Committee on the Rights of the Child concludes seventy-fourth session

ROUNDUP
 
Adopts Concluding Observations on Reports of Barbados, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Estonia, Georgia, Malawi, Serbia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
 
GENEVA (3 February 2017) - The Committee on the Rights of the Child this afternoon concluded its seventy-fourth session after adopting its concluding observations and recommendations on the reports of Barbados, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Estonia, Georgia, Malawi, Serbia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
 
The concluding observations and recommendations on the reports will be made available on the session’s webpage as of Wednesday, 8 February.
 
During the session, inter alia, the Committee held its ninth informal meeting with States, during which it discussed the global study on the situation of children deprived of liberty, the simplified reporting procedure, the Optional Protocol on a communications procedure, and concluding observations.  In the discussion, States inquired about the integration of the Sustainable Development Goals into the work of the Committee, and about the possible themes for general comments.  Speakers suggested some measures that the Committee could adopt to strike a better balance between the time allocated to questions and to answers during the consideration of State reports.
 
At the closing meeting, Benyam Dawit Mezmur, Chairperson of the Committee, and Kirsten Sandberg, Committee Rapporteur, summarized the activities of the Committee during the session, which was held from 16 January to 3 February. 
 
Mr. Mezmur, in his concluding remarks, informed that, as of today, there were 196 States parties to the Convention, whereas there were 166 States parties to the Optional Protocol on children and armed conflict, 173 to the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and 31 States parties to the Optional Protocol on a complaints procedure.  During the session, the Committee adopted its General Comment number 21 on children in street situations. 
 
The Committee then adopted the concluding observations on the reports considered.
 
Ms. Sandberg reminded that a couple of dialogues in the session had been done in double chamber, which was a good practice.  The Committee had continued its work on the two remaining General Comments.  The Working Group on the Day of General Discussions 2016 was developing the draft received from Jonas Schubert in Terre des Hommes.  The Working Group on the Optional Protocol on a communications procedure had increased its membership to nine.  A table of pending individual complaints would be posted on the Committee’s website shortly, indicating the issue of each complaint and the State party in question.  Ms. Sandberg said that the Committee continued its work on making its concluding observations shorter and containing some priorities.  Only one country so far had accepted to submit its next report under the simplified reporting procedure.  General Comment 20 on the implementation of the rights of the child during adolescence, adopted by the Committee at its previous session, would be launched at a side event at the Palais des Nations on 7 February.
 
Ms. Sandberg then provided a detailed summary of the activities by Committee members between sessions or during the session.  Finally, Ms. Sandberg informed that the following week the Committee would meet with the United Nations partners, National Human Rights Institutions and non-governmental organizations to receive briefings and discuss the situation of children in the eight States parties as seen from the non-official perspective. 
 
The Committee proceeded to adopt the report of the seventy-fourth session.
 
Mr. Mezmur thanked the departing members of the Committee: Peter Gustan, Yasmeen Shariff, Wanderlino Noguiero Neto, Sara Oviedo, and Maria Rita Parsi.  

Meeting summaries of all public meetings held during the seventy-fourth session can be found here.

The Committee will hold its seventy-fifth session at the Palais Wilson in Geneva from 15 May to 7 June 2017, during which it will review reports on the Convention or its Optional Protocols from Antigua and Barbuda, Bhutan, Cameroon, Lebanon, Mongolia, Qatar, Romania, the Russian Federation, and the United States.

____________________

For use of the information media; not an official record