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

GENEVA (17 January 2017) – Children’s rights in Serbia will be reviewed by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on 24 January in sessions that will be webcast live. Serbia 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.

Committee members will hold discussions with a government delegation from Serbia on how the Convention is being implemented. They will base their evaluation on the delegation’s replies, as well as information from civil society groups.

Among the possible issues for discussion are:
· Eradication of discrimination against Roma children;
· Birth registration, particularly for the Roma Community;
· High mortality rates among Roma children;
· Prevention of child abuse and neglect;
· Elimination of violence against children;
· Deinstitutionalisation and protection of children in alternative care;
· Policies and programmes to support children with disabilities;
· Measures taken to reform the juvenile justice system.

The full list of issues and the country’s submitted written report can be found here.

The meeting will take place at Palais Wilson in Geneva on 24 January from 10:00 -13:00 and from 15:00 -18.00. The sessions are public and will be webcast here: http://webtv.un.org/.

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 – please see: 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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