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19 May 2000
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CRC
24th Session
19 May 2000
Morning
The Committee on the Rights of the Child carried out this morning one of its regular discussions on cooperation with other human-rights bodies, hearing updates on activities related to children from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Labour Office (ILO), and the World Health Organization (WHO).
The Committee heard, among other things, that UNICEF had arranged for 'child-protection advisors' to be included among the staff of United Nations peacekeeping missions; that a recent World Education Forum, for which UNESCO had served as the lead agency, had declared that universal education for all children should be achieved by the year 2015; that the NGO Group was developing a guide to help child-rights agencies influence legislation, use the reporting system to the Committee more effectively, and make better use of the Committee's conclusions and recommendations on country reports; that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights currently was carrying out activities on the topic of indigenous children and youth; that the IMF had recently established a 'poverty reduction and growth facility'; that ILO Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labour was being ratified at a rapid rate by countries around the world; and that the WHO was developing a strategy to help it integrate human-rights norms into its public-health programmes.
A brief discussion followed formal statements by agency representatives. Committee members said, among other things, that they were disappointed that the Committee had not been invited to the World Education Forum; that more needed to be communicated about the children's-rights components of the operations of other agencies; that agency publications bearing on children could usefully be distributed to the Committee; and that bureaucratic and administrative decisions related to children were of interest to the Committee, but what the panel really was interested in was operations on ground.
Later in the morning the Committee went into private session to discuss methods of work and conclusions and recommendations on country reports. The Committee will continue in private session through the afternoon. It will reconvene in open session at 10 a.m. Monday, 22 May, to discuss a report of Norway.
Statements
LESLIE MILLER, of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said, among other things, that recent developments included progress in a global movement for children. A Global Partnership for Children had been launched in South Africa, and world leaders would be contacted to discuss the situation of children and to try to improve it. Among the aims would be to reduce the spread of communicable diseases and to eliminate extreme poverty. Also, a forum had been held with some 1,500 participants to come out with a framework for action and to revise goals for providing education for all; among the conclusions had been that countries with heavy external debts should be forgiven those debts if that interfered with their potential to provide universal education. Also, posts for child-protection advisors would henceforth be established in United Nations peacekeeping missions in an effort to 'mainstream' attention to children's issues. Advisors already had been appointed for missions in Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
KERSTIN HOLST, of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said the organization had plans to contribute more actively to the Committee's work. The World Education Forum held recently had been the culminating event of a world decade for education for all, she said. UNESCO had served as the lead agency for the forum. The whole project had been a bottom-up exercise with broad consultations and careful formulation of objectives and with careful attention to data. Some countries had made great progress, but the project also had shown that serious obstacles remained in providing education for all. Still, it was anticipated that universal education would be a reality in 15 years. Six related educational goals had been set out, with 12 steps outlined for achieving those goals. There was explicit recognition of the chronic under funding of education for all, and an understanding that no country with the political will to achieve universal education should be blocked from doing so by insufficient resources. A World Education Report was now available in several languages and copies would be distributed to Committee members. Another UNESCO programme, called 'Innocence in Danger', had been launched to combat child pornography on the Internet.
DENISE ALLEN, of the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, representing some 44 NGOs, said the Group's liaison unit had consistently supported the Convention and the Committee. The Group now was in touch with over 110 organizations in over 100 countries. It had produced material and literature to assist NGOs and child-rights networks on such matters as combatting sexual exploitation of children. A guide was now being developed to help such agencies set up networks and maintain them, to show them how to effectively address different areas of children's rights, how to influence legislation, how to use the reporting system to the Committee more effectively, and how to make better use of the Committee's conclusions and recommendations on country reports.
JULIAN BURGER, of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said one recent focus of the Office was on indigenous children and youth. The Committee was requested to participate and contribute to the success of these activities, which included a three-day NGO workshop on the subject, in July; a session of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations, which would dedicate an entire day to the topic of indigenous children and youth; and a proposed briefing by the Committee specifically on how its work applied to indigenous peoples, on how indigenous groups could help the Committee's work, and on how the Committee could help indigenous peoples.
GRANT TAPLIN, of the International Monetary Fund, said the IMF's poverty reduction and growth facility, while not exclusively focused on children, was nonetheless an important initiative that could enhance the situation of children and lead to better implementation of the Convention. The IMF's enhanced structural-adjustment facility (ESAF) had been set up 10 years ago to help the world's poorer countries achieve better rates of economic growth and development. Those countries helped through the facility had grown significantly in recent years and had greatly advanced their social indicators. Still, it was apparent that more needed to be done to achieve faster growth and broader-based poverty reduction. Policies needed to be aimed directly at the poor to help them participate in growth and to provide them with better health, education, and rural infrastructure. There was now a commitment to better integrate IMF programmes for poverty reduction, to make them more effective, and to include them more fully in IMF operations in the world's 80 poorest countries. That had led to replacement of ESAF by the poverty reduction and growth facility. Debt relief and how it should be effected were certainly issues of great concern to the IMF. Nationally owned poverty-reduction strategies were at the heart of the new approach.
YOSHIE NOGUCHI, of the International Labour Office (ILO), said ratifications of the ILO Convention 182, on the worst forms of child labour, were off to a fast start, although there was a long way to go to achieve universal ratification. The ILO supported the Committee's frequent recommendations to countries delivering reports that they ratify that Convention and other ILO Conventions. Currently Convention 182 had 15 ratifications. The United States, which had not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, had ratified Convention 182, and had thus made an international commitment to prohibit and take immediate action to eliminate the worst forms of child labour. The ILO also had submitted relevant information concerning the adoption and ratification of Convention 182 to the two working groups on optional protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on trafficking in children and child prostitution, and children and armed conflict. The ILO was cooperating with the World Bank and UNICEF in a joint project on child labour statistics and research, and it had been in touch with the World Health Organization to seek areas of collaboration, such as in identification of forms of 'hazardous work'.
HELENA NYGREN-KRUG, of the World Health Organization, said WHO was currently carrying out workshops through its child and adolescent health department to help ministries of health and WHO staff develop strategies for implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child. WHO also was developing a strategy on health and human rights to help it integrate human-rights norms into its public-health programmes. Two consultations had been held on the matter recently, in cooperation with other United Nations agencies, to study best practices in the field. WHO now defined health as 'health and well-being' -- it was a broad definition, and the organization regularly looked at groups in its approaches, such as women and children, the poor, and indigenous peoples. Health indicators were now being developed that looked, among other things, at discrepancies in society. The Committee's decisions and standards were useful to WHO, although it also would help if they were more 'user friendly' and couched in language everyone could understand.
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24th Session
19 May 2000
Morning
The Committee on the Rights of the Child carried out this morning one of its regular discussions on cooperation with other human-rights bodies, hearing updates on activities related to children from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Labour Office (ILO), and the World Health Organization (WHO).
The Committee heard, among other things, that UNICEF had arranged for 'child-protection advisors' to be included among the staff of United Nations peacekeeping missions; that a recent World Education Forum, for which UNESCO had served as the lead agency, had declared that universal education for all children should be achieved by the year 2015; that the NGO Group was developing a guide to help child-rights agencies influence legislation, use the reporting system to the Committee more effectively, and make better use of the Committee's conclusions and recommendations on country reports; that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights currently was carrying out activities on the topic of indigenous children and youth; that the IMF had recently established a 'poverty reduction and growth facility'; that ILO Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labour was being ratified at a rapid rate by countries around the world; and that the WHO was developing a strategy to help it integrate human-rights norms into its public-health programmes.
A brief discussion followed formal statements by agency representatives. Committee members said, among other things, that they were disappointed that the Committee had not been invited to the World Education Forum; that more needed to be communicated about the children's-rights components of the operations of other agencies; that agency publications bearing on children could usefully be distributed to the Committee; and that bureaucratic and administrative decisions related to children were of interest to the Committee, but what the panel really was interested in was operations on ground.
Later in the morning the Committee went into private session to discuss methods of work and conclusions and recommendations on country reports. The Committee will continue in private session through the afternoon. It will reconvene in open session at 10 a.m. Monday, 22 May, to discuss a report of Norway.
Statements
LESLIE MILLER, of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said, among other things, that recent developments included progress in a global movement for children. A Global Partnership for Children had been launched in South Africa, and world leaders would be contacted to discuss the situation of children and to try to improve it. Among the aims would be to reduce the spread of communicable diseases and to eliminate extreme poverty. Also, a forum had been held with some 1,500 participants to come out with a framework for action and to revise goals for providing education for all; among the conclusions had been that countries with heavy external debts should be forgiven those debts if that interfered with their potential to provide universal education. Also, posts for child-protection advisors would henceforth be established in United Nations peacekeeping missions in an effort to 'mainstream' attention to children's issues. Advisors already had been appointed for missions in Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
KERSTIN HOLST, of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said the organization had plans to contribute more actively to the Committee's work. The World Education Forum held recently had been the culminating event of a world decade for education for all, she said. UNESCO had served as the lead agency for the forum. The whole project had been a bottom-up exercise with broad consultations and careful formulation of objectives and with careful attention to data. Some countries had made great progress, but the project also had shown that serious obstacles remained in providing education for all. Still, it was anticipated that universal education would be a reality in 15 years. Six related educational goals had been set out, with 12 steps outlined for achieving those goals. There was explicit recognition of the chronic under funding of education for all, and an understanding that no country with the political will to achieve universal education should be blocked from doing so by insufficient resources. A World Education Report was now available in several languages and copies would be distributed to Committee members. Another UNESCO programme, called 'Innocence in Danger', had been launched to combat child pornography on the Internet.
DENISE ALLEN, of the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, representing some 44 NGOs, said the Group's liaison unit had consistently supported the Convention and the Committee. The Group now was in touch with over 110 organizations in over 100 countries. It had produced material and literature to assist NGOs and child-rights networks on such matters as combatting sexual exploitation of children. A guide was now being developed to help such agencies set up networks and maintain them, to show them how to effectively address different areas of children's rights, how to influence legislation, how to use the reporting system to the Committee more effectively, and how to make better use of the Committee's conclusions and recommendations on country reports.
JULIAN BURGER, of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said one recent focus of the Office was on indigenous children and youth. The Committee was requested to participate and contribute to the success of these activities, which included a three-day NGO workshop on the subject, in July; a session of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations, which would dedicate an entire day to the topic of indigenous children and youth; and a proposed briefing by the Committee specifically on how its work applied to indigenous peoples, on how indigenous groups could help the Committee's work, and on how the Committee could help indigenous peoples.
GRANT TAPLIN, of the International Monetary Fund, said the IMF's poverty reduction and growth facility, while not exclusively focused on children, was nonetheless an important initiative that could enhance the situation of children and lead to better implementation of the Convention. The IMF's enhanced structural-adjustment facility (ESAF) had been set up 10 years ago to help the world's poorer countries achieve better rates of economic growth and development. Those countries helped through the facility had grown significantly in recent years and had greatly advanced their social indicators. Still, it was apparent that more needed to be done to achieve faster growth and broader-based poverty reduction. Policies needed to be aimed directly at the poor to help them participate in growth and to provide them with better health, education, and rural infrastructure. There was now a commitment to better integrate IMF programmes for poverty reduction, to make them more effective, and to include them more fully in IMF operations in the world's 80 poorest countries. That had led to replacement of ESAF by the poverty reduction and growth facility. Debt relief and how it should be effected were certainly issues of great concern to the IMF. Nationally owned poverty-reduction strategies were at the heart of the new approach.
YOSHIE NOGUCHI, of the International Labour Office (ILO), said ratifications of the ILO Convention 182, on the worst forms of child labour, were off to a fast start, although there was a long way to go to achieve universal ratification. The ILO supported the Committee's frequent recommendations to countries delivering reports that they ratify that Convention and other ILO Conventions. Currently Convention 182 had 15 ratifications. The United States, which had not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, had ratified Convention 182, and had thus made an international commitment to prohibit and take immediate action to eliminate the worst forms of child labour. The ILO also had submitted relevant information concerning the adoption and ratification of Convention 182 to the two working groups on optional protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on trafficking in children and child prostitution, and children and armed conflict. The ILO was cooperating with the World Bank and UNICEF in a joint project on child labour statistics and research, and it had been in touch with the World Health Organization to seek areas of collaboration, such as in identification of forms of 'hazardous work'.
HELENA NYGREN-KRUG, of the World Health Organization, said WHO was currently carrying out workshops through its child and adolescent health department to help ministries of health and WHO staff develop strategies for implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child. WHO also was developing a strategy on health and human rights to help it integrate human-rights norms into its public-health programmes. Two consultations had been held on the matter recently, in cooperation with other United Nations agencies, to study best practices in the field. WHO now defined health as 'health and well-being' -- it was a broad definition, and the organization regularly looked at groups in its approaches, such as women and children, the poor, and indigenous peoples. Health indicators were now being developed that looked, among other things, at discrepancies in society. The Committee's decisions and standards were useful to WHO, although it also would help if they were more 'user friendly' and couched in language everyone could understand.
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