COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD HOLDS FIFTH INFORMAL MEETING WITH STATES PARTIES

Committee on the Rights of the Child

29 January 2009



The Committee on the Rights of the Child this afternoon held its fifth informal meeting with States parties to the International Covenant on the Rights of the Child. The meeting focused on the reporting backlog of the Committee and its forthcoming two-chamber working method, the upcoming commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the draft United Nations Guidelines on Alternative Parental Care.

In opening remarks, Committee Chairperson Yanghee Lee thanked the States parties for the General Assembly resolution that allowed their request to be met to take care of their three-year backlog. They were now faced with the challenge and looked forward to work in two parallel chambers in 2010. The Committee was now also finalizing its treaty specific guidelines, which would be completed by the end of 2009. The third important point was the upcoming twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. They would hold a commemorative event this October. Another point was the individual complaints and the Committee was open to invite all States parties to engage in this process. Their wish was that somehow, they would have the green light signal during this year that a Working Group would be set up to work on an Optional Protocol setting up individual complaints. Turning to the United Nations guidelines for alternative parental care, she said that the Committee had decided that instead of writing a General Comment on this subject, preparing guidelines would be more suited. She hoped that they would soon have unanimously adopted guidelines.

Speaking on the issues, States asked questions on the details and modalities of the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the Convention and discussed the promotion of the work of the Committee. On the complaints procedure, States wondered if the Committee would be able to do this, as it was already experiencing a backlog. Some States were also concerned over the fact that the Committee would now meet in two separate groups and that it would thus be like having two different committees. Also the issue of how the Human Rights Council could help the work of the Committee through thematic studies was addressed.

In their answers, Committee Experts said that for the celebration of the twentieth anniversary, they had set two days: 8 and 9 October 2009. They envisaged holding the celebration in the International Geneva Conference Centre. Civil Society, States parties and United Nations agencies would all be invited to participate. With respect to the theme of the celebration, they had identified: “Dignity, Development and Dialogue”. Turning to the added value of the complaint mechanism, this would become a very powerful tool for all children of the world. On the issue of working in two chambers, they had already done it before and it had been a very positive experience.

Among the States parties’ delegates who participated in the discussion were the representatives of Brazil, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Mexico and Turkey.

When the Committee reconvenes at 12:30 on Friday 30 January 2009, it will close its session by adopting its concluding observations and recommendations on the country reports which it has reviewed during the session.

Opening Statement by the Chairperson of the Committee

YANGHEE LEE, Chairperson of the Committee, in opening remarks, said that the Committee thanked the States parties for the General Assembly resolution that allowed their request to be met to take care of their three-year backlog. They were now faced with the challenge and looked forward to work in two parallel chambers in 2010. The Committee on the Rights of the Child had had experience with working in two chambers in the past, she noted.

The Committee was now also finalizing its treaty specific guidelines, which would be completed by the end of 2009. The third important point was the upcoming twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. They would hold a commemorative event this October. Ms. Lee strongly invited the States parties to take an active role in the celebration, in order to have the widest participation possible. They would also really appreciate to have a small group of friends of the Convention, to help in the organisational process of this year’s celebration.

Another point was the individual complaints and the Committee was open to invite all States parties to engage in this process, said Ms. Lee. Their wish was that somehow, they would have the green light signal during this year that a Working Group would be set up to work on an Optional Protocol setting up individual complaints. Turning to the United Nations guidelines for alternative parental care, Ms. Lee said that the Committee had decided that instead of writing a General Comment on this subject, guidelines would be more suited. She hoped that they would soon have unanimously adopted guidelines. Ms. Lee noted that they had also discovered that there had been several errors of translation between English and Spanish in the general comments and thus the Committee wanted to have an opportunity to look into this issue.

Discussion

Following the presentation by the Committee Chairperson, representatives of several States parties took the floor to make observations and ask questions.

The Representative of Brazil said that the draft United Nations Guidelines for Alternative Parental Care had been formalized during the last years with the help of several stakeholders and that this had been done at the request of the Committee. The issue had been addressed, not only in two previous General Assembly resolutions but also through a Human Rights Council resolution. Brazil had been very active during the consultation process which had led to the adoption by consensus of the Human Rights Council resolution. They had received many comments of the draft and their intention was to hold public consultations, starting this February, for a two-week period.

The representative of New Zealand asked, on the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child this upcoming October, if the Committee could elaborate on the theme and the format for this celebration? What were their ideas for the inclusion of non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions in this process? Also in what areas could the Council add value to the work of the Committee, such as through studies or initiatives? Turning to the promotion of the work of the Committee, the Human Rights Committee had looked into ways on how to promote its work, such as through webcasting, what was the experience of the Committee on the Rights of the Child in promoting the awareness of its work?

The representative of Switzerland, concerning the complaint procedures, said that they did not have any position on that issue yet. Had the Committee already given thought on how to take into account such complaints, considering that the Committee already had a backlog in its work? Switzerland was also ready to engage in the preparations for the celebrations of the twentieth anniversary of the Convention.

The representative of the United Kingdom said, concerning the two-chamber model, that they had always been a bit cautious about that solution due to the burden it put on the Secretariat, and the fact that the two chambers had a different composition. When States were electing a committee they were electing a whole committee, not half a committee. They rather saw this as a temporary measure to address the current backlog. Was there another practical solution more suitable in the longer term? Turning to individual complaints and given that the Committee was already overstretched, did they have an example of the added value such a mechanism would bring?

The Representative of Mexico said that this meeting was very valuable. Concerning the work of the Committee in two chambers, one should look into the financial implications of this. Turning to the draft guidelines on alternative parental care, he said that Mexico was part of the group of friends for these guidelines and that it would be a very valuable document. He also noted that Mexico as a non-permanent member of the Security Council would chair the working group on children and armed conflict and that they would coordinate with the Committee on this matter.

The Representative of Turkey welcomed the initiative to organize a commemorative event for the twentieth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. On individual complaints, Turkey was interested in having further discussions with the Committee on that topic.

Answers

Answering the questions, Committee Experts said that, about the visibility of the work of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the possibility of doing webcasting, they were always open to it and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights was already looking into the question. On the backlog, they would have to look into a durable solution for the future, but they had had a very positive experience in the past working in two chambers and States parties had also said so. Thus, they did not see any problems going back to this practice. In relation to the backlog and adding to that the work on individual complaints, one Expert said that the Secretariat’s support was crucial. Nonetheless, the Committee felt that it was an important issue to pursue.

A Committee Expert said that, for the celebration of the twentieth anniversary, they had set two days: 8 and 9 October 2009. They envisaged holding the celebration in the Geneva International Conference Centre. Civil Society, States parties and United Nations agencies were all invited to participate, as well as all those interested in the implementation of the rights of the child. The meeting would address the challenges after 20 years of existence and 18 years of monitoring of the implementation of the Covenant. The celebration would also have a cultural aspect.

With respect to the theme of the celebration, they had identified: “Dignity, Development and Dialogue”. The idea was to develop these themes in the working days and workshops. There would also be sub-themes that were of current priority that would be discussed in sub-groups. The recommendations coming out of this work could then be considered for publication.

Turning to the added value of the complaint mechanism, another Committee Expert asked why they should discriminate children, when other groups had the right to have complaints procedures? Age was not a matter as children could have a legal representation. This would become a very powerful tool for all children of the world.

On the issues of suggestions for thematic issues to be tackled by the Human Rights Council, Committee Experts said that in the 18 years of operation of the Committee, the Convention on the Rights of the Child was still not taken as a legal instrument but rather as a general guideline. Child poverty was also a very serious issue, in the light of the current financial crisis. The effect of climate change on children was also an important topic, as well as violence against children and children in armed conflicts. One Expert noted that the conclusions of the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review documents were used during the consideration of state reports by the Committee and that there was a complementarity in the works of the Human Rights Council and the Committee.

Concluding Remarks

YANGHEE LEE, Chairperson of the Committee, in concluding remarks, said that they were, as a Committee always seeking new methods to improve their work and were open to suggestions. The Committee was looking forward to the next opportunity to exchange views with States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

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