High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk Addresses Opening of the Ninety-Second Session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child

Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, this morning addressed the opening of the ninety-second session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, during which the Committee will review reports on the efforts of Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Ireland, Mauritius, Oman, Sweden and New Zealand to adhere to the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In opening remarks, Mr. Türk said it was critical that children’s rights remained a priority and that their voices were heard and listened to. The Committee’s jurisprudence, general comments and concluding observations on country-specific situations constituted essential guidance for the work of the Office of the High Commissioner and the United Nations system on human rights at large. Mr. Türk said he was aware of the chronic under-funding of the treaty body system, which had contributed to significant backlogs in State party reports and individual communications, and he was committed to supporting greater funding for the treaty body system.

Mikiko Otani, Committee Chair, said peace was fundamental in protecting children’s rights. In this regard, the expected adoption of the Secretary-General’s Guidance Note on Child Rights Mainstreaming this year was timely and welcomed. The Committee should continue to play a leading role in promoting the child rights-based approach at all levels. Children should be given sufficient attention and their voice should be heard in important global policy discussions affecting children, such as the Summit of the Future, the Global Digital Compact, and the COP 28.

Before adopting the session’s agenda, the Committee also heard statements from representatives of the Children’s Advisory Team, as well as from Anne Grandjean of the United Nations Children's Fund, Alex Conte of Child Rights Connect, and Allegra Franchetti, Secretary of the Committee.

The ninety-second session of the Committee is being held from 16 January to 3 February. Summaries of the public meetings of the Committee can be found here, while webcasts of the public meetings can be found here. The programme of work of the session and other documents related to the session can be found here.

The Committee will next meet in public at 3 p.m. this afternoon to consider the combined sixth and seventh periodic report of Sweden (CRC/C/SWE/6-7).

Statements

VOLKER TÜRK, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said it was critical that children’s rights remained a priority and that their voices were heard and listened to. Children everywhere needed to be afforded their rights and fundamental freedoms. This year marked the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was the key document which paved the way for the rights and dignity for all. There had been a sharp decline in respect for child rights around the world; this could be seen during the pandemic. The reality of climate change was also threatening the lives of children today and those in the future. Child human rights defenders faced increased repression in many countries. In all crisis situations, children were the most affected; accounting for 40 per cent of the world’s forcibly displaced people. In 15 crisis affected countries, some 14 million children were nutritionally insecure. The work of the Committee was more vital than ever.

Mr. Türk said the Office of the High Commissioner was in the process of finalising a plan which would facilitate the work of the Committee and the other treaty bodies, including introducing a predictable review calendar. This could only be implemented through modern, digital tools, to make the work of the Committee more efficient. The Committee’s jurisprudence, general comments and concluding observations on country-specific situations constituted essential guidance for the work of the Office and the United Nations system on human rights at large.

The High Commissioner said he was aware of the chronic under-funding of the treaty body system, which had contributed to significant backlogs in State party reports and individual communications, and he was committed to supporting greater funding for the treaty body system. The next annual full-day meeting of the Human Rights Council on the rights of the child was provisionally scheduled to take place on 10 March and included the Committee’s participation. For the first time, children from different regions would join him for a panel discussion on challenges and opportunities faced in exercising children’s rights in the digital environment.

Mr. Türk said his upcoming report to the Council on the rights of the child would focus on inclusive social protection. The inter-agency core group had also developed a draft system-wide Guidance Note on Child Rights Mainstreaming, which was expected to be operational within the first quarter of 2023. The work of the human rights treaty bodies was central to the fulfilment of human rights, for everyone, everywhere, and Mr. Türk wished the Committee a successful and productive session.

MIKIKO OTANI, Committee Chair, said it was an honour to have the High Commissioner for Human Rights open the first session in the important year to commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Peace was fundamental in protecting children’s rights. As reaffirmed in the preamble of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, adopted in 2000, conditions of peace and security were indispensable for the full protection of children, in particular, during armed conflicts and foreign occupation. In this regard, the expected adoption of the Secretary-General’s Guidance Note on Child Rights Mainstreaming this year was timely and welcomed.

Ms. Otani said the Committee should continue to play a leading role in promoting the child rights-based approach at all levels. Children should be given sufficient attention and their voice should be heard in important global policy discussions affecting children, such as the Summit of the Future, the Global Digital Compact and the COP 28.

MAYA-NATUK, Child Advisor, Child Rights Connect, said she was a 16-year-old member of the General Comment 26 Children’s Advisory Team. The Children’s Advisory Team worked with the Committee on the Rights of the Child to help children’s participation in the development of General Comment number 26. The team was comprised of 13 children across the whole world and had been working together for almost a year, with online meetings, chats between the advisors, and a lot of supporting one another. The meetings had been a safe place for children to speak out and be respected for their beliefs.

In video messages, ELISABETH, Children’s Advisory Team, said non-discrimination, best interests, health and development, and also child participation were essential for child rights. She hoped General Comment 26 would be the opportunity for children to show their diversity in developing better futures. GEORGE, Children’s Advisory Team, said the importance of child participation in terms of processing the General Comment was important because the issues surrounding climate change mostly affected children. SAGARIKA, Children’s Advisory Team, said when it came to things like climate change, even though they were not the ones who caused it, children had to face those issues. Therefore, their voices and opinions needed to be heard because they could make a difference. FRANCISCO, Children’s Advisory Team, said the participation and inclusion of children in General Comment 26 was important because children had a voice that must be heard and included.

MADHVI, Children’s Advisory Team, said by providing their input for General Comment 26, children could have a better future. OLT, Children’s Advisory Team, said that as a child advisor, he had hosted workshops and raised awareness for topics such as the environment and General Comment 26. ĀNIVA, Children’s Advisory Team, said she had enjoyed the consultation process of General Comment 26, particularly the people she met and learned from. BACH, Children’s Advisory Team, hoped the General Comment would remind and incentivise government officials to make children’s rights a priority during decision-making. KARTIK, Children’s Advisory Team, said children were involved in General Comment 26, and their voices were being heard, which would be a base on which the whole General Comment process was formed on.

ANNE GRANDJEAN, United Nations Children’s Fund, said the Children’s Fund appreciated the meeting between the Committee, the Fund and the Office of the High Commissioner last September, which allowed a reflection on child rights across the regions. Throughout the day of discussion, the challenges, including climate change and armed conflict, were discussed, as well as discourses and initiatives which challenged the Convention’s implementation in all regions. Against this backdrop, the United Nations Children’s Fund was committed to providing leadership towards a rights-based global agenda for children, and ended 2022 with a new joint partnership with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The United Nations Children’s Fund looked forward to working with the Office on the implementation of a joint workplan.

ALEX CONTE, Child Rights Connect, said Child Rights Connect was celebrating 40 years of child advocacy to advance child rights globally. Mr. Conte was grateful to have the Committee engage in the milestone event organised in May, which focused on changing the narrative around the child rights movement. The event would be a unique opportunity to reflect and strategise on challenges faced and their responses. The discussion would feed into an important project: a study by the Council of Europe on children acting as defenders of human rights. New data would be collected on good practices and gaps in legislation and programmes and other entities when it came to implementing the Convention. Mr. Conte urged the Committee to continue to work on the 2024 Summit of the Future and ensure United Nations States were facilitating child participation in the Summit. Mr. Conte called on the Committee to appoint a focal point for the Summit of the Future.

ALLEGRA FRANCHETTI, Secretary for the Committee, said that four reports had been received since the last session, bringing the total number of reports pending consideration to 77. The total number of ratifications of the Convention remained at 196, while 66 periodic reports were overdue. Two new countries – Lithuania and New Zealand - had ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention on a communications procedure since the last session. Thirty-eight initial reports were overdue under the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, and 51 initial reports were overdue under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

The Committee then adopted its provisional agenda.