Child Rights at the Human Rights Council 21

16 March 2007 - Child Rights at the Human Rights Council 21

 

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- Child Rights Caucus: Morning briefings at the Human Rights Council [event]

- Child Rights in the Reports of UN Special Procedures [report] 

- What governments are saying about child rights [summary]

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Children Have Rights Too!
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Child Rights Caucus: Morning briefings at the Human Rights Council [event]

Time and date: 9 to 10am, from 19 March to 28 March
Location: Palais des Nations, Room 3023

During the second and third week (starting 19 March) of the fourth session, the Subgroup for the Human Rights Council of the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child will be organising morning briefings with Special Rapporteurs and Independent Experts at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. The Caucus morning briefings will be held from 9 am to 10 am in room E-3023.

All participants at the Human Rights Council are warmly welcome to discuss issues brought in light of the 4th Session with invited Special Rapporteurs and Experts, Government delegations, the Human rights Committee members, members of expert panels, UNICEF, UNHCR, OHCHR secretariat, regional human and children's rights organisations.

Information sharing

The subgroup ensures daily information in French, Spanish and English on children's issues at the HRC through email, reports and its webpage: www.crin.org/hrc. 

All details for the fourth session are available here 

Timetable

Week 2

  • 19 March: Professor Pinheiro, Independent Expert on the UN Study on Violence Against Children
  • 20 March: To be confirmed
  • 21 March: To be confirmed
  • 22 March: Juan Miguel Petit, Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, on Child trafficking
  • 23 March: to be confirmed 

Week 3

  • 26 March: to be confirmed
  • 27 March: Paul Hunt, Special Rapporteur on Health
  • 28 March: Ms Zerrougui, Chairperson of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention

Child Rights Caucus

The subgroup on the Human Rights Council of the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child brings together NGOs willing to promote the rights of the child at the Human Rights Council (HRC).

The subgroup aims to ensure that the HRC addresses the specific rights and situations of children worldwide by advocating for the HRC to place child rights on the agenda of its work and by hosting a special interest group called the Child Rights Caucus that serves as focal point for a range of participants to meet on children's issues.

Further information:

For more information, contact:
Simone Ek, Convenor
Subgroup for the Human Rights Council
Save the Children Sweden
Email: simone.ek@rb.se
Website: http://www.crin.org/docs/resources/publications/NGOCRC/subgroup-CHR.asp

For any communications queries, contact CRIN at info@crin.org

Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=12805

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Child Rights in the Reports of the UN Special Procedures

This report compiles all mentions of children's rights in the reports of the Independent Experts, Special Representatives and Special Rapporteurs - known as Special Procedures - who do not focus specifically on children and will present their reports at the fourth session of the Human Rights Council. The full reports are available on the OHCRC website and selected reports are available on the CRIN website here. 

The Special Procedures are the procedures by which the Council can monitor and examine specific country situations and/or specific human rights violations. The Council continues its work to review its mechanisms, which include the Special Procedures. In the high level segment of the session which took place earlier this week, thirteen Member State delegations highlighted the importance of strengthening the Special Procedures. 

Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=12819&flag=report

Sign the Petition in support of the Special Procedures 

A global petition in support of the system of Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council was opened by a number of human rights organisations on 6 March 2007.

Several governments are using the review of the Special Procedures that is underway within the HR Council as an opportunity to make proposals which would cripple the ability of all the Special Procedures to fulfil their mandates effectively. The aim of this global petition is to galvanise support for the Special Procedures through the electronic and hard copy collection of signatures from individuals from all over the world.

Individuals and organisations are encouraged to sign the petition and to forward it to other individuals and organisations that would be interested in supporting this initiative. 

Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=12782

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What governments are saying about child rights [summary]

Members of the Human Rights Council met for two days this week for the high level segment of the Council's fourth session. Twenty-eight Member State delegations made statements on the work of the Council, and their particular human rights concerns.

The Segment included statements from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Council President Ambassador Luis de Alba, and High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour. The High Commissioner also held a dialogue session with Member States and NGOs on 14 March. The Segment also included the report of the mission to Darfur, which took place (in Chad, Ethiopia, and Geneva) from 5 February to 5 March. 

[Source: UN Reform]

  • Read summaries of statements made about children by Member States.
  • The full text of the statements and audio files are available here

Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=12818

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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: www.crin.org/chr. To submit information, contact Veronica Yates on vyates@crin.org. CRIN, c/o Save the Children, 1, St John's Lane, London EC1M 4AR, UK.

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