儿童权利委员会与各国会面探讨新工作方法及其他问题（部分翻译）

2015年6月3日

儿童权利委员会今天上午会见了各国代表并与其探讨了新的工作方法，批准第三任择议定书及其结论性意见和建议等。

委员会主席本岩姆·达维特·梅兹姆尔对大量国家出席会议表示欢迎，他将其称为“国家会议”而非“缔约国会议”，因为委员会已有195个缔约国，且最后一个国家也很有可能在不远的将来加入。今天是委员会自2011年以来首次与各国会面。各国在很多方面是公约成功的关键，更是在实地落实委员会建议的关键。

委员会副主席基尔斯滕·桑德伯格谈到了委员会根据联合国大会2014年4月通过的第68/268号决议制订的在条约机构加强进程背景下的新工作方法。通过在一月和目前的届会中进行双室会议，委员会得以将其积压报告数量从2014年10月的79份大大降低至目前的57份。

委员会副主席阿迈勒·阿尔杜萨里谈到了《儿童权利公约》关于来文程序的第三份任择议定书。这份于2014年4月生效的议定书目前已获得17个国家的批准和37个国家的签署。批准议定书不仅加强了一国对儿童权利的承诺，更重要的是，它还鼓励各国设立国内投诉机制，例如儿童监察员和具有加速程序的儿童友好型法庭。

委员会副主席蕾娜特·温特表示，儿童权利委员会是成员数量最多的最大条约机构，目前共有195个成员国。《公约》共有40条规定需要审议，这比其他任何人权公约都要多。它还有三份任择议定书，头两份都各有150个缔约国，这进一步增加了委员会需要审议的报告数量。然而，委员会不得不将其结论性意见减少20%并使之更具针对性和具体性。

各国在随后的讨论中问到了委员会的新工作方法，尤其是其双室会议的操作情况，一个国家询问委员会在起草结论性意见时如何确保公正性。各国还问到了新的简化报告程序以及委员会与其他条约机构的协调问题。各国呼吁增加互动对话时间并询问距离日内瓦较远的国家是否可以通过视频会议接受审议，以节省前往日内瓦的旅费并提供更加专业的代表团。

梅兹姆尔先生在总结发言中表示，这么多国家出席今天的会议体现了它们对公约的承诺。195个缔约国证明了公约的确是一项全球性条约，但这也代表着繁重的工作量。然而，所有成员都很荣幸能够加入委员会并在全球层面为世界各地儿童服务。

以下国家的代表在会议中发言：俄罗斯、埃塞俄比亚、奥地利、巴基斯坦、斐济、突尼斯、哥伦比亚、不丹和巴拉圭。几位委员会成员也在讨论中发言。

委员会将于6月5日星期五下午3点进行公开闭幕，这将是本届会议中的最后一场会议，委员会将在之后发布在本届会议中接受审议的报告的结论性意见和建议。点此查看委员会第六十九届会议网页。

委员会主席开场致辞

委员会主席本岩姆·达维特·梅兹姆尔对大量国家出席会议表示欢迎，他将其称为“国家会议”而非“缔约国会议”，因为委员会已有195个缔约国，且最后一个国家也很有可能在不远的将来加入。今天是委员会自2011年以来首次与各国会面。各国在很多方面是公约成功的关键，更是在实地落实委员会建议的关键。各国将在今天的会议中听取关于委员会在过去几年中工作的最新信息，主要关注三大议程项目：联合国大会去年通过关于条约机构加强的决议后的新工作方法；批准公约第三份任择议定书和委员会的结论性意见。

工作方法

委员会副主席基尔斯滕·桑德伯格谈到了委员会根据联合国大会2014年4月通过的第68/268号决议制订的在条约机构加强进程背景下的新工作方法。委员会对联合国大会将其年度会议时间从12周增至15周，以使其减少积压报告的决定表示欢迎。通过在一月和目前的届会中进行双室会议，委员会得以将其积压报告数量从2014年10月的79份大大降低至目前的57份，其中包括42份公约下的报告，8份儿童卷入武装冲突任择议定书下和8份买卖儿童、儿童色情制品和儿童卖淫任择议定书下的报告。委员会决定从2016年开始引入简化版报告程序，各国将在报告前收到一份议题清单以协助它们就委员会感兴趣的具体问题而非所有方面进行报告。关于分配给互动对话的时间，桑德伯格女士表示，委员会已尽量限制委员会成员提问的数量，这之前曾使各国收到过多问题而没有时间回答。委员会现在为每份报告设立了由五名成员组成的工作队，并让其提出第一轮和第二轮问题，但为了使对话保持真正的互动性，任何成员都能提出每人限时一分钟的后续问题。在一般性意见方面，桑德伯格女士指出，条约机构正在进行一个校准进程，并将很快出台一项关于公共开支的一般性意见草案并与缔约国分享。

关于来文的第三份任择议定

委员会副主席阿迈勒·阿尔杜萨里谈到了《儿童权利公约》关于来文程序的第三份任择议定书。这份于2014年4月生效的议定书目前已获得17个国家的批准和37个国家的签署。该议定书是一项关于侵害儿童权利的国际投诉程序，它使得来自批准议定书国家的儿童能够直接向儿童权利委员会提出侵害投诉，但需在未能在国家层面获得解决和穷尽国内补救措施的情况下，阿尔杜萨里女士强调。因此，批准议定书不仅加强了一国对儿童权利的承诺，更重要的是，它还鼓励各国设立国内投诉机制，例如儿童监察员和具有加速程序的儿童友好型法庭。

阿尔杜萨里女士谈及了这一进程以及投诉程序的局限。她表示，儿童个人或群体可以提出投诉，也可以由成年人在儿童的同意下代表儿童提出。只有在事实发生在当事人18岁之前、任择议定书在该国已经生效且在用尽国内补救方法一年之内提交时，投诉才有效。委员会会采用一切适当措施来确保儿童未受到不当压力或控制。所有案件中的关键问题是儿童的最佳利益，委员会在认为不符合儿童最佳利益的情况下可能会拒绝审议任何来文。投诉在被接受后将发给当事国，后者应在收到后六个月内发送书面解释。最后，委员会将发表关于投诉的意见，虽然这并不具有约束意义，它认为缔约国应该跟进这些意见。

结论性意见

委员会副主席蕾娜特·温特表示，委员会常常被告知其建议过多，因此决定将其结论性意见减少20%并使之更具针对性和具体性。温特女士表示，儿童权利委员会是成员数量最多的最大条约机构，目前共有195个成员国。它还有三份任择议定书，头两份都各有150个缔约国，这进一步增加了委员会需要审议的报告数量。此外，《公约》共有40条规定需要审议，这比其他任何人权公约都要多。温特女士询问道一份重点关注各国具体问题的两页概要是否对各国有益。她表示向每个国家提供《公约》下每条规定相关的意见和建议很不实际，并举例称如果一个缔约国由于洪水原因可能在未来十年内消失，重点关注学校建筑的数量是不合理的，确保该国儿童在未来十年内前往其他国家才应是主要优先事宜。

Comments and Questions from States

Russia said it appreciated the opportunity to interact with the Committee in an informal manner to discuss issues of concern. Russia asked how the Committee ensured impartiality in writing concluding observations for States reviewed in dual chambers, as it understood that during the interactive dialogue only four or five Members would assess and interact with the State concerned and that not all Members read the State party’s report. Russia asked how the Committee would use the additional time granted by the General Assembly once it had completed its backlog. Russia also raised the simplified reporting procedure, recalling that it had had a bad experience at the Convention against Torture who gave it 70 questions in the list of issues and asked for a response in no more than 20 pages. The delegate said Russia did not see how that procedure could be feasible for the Committee on the Rights of the Child, especially for federal States such as Russia. Concerning the interactive dialogue, Russia said it saw in the future it would have to present all of its reports – under the Convention and the two Optional Protocols – within two sessions. How constructive could the dialogue be if a State was only given six hours to discuss three reports, it asked, even taking into account the new time limits for questions. Russia said it had an impression that the interactive dialogue had no bearing upon the concluding observations, and also regretted that in its concluding observations the Committee did not appear to appreciate the positive measures taken by States beyond those in the legislative field.

Ethiopia said it appreciated the opportunities presented by today’s meeting and noted that its fourth and fifth reports were reviewed by the Committee last month in a highly beneficial dialogue. Ethiopia said that the concluding observations should be brief and specific in order for States parties to implement them. Ethiopia also highlighted the confusion caused sometimes by the use of new terminology and suggested it would be best to stick to the language contained within the Convention. Ethiopia said being reviewed by a full chamber, instead of duel chambers, was very important so States could benefit from the expertise of all Committee Members. Ethiopia also commented about the Committee’s use of secondary sources of information which may present a different portrayal of a situation to what was actually happening on the ground.

Austria commended the Committee’s innovations and efforts to enhance its working methods, such as the use of dual chambers, as even if it meant additional work for the Committee it was an effective measure to reduce the backlog. Austria announced that it had now withdrawn all of its reservations to the Convention, as of two months ago, and it had signed the third Optional Protocol. The Committee’s innovation on a joint general comment with the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on harmful traditional practices was a very positive example of cooperation between treaty bodies. Austria asked if the Committee would publish a report on the implementation of the third Protocol so far and about the topic for the next day of general discussion.

Pakistan enquired about the process of the simplified reporting procedure, such as the timeline for responses to the list of issues and the consequences for the subsequent periodic report. Pakistan also asked if there would be a limit on the number of questions in the list of issues if there was a word limit for concluding observations. Pakistan also asked what criteria was used to appoint task forces when the Committee worked in dual chambers.

Fiji said the concluding observations of the Committee were very valuable and had found their way into Fijian legislation. However, a major problem for delegations from the Pacific region was the distance they had to travel to Geneva and the great expense that involved, especially in providing a balanced delegation which represented several ministries. Fiji wished for more time in the interactive dialogue. Fiji also highlighted how important it was for Pacific delegations that were not used to the reporting procedure to treaty bodies to have mock, practice reviews in capitals and asked if the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights could assist with that.

Tunisia referred to concluding observations and called on the Committee to resist the trend to think in terms of equity and justice in comparison to other States, because the rights of the child were not measured in comparison with other States but against the Convention. The Committee had to stress the salient points and assist the State party in resolving issues irrespective of what was happening in neighbouring countries.

Colombia recalled its review by the Committee in January this year and commented on the new methodology being used, which had both positive aspects and room for improvement. Colombia said the simplified reporting system was useful and the list of issues served as guidance for the drafting of the report. Colombia called for more time, not only during the course of the dialogue as a whole but in between the two halves of the dialogue. It recalled that its last review took place on a Thursday afternoon and a Friday morning and that colleagues in capital were awake all night listening to the webcast and formulating answers. Colombia also commented that sometimes the summaries of the meeting were reduced in length and did not reflect all of their replies. Finally Colombia highlighted the importance of awareness-raising, capacity building and dissemination of the Committee’s recommendations with stakeholders on the ground.

Bhutan asked for information about the timeline of the simplified reporting procedure and on what basis the list of issues was drafted. Bhutan said it welcomed the decision to shorten the concluding observations which it said would be very useful to it.

Paraguay asked about modifications to the time frame of a dialogue in terms of coordination with other treaty bodies. Paraguay also asked whether two morning meetings or two afternoon meetings might be possible for interactive dialogues which would better assist Paraguay in bringing in a high-level delegation.

Response by Committee Members

Ms. Sandberg, responding to Russia’s question about the backlog, said the Committee hoped to clear the backlog of reports within three years but the challenge was in reviewing the reports more quickly than the rate at which they were received. Answering Russia’s question about how other Committee Members related to a dialogue when the session was in duel chambers Ms. Sandberg said the other Members did prepare and did read the country reports, and even if they were not on the ‘task force’ for that particular review, they could ask follow-up questions during the dialogue. In response to Pakistan’s question about the appointment of task forces, Ms. Sandberg said the Committee took geographical aspects into account and tried to ensure at least one member was from the region of the country under review.

Concerning the Optional Protocol on communications, Ms. Winter said that the Committee on the Rights of the Child had a very special mandate, which was to take into account the views and best interest of the child. That meant the Committee had extra work in its communications as it had to write both for an adult or a lawyer and a child. If a child addressed the Committee directly it had to be taken into account that they may communicate in a different way to an adult and that the Committee’s communications to a child had to be made in a way and a language that a child could understand.

In response to Tunisia Ms. Winter emphasized that a country had never, ever, been compared to another country and they were only assessed against the Convention. Responding to Russia’s call for more time, Ms. Winter said time was everybody’s enemy and it was not easy to find the right balance. She said the biggest problem was data; if a State party provided precise data which was well broken down then that would lead to an efficient use of time, but that rarely happened. It was time consuming when the Committee had to ask several questions to get to the root of a problem, in the absence of clear data. Furthermore, States should accept that if they wanted greater efficiency the Committee could not ask questions under every one of the 40 Articles of the Convention but instead had to tailor its questions to the pertinent issues in that country. Furthermore, if the Committee was asked to list all of the positive practices and progress made by every State in every set of concluding observations that would add greatly to their length and the time spent writing them. Was it not better to concentrate on the problem that needed to be solved, Ms. Winter asked.

Concerning Fiji’s question Ms. Winter said the Committee was looking into carrying out country reviews using video conferencing which would be a solution to the great expense of paying for a delegation to come to Geneva. A trial country review using video conferencing had been very successful for all parties. Concerning the length of time between the two parts of the review, Ms. Winter said the Committee could postpone the second round of questions by two or three days to give States time to get answers from capital but that would oblige the State to spend more money accommodating their delegation in Geneva for a longer period. States had to decide what was best for them, she said.

The expense of bringing a delegation to Geneva was indeed considerable, said another Member, and Skype or video conferencing would indeed be a very good solution. He commented that mock sessions were very helpful and that best practice could be shared by countries in a region.

A Committee Member said while the Convention on the Rights of the Child was the most ratified of all United Nations conventions it also had the greatest number of reservations by States, and he welcomed Austria’s announcement that it had withdrawn all of its reservations and similar announcements by other States parties.

He said the Committee did highlight positive achievements by a State in the concluding observations, and that while the introductory paragraph generally contained the laws and mechanisms, achievements by a State were commended throughout the document under the various sections dealing with health, education, juvenile justice etcetera. In response to the question by Colombia he said the Committee was looking at ways of getting closer to the people who actually implemented and were affected by its recommendations, for example by using social media, Facebook and Twitter.

The extra time given by the General Assembly was welcome but it was still not enough to give all the time to interactive dialogues that States were asking for, said a Committee Member. The Committee tried to hold meetings across two days which allowed the delegation to get answers from capital overnight, but now it heard that that led to people not sleeping. It was not easy to strike a balance between the needs of different States, she said. A Member emphasized that translation of the Committee’s general comments into national languages was crucial to inform people about the very important issues contained within them

A Committee Member urged States to adhere to the timetable of submitting a report every five years, commenting that most of the time the Committee received two or three combined reports, which meant that it had to assess the progress made and situation in a county over a 12 year period.

Responding to Russia’s question about the safeguarding of impartiality a Member emphasized that that was an issue the Committee took care of very carefully as it was crucial to its effectiveness. Working in duel chambers did not at all challenge the Committee’s impartiality. During the interactive dialogue, in addition to the task force the other Members still participated in the dialogues and read all of the reports. The design of duel chambers was a temporary measure to manage the backlog, he said. The concluding observations were drafted in duel chambers but they were presented before the entire Committee in full plenary and discussed by all in great detail. In that meeting the half of the Committee which did not attend the dialogue had priority in their input.

A Committee Member commented that their role required a huge amount of reading but every Member did indeed read all of the material that they were given very carefully. As a result of all of that reading Members could easily attend a dialogue with a dozen issues they would like to ask a State party about but due to time constraints the Committee had to focus on the most pressing issues. A clear advantage of duel chambers over full chambers is that the nine Members present had more time to ask their questions rather than a meeting with 18 Members.

Concerning cooperation with other treaty bodies to make the best use of time Ms. Winter gave the example of a girl child who had a disability, was a refugee and had problems with the law, which would involve four different treaty bodies. The former High Commissioner had started looking into the possibility of developing a matrix where a State could be reviewed over, for example, a one week period by the four treaty bodies, a process which was being continued by the new High Commissioner. It would be a huge undertaking, she commented.

BENYAM DAWIT MEZMUR, Chairperson of the Committee, also responded to Russia’s question about impartiality in dual chambers and said the division of members into the two chambers was like playing a very difficult game of Suduko. The following criteria were taken into account: geographical representation, language, experience, background, new and old members, the availability of the reports in the various languages, the ability of two members acting as rapporteurs for a report to communicate with each other as much as possible in order to overcome language barriers as much as possible, and also the wishes of a Member. Concerning the time between dialogues he said the countries that were reviewed over two subsequent days were the fortunate ones compared to those reviewed on the same day who had just two hours during the lunch break to compile their responses. The Committee endeavoured to allow all States that overnight period when putting together the programme of work.

The Chairperson said Tuvalu and Niue had been reviewed via video conferencing in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) office in Fiji. Other treaty bodies had conducted reviews which featured a split delegation consisting of people present in the room in Geneva and people participating via video link from capital. Clearing the backlog was the aim but in actuality as the backlog was cleared it would create more momentum for States to submit their next reports. To clear the backlog, in addition to working in dual chambers, the Committee frequently held meetings over lunch, in the evening and between sessions. Concerning the list of issues the Chairperson said he anticipated they would contain up to 25 questions. He also noted that the General Assembly resolution on treaty strengthening had established word limits for both the reports and the concluding observations.

Concluding Remarks

BENYAM DAWIT MEZMUR, Chairperson of the Committee, said the presence of so many States at today’s meeting was a great indication of their commitment to the Convention. The Convention was truly a global treaty, as testified by 195 States parties, but that entailed a large workload. However, Members all felt that it was a privilege to be a member of the Committee and serve children worldwide at a global level. The Committee looked forward to continuing its engagement with States in the near future.

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