Child Rights at the 6th Session of the UN Human Rights Council 33

26 September 2007 - Child Rights at the 6th Session of the UN Human Rights Council 33

 

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- UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL: Countries selected for the first cycle of the Universal Periodic Review

- CHILDREN AND ARMED CONFLICT: Joint statement presented to the Human Rights Council

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Children Have Rights Too!
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UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL: Countries selected for the first cycle of the Universal Periodic Review

The UN Human Rights Council has now selected the first countries to be examined under the new Universal Periodic Review mechanism. The countries listed below will be reviewed over the course of next year's Council sessions.

The UPR aims to ensure that the Council examines the human rights records of all UN Member States equally. The new mechanism came out of the Council’s reform process in response to complaints that the same countries are always singled out for criticism whilst others with similar human rights records for political reasons escape comment. The review is due to begin in February 2008.

Countries to be considered at the 1st session

1. Bahrain
2. Ecuador
3. Tunisia
4. Morocco
5. Indonesia
6. Finland
7. United Kingdom
8. India
9. Brazil
10. Philippines
11. Algeria
12. Poland
13. Netherlands
14. South Africa
15. Czech Republic
16. Argentina

States to be considered at the 2nd session

1. Gabon
2. Ghana
3. Peru
4. Guatemala
5. Benin
6. Republic of Korea
7. Switzerland
8. Pakistan
9. Zambia
10. Japan
11. Ukraine
12. Sri Lanka
13. France
14. Tonga
15. Romania
16. Mali

States to be considered at the 3rd session

1. Botswana
2. Bahamas
3. Burundi
4. Luxembourg
5. Barbados
6. Montenegro
7. United Arab Emirates
8. Israel
9. Liechtenstein
10. Serbia
11. Turkmenistan
12. Burkina Faso
13. Cape verde
14. Colombia
15. Uzbekistan
16. Tuvalu

Further information

Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=14959

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CHILDREN AND ARMED CONFLICT: Joint statement presented to the Human Rights Council

The statement below was submitted by OMCT and the Colombian Commission of Jurists at the 6th Session of the Human Rights Council.

"In her report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/4/45) dated 9 February 2007, the Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict expresses concern about the serious abuses committed against children in the context of Colombia’s internal armed conflict. The Special Representative highlights in particular the murders and mutilations of children (paragraph 8), rape and serious acts of sexual violence committed more and more frequently against women and girls (paragraph 9) and persistent reports of children being abducted (paragraph 10).

From October 2006 to July 2007, our organisations recorded numerous human rights violations and breaches of international humanitarian law which violated children’s right to life, physical safety and freedom in Colombia.

Violations of the right to life

In spite of the fact that, in the context of negotiations with the government, paramilitary groups promised not to commit more attacks against the civilian population, these groups continue to violate children’s right to life.

Murders committed by FARC (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) were also recorded in the departments of Valle, Antioquia and Cauca, including a massacre in the department of Valle.

There are reports of extrajudicial executions being carried out by the police force and a number of the victims have been presented as guerrillas. It is particular worrying that, in the department of Caquetá, members of the police force instigated a woman to have a forced abortion during a violent repression of a social protest.

Violations of the right to physical safety

The majority of injuries to children were caused by the use of arms prohibited under humanitarian law (landmines, weapons whose effects are discriminatory – gas cylinders -, etc). In most cases the alleged perpetrator is the FARC, but one case has been attributed to a paramilitary group.

Many violations of the right to physical safety have also been attributed to agents of the State, caused by abuse of authority: beatings, ill-treatment – physical as well as verbal, threats, etc.

Violations of the right to freedom

It has been observed that members of the police force have violated children’s right to freedom through arbitrary detentions in Bogota and in various departments. Among the victims are one indigenous boy, the son of a community leader, and a number of children from the countryside. In the cases of detention, the children were attacked physically and verbally and on many opportunities, accused of being guerrillas.

Hostage-taking by the FARC and by paramilitary groups, who have supposedly demobilised, have also been recorded.

Given the above, our organisations call on the State of Colombia to adopt measures to comply with the recommendations of the Special Representative and the Committee on the Rights of the Child from June 2006 to improve the situation of children in the context of internal armed conflict and prevent their further involvement in the conflict (CRC/C/COL/CO/3)."

For more information, contact:
Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture (OMCT)
PO Box 21, 8, rue du Vieux-Billard, CH-1211 Geneva 8, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 809 4939; Fax: +41 22 809 4929
Email: omct@omct.org
Website: http://www.omct.org

[Translated by CRIN]

Further information

Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=14984

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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 Human Rights Council. To subscribe, unsubscribe or view archives, visit http://www.crin.org/email.

Further information about the 6th Session is available on the CRIN website at: www.crin.org/chr. To submit information, contact info@crin.org. CRIN, c/o Save the Children, 1, St John's Lane, London EC1M 4AR, UK.

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