OFFICE OF HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS CONVENES SEMINAR ON IMPLEMENTATION OF CHILD RIGHTS COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS IN SOUTH AMERICA

25 November 2005


Over 150 child rights experts are coming together in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 28 to 30 November to look at how to help regional Governments implement the recommendations of the UN panel charged with monitoring respect for the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The seminar, organized by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the non-governmental organization Plan International, is directed at Government officials, members of parliament, representatives of national human rights institutions and of the civil society, as well as to journalists from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

The seminar aims to strengthen the capacity of the Governments to implement the concluding observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and to build networks of partners to support them in this process. It will provide an opportunity for participants to exchange national experiences on the implementation and follow-up of the Convention and recommendations of the Committee. An open dialogue is encouraged among all participants with a view to gaining a better understanding of factors impeding the full implementation of the concluding observations of the Committee at the national level. The seminar will also focus on the importance of strengthening the coordination among state constituencies and civil society in the process of preparing reports to the Committee, and in the follow-up of its recommendations.

Representatives of United Nations entities, UN experts, including Committee members, special rapporteurs of the Commission on Human Rights and the independent expert leading a study of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children will participate in the seminar.

The seminar counts with the support of the Government of Argentina, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Heath Organization (WHO/PAHO) and the Committee. It is the latest of a series of events convened to strengthen implementation of the Committee’s recommendations. Other workshops have been held in Damascus, Syria, in 2003; in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2004, and, earlier this year, in Doha, Qatar.