HR/CRC/98/36
4 June 1998

The Committee on the Rights of the Child this morning discussed its cooperation with specialized agencies like the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Health Organization (WHO), UNAIDS, and with the Coalition of Non-governmental Organizations active in the field of children's rights.

A representative of UNICEF said the regional office in Geneva monitored whether or not industrial countries fulfilled their obligations and promoted appropriate allocation of resources. She mentioned three areas of activities: strengthening partnership with industrialized countries; contributing to the system of monitoring the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, with emphasis on the identification and monitoring of relevant data; and strengthening partnership with European institutions like the European Union and the Council of Europe in order to keep children on the political agenda.

Another UNICEF representative explained the organization's efforts with respect to the International Criminal Court and said its main areas of concern were the definition of war crimes, the age of criminal responsibility, the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, and the protection of the rights of the child victim within the Court's statute. The position of UNICEF was that the definition of war crimes should include 'recruiting children under the age of fifteen years into armed forces or groups or using them to participate actively in hostilities'. These views enjoyed widespread support in the Preparatory Committee for the Rome Conference. UNICEF also believed that the forcing of children into prostitution should be considered a crime within the Court's jurisdiction.

A representative of UNHCR explained that the organization's main areas of concern and activities were family re-unification, detention of minors, forced enrollment in military service, peace education, and conflict resolution mechanisms.

WHO was being strengthened to help the Committee, particularly in the areas of introducing health issues and services in reports submitted to the Committee and improving coordination within the United Nations. A representative for the organization said it assisted the Committee in the interpretation of country reports and had an important input in the drafting of reports to the Committee in some countries.

A representative of UNAIDS explained some of the activities currently being carried out relating to children and youth. These included a World AIDS Campaign focusing on young people whose 1998 theme was 'Force for Change: World AIDS Campaign with Young People'; a meeting on 23 and 24 March on the prevention of HIV/AIDS transmission from mother to child; the 12th World AIDS Conference which would focus, inter alia, on children in the context of HIV/AIDS; and the preparations of the thematic day.

A representative of the Coalition of Non-governmental Organizations said that the West Africa Coalition and the European Coalition had held meetings in April and March respectively and that the reports of those meeting were available. She reiterated the willingness of the NGOs to provide assistance and expertise to the Committee and expressed the wish that the Committee reflected upon the concerns of the NGOs.

The members of the Committee praised the collaboration with the specialized agencies and the Coalition of NGOs. They found it encouraging that the work of the Committee was supported by the concrete work of the specialized agencies and organizations in the field.

One Committee expert underlined the importance of establishing indicators to evaluate respect for children's rights. Indicators should help Member States in the implementation of the Convention and the Committee in evaluating the implementation of the different aspects of the Convention.

Another expert said that ASIANET would organize a workshop on the Convention with the participation of the five former Soviet republics of Central Europe. He said that the participation in this workshop of the specialized agencies and the NGO Coalition would be desirable.

The Committee will conclude its work at 11 a.m. on 5 June by adopting its concluding observations on the reports of Hungary, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Fiji, Japan, the Maldives and Luxembourg which were submitted during this session.