1. Please provide information on efforts made, since publication of the State party report, towards the development of a code of laws on the rights and responsibilities of children, including on traditional inheritance patterns which may violate children's rights. Please indicate, further, the progress made towards the adoption of additional legislation concerning the rights of delinquent children and those in especially difficult circumstances, as referred to in the State party report.

2. Please describe the main government ministries in the State party with responsibility for coordinating and implementing children's rights. Please describe any children's rights policy making and monitoring mechanisms in the State party. Please indicate whether there is currently a Government policy and plan of action in favour of the protection of children's rights.

3. Please describe the peace process in relation to implementation of the Convention.

4. With reference to paragraphs 25 and 33 of the report and article 4 of the Convention, please provide the Committee with further information on budget allocations for health, education and other social services, indicating percentages of national and international funding. In light of articles 4 and 27 of the Convention, please indicate what long-term efforts are being made to alleviate poverty in the State party.

5. With reference to paragraphs 19 and 20, please provide the Committee with further information about the funding of the National Childhood and Youth Council and, with reference to the objectives mentioned in paragraph 152, about the progress made in implementing the National Programme of Action for the Survival, Protection and Development of Children for the 1990s. Please further indicate whether the Plan of Action of 1997-1999 has been implemented; if so, to what extent did it provide children, including those with disabilities and other vulnerable groups, with the necessary health, educational and other social services?

6. Please provide a general assessment of the knowledge of children's rights among government officials, including at the provincial level. Please also indicate any efforts to provide professional training in children's rights. Please describe the role of the five provincial-level committees charged with promoting and protecting child's rights, established in cooperation with UNICEF.

7. In light of article 2 of the Convention, please provide additional information on the forms of, and measures taken to combat, discrimination in the State party including, inter alia, gender discrimination among children, gender discrimination between men and women which affects children, discrimination between ethnic groups and the so-called "situational discrimination" (see paragraph 59 of the report).

8. Please provide information on the extent to which the views of the child are taken into consideration in the family and in schools, in light of article 12 of the Convention.

9. With reference to paragraphs 64-69 of the report, in particular the Declaration of Commitment to the Protection of Burundian Children (1996), please provide information on specific concrete measures taken by the government to effectively protect the rights to life of children in Burundi.

10. In light of article 7 of the Convention and with reference to paragraph 81 of the report, please provide information about specific measures taken to improve birth registration in, inter alia, remote and rural areas and in so-called "regroupment" camps. Please also indicate the main reasons thought to have been the cause of non-registration.

11. Please provide information on the use, and status under law, of corporal punishment against children in the home and in schools and other institutions.

12. With reference to paragraph 103 of the report, please provide information about the specific measures taken to protect children from the cruelty and ill-treatment described in that paragraph.

13. Please describe the different types of existing family structures indicating, as far as possible, disaggregated estimates of the numbers of two parent households, single parent households, child headed households, grandparents headed households, the numbers of people in each household and the numbers of children cared for within each household who are not the biological children of the household. Given the powerful tensions and pressures the family structure is currently subject to (see paragraphs 108 and 109 of the report), please provide information about the specific measures taken to support and strengthen families - in particular single parent families, the child or grandparent headed households - and to support family re-unification efforts.

14. Please indicate the main strengths and weaknesses, in terms of the protection of children's rights, of the current use of informal alternative care mechanisms in which families take on the responsibility of caring for unaccompanied children, but without undertaking formal adoption proceedings. Please indicate, as far as possible, the numbers of children currently cared for under such procedures and whether legislative measures have been taken (see paragraph 135 of the report) to guarantee that the best interests of the child are a primary consideration.

15. With reference to paragraph 166 of the report, please provide information on the progress made in implementation of the programmes under the new health policy of April 1996 and its effects.

16. With reference to the evaluation mentioned in paragraph 188 of the report regarding the project "Children in Acute Distress", please provide information on the concrete results of the review of activities in this area.

17. Please describe the main efforts underway to address the incidence of HIV/AIDS in the country. Please provide further information on the situation of adolescent health, including reproductive and mental health, and information on behavioural problems, depression, alcohol and tobacco abuse. Please also provide information on the numbers and ratio of mental health workers to patients and on efforts to improve mental health services, including social reintegration services.

18. Please provide information on the ratio of teachers to students in schools and on the differences in access to education between rural and urban areas. Please provide disaggregated information on drop-out rates from primary and secondary school. Please describe any plan of action or policy that the State party is currently applying so as to increase the access of all children to formal education. Please indicate any progress that may have been achieved since publication of the report.

19. With reference to paragraph 118 of the report, please provide more information on the timetable for closure of the regroupment camps.

20. Please inform the Committee about specific measures taken towards providing adequate protection for internally displaced children, including children who have been "regrouped", and improving their access to formal or informal education and basic health care.

21. Please provide further information on the involvement of children with Government armed forces including, in particular, the minimum ages of children currently serving with the armed forces. Please also estimate the numbers of children thought to be serving as combatants with armed opposition groups in the State party. Please provide information on the specific measures that have been taken to prevent the involvement of children in the armed conflict and to demobilise and reintegrate child soldiers.

22. Please describe the State party's policy with regard to children living and/or working on the street and "hill" children living in the countryside, indicating, in particular, the numbers of children in these circumstances, what assistance is provided to them and what measures are being taken to prevent more children from entering falling into this situation.

23. Please indicate the numbers of justice officials with juvenile justice training or experience. Please make an assessment of the State party's capacity to respect international juvenile justice standards. Please indicate the State party's response to cases of children below age 13 who are being held in detention centres or prisons. Please provide additional information on the main charges on the basis of which children are detained, on the average length of pre-trial detention and the average sentence passed by courts against minors. Please describe the conditions under which children are detained or imprisoned and indicate the measures taken by the State party to improve these conditions. Please also provide information on measures taken to reintegrate children and of any assessment of the reintegration process.

24. Please provide further information and statistical data on children deprived of their liberty, including the length of their deprivation and the measures taken to:

(a) ensure that deprivation of liberty is used only as a last resort;

(b) guarantee the introduction of legal aid;

(c) ensure the periodic review and monitoring of children's placement;

(d) ensure continued contact between the child and his/her family;

(e) ensure the effective and periodic monitoring of the facilities;

(f) the measures taken to ensure the separation of children from adults;

(g) introduce an effective complaint procedure which is independent from the authorities of detention and correction institutions, to deal with issues such as ill-treatment and violations of the children's rights;

(h) ensure that children in detention continue to receive education, health and social services.

25. Please provide information on practices of commercial sexual exploitation of children and efforts being made to address them.

26. Please provide information on the situation of Batwa children within the country including, inter alia, an estimation of their total population, their access to health care, the numbers of Batwa in formal education and holding positions of authority within the civil service and local and national administrations.