1. Please provide more details about the process of preparing the report, in particular the extent to which the non-governmental organizations were involved.

2. What concrete measures have been taken or are foreseen to make the report widely available?

3. What active and appropriate measures have been envisaged to make adults and children more aware of the principles and provisions of the Convention?

4. To what extent have school curricula been adapted to make room for the teaching of issues relating to the Convention? What measures have been taken to train groups working in the field, including educators, judges, lawyers and police officers, and to raise the awareness of the mass media and information and publishing agencies (report, para. 3)?

5. Since the instruments relating to human rights are incorporated de jure in national law (see core document HRI/CORE/1/Add.31, para. 46), please indicate whether the provisions of the Covenant can be cited directly in the courts and whether there are judicial decisions applying it.

6. Are any general measures currently envisaged for implementing the provisions of the Convention at the national and local levels? Please describe the measures undertaken "to the maximum extent of [the States') available resources", in fulfilment of article 4 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Please indicate what proportion of the national budget is allocated to social programmes on behalf of children, at both the national and local levels. What indicators are available, and what goals have been set?

7. To what extent is international cooperation designed to foster the implementation of the Convention? What proportion of international aid is allocated to programmes for children?

8. What is meant by "child" in the national legislation, taking into account the provisions of article 1 of the Convention?

9. Please provide information on the minimum legal age for the following purposes: legal or medical consultation without parental authorization, end of compulsory schooling, sexual majority, recruitment into the armed forces and deprivation of liberty.

10. What is the minimum age for admission to employment, compared with the age for the end of compulsory schooling?

11. Please indicate whether the minimum age for marriage is different for young women and young men, and whether account is taken of the principle of non-discrimination on grounds of sex, laid down in article 2 of the Convention.

12. Please indicate what measures have been taken to close the gap between law and fact (para. 14 of the report), including to deal with situations of discrimination arising from certain traditions, discussed in the report (paras. 15 and 16) that persist in the rural areas. Please indicate what measures have been taken to prevent discrimination against children because of their prosperity (paras. 17 and 18 of the report).

13. Please give details on concrete measures taken to combat discrimination against girls and children in rural areas, belonging to minorities, or born out of wedlock, including measures to eliminate and prevent behaviour and prejudice that might give rise to discrimination.

14. Please indicate what efforts have been made to collect data relating to provisions of the Convention for each of these groups of children.

15. Please indicate what measures have been taken to ensure that the language of instruction is not an obstacle to access to the various levels of education and therefore a factor of discrimination (para. 22 of the core document).

16. Please indicate by which means "the best interests of the child" are taken specifically into consideration in the legislation as well as in judicial, administrative or other proceedings. Please indicate what measures are envisaged to ensure that the best interests of the child are a primary consideration in the situations described in paras. 25 and 31 of the report.

17. Taking into account traditions persisting in the society (see paras. 19 and 32 of the report), please indicate what measures have been taken to raise the awareness of families and the public in general of the need to encourage children to exercise their right to participate in social life, and to train people working with children to encourage them to do so (see para. 138 of the report).

18. Please indicate any measures taken or envisaged to protect children from broadcasts of violent programmes and information that might have dangerous or harmful effects on them.

19. Is corporal punishment authorized in the schools or other institutions for children? What are the procedures for children to file complaints when they are subjected to ill-treatment?

20. Please indicate what measures are envisaged and any assistance that might be needed to strengthen existing social structures, including those in rural areas, and to promote the establishment of a national council for the protection of children and a national foundation for children (paras. 167-169 of the report).

21. Please indicate any measures envisaged to deal with the practical difficulties that might arise in cases where a child has been separated from one or both parents, and give information on Madagascar's accession to bilateral or multilateral conventions in this field (paras. 175 and 176 of the report).

22. Does the State take responsibility for parental education and are there family counselling services (para. 60 of the report)?

23. 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, and indicate whether Madagascar is planning to ratify the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (para. 191 of the report).

24. Have there been studies on the problem of ill-treatment and sexual abuse of children, especially for the purpose of determining the social factors that foster such violations?

25. Please indicate whether information and awareness-raising campaigns have been developed to prevent situations of ill-treatment within the family and strengthen the system for protecting children? Can children file complaints in cases of ill-treatment or emotional abandonment by the family?

26. Do programmes exist for preventing the abandonment of children, and if so, are they satisfactory?

27. Are there programmes for training social workers in children's rights?

28. Please provide information on:

Measures taken to collect data, statistical and other, on children's health and nutrition;

Family planning measures;

The nature of the most frequent diseases and conditions under which they develop;

Incidence and treatment of HIV among children and parents and measures taken to prevent AIDS.

29. Please provide information on the situation of disabled children, including their access to education, training, health care services, preparation for professional life, leisure possibilities and activities aimed at eliminating prejudice and social rejection of disabled children (paras. 15, 45 and 49 of the report).

30. What is the percentage of the national budget allocated to education, in particular compulsory primary education?

31. Please indicate what measures are envisaged to provide appropriate training for teachers.

32. What are the measures for enabling children from underprivileged families

to pursue their-studies (para. 218 of the report)?

33. Please indicate the measures taken or envisaged to prevent pupils from dropping out of school and the early entry of children into the labour market.

34. Please provide information on the incorporation of human rights in general, and the rights of the child in particular, into conventional and other types of education, and the promotion of a spirit of understanding, tolerance and equality between the sexes and of friendship among all peoples and ethnic, national and religious groups.

35. Please provide detailed information on the administration of justice for minors and the status of children in conflict with the law, in particular as regards the following issues:

The prohibition of life imprisonment without possibility of release;

The use of arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child as a measure of last resort and for the shortest period of time (para. 274 of the report);

The number of children deprived of liberty and the reasons therefor;

The possibility of having prompt access to legal and other appropriate assistance, as well as the right to challenge the legality of the deprivation of liberty before a court or other competent, independent and impartial authority, and to a prompt decision thereon;

Measures taken or envisaged to overcome the difficulties described in para. 273 of the report and to ensure the effective implementation of article 37 (c) of the Convention.

36. Please indicate the steps taken or envisaged to consider the establishment of a minimum age below which children shall be presumed not to have the capacity to infringe the penal law, in the light of article 40, paragraph 3 (a) of the Convention.

37. Please provide further information on the treatment of juvenile offenders, in particular on the following points:

What are the measures taken to ensure contact between the child and the family?

How are the conditions of detention in such establishments supervised?

Are complaint procedures available in case of ill-treatment?

What educational possibilities and what health services are provided in such establishments?

In the light of article 25 of the Convention, is it possible to have a periodic review of the placement decision?

Have the staff in such establishments been familiarized with the provisions of the Convention and other international legal instruments adopted by the United Nations concerning the treatment of young offenders?

(c) Children in situations of exploitation (Arts. 32, 33, 34, 35, 36 and 39 of the Convention)

38. Please provide information on the ratification and implementation of the ILO Conventions on child labour.

39. Please indicate measures envisaged for preventing and combating the use of children in the informal labour sector, including awareness-raising campaigns for families and the public in general.

40. Please indicate any measures taken or envisaged to provide a system for the protection of children working in the informal sector, including those working as domestics.

41. Please provide information on the rules in force or envisaged by the Government concerning hours and conditions of employment, in the light of article 32 of the Convention (paras. 290-294 of the report).

42. Please provide information on penalties or other sanctions to ensure the effective enforcement of article 32 of the Convention.

43. Please provide information on the implementation of an effective system of supervision, an inspection system and procedures for applying appropriate sanctions.

44. Please provide information on the existence of specific measures for preventing and combating the exploitation of children, especially in the following areas:

Sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, including prostitution;

Situations in which children might be induced or coerced into engaging in unlawful sexual practices, including for pornographic material.