COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD DISCUSSES COOPERATION WITH OTHER UNITED NATIONS BODIES

CRC
29th session
30 January 2002
Afternoon





The Committee on the Rights of the Child this afternoon exchanged views with other United Nations bodies and the Non-Governmental Organization Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child on how to further the promotion of child rights.

The representatives of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the International Labour Office (ILO), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Non-Governmental Organization Group for the Convention briefed the Experts on how their agencies were cooperating in the implementation of the Committee's concluding observations and recommendations on country reports.

The representative of UNICEF said the Special Session of the General Assembly on Children would go ahead as planned from 8 to 10 May 2002 in New York. The Special Session had been postponed because of the 11 September attacks on the United States. Prior and after the Session, a number of side events were scheduled relating to child rights. From 5 to 7 May, a Child Forum would be held, in which children would participate. The representative also said that UNICEF had been active in assisting reporting States in the implementation of the Committee's recommendations.

The representative of the International Labour Office (ILO) said the concluding observations of the Committee were shared with the respective field officers in the reporting States. Special focus was made on child labour, which was the major concern of the ILO. Child labour was not seen in isolation from poverty, adult income, child education and even birth certificates because they affected the age at which the child would be employed.

The representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that the September 11 events had changed many aspects of the rights of refugees in general. Many countries had changed or were attempting to change their legislation, thus jeopardizing the lives of refugees. However, UNHCR was struggling to maintain the implementation of the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. The recent ministerial meeting held in Geneva on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Convention had reiterated its support for the treaty.

The representative of the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child stressed that the NGO child rights community regarded concluding observations by the Committee as an important tool for monitoring and advocating the rights of the child. Indications were that many Governments also took into account the recommendations of the Committee, though for the NGO community this was not enough. In most countries, the NGOs were aware that relevant government departments received the Committee's concluding observations.

The next public meeting of the Committee is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Friday, 1 February which was its final day of the three-week session.


Statements

The representative of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said the
Special Session of the General Assembly on Children would go ahead as planned from 8 to 10 May 2002 in New York. The Session had been postponed because of the 11 September attacks on the United States. Prior and after the Session, a number of side events were scheduled relating to child rights. From 5 to 7 May, a Child Forum would be held, in which children would participate. Among other events, a meeting of religious groups, parliamentarians and other constituencies would take place. In addition, a global meeting of child ombudspersons and representatives of national institutions for children would be held from 7 to 11 May. Positive responses had been received from such institutions, and between 20 to 40 people were expected to participate.

With regard to the follow up to the concluding observations and recommendations of the Committee, the representative said that UNICEF had been active in assisting reporting States in the implementation of the Committee's recommendations. The concluding observations and recommendations were made known to the general public immediately after they were released. UNICEF had also served as a catalyser in the translation of the conclusions in the various languages of the reporting State. It had also provided technical assistance in the areas recommended by the Committee.

The representative said that in Bangladesh, for example, following the identification of the problem of birth registration by the Committee, UNICEF had initiated work to ensure that registration could be effectively carried out. In Iran, a committee had been set up to monitor the implementation of the Convention. In Kyrgyztan, following the Committee's recommendations, a series of workshops, supported by UNICEF, had been organized on how to implement the conclusions. The recommendations of the Committee on the report of Namibia concerning the improvement of the juvenile justice system had led to the training of officials working in that area.

The representative of the International Labour Office (ILO) said the concluding observations of the Committee were shared with the respective field officers in the reporting States. Special focus was made on child labour, which was the major concern of the ILO. Child labour was not seen in isolation from poverty, adult income, child education and even birth certificates which decided the age at which the child could be employed.

The ILO representative said that some countries shunned away from accepting technical assistance in the areas of child labour. Many States did not want to be seen as child labour employers by receiving such assistance from the ILO. However, the Committee should not refrain from recommending technical assistance for countries having problems of child labour. The ILO was keen to see the Committee make recommendations on child labour each time it drew conclusions on country reports.

The representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that his agency had a very small section that liaised with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and with the Committee, including other treaty bodies. Although the Committee was an important body, it was not a priority Committee for the work of UNHCR because UNICEF and other organizations were already working with UNHCR in areas pertaining to the work of the Committee.

The September 11 events had changed many aspects of the rights of refugees in general, the representative said. Many countries had changed or were attempting to change their legislation, thus jeopardizing the lives of refugees. However, UNHCR was struggling to maintain the implementation of the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. The recent ministerial meeting held in Geneva on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Convention had reiterated its support for the treaty.

The representative of the Non-Governmental Organization Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child said that among the significant areas of the NGO Group's work was to enable NGOs at the national level to participate in the Committee's reporting process. One of the significant off shoots of the Committee's reporting process was NGOs forming networks to prepare alternative reports to the State report. Monitoring and advocating the implementation of the Convention also characterized the work of national coalitions.

The representative stressed that the NGO child rights community regarded the concluding observations as an important tool for monitoring and advocating the rights of the child. Indications were that many governments also took into account the recommendations of the Committee, though for the NGO community that was not enough. In most countries, the NGOs were aware that relevant government departments received the concluding observations. In a few instances, the NGOs had also been instrumental in ensuring that key government officials received copies and disseminated them to other interested sectors outside the government.




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