PART I
Under this section the State party is requested to submit in writing additional and updated information, if possible before 1 December 2000:
A. Data and statistics, if available
1. Please provide demographic data of the under-18 population, disaggregated by sex, and governorate.
2. Please provide specific disaggregated data on national budgetary allocation and spending for social needs for the period between 1997 and 1999. In particular, how much was spent on:
a) education (including allocations for primary and secondary education, salaries, preservation of school buildings, etc.)?
b) health (including allocations for primary health care, vaccinations, adolescent health care and other health care services for children)?
c) child protection (for example institutional or foster care)?
d) juvenile crime prevention?
3. With reference to paragraphs 88-95 of the report, please provide the following information about children deprived of a family environment, and separated from parents, disaggregated by sex, and age for the last three years:
a) number of children separated from their parents;
b) number of foundlings; and
c) how many children are placed with relatives, in kafala, and in welfare institutions.
4. Please specify for the last three years (1997-1999), the enrollment and completion rates, disaggregated by sex, age, and governorate, in percentages, in:
a) kindergarten;
b) elementary;
c) intermediate;
d) secondary;
e) vocational; and
f) religious schools.
5. Please specify the number of children with disabilities, disaggregated by sex and age:
a) living with their families;
b) in institutions;
c) attending regular schools; and
d) attending special schools.
6. Please provide the following statistical data of children (disaggregated by sex, age, type of crime, type of sanction) for the last three years (1997-1999):
a) number who committed a crime reported to the police;
b) number who were sentenced by Courts to sanctions;
c) nature of sanctions (detention; community service; other);
d) number of suspended sentences;
e) where the sanction is deprivation of liberty, please further specify the period of detention; and
f) percentage of recidivism cases.
B. General Measures of Implementation
7. The State party maintains its reservations to articles 20 and 21 of the Convention. Article 20(3) of the Convention, concerning children deprived of a family environment, expressly recognizes kafalah of Islamic law as alternative care, and article 21 expressly refers to those States that "recognize and/or permit" the system of adoption. In light of the fact that the former article is compatible with Shari'a, and in the case of the latter, the article does not apply because Egypt does not permit adoption, what reasons prevent the State party from withdrawing its reservations to these articles, in accordance with the recommendations adopted in the Declaration and Plan of Action of the Vienna World Conference on Human Rights (1993)?
8. The report indicates that the National Council of Childhood and Motherhood, and the General Administration for the Legal Protection of Children are entrusted with monitoring and coordinating efforts to implement the Convention.
i) Please indicate what role each of these institutions plays with respect to:
a) intersectoral coordination and cooperation of policies and programmes affecting children at and between central, and local levels of government;
b) monitoring the implementation of the Convention at central and local levels;
c) receiving and addressing complaints of violations of child rights;
d) the collection and analysis of disaggregated data; and definition of the appropriate indicators in order to design policies and programmes affecting all persons under 18 years.
ii)What, if any, overlap, or duplication exists in their functions?
9. In light of the Committee's previous concluding observations (CRC/C/15/Add.5), and with reference to paragraphs 10 and 57 of the report please indicate:
a) the level of public awareness and the nature of the public debate which followed the dissemination of the concluding observations; and
b) how effective have the State's public awareness-raising campaigns of the Convention been, particularly with respect to professionals working for/and with children (eg. of Government officials, legislators, community-based organizations, religious leaders, the mass media), and the public-at-large, including children themselves.
10. i) In accordance with article 15 of the Convention, other international standards on freedom of association, and article 55 of the 1971 Egyptian Constitution, please indicate, specifying relevant legislation, the legal status of non-governmental organizations.
ii) Please describe what efforts have been made to facilitate the involvement of civil society throughout all stages of the implementation of the Convention, including in policy-making.
11. In light of the Committee's previous recommendations (CRC/C/15/Add.5), how effective have the State's measures been to address disparities in the enjoyment of rights, particularly access to health services and education, of rural children, and children living in disadvantaged regions of the country?
- new bills or enacted legislation
- new institutions
- newly implemented policies
- newly implemented programmes
PART III
The following is a preliminary list of major issues that the Committee intends to take-up
during the dialogue with the State party. THEY DO NOT REQUIRE WRITTEN RESPONSES. This list is not exhaustive, and other issues may be raised in the course of the dialogue.
The dialogue with the State party might include issues such as:
1. i) the very low age of criminal responsibility, which is set at 7 years.
ii) the difference in the minimum age of marriage for males and females and consideration given to raising the minimum age for girls.
2. i) the effectiveness of the State party's awareness-raising measures to combat traditional attitudes which may prevent girls, especially in rural areas, from attending school, apart from the "one-room schools" initiative.
ii) the reasons only males obtain civil identity cards under the Civil Record Act.
iii) measures taken by the State party to train the judiciary on gender-discrimination; and developments, if any, to eliminate discrimination of women in personal status matters, including marriage, divorce, inheritance, maintenance, and child custody upon separation.
3. Legislative steps taken to ensure the right of a woman to pass on her nationality to her child where she is married to a foreign national (ie. in situations other than where the father is stateless, or unknown).
4. i) "over-riding medical reasons", if requested by a physician, which would permit a procedure such as female genital mutilation.
ii) studies undertaken to design effective programmes to combat traditional and family pressures in favour of this practice, particularly among those who are illiterate.
5. a) legal provisions to protect children from being ill-treated in homes, schools, care institutions, detention facilities, and by the police.
b) mechanisms for children to file complaints, and for mandatory reporting (e.g. by teachers and police), investigating, prosecuting and monitoring cases of child abuse.
c) steps to prevent ill-treatment of children; to raise awareness of its negative consequences; promote alternative forms of discipline; and to overcome socio-cultural barriers which inhibit victims from seeking assistance.
d) studies concerning the extent and factors underlying abuse, including sexual abuse and the ways this information been used as a basis to design policies to address this phenomenon.
6. a) development of standardised definitions, and terminology relating to disabilities for the purposes of collecting comprehensive data on children with disabilities.
b) address the strong bias of geographical distribution of services (ie. towards cities, towards Lower Egypt versus Upper Egypt).
c) provision of services for severely mentally disabled children.
d) provision of services for children under 4 years.
7. Measures to ensure that adolescents have access to and are provided with information relating to physical and mental development, including education on reproductive health, and STD and HIV/AIDS prevention; and child-friendly counselling and rehabilitation services.
8. Comprehensive assessment in relation to the relevance and quality of education, particularly in light of poor achievement levels of school leavers.
9. i) regarding the enforcement of the minimum age for employment, the effectiveness of labour inspectorates at the local government level of family-owned enterprises, and in the agricultural sector.
ii) consideration given to ratify ILO Convention No. 182 on Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour.
10. i) criminalization of status offences, such as begging and truancy, under article 96 of the 1996 Children's Code.
ii) with respect to the treatment of juvenile offenders:
a) measures to ensure contact between the child and his/her family.
b) conditions of children in detention and how they are monitored.
c) independent complaint procedures to deal with issues such as ill-
treatment and their effectiveness.
d) availability of education, health, and other social facilities.
e) availability of services for the recovery and rehabilitation of juvenile offenders and their effectiveness.