COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD OPENS THIRTY-FOURTH SESSION

Hears Address by Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights

15 September 2003


The Committee on the Rights of the Child this morning opened its autumn session by hearing an address by the acting High Commissioner for Human Rights who paid tribute to the 23 United Nations colleagues, including High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira de Mello, who were killed in Baghdad on 19 August.
Bertrand Ramcharan, the acting High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights had lost a leader, a colleague and a dear friend. The United Nations, Iraq and the world had lost a tireless and selfless public servant who paid the ultimate price doing what he believed in deeply: defending the inherent and inalienable dignity and rights of every human being. He said that the best tribute one could pay to Sergio and the other colleagues who lost their lives in that despicable attack was to carry on with their mission of assisting the people of Iraq to rebuild their country and build worldwide a solid foundation of human rights.
Committee Chairperson Jacob Egbert Doek also paid homage to Mr. Vieira de Mello and the other UN staff who were victims of the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad. The best way to honour the commitment and dedication of Mr. Vieira de Mello and all other UN officers was to continue with even more perseverance with the work for the promotion of, respect for, and implementation of humanitarian and human rights, he said.
Before starting its work, the Committee observed a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the attack on the United Nations in Baghdad.
After the Committee adopted its provisional agenda and programme of work, the Secretary of the Committee, Paulo David, said that since the Committee’s last session, seven reports had been submitted by States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which had been acceded to by 192 countries. So far, the Committee has received 178 initial, and 77 second and periodic reports. The Committee has considered 218 reports since it was created. As of 15 September, 17 initial and 99 second periodic reports were overdue.
During its three-week session, the Committee is scheduled to review the promotion and protection of children’s rights in San Marino, Canada, New Zealand, Pakistan, Madagascar, Brunei Darussalam, Singapore, Bangladesh and Georgia. When it considers the second periodic report of New Zealand, the Committee will also review the initial report of the State party under the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflicts. That will be the first time ever that the Committee will consider a report under one of the two new Optional Protocols to the Convention which came into force in 2002.
On Friday, 19 September, the Committee is scheduled to hold a day of general discussion on the right of indigenous children.
When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 16 September, it will take up the initial report of San Marino.
Statement by Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights
BERTRAND RAMCHARAN, Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that he would open the session with sad feelings by paying tribute to the 23 UN colleagues who were assassinated in Baghdad less than a month ago. The loss of the High Commissioner, Sergio Vieira de Mello, was a bitter blow for the United Nations. “The death of any colleague is hard to bear, but I can think of no one we could less afford to spare, or who would be more acutely missed throughout the UN system, than Sergio. Throughout his career, he has been an outstanding servant of humanity, dedicated to relieving the suffering of his fellow men and women, helping them to resolve their conflicts and rebuild their war-torn societies,” he said.
Sergio was loyally committed to the ideals of the UN Charter, Mr. Ramcharan said. In Iraq, where he spent the last months of his life, he was working day and night to help the Iraqi people regain control of their own destiny and build a future of peace, justice and full independence. It was tragic that he had now given his life to that cause, along with others who, like him, were devoted and much-loved servants of the United Nations. Those who killed him had committed a crime, not only against the United Nations but also against Iraq itself.
Mr. Ramcharan said the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights had lost a leader, a colleague and a dear friend. The United Nations, Iraq and the world had lost a tireless and selfless public servant who paid the ultimate price doing what he believed in deeply: defending the inherent and inalienable dignity and rights of every human being. The best tribute one could pay to Sergio and the other colleagues who lost their lives in that despicable attack was to carry on with their mission of assisting the people of Iraq to rebuild their country and build worldwide a solid foundation of human rights.
Turning to the issue of “Strengthening the United Nations: an agenda for further change”, Mr. Ramcharan said that there had been much discussion on the Secretary-General’s reform proposals during the past few months and he would soon report to the General Assembly on that topic. The second Inter-Committee meeting convened from 18 to 20 June also focused to a large extent on options for implementing the proposal of the Secretary-General in a meaningful way. The meeting had considered that the proposal that each State should be allowed to produce a single report summarizing its adherence to the full range of international human rights instruments would not meet the concerns and objectives the Secretary-General had expressed in relation to the system. Requiring States to the different instruments to prepare an expanded core or common document, to be updated regularly, as well as treaty bodies could meet some of those concerns and objectives.
Mr. Ramcharan said that the fifth meeting of Chairpersons of human rights treaty bodies had endorsed the recommendations of the second Inter-Committee meeting and recommended that the third Inter-Committee meeting in 2004 examine draft guidelines for an expanded core document to be submitted by all States parties to the principal human rights instruments. Both meetings had once more highlighted the great need for harmonization of working methods among all the seven treaty bodies.
Mr. Ramcharan said that during this session, the Committee would also, for the first time, review an initial report under one of the two new Optional Protocols under the Convention. New Zealand had launched that process by submitting its initial report under the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflicts. More initial reports under those two instruments were expected to be submitted next year.