COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

Fiftieth Session

12-30 January 2009

I IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

List of issues to be taken up in connection with the considerationof the second periodic report of the Malawi (CRC/C/MWI/2)

Under this section the State party is requested to submit in written form additional and updated information, if possible by 24 November 2008

Part I

Please provide, in regard to the domestication of the Convention, a brief update on the legislative process and status of the constitutional review and the various bills awaiting enactment, especially the Child (Care, Protection and Justice) Bill, the National Registration Bill and the Education Act Review, which have direct impact on the rights of the child.

Please provide further information on progress made towards the adoption of the National Action Plan for Children, referred to in paragraph 120 of the State party’s report.

Please indicate whether the Convention on the Rights of the Child has been invoked or referred directly in domestic courts, and if so please provide examples of such cases.

Please provide information on initiatives and legislation dealing with harmful practices, including early and forced marriages and initiation ceremonies which violate the rights of children.

Please indicate the issues affecting children that the State party considers to be priorities and which require the most urgent attention with regard to the implementation of the Convention.

PART II

Data and statistics, if available

In the light of article 4 of the Convention, please provide updated data for the years 2006, 2007 and 2008 on budget allocations (including trends analysis) regarding the implementation of the Convention throughout the country in the areas of education, health and child protection.

Please provide data, disaggregated by age, sex and geographic area, on the number and percentage of children registered through a birth registration system.

Please provide data covering the last three years on the number of children involved in sexual exploitation, including prostitution, pornography and trafficking, and the number of those children who were provided access to recovery and social reintegration services, specifying the type of services.

Please list studies, assessments and surveys undertaken by the State party in the last three years on issues of priority concern to the implementation of the Convention.

Part III

The following is a preliminary list of major issues (which does not contain issues already covered in Part I) that the Committee may take up during the dialogue with the State party. They do not require written answers . This list is not exhaustive as other issues might be raised in the course of the dialogue:

Non-discrimination, in particular with respect to children living in poverty, children with disabilities, and children in conflict with the law.

Budget (including heavily indebted poor country debt relief) allocations for children, including at district level.

Respect for the views of the child.

Definition of the child.

Corporal punishment in the family, schools and other institutions.

Child abuse, neglect and domestic violence.

Harmful practices affecting the health, education and development of boys and girls.

Children with disabilities (inclusion in society and access to facilities).

Basic health and welfare, access to health services, adolescent health and mental health.

Standard of living.

Education (including availability of qualified teachers, adequate facilities, school attendance and dropouts, early childhood education and secondary education).

Economic exploitation and child labour.

Trafficking and sexual exploitation of children.

Administration of juvenile justice (including the minimum age of criminal responsibility, alternatives for detention, in particular pre-trial detention, and recovery and social reintegration).

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