7 March 2006

Child Rights at the 62nd Session of the Commission on Human Rights 1

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- Child rights at the 62nd session of the Commission on Human Rights

- Status of Negotiations on the Draft Resolution on the Human Rights Council

- Reports on child rights submitted for the 62nd session

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Child rights at the 62nd session of the Commission on Human Rights   

As in previous years, child rights organisations willing to promote the rights of the child at the UN Commission on Human Rights have been brought together by the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child as the Subgroup for the Commission on Human Rights. The Subgroup aims to ensure that the CHR addresses the specific rights and situations of children worldwide by advocating the Resolutions and by hosting a special interest group called the Children's Human Rights Caucus that serves as focal point for a range of participants (NGOs, governments, special rapporteurs and others) to meet on children's issues.

The Subgroup has been planning its participation at the 62nd session of the CHR. However, in light of the ongoing negotiations in New York regarding the forthcoming Human Rights Council that will be replacing the Commission, it is still unclear whether a full session will be taking place (previously planned to start on 13 March). In the meantime, reports are being submitted for the session, which you can view below.

As a member of the the Subgroup, CRIN has been participating to provide daily information in English, French, Spanish on all issues related to child rights. This consists of a special web page about the current session of the CHR, an email list and hard copy daily updates distributed at the Commission.

Depending on the outcomes of the negotiations, this email update will be sent out approximately once a week during the next month, and daily during the weeks when child rights are on the agenda. All relevant documents, NGO statements, and information on the status of negotiations of the Resolution on children's rights will also be made available on the website.

For more information, contact: [email protected]

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Status of Negotiations on the Draft Resolution on the Human Rights Council

The President of the General Assembly, Jan Eliasson, presented his Draft Resolution on the Human Rights Council to member States on 23 February and urged member States to make a final decision on the Human Rights Council as soon as possible. The draft Resolution recommends the abolition of the Commission on Human Rights on 16 June 2006, and calls for the elections of the first members of the Human Rights Council to take place on 9 May 2006. The date of the first Council meeting is set for 19 June 2006.

Key changes from the Commission on Human Rights include:

• members are down from 53 to 47 and are to be elected by an absolute majority; candidates will be elected on their human rights commitment; members cannot serve more than two consecutive terms;
• a new provision gives the General Assembly the ability, through a two-thirds majority vote, to suspend the membership of a Council member that commits gross and systematic violations of human rights;
• the Council is to hold three ten-week sessions per year, with the ability to hold special sessions upon request of a Council member with support of one-third of the Council;
• the Council is a subsidiary body of the General Assembly and thus has a higher institutional standing;
• a universal periodic review of all UN member States subjects all States to guaranteed scrutiny.

"Failure to adopt the proposal threatens to set back the human rights cause immeasurably," said Louise Arbour, the High-Commissioner for Human Rights, adding her voice to those of Secretary-General Kofi Annan and General Assembly President Jan Eliasson in calling for speedy approval of the new Council. "Let us be clear: the proposal now before the General Assembly is the result of compromise. It cannot be an ideal blueprint. And there is no reason to believe that more negotiating time will yield a better result," she said.

However, agreement on the draft Resolution has not yet been reached. Although the EU and and other regions have expressed their support for the new proposal, the US ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, declared last week that the US opposed the proposed Resolution. He said he was under instructions from Washington to reopen negotiations or postpone deliberations on the new body for several months.

Jan Eliasson defended the reform project in a letter to the Washington Post, which had published an article criticising the draft Resolution for its weakness. Eliasson also told reporters last Wednesday that he was still consulting with Member States, and hoped the Resolution would be adopted before the beginning of the next (and last) session of the Commission on Human Rights, planned for 13 March.

Meanwhile, human Rights NGOs' reaction to the draft text have been mitigated, although most are calling for a swift adoption of the new Human Rights Council.

According to UN Watch, a Geneva-based human rights group that has closely monitored the negotiations, the Draft Resolution "falls short of the broad reforms urged by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan". It fails to address the issue of the membership of notorious human rights offenders. "The Secretary-General's plan had advocated giving one-third of General Assembly members the power to block unqualified countries. The current text, however, doubles the requirement to two-thirds for any country's membership to be suspended." The other disappointment relates to the fact that "NGOs will be subjected to the constant threat of restrictions on their participation under a new qualifying clause (OP 11) that commits to recognise existing NGO privileges, "while ensuring the most effective contribution of these entities." UN watch is calling for amendments to the Resolution.

Human Rights Watch were pushing for a "more ambitious result" but welcome the main changes introduced by the Resolution on membership, session times, and universal periodic review, although they have asked for country specific Resolutions to take place outside regular sessions. Human Rights Watch and other US-based NGOS have started lobbying the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for the adoption of the proposal.

Amnesty International declared that "the Council to be established by the Resolution will be weaker than hoped, because of many governments' failures to follow through on their stated commitment to human rights". But, like Human Rights Watch, it calls for governments to adopt the proposal without delay and not "dilute it further".

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Reports on child rights submitted for the 62nd session 

Information on the nature and length of the 62nd session of the Commission on Human Rights is therefore still unavailable. In the midst of this uncertainty, child rights NGOs are preparing for a six-weeks session and reports are being submitted to the Commission as normal. Reports submitted to the Commission under item 13 (rights of the child) so far include:

• Report of the Secretary-General on the Status of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
• Report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the Situation of the Abduction of Children in Africa 
• Annual Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict (Ms. Karin Sham-Poo)
• Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography (Mr. Juan Miguel Petit)
• Progress report by the Secretary-General on the question of violence against children 
• Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education on Education for Girls (Spanish)

The Subgroup on the Commission on Human Rights of the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child will be coordinating NGOs' efforts to promote the rights of the child at the Commission and prepare the draft Omnibus Resolution on the Rights of the Child.

More information

CRIN website:
Page on the 62nd session of the Commission on Human Rights
News page on the reform of the Commission
Subgroup on the Commission on Human Rights 

UN websites:
Reform the UN
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights - Commission on Human Rights
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights - Human Rights Council   

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This update has been produced by CRIN, in collaboration with the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Subgroup for the Commission on Human Rights. To subscribe, unsubscribe or view archives, visit http://www.crin.org/email.

Further information about the 61st Session is available on the CRIN website at: http://www.crin.org/CHR/currentsession.asp. To submit information, contact Veronica Yates on [email protected]. CRIN, c/o Save the Children, 1, St John's Lane, London EC1M 4AR, UK.

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