17 January 2007 - Child Rights and the new Human Rights Council 17
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- Human Rights Council session 4: CRIN information page
- Child participation: NGO statement
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Human Rights Council session 4: CRIN information page
The 4th session of the Human Rights Council will take place from 12th March to 6th April 2007. CRIN has set up a new information page for the forthcoming session. The following information is already accessible:
Visit CRIN's page on the session: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=12237
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Child participation: NGO statement
The UN Human Rights Council has operated without a fixed agenda or methods of work since its first session in June 2006. The Council therefore decided at its third session in November-December 2006 to establish a working group that will formulate recommendations on the Council’s agenda, annual programme of work, methods of work, and rules of procedure.
The first meeting of the "Intersessional Working Group on Agenda, annual programme of work, methods of work and rules of procedures of the Human Rights Council" is currently taking place (15-19 January 2007). The event is chaired by the President of the Council and facilitated by the Ambassadors of Guatemala and the Philippines.
On Tuesday 16th January, a group of NGOs delivered a statement to the facilitator of the Working Group presenting recommendations on how to institutionalise child participation at the Human Rights Council.
The statement was endorsed by the International Save the Children Alliance, the International Federation of Social Workers, the Bureau International Catholique de l'Enfance (BICE), SOS-Kinderdorf International, the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and World Vision International. Read the statement below.
[Source: ISHR and NGO Group for the CRC]
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Thank-you Mr. Facilitator,
The Human Rights Council is at a crucial stage of institution-building where it has a unique opportunity to place the rights of the child high on the political agenda. Whilst the Convention on the Rights of the Child has achieved almost universal ratification, this has not translated into significant change in the lives of children worldwide. Their rights continue being systematically violated. Millions of children are depending on the Council to play its part to end this culture of impunity.
Furthermore, the rights of the child have so far been discussed in the work of the Council in a limited fashion and from the angle of “protection” of a vulnerable group or linked to conflict and humanitarian crisis. However, all dimensions need to be addressed, every right enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child needs to be protected and promoted.
We would like this working group to consider our proposal to put the rights of the child on the programme of work of the Human Rights Council for at least two days a year, plus extra days as necessary.
Allow us to bring attention to the fact that the Human Rights Council meets for a minimum of 10 weeks or 50 days per year. If two days of this time are devoted to the rights of the child this means that 4 per cent of session time will be spent on the rights of the child, yet girls and boys make up over 50 per cent of the world’s population!
We therefore insist that a minimum of two days per year of the regular Council session be devoted to discussion on the Rights of the Child.
These discussions would include interactive dialogues with the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Special Procedures, Member States, the Committee on the Rights of the Child and other Treaty Bodies, NGOs, UNICEF etc. They would aim towards the production of resolutions, decisions and concrete outcomes with a focus on specific mechanisms for follow up including yearly reports.
The established two days on the annual program of work would provide the necessary predictability to child rights NGOs and children to plan their participation. However, it is also imperative that the Council has the flexibility to allocate additional time to the rights of the child if the need should arise. This could take the form, for example, of special sessions or thematic panel discussions.
Mr. Facilitator,
Let us now turn to the methods of work of the HRC.
We call upon the working group to support the proposal for implementing a process for meaningful child participation in the work of the Council. Working methods should specifically allow for and support meaningful child participation during the Council sessions devoted to the rights of the child and beyond. This can prove to be an invaluable tool for the Human Rights Council in understanding the particular ways in which human rights violations are witnessed by and do affect children. Furthermore, the right of the child to express his or her own views on matters affecting the child is enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Several tools for child participation have been developed and different processes sustained by NGOs and UNICEF at the UN level. The experience of child participation with the process of the UN study on Violence against Children would definitely stand as one of the most comprehensive and of the greatest impact. We hope that the Human Rights Council will recognize the value of the participation of all human rights holders, including children. Building on the aforementioned experiences, we ask that the Council ensure the involvement of children in issues pertaining to the rights of the child and engage in a dialogue to develop mechanisms for meaningful child participation.
Working methods should also ensure the participation of national and international NGOs in the sessions of the Human Rights Council and as partners and sources of information for Special Procedures and UPR. National and international child rights NGOs should participate in relevant Council sessions and, to ensure that a rights of the child perspective is adopted throughout the work of the Human Rights Council, they should engage, in particular, in relevant sessions of the Council, in the Universal Periodic Review process and in the work of all Special Procedures.
Thank you Mr Facilitator for the opportunity of intervening and we stand ready for any requests of clarification or questions.
Geneva, 16 January 2007
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Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=12239
For more information, contact:
Subgroup for the Human Rights Council
Simone Ek, Convenor
Save the Children Sweden
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.crin.org/docs/resources/publications/NGOCRC/subgroup-CHR.asp
Further information
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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 Human Rights Council is available on the CRIN website at: www.crin.org/chr. To submit information, contact Isabelle Guitard on [email protected]. CRIN, c/o Save the Children, 1, St John's Lane, London EC1M 4AR, UK.
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