UN Committee to review Suriname record on children’s rights

GENEVA (15 September 2016) – Children’s rights in Suriname will be reviewed by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on 21 and 22 September  in sessions that will be webcast live. Suriname is one of the 196 States that have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child and so is required to be reviewed regularly by the Committee of 18 independent experts.

Among the possible issues to be discussed between Committee members and a government delegation from Suriname are:

• High number of child marriages;
• Steps to end violence towards children, including abuse and neglect, sexual violence, and corporal punishment in all settings;
• Discrimination against children with disabilities;
• Discrimination against indigenous and Maroon children, and children in remote areas with regard to education, health services, adequate food , safe drinking water, housing and sanitation;
• Measures to meet the demand for mental health services for children;
• Access of children and adolescents to health care, including reproductive health, support for children infected by HIV or affected by HIV/AIDS;
• Welfare of migrant children and children whose parents are migrants;
• Impact of the Conditional Cash Transfers programme on children’s well-being;
• Measures to tackle child trafficking and child labour.

The full list of issues and Suriname’s submitted written report can be found here: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=1041&Lang=en

The discussions will take place at Palais Wilson in Geneva on 21 September from 15:00-18:00 (10:00-13:00 in Paramaribo) and on 22 September from 10:00-13:00 (5:00-8:00 in Paramaribo). The meetings are public and will be webcast at http://webtv.un.org/. 

Committee members will base their evaluation on the delegation’s report and replies, as well as information from civil society groups.

The Committee will issue its findings on Suriname and the other countries being reviewed –Nauru, Sierra Leone, New Zealand, South Africa, Saudi Arabia on 6 October. The findings,  officially known as concluding observations, will be published here:
http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=1041&Lang=en

ENDS

For more information and media requests, please contact  Cécile Pouilly: 41 22 917 9310 / cpouilly@ohchr.org

Media accreditation:  http://unog.ch/80256EDD006B9C2E/(httpPages)/70991F6887C73B2280256EE700379C58?OpenDocument

Background:

Members of the CRC are independent human rights experts drawn from around the world, who serve in their personal capacity and not as representatives of States parties. The Committee’s concluding observations are an independent assessment of States’ compliance with their human rights obligations under the treaty. To learn more about the Committee on the Rights of the Child: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRC/Pages/CRCIndex.aspx

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