life.

26. With respect to article 40 (2) (b) (ii) of the Convention which stipulates that children should have legal or other appropriate assistance in the preparation and presentation of his or her defence, please provide information on how promptly this assistance is to be provided according to domestic state and provincial legislation.

Article 14 of the recently-amended Criminal Procedure Law, promulgated in March 1996, states: "In the process of interrogation and trial of cases involving juveniles under the age of 18, legal representatives of the suspects or defendants may be notified to be present." Article 34 stipulates that if the defendant is a minor who does not have a defender, "the people's court shall assign a lawyer who volunteers to provide legal aid to defend the minor."

Following the provisions in the Constitution and the Criminal Procedure Law concerning protection of the citizens' litigation rights, some provinces and municipalities around China, such as Guangzhou, Shanghai and Wuhan, have already set up legal aid centres and the Ministry of Justice is also preparing for the establishment of the China Legal Aid Centre. The purpose is to guarantee the defence for all children involved.

Article 13 of the Basic Rules on Handling Criminal Cases Involving Juveniles (implemented on a trial basis), promulgated by the Supreme People's Court, states: "The juvenile court may resort to family and social support and use forms such as symposiums to provide legal education for the juvenile defendants and offer them necessary assistances." Article 18 requires: "Upon delivery of a copy of the statement of charges to the legal representative of the juvenile defendant, the juvenile court shall inform the legal representative his/her rights, obligations as well as points for attention during the trial." Article 19 states: "Before the trial and when the juvenile court deems it as necessary, arrangement may be made for the legal representative or the guardian to meet the juvenile defendant." Article 21 stipulates that the juvenile court shall set aside time for the defending lawyer to meet the juvenile defendant.

27. Please provide further information on the measures in place to safeguard the rights of the child pursuant to article 37 (d) of the Convention who have been detained for re-education. Please provide clarification as to whether children may be dealt with under other administrative measures. In addition, please provide statistical data on the number of children detained under such measures as well as successful appeals by children that have been upheld against such administrative measures.

According to the relevant laws and regulations on re-education through labour, the re-education committee may send a juvenile delinquent who has reached the age of 16 to one to three years of re-education upon completion of the stipulated procedures of hearing.

At present, there are about 3,000 inmates aged between 16 and 18 in China's re-education centres. Since most of such centres are located in different regions of the country, usually each centre is responsible for its own administration. However, all police officers at such centres are required to earnestly follow the principle of "education, reform and remedy" and to treat the juvenile inmates just like parents treating their children, teachers treating their students and doctors treating their patients. The purpose is to redeem the inmates through education and to protect their lawful rights. The management of juvenile inmates is different from that of adult inmates at labour camps. At the re-education centre, for every week day, half of the day is allocated for schooling of the inmates and special instructors are hired to provide them moral, legal and cultural education. For the other half day, inmates are required to take part in labour that can help them to learn some skills. Meanwhile, workers at the re-education centre are required to take better care of the juvenile inmates, whose board expenses are usually higher than that of the adult inmates. Regular check-up and cultural activities are arranged at the re-education centre to meet the needs of physical development of the juvenile inmates. Also, juvenile inmates who have shown good performance and behaviour may be permitted to visit their families or may have their re-education time reduced or be discharged from the centre before their time expires. If there are appropriate conditions or the families can provide adequate guardianship, the juvenile inmates, with approval, may attend ordinary schools outside the centre on a trial basis and after a period, they may even be discharged from the re-education centre if their performance is satisfactory.

According to the Social Security Penal Code, the penalties on violation of the social order fall into three categories: warning, fine and 1-15 day detention. However, the Code stipulates that lighter penalties will be meted out to juveniles who have reached the age of 14 but not the age of 18 and no penalties will be given to minor under the age of 14 though they may be reprimanded and their guardians will be required to tighten the control. In view of the principle of education and remedy, the Rules on Public Security Departments' Handling of Law-Violating Cases Involving Juveniles states clearly that the detention shall be avoided as much as possible while meting out penalties to juveniles who have violated the social order and usually no detention shall be meted out to school students.

28. With respect to the sentencing of juvenile offenders between the ages of 14 and 18 to life imprisonment, please provide further information on the manifestations of "repentance" and the required display of "merit" as mentioned in para. 227 of the report that must be demonstrated by juveniles before their sentence is reduced. In addition, what proportion of juveniles sentenced to life imprisonment have their sentences so reduced? Furthermore, for those juveniles who do have their life sentences reduced, how long does it take before they benefit from "mitigation" as mentioned in para. 227 of the report?

The Supreme People's Court directs in the Explanations on Several Issues of Laws Applicable to Criminal Cases Involving Juveniles that a juvenile offender who can admit to his faults, accept the court sentence, meet the standards of behaviour for the reformed criminals, and study positively cultural and technical know-hows may be regarded as showing signs of "real repentance." A juvenile offender who can expose and denounce the criminal activities committed by inmates, which have later been proved, and who have stopped other inmates from escaping, doing violence to others or sabotaging can be regarded as displaying "merit." A juvenile offender either shows signs of "repentance" or "merit" may benefit from a litigation of sentence. It usually takes six months before a juvenile offender who has been sentenced to life imprisonment may have his sentence reduced. The life sentence can be reduced at one time to imprisonment between 15 and 18 years. If a juvenile offender shows both "repentance" and "merit", his life sentence may be reduced at one time to imprisonment between 10 and 15 years.

Judicial experience in China shows that most juvenile offenders sentenced to life imprisonment can eventually benefit from a mitigation of sentence.

If a juvenile offender, while serving his time, does show repentance, poses no further risk to society and has made outstanding performance in receiving re-education, he/she may be released on parole according to the provisions on "special cases" of Article 73 of the Criminal Law. In such a case, a juvenile offender sentenced to life imprisonment may be directly released on parole regardless of how long he/she has been serving his/her time. Usually, juvenile offenders sentenced to life imprisonment who have served half of the time of their mitigated sentences may also be released on parole.

29. Please clarify the situations permitted by article 28 of the Protection of Minors Act and provided for in State regulations under which an individual or organization may employ a minor aged under 16 years. In addition, are there any regulations adopted to define the excessively heavy, toxic or harmful work or dangerous occupations forbidden to be performed by minors under the age of 16? (Para. 233 of report).

Article 2 of the Regulations Prohibiting Child Labour, promulgated by the State Council in April 1991, states that minors under the age of 16 years "doing house chores, the part-time work organized by schools for the purpose of self supporting and assisting work defined by the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities as no harmful to children's development of body and mind and within their ability shall not be regarded as child labour."

Article 8 stipulates: "Literary and art, sports, and special handicraft work units, if really in need of recruiting literary and art workers, athletes and apprentices under the age of 16, must submit their applications to the labour administrative departments at and above the county level for approval." "The definition of literary and art workers, athletes and apprentices will be detailed by the State Council labour administrative department together with the State Council departments in charge of the cultural and sports work." Work units which have recruited children in accordance with the aforesaid provisions must take practical measures to protect the children's physical and metal health; promote their sound development of morality, intelligence and physique; and take the responsibility for creating the necessary conditions for the children to receive the compulsory education of the duration as prescribed by local regulations.

At present, China does not have any national laws or regulations defining the excessively heavy, toxic or harmful work or dangerous occupations forbidden to be performed by minors under the age of 16 years.

30. Please provide statistical information on the numbers of child workers in the following categories:

(a) the number of children below the age of 16 employed pursuant to State regulations as permitted by article 28 of the Protection of Minors Act (para. 233 of the report); and

(b) the number of children below the age of 16 employed in paid auxiliary work (para. 235 of the report).

At present, there are no national statistics available concerning question (a).

The so-called "auxiliary work" means the house chores, work classes organized by the school or other organized collective activities undertaken by juveniles. Such work is usually of a temporary nature and not paid. So, almost every child takes part in such activities in China.

31. Given that children are taught too little about drug avoidance while at school (para. 248 of the report) and that the demands of the Convention cannot be met by legislation and administrative measures alone (para. 250 of the report), please provide more information regarding the Government's top priority of giving teachers more thorough training in educating children to avoid drugs.

In order to give teachers more thorough training in educating children to avoid drugs, the State Committee on Drug Prohibition and the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) have jointly launched education programmes on drug avoidance in China. In March 1993, the State Committee on Drug Prohibition received a UNDCP delegation headed by Ms. Oppenheimer, a specialist on reduction of drug need at the UNDCP Asia Regional Centre. Also, the UNDCP Asia Regional Centre invited Mr. Beld, a specialist on education of drug avoidance from Australia to visit China. Mr. Beld exchanged views with officials in charge of drug avoidance education from the State Committee of Drug Prohibition, the State Education Commission and from Yunnan, Guangxi and Guangdong provinces on drug avoidance education and feasibilities on introducing teachers' training programmes in cooperation of UNDCP. In April 1994, Ms. Oppenheimer, adviser on reduction of drug need at the UNDCP Asia Regional Centre, came to China again to discuss with the Chinese side on sponsoring a national symposium on drug avoidance education and on organizing teachers' training programmes about drug avoidance in Yunnan, Guangxi and Guangdong provinces. However, no further progresses have since been made in this direction due to the replacement of the adviser on reduction of drug need at the UNDCP Asia Regional Centre. In the second half of 1995, the State Committee on Drug Prohibition held talks with the British Government on international cooperation about drug avoidance education. In March 1996, the State Committee on Drug Prohibition received Mr. Jeff Lee, a British specialist on drug avoidance education who was on an inspection tour in China. Mr. Lee held talks with the departments concerned discussing the feasibility of launching teachers' training programmes. In 1995, the State Education Commission sent an education specialist to an international training course on drug avoidance education held in the United States.

In 1992, the State Committee of Drug Prohibition and the State Education Commission jointly organized the compilation of the Drug Prohibition Reader for juveniles. The TV Education Centre of the State Education Commission has specially produced a TV teaching programme on drug prohibition to help provide conditions for teachers in educating children about drug avoidance. In view of the opinions from education specialists and a number of teachers, parents and juveniles, the State Committee of Drug Prohibition and the State Education Commission started to revise the Reader to make it more suitable for the youngsters. They also plan to organize specialists to compile a series of books on drug avoidance education, which are scheduled to come off the press around June 26, 1996, the International Anti-Drugs Day. At that time, drug control organs and education departments in various regions will organize some training programmes for teachers and community workers in light with the local conditions.

The State Committee of Drug Prohibition will made further endeavour in the aforesaid directions and will continue to seek international cooperation in order to give teachers more thorough training in educating children to avoid drugs.

32. Please provide information regarding:

(a) what further measures does the Government consider necessary to prevent and combat the problem of abduction of children?

(b) the situations in which purchasers of abducted children will be held criminally responsible, particularly where they do not hinder the return or rescue of those they have purchased (para. 262 of the report); and

(c) the criminal liability of those who sell children where the children are not sold into prostitution (paras. 254 and 256 of the report).

A. The Government has taken further measures to prevent abduction of children:

(1) The police departments have intensified their combat against crimes of abducting children and have speeded up the process of rescuing abducted children. Meanwhile, they make full use of the radio, television, newspapers and other media to publicise the laws and Government policies on cracking down on abduction of children and particularly the decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress regarding the Severe Punishment of Criminals Who Abduct and Traffic In or Kidnap Women or Children. The purpose is to mobilize all citizens to help the police departments in their battle against abduction of children.

(2) To strength comprehensive social control and prevention. For instance, efforts have been made to improve social, family and school supervision and education. The grassroots organizations in both urban and rural areas are required to timely check out children of unknown origin. Proposals of setting up missing children hotlines and consultory centres are being considered.

(3) The Government has increased fund allocation for investigation and rescuing of abducted children.

B. Article 3 of the aforementioned Decision states that it shall be strictly prohibited for anyone to buy a woman or a child who is abducted and trafficked in or kidnapped and whoever buys a woman or a child who is abducted and trafficked in or kidnapped will be liable to imprisonment of less than three years, detention or punishment of control. Section 6 of the same article stipulates that anyone who buys a child who is abducted and trafficked in but does not maltreat the child or hinders the release and rescue of the child may not be held criminally responsible. This is because the aforesaid behaviour of the buyer indicates his/her repentance and prevents the worsening of the damage. However, sections 2, 3, 4 of Article 3 stipulate that if the buyer does not hinder the release and rescue of the abducted child, but has committed any one of the criminal acts such as forcing the child to have sexual relations, restricting the personal freedom of the child, or harming, insulting and maltreating the child, he/she will be held criminally responsible not only for abduction and traffic in of the child but also other crimes involved according to the provisions of the Criminal Law on combined punishment on several offences.

C. Article 1 of the Decision states that whoever abducts and traffics in a child shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years and not more than 10 years. Section 5 of Article 3 states that anyone who buys an abducted child and then sells the child to others, will be punished according to the provisions of Article 1.

33. Please provide statistical data on:

(a) the number of those prosecuted for abduction under article 141 of the Penal Code and the decision "On the severe punishment of criminals who seriously endanger public security" in the past five years (para. 261 of the report);

(b) the number of those prosecuted for abduction and purchasing under the decision "On the severe punishment of criminals abducting or kidnapping girls and children" (para. 262 of the report); and

(c) the number of children rescued, disaggregated by sex and age.

From 1991 to 1995, the public security departments had hunted down and seized 142,348 criminals abducting and trafficking in women and children. But the disaggregated figures for children are not listed.

From 1991 to the end of February 1996, the people's courts around the country had heard 38,195 cases involving abduction and traffic in of women and children. The disaggregated figures for children are not listed.

From 1991 to 1995, the public security departments had rescued 8,204 children. Most of them were under the age of 12 and many were boys aged between one and six years.