COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD OPENS FIFTIETH SESSION

Committee on the Rights of the Child


12 January 2009


Committee Chairperson expresses deep concern over grave violations which children are exposed to in Gaza

The Committee on the Rights of the Child this morning opened it fiftieth session, adopting its agenda and programme of work, and hearing an address from Jane Connors, the Chief ad interim of the Human Right Treaties Branch of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

Opening the meeting, Yanghee Lee, the Committee Chairperson, expressed deep concern over the grave violations children were currently exposed to in Gaza and called on all parties to abide by human rights and humanitarian law. It was being reported that, currently, one third of the fatalities – 257 – and the number of injured – 1,080 – were children. The Committee urged compliance with Security Council resolution 1860, which required an immediate ceasefire.

Ms. Connors drew attention to a number of new developments since the Committee's last session in October 2008, including the General Assembly's adoption by consensus on 10 December of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, establishing a procedure of individual complaints, inquiries and inter-State communications concerning violations of rights enshrined in the Covenant. The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities had also been established by elections during the first Conference of States Parties to the Convention on 3 November 2008 and would meet in Geneva for the first time between 23 and 27 February 2009. That Convention was rich with references to children and Ms. Connors was sure that future collaboration between the two Committees would be extremely valuable.

Of particular importance to the Committee was the approval by the General Assembly of the Committee's request to convene in two parallel chambers in order to reduce the backlog of reports the Committee was facing – currently some 80 reports. As an exceptional temporary measure, the Committee was authorized to meet in two parallel chambers during three regular sessions in 2010. Turning to the work of the Committee at this session, Ms. Connors noted that they had six States parties for reviews under the Convention, namely, Malawi, Chad, the Netherlands, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Republic of Moldova. The Committee would also consider the situation in the Netherlands and the Maldives with regard to the promotion and protection of children's rights under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and would review efforts made by Maldives, the Republic of Moldova and Tunisia with regard to their implementation of the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict.

At the end of the meeting, Committee Secretary Maja Andrijasevic-Boko announced that the Committee had received 15 reports since the last session in September: 10 on the Convention on the Rights of the Child; three on the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in Armed Conflict; and two on the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. The Committee had considered 389 reports prior to the fiftieth session.

When the Committee next reconvenes in public, at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 13 January, it will consider the second periodic report of Malawi (CRC/C/MWI/2).

Statements

YANGHEE LEE, Chairperson of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, began by highlighting that this was the year that they would celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Much progress had been made since the adoption of the Convention in 1989. Yet, in practice they noted disturbing proof that the rights of children continued to be violated and that the implementation of the Convention and its Protocols was far from being achieved. The devastation and trauma which children suffered in hostilities had been evidenced by the Committee in numerous countries across the globe, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Colombia and Sri Lanka.

In particular, Ms. Lee expressed deep concern over the grave violations children were currently exposed to in Gaza and called on all parties to abide by human rights and humanitarian law. It was being reported that, currently, one third of the fatalities (257) and the number of injured (1,080) were children. For the protection of affected children, the Committee urged compliance with Security Council resolution 1860, which required that an immediate ceasefire be declared.

JANE CONNORS, Chief a.i. of the Human Rights Treaties Branch of OHCHR, drawing attention to a number of important new developments since the Committee's last session in October 2008, informed the Committee that on 10 December 2008, the General Assembly adopted by consensus the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, establishing a procedure of individual complaints, inquiries and inter-State communications concerning violations of rights enshrined in the Covenant. The Optional Protocol was of particular interest to the Committee due to the interlinkages between the two treaties, notably within the field of health, education and child labour. Here, Ms. Connors noted that the Committee could play an important role in the promotion and ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Covenant. It also provided an interesting precedent, as the Committee had expressed support last year for the possible elaboration of a complaints and inquiry procedure for the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities had also been established by elections during the first Conference of States Parties to the Convention on 3 November 2008. The Committee would meet in Geneva for the first time between 23 and 27 February 2009. The Convention was rich with references to children and Ms. Connors was sure that future collaboration between the two Committees would be extremely valuable.

Turning to treaty body reform, Ms. Connors noted that the eighth Inter-Committee Meeting had met on 1 to 3 December 2008, a meeting that had been dedicated exclusively to the issue of harmonization of working methods and had focused its discussion on revised treaty-specific guidelines; follow-up to concluding observations and the Universal Periodic Review of the Human Rights Council. The Inter-Committee Meeting had concluded that the majority of treaty bodies had adopted revised treaty-specific reporting guidelines, and agreed that remaining treaty bodies (including the Committee on the Rights of the Child) should seek to conclude the revision of treaty-specific reporting guidelines by the end of 2009.

With regard to follow-up on concluding observations, the Inter-Committee Meeting had proposed the establishment of a working group or task force with the specific objective of identifying best practices and possible areas of harmonization in that regard, and Ms. Connors suggested that the Committee might wish to reflect on how to contribute to that process pending the establishment of such a body.

Ms. Connors also wished to highlight the adoption of the resolution on the rights of the child by the General Assembly in December 2008, which, among others, requested the Secretary-General to submit a thematic report on national progress in tackling child labour and in meeting the target of eliminating the worst forms of child labour by the year 2016.

Of particular importance to the Committee was the approval by the General Assembly of the Committee's request to convene in two parallel chambers in order to reduce the backlog of reports the Committee was facing – currently some 80 reports. The General Assembly had, as an exceptional temporary measure, authorized the Committee to meet in two parallel chambers during three regular sessions in 2010, Ms. Connors specified.
During December elections had been held to designate nine members of the Committee. Ms. Connors first congratulated the three members who had been up for re-election, all of whom had been re-elected – i.e. Yanghee Lee (Republic of Korea), Jean Zermatten (Switzerland) and Awich Pollar (Uganda). The following six new candidates had also been elected to the Committee: Hadeel Al-Asmar (Syria); Kamla Devi Varmah (Mauritius); Peter Guran (Slovakia); Sanphasit Koompraphant (Thailand); Marta Mauras Perez (Chile); and Susana Villarán de la Puente (Peru).

Turning to the work of the Committee at this session, Ms. Connors noted that they had six States parties for reviews under the Convention, namely, Malawi, Chad, the Netherlands, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Republic of Moldova. The Committee would also consider the situation in the Netherlands and the Maldives with regard to the promotion and protection of children's rights under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and would review efforts made by Maldives, the Republic of Moldova and Tunisia with regard to their implementation of the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict.

The Committee would also continue to discuss and to adopt two General Comments – one on article 12 of the Convention (right of child to be heard) and a second on the rights of indigenous children, with an emphasis on non-discrimination and article 30 (language rights of ethnic minority children). Furthermore, the Committee would hold an informal meeting with States parties to continue its discussion on working methods, harmonization of working methods of the treaty bodies and others. It would also meet with United Nations system entities and non-governmental organizations, Ms. Connors concluded.

MAJA ANDRIJASEVIC-BOKO, the Secretary of the Committee, announced that the Committee had received 15 reports since the last session in September, 10 on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, three on the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in Armed Conflict, and two on the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. The Committee had considered 389 reports prior to the fiftieth session.

Regarding the Optional Protocols, as at 9 January 2009 there had been 126 ratifications of the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict and 130 of the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography with Uzbekistan the most recent State to ratify.


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