Committee on the Rights of the Child opens sixty-ninth session

18 May 2015

The Committee on the Rights of the Child opened its sixty-ninth session this morning, hearing an address by James Heenan, Chief of the Groups in Focus Section of the Human Rights Treaties Division of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The Committee also swore in new members, elected a new bureau and adopted its agenda and programme of work for the session.

James Heenan, Chief of the Groups in Focus Section of the Human Rights Treaties Division of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, in his opening statement, reminded that 2014 had marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Convention, and the current month would mark the fifteenth anniversary of the adoption of the first two Optional Protocols. With South Sudan acceding to the Convention and the conclusion of the domestic ratification process in Somalia, the Convention was now just one short of being universally ratified. Nonetheless, the rate of reporting under the Convention and the Optional Protocols presented a more sobering picture, with significant room for improvement.

Mr. Heenan informed that the Secretary-General of the United Nations would soon decide on how the study on children deprived of their liberty would be implemented. Such a study was expected to provide a firm basis for action to reduce the number of children in any form of detention through the identification of good practices regarding alternative measures in lieu of detention.

In related updates, Mr. Heenan said that the implementation of General Assembly resolution 68/268 on treaty body strengthening was fully underway across the entire treaty body system. In the current session, the Committee would benefit from its 15 days of extra meeting time through the use of dual chambers. The rationale was to increase the number of States parties that the Committee was able to review annually and reduce its backlog.

At its March session, the Human Rights Council had adopted resolution 29/19 on the rights of the child, in which it invited the High Commissioner to prepare a follow-up report on better investment on the rights of the child. Mr. Heenan also informed that in Tanzania on 29 and 30 June, OHCHR would organize a meeting on the right of the child to health. Mr. Heenan thanked the outgoing Chairperson Kirsten Sandberg for her service.

The following four new members of the Committee made the solemn declaration: Clarence Nelson (Samoa); Jose Angel Rodriguez Reyes (Venezuela); Suzanne Aho Assouma (Togo); and Hynd Ayoubi Idrissi (Morocco).

Ms. Sandberg thanked all the members, the Secretariat and partners for their cooperation during her two-year term as Chairperson. The Committee proceeded with the election of the new Chairperson and members of the bureau.

Benyam Dawit Mezmur was elected as the new Chairperson. Yasmeen Muhamad Shariff, Sara de Jesús Oviedo Fierro, Renate Winter and Amal Aldoseri were elected as Vice-Chairpersons. Ms. Sandberg was elected as Rapporteur.

The Secretary of the Committee informed that since the end of the previous session, five new reports had been received, which brought the total number of reports pending consideration to 68. It was agreed that the review of the report of Nepal would be postponed, following the recent devastating earthquakes in the State party.

The Committee will next meet in public in dual chambers at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, 19 May, when it will consider the fourth periodic report of Eritrea (CRC/C/ERI/4) and the combined fourth to fifth periodic report of Mexico (CRC/C/MEX/4-5).
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For use of the information media; not an official record