UN Committee to review Kenya’s record on children’s rights

GENEVA (19 January  2016) – Children’s rights in Kenya will be reviewed by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on 21 January in sessions that will be webcast live. Kenya is one of the 196 states that have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child and so is required to undergo regular examinations of its record by the Committee of 18 independent experts.

The CRC members will hold discussions with a delegation from the Kenyan  Government  on how the Convention is being implemented.  The Committee will base its evaluation on the delegation’s replies, as well as information from other sources, including civil society groups. 

These are among the possible issues to be discussed: Radicalization and recruitment of children by non-State armed groups; trafficking and killing of children with albinism; ill-treatment of children by police officers; protection of refugee and asylum-seeking children from being relocated or deported;  harmful practices, including FGM;  child malnutrition, lack of access to water and sanitation; disruption of healthcare  and other children's services as control moves from central to local government;  inclusive education for children with disabilities; indigenous children and access to their traditional lands.

The full list of issues and Kenya’s submitted written report can be found here: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=924&Lang=en

The CRC’s meetings with the Kenyan delegation will take place in Room XXV at Palais des Nations in Geneva from 10:00 – 18:00 (12:00-20:00 in Nairobi). The sessions are public and will be webcast at http://www.treatybodywebcast.org/.

The CRC will hold a news conference to discuss its findings on Kenya and the other countries being reviewed - Senegal, Iran, Oman, Latvia, France, Ireland, Haiti, Peru, Maldives, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Benin, Brunei and Kenya – at 12:00 on 4 February at the Palais des Nations. The findings, officially called concluding observations, will be published on 4 February here: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=924&Lang=en

ENDS

For more information and media requests, please contact Liz Throssell (+41 (0) 22 917 9466/ +41 79 752 0488 ethrossell@ohchr.org

To learn more about the Committee on the Rights of the Child, visit: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRC/Pages/CRCIndex.aspx
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