Child Rights at the Human Rights Council 36

29 February 2008 - Child Rights at the Human Rights Council 36

 

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Children Have Rights Too!
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Human Rights Council Session 7 [event]

The seventh session of the Human Rights Council will take place at the Palais des Nations in Geneva from 03 - 28 March 2008.

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This page will offer information on the fifth HRC session for child rights NGOs. It provides daily news updates, links to official documentation, information on NGO participation and useful contacts.

 


Menu: CRINMAILs - Documentation - NGO participation - Sources of information - Useful contacts

CRINMAILs

Child Rights at the Human Rights Council 35

Child Rights at the Human Rights Council 34

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Documentation

NGO written statements

  • Statements relevant to child rights will be listed here once they are made publicly available

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NGO participation

Guidelines for oral interventions

These are the modalities for NGO oral interventions to be applied at the up-coming HRC7. Prepared upon request from the Presidency, the modalities take into account arrangements and practices developed since the first session of the HRC and the 'suggested guidelines' issued in this regard at previous sessions.

The note will be available on HRC Extranet, on the 'NGO Liaison Information page' on HRC7-related page.

All relevant forms relating to the List of Speakers will be posted shortly at the following link (not operational yet):
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/7session/speakers.htm   

 

Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=16540

Accreditation:

NGOs in consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) wishing to accredit representatives to the seventh session of the Human Rights Council are invited to send their request to the secretariat of the Human Rights Council (by fax) for the attention of Mr. Michael Armstrong:

Until 29 February 2008
Fax: +41 22 917 90 11
Telephone: +41 22 917 92 69

From 3 to 28 March 2008
Fax: +41 22 917 04 94
Telephone: +41 22 917 15 25/92 69

 

The letter requesting accreditation should contain the following elements:

 

  • It should be submitted on the official letterhead of the organisation;

  • It should clearly state the title and duration of the session the organisation wishes to attend, e.g. “Name of NGO, in consultative status with ECOSOC, wishes to send the following members to attend the 7th session of the HRC..."

  • The letter needs to be signed by the President or the Main Representative of the organisation in Geneva;

  • It should also indicate the name/s (first name and family name) of the person/s who will represent the organization at the HRC session:
    o Names of persons must appear exactly as they appear in the ID document,
    o Family Name(s) have to be capitalised.

 

It is important to ensure that the name(s) of those members already in possession of a valid identity badge issued by the United Nations Office in Geneva (UNOG) Security and Safety Section, and who plan to attend the seventh session of the Human Rights Council, is/are also included in the accreditation letter, with an indication that the person(s) holds an annual badge:

(a) Annual or temporary representatives of NGOs in possession of an identity badge issued by the UNOG Security and Safety Section and valid for the duration of the session will have unrestricted access to the conference rooms.

(b) Participants without a UNOG identification badge should apply in person at the “Pregny Gate” security entrance, 8-14 avenue de La Paix. Upon presentation of identification and a copy of the letter of accreditation, a photo-badge valid for the duration of the Human Rights Council session will be issued.

The accreditation office of the Human Rights Council will be located at the “Pregny Gate” security entrance and will be open from Monday to Friday from 08:00 to 17:00 for the duration of the session.

List of participants

The secretariat wishes has announced that the so-called “orange registration forms” previously distributed by Conference Services during the session, will no longer be in use. Therefore, in order to register names for the list of attendance, participants are kindly asked to announce themselves to the secretariat, through a letter of accreditation addressed to Mr. Michael Armstrong, telephone: +41 22 917 92 69, fax: +41 22 917 90 11/917 04 94.

For more information, visit: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/7session/accreditation.htm


NGO parallel events:

Participants in the seventh session of the Human Rights Council wishing to reserve a room for meetings and parallel events to be held in the margins of the sessions should fill in the relevant room request form and submit it by fax to the Human Rights Council Secretariat.

Prior to the commencement of the sessions, requests may be faxed to:
+41 22 917 90 11 to the attention of Ms. Françoise Kenfack (tel. +41 22 917 96 41).
Contact information (phone and fax) of Ms. Françoise Kenfack for the duration of the session from 03 March to 28 March will follow.

Please be advised that Delegations wishing to book rooms for Intergovernmental Consultations should use the “Intergovernmental Room Booking Request Form”.

Special Procedure mandate-holders, Specialised Agencies, NGOs and NHRIs should use the "General Room Booking Request Form", at the same link above.

With regard to parallel events organised by NGOs, organisations wishing to co-sponsor an NGO parallel event should fill in this “NGO_Co-sponsorship of Parallel Events Form” (above link) and fax at least 24 hours prior to the event to the attention of Ms. Françoise Kenfack.

Access to relevant information on the Web

Relevant and updated information on the 6th session of the HRC will be regularly posted on the HRC Extranet. The extranet page may be accessed here

Username: hrc extranet
Password: 1session

Finally, a live Webcast service will be available under the Council’s webpage, covering the plenary session online.

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Sources of information

CRIN - sign up to the special HRC CRINMAIL.

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights - Press releases are issued by the HRC on a daily basis during HRC sessions and are available on the OHCHR website. In addition, relevant documents are posted on the Human Rights Council extranet (sign up).

Relevant and updated information on the 5th session of the HRC will be regularly posted on the HRC Extranet. Username: hrc extranet - Password: 1session.

A live Webcast service will be available under the Council’s webpage, covering the plenary session online, and will be accessible through this link.

Civil society news and perspectives are available on the CONGO website (Conference of NGOs in consultative relationship with the UN) and the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) - ISHR: Human Rights Council daily updates

UN - FAQs about the Human Rights Council 

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Useful contacts

For more information on the Human Rights Council, contact:
The Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, OHCHR – UNOG,
8-14 Avenue de la Paix, 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland.
Tel: +41 22 917 9000; Fax: +41 22 917 9016
Website: http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/chr

For more information on NGO participation, contact:
Ms Laura Dolci-Kanaan
OHCHR’s NGO Liaison Officer
Email: [email protected] 
Tel: +41 22 917 9656

For more information about the Subgroup for the Human Rights Council, contact:
Cecile Trochu, co-Convenor 
OMCT
Email: [email protected]
Visit: http://www.crin.org/docs/resources/publications/NGOCRC/subgroup-CHR.asp

or Jennifer Grant, co-Convenor
Save the Children UK
Email: [email protected]
Visit: http://www.crin.org/docs/resources/publications/NGOCRC/subgroup-CHR.asp

Any other enquiries:
Child Rights Information Network (CRIN)
c/o Save the Children, 1 St. John's Lane, London EC1M 4AR, UK
Tel: + 44 (0)20 7012 6866; Fax: + 44 (0)20 7012 6963
Email: [email protected] 
Website: http://www.crin.org/HRC

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NGO side event: CRC communications procedure [event]

Date: 6 March 2008
Locations: Palais des Nations, Geneva

An NGO side event on the campaign to to establish a Communications/complaints mechanism to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) will take place from 1 to 2pm at the Palais des Nations, Geneva.

The room has yet to be confirmed, but will be announced on CRIN as soon as one has been allocated.

You can download a lobby pack for the campaign here

For more information about the campaign, and to sign the petition, visit: http://www.crin.org/petitions/petition.asp?petID=1007  

For more information, contact:
Subgroup for the Human Rights Council
Cecile Trochu, co-Convenor
OMCT, Email: [email protected]
or Jennifer Grant, co-Convenor
Save the Children UK
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.crin.org/docs/resources/publications/NGOCRC/subgroup-CHR.asp

Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=1654  

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Joint NGO written submission [publication]

This is a joint NGO submission to the Human Rights Council. It includes statements on:

  • Building a Human Rights Council that Gives Priority to the Rights of Children
  • A Commitment to Mainstreaming the Rights of the Child
  • Conceptualising a Resolution on the Rights of the Child
  • 'The Way Forward'

Subgroup for the HRC

The Subgroup for 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 United Nations Human Rights Council.

The Subgroup’s aim so far has been to ensure that the Commission on Human Rights addresses the specific rights and situations of children worldwide in its regular work and sessions on human rights. By advocating for the inclusion of its concerns into the Commission's Resolutions, the NGO community has ensured better support and coherence between international politics and local realities affecting the realisation of children's rights.

The Subgroup has been active during the negotiations on the creation of the Human Rights Council and during consultations on the first session of the Council.

It produced a call for action in May 2006, calling on the Human Rights Council to act on four specific child rights issues: violence against children - sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography - children affected by armed conflict and displacement - children in conflict with the law. The  Call for Action was updated last November.

For more information, contact:
Subgroup for the Human Rights Council
Cecile Trochu, co-Convenor
OMCT, Email: [email protected]
or Jennifer Grant, co-Convenor
Save the Children UK
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.crin.org/docs/resources/publications/NGOCRC/subgroup-CHR.asp

Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=16536

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Universal Periodic Review [news]

OHCHR has launched a new website for the UPR. Visit: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/search.aspx

The first session of the Working Group on UPR is scheduled to be held from 7 to 18 April 2008 in Geneva, at Palais des Nations. A special webpage has been launched on the OHCHR website (internet).

All available documentation, in the advance unedited version, will be posted on that webpage, including the OHCHR summaries of stakeholders' inputs, as well as thebackground information submitted by stakeholders.

Meanwhile, for a timetable for the first session of the UPR Working Group, see here

The list of Troikas has been announced. See the list here: http://www.crin.org/docs/troikas.pdf

Find out more about troikas on our information page on the Universal Periodic Review

COMING SOON: Mentions of child rights in UPR documentation, compiled by CRIN

Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=16537

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Special Procedures [publication/news]

Mentions of child rights in the Special Procedures reports

Here is a summary of the references to child rights contained within the reports of the Special Rapporteurs for the 7th Session of the Human Rights Council.

It includes:

  • Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
  • Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
  • Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food
  • Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequence
  • Report submitted by the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography
  • Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
  • Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non‑discrimination in this context
  • Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967
  • The Secretary-General’s study on the question of violence against children

HRC: Recommendations for appointment of Special Procedures

At the session, the President of the United Nations Human Rights Council is expected to appoint up to 16 human rights experts to serve as Special Procedure mandate-holders.

The Special Procedures in question deal with issues such as the right to adequate housing, the right to food, human rights defenders, indigenous people, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, contemporary forms of slavery, extreme poverty and the human rights situations in Myanmar and Somalia. (The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child prostitution and Child Pornography will also expire - see here)

For more information about the Special Procedures, and the (now expired) nomination process, visit here

The Consultative Group, established according HRC Resolution 5/1 has provided these reccomendations to the HRC President relating to SP mandate holders to be appointed at the seventh session of the HRC.

For more information, contact:
UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
OHCHR-UNOG
8-14 Avenue de la Paix, 1211 Geneva 10
Tel: + 41-22 917-9000; Fax: + 41-22 917-9016
Website: www.unhchr.ch

Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=16407

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Which Africa to represent Human Rights? [news]

[25 February 2008] - In May 2008 the Council will elect an African president and 4 new members from this region of the world. NGOs from across the continent are extremely unhappy about the position that African countries have taken in the Council and are mounting a campaign to ensure more deserving countries are elected.

Up to now the only African country that has expressed interest in becoming president of the council is Egypt. African NGOs are strongly opposed because "Egypt has tried to undermine the effectiveness of the Council, notably by persuading the African group to put an end to the independent group of experts on Darfur. Moreover its human rights record has been recently criticised by the European parliament."

This is the opinion of the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, a network of human rights defenders based in Uganda. In a letter addressed to African governments, more than 40 NGOs from across the continent - from North Africa to the Sub Sahara, English and French speaking - have asked them to reject candidates from states which have not cooperated with the Council. And they urged them to support countries which have a track record of good intentions, notably in supporting the work of the special rapporteurs. In line with the founding spirit of the Council, the activists asked the governments to elect members to the African group based on their commitment to not "negotiating" votes as they have done up to now. And without removing all the substance of the vote - last year the African group presented 4 candidates for the 4 posts to be filled.

Tanzania and Burundi - the Champions

So which countries then seem to be the most deserving according to the NGOs? Laetitia Bader, human rights officer at EHAHRDP says that without a doubt it is Burundi and Tanzania. "We would like these two countries that are not yet members of the Council to apply. They are two countries which have supported the most enthusiastically the country rapporteurs, while the countries that currently lead the African bloc have done everything to restrict their independence. The choice of Burundi, where serious violence erupted for many years - may seem surprising. "Certainly there is still a problem of impunity, particularly in the military and the police force, who continue to commit abuses, but the country has made a real effort to encourage the respect of human rights at a national level."

The network wants Ghana - already a Council member - to be the representative "because it is one of the rare African countries to adopt a positive position on Darfur" and it could eventually support the candidature of Mauritania and the Ivory Coast - who have expressed an interest - as well as those of Zambia and Morocco.

Pointing the finger at the North African countries

But Ghana has little chance of being elected again onto the Council "for political and logistical reasons as well as due to a lack of money", says Laetitia Bader. This problem appears to be common to a number of Sub-Saharan African countries in Geneva. Finally she hopes that the most powerful Sub-Saharan African countries - South Africa and to a lesser extent Nigeria - are proof of a wider interest in the Council. "They have the diplomatic clout to encourage other countries in the region to resist the political pressure put on them by North African countries."

 

For more information, contact: Human Rights Tribune
InfoSud press agency
9, rue du Valais, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 901 33 33
Fax: +41 22 901 33 30
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.humanrights-geneva.info

Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=16510

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*NEW in Arabic: Introductions to the Universal Periodic Review and the Human Rights Council

lntroduction to the UPR

Inroduction to the HRC

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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/hrc

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