CRC/C/15/Add.69 page 2 4. The Committee is encouraged by the fact that the State party has adopted a National Plan of Action and established a National Committee on the Rights of the Child in 1993. 5. The Committee welcomes the enactment of a national law on the protection of children in 1993. C. Factors and difficulties impeding the implementation of the Convention 6. The Committee notes that the State party has been deeply affected by years of internal conflict that has gravely disturbed some regions of the country. Violence and instability have had a considerable negative impact on the situation of children in Myanmar: many of them have been subjected to various forms of violations of their rights and have been forced to flee areas affected by violence. 7. The Committee further notes that several years of unfavourable economic conditions in the State party have adversely affected the situation of the most vulnerable groups in society. D. Principal subjects of concern 8. The Committee is concerned about the lack of conformity between the existing national legal framework and the principles and provisions of the Convention, namely the Citizenship Act, the Village and Towns Acts and the Whipping Act. The Committee is also concerned by the fact that the laws relating to freedom of expression and association and some sections of the Law on Child Labour raise doubts as to their conformity with the provisions of the Convention. It is also of the opinion that the law concerning juvenile justice is not guided by the Convention and other relevant international instruments. The age of criminal responsibility, at present seven years of age, is too low; torture is not clearly prohibited by existing legislation and no complaint procedure for children exists. The Committee is also worried that the law prohibiting discrimination fails fully to conform to article 2 of the Convention by not explicitly protecting children from discrimination "on the basis of ... political or other opinion ..., ethnic or social origin ..., disability" of the child or his/her parents. Finally, the Committee is concerned that the human rights of children are not yet integrated in a fundamental body of law. 9. The Committee is concerned that the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the National Plan of Action have not yet been translated into concrete programmes, sectoral policies and allocation of necessary resources to ensure the implementation of the rights recognized in the Convention throughout the country. Lack of evaluation and monitoring systems are also a matter of concern. 10. The Committee, while recognizing the efforts undertaken by the State party in the collection of data, is concerned that the system of data collection does not adequately disaggregate information so as to reflect the situation of all children, particularly those belonging to the most disadvantaged groups, including children belonging to minority groups,