UN Child Rights Committee to review Central African Republic

GENEVA (12 January 2017) – Children’s rights in the Central African Republic will be reviewed by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on 20 January in sessions that will be webcast live. CAR is one of the 196 States that have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child and so is required to be reviewed regularly by the Committee of 18 independent experts.

Among the possible issues to be raised during the discussion between the Committee and a delegation from CAR are:
·    Universal birth registration;
·    Elimination of violence against children;
·    Protection of children from conflict-related sexual abuse and exploitation;
·    Witchcraft involving children with albinism and disabilities;
·    Combatting mortality among children under 5;
·    Ensuring free and universal education;
·    Use of children in mining and agriculture;
·    Provision of basic services to refugees and internally displaced children.

The list of issues and CAR’s written replies can be found here.

The discussions will take place at Palais Wilson in Geneva on 20 January from 10:00-13:00 and from 15:00-18:00. The meetings are public and will be webcast at http://webtv.un.org/

Committee members will base their evaluation on the delegation’s report and replies, as well as information from civil society groups.

The findings, officially known as concluding observations, will be published on 8 February here.

ENDS

For media requests please contact:
Nicoleta Panta,  +41(0) 22 9179310/npanta@ohchr.org
Media accreditation:     http://unog.ch/80256EDD006B9C2E/(httpPages)/70991F6887C73B2280256EE700379C58?OpenDocument

Background:

Members of the CRC are independent human rights experts drawn from around the world, who serve in their personal capacity and not as representatives of States parties. The Committee’s concluding observations are an independent assessment of States’ compliance with their human rights obligations under the treaty. To learn more about the Committee on the Rights of the Child: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRC/Pages/CRCIndex.aspx

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