4 April 2008 - Child Rights at the Human Rights Council 43
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Children Have Rights Too!
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UN: Session wraps up [news]
[2 April 2008] – Having initiated the first periodic review of the human rights performance of all States and established rapporteurs on new rights topics, the seventh session of the United Nations Human Rights Council has drawn to a close in Geneva.
The session, which was opened by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 3 March, did not conclude formally last week as expected, but instead decided to continue for one more half-day session, to finish hearing statements from delegations and to adopt its report to the General Assembly.
Among the major accomplishments of the session was the inauguration of the first Universal Periodic Review, under which all UN Member States will be examined to assess whether they have fulfilled their human rights obligation, at the rate of 48 a year.
In addition, 11 special rapporteurs were nominated, including an independent expert with a new mandate to cover rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation.
Among other achievements, the 47-member Council elected the 18 members of its Advisory Committee, which will hold its first session from 4 to 15 August.
The Committee’s experts will function as a think-tank for the Council, which was created in 2006 to replace the Human Rights Commission as part of ongoing UN reform.
At the Council’s eighth session, which will take place from 2 to 13 June, the Council will examine the first report of its working group on the Universal Periodic Review, which will start its work on individual countries on 7 April.
Speaking to reporters today, Council President Doru Costea said he was “rather optimistic” about the start of the Universal Review. However, he cautioned: “The proof of the pudding is in eating it."
For more information, contact:
UN Human Rights Council
Website: http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=16811
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Side event: Mainstreaming child rights at the Council [news]
In Arabic
[31 March 2008] - Child rights must be central to the work of the Human Rights Council, and not just an added extra, said experts at a meeting on mainstreaming.
Delegates from the USA, United Kingdom, Portugal, Argentina, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia and Belgium joined representatives from NGOs and UN agencies at the meeting.
Andrej Logar, chair and delegate from Slovenia, said: “There is a strong need to recognise the child dimension in all the work of the United Nations.”
He added that child rights should be a key indicator when conducting each country assessment during the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process, and that it should be mainstreamed into the work of all the special procedures.
Child rights "partially addressed"
Cécile Trochu Grasso, of OMCT, offered some examples of child rights mainstreaming, defining it as bringing child rights into the agendas of institutions which have so far ignored or only partially addressed children’s rights.
She said: “Mainstreaming is not an end in itself, but a tool or strategy for the implementation of child rights.”
Examples have included the submission of shadow reports by OMCT and other NGOs covering child rights issues to treaty bodies.
She said following the example set by women’s rights groups in setting up a panel on gender mainstreaming at the Council’s sixth session would be a positive step.
The review of mandates, a process aimed at identifying gaps in the promotion and protection of human rights, should include discussions of child rights, Cécile said.
Work of the Special Procedures
Bacre Waly Ndiaye, Director of the Treaties and Council Division of the OHCHR, said that from a review of 80 Special Procedures reports, they found many to contain at least a reference to children, with country mandates often reporting on ratification of the CRC and its Optional Protocols. He added there was no consistency, or mainstreaming, however.
Roberta Cechetti, of the Save the Children Alliance, spoke on the efforts made so far to integrate children’s issues into the Council’s work.
She agreed most instances could be traced to the reports of the Special Procedures.
She said children’s themes discussed at the Council were “very specific”, and mostly concerned with protection. Resolutions were not adopted following discussions.
Where child rights have been addressed, she continued, it has been in three main areas: reports by Special Procedures and debates on pre-trial detention, child executions and the right to food; special events, such as on the Disability Convention; and country-specific debates, she said, most mainstreaming has taken place although this has mostly been on protection issues.
Five resolutions have contained the word “child”, three of those on the renewal of mandates.
A representative from World Vision suggested child rights training for the new batch of Special Procedures, organised by NGOs.
Further information
For more information, contact:
Subgroup for the Human Rights Council
Cecile Trochu, co-Convenor
OMCT
Email: ct@omct.org
Visit: http://www.crin.org/docs/resources/publications/NGOCRC/subgroup-CHR.asp
or Jennifer Grant, co-Convenor
Save the Children UK
Email: J.Grant@savethechildren.org.uk
Website: http://www.crin.org/docs/resources/publications/NGOCRC/subgroup-CHR.asp
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=16782
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Draft resolution on the rights of the child [publication]
Read the resolution here
Read about a side event to discuss the resolution here
Visit: http://crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=16797&flag=report
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Special Procedures: list of visits for 2008
This list will be updated as and when the visits are announced by OHCHR: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=16213&flag=event
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=16213&flag=event
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UN: Rights Council fails victims in Congo [news]
[GENEVA, 27 March 2008] – The UN Human Rights Council’s failure to renew the mandate of the expert for the Democratic Republic of Congo is a betrayal of its responsibilities toward the Congolese people, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.
“The Human Rights Council put politics before people by deciding not to renew the expert mandate on the Congo,” said Juliette de Rivero, Geneva advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “Downgrading the Council’s work in Congo despite the recent rapes and killings is inexplicable and could have tragic consequences.”
The move to discontinue the mandate for an expert on the Democratic Republic of Congo was led by Egypt as coordinator of the African group. The African group has taken the position that human rights experts should only be appointed by the Human Rights Council when the government of the country at issue agrees the situation warrants such attention. This approach rewards non-cooperation with the Council, Human Rights Watch said, and gives States responsible for serious human rights violations a veto over the Council’s ability to fulfill its mandate.
Council members must 'show some backbone'
In the past months, Congo’s President Joseph Kabila had privately indicated his support to diplomats for the renewal of the expert mandate. That pledge was not translated into action, however, and Congolese officials in Geneva lobbied for the mandate to end. Despite initial support for the mandate, European Union Member States agreed to abandon it for a weak compromise that provides for a discussion on the human rights situation in Congo at the Council only in March 2009.
“It’s shocking that States which supported continued work on Congo wouldn’t stand up and be counted,” de Rivero said. “Congo’s people can’t wait another year for the Council and its members to show some backbone.”
The Council’s decision flies in the face of the serious human rights violations that continue in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Despite historic elections in 2006, Congo’s human rights situation remains deeply troubling. In the past year alone, hundreds of civilians have been killed and thousands of women and girls raped by militia groups and soldiers of the Congolese army. An estimated 30,000 children continue to serve as child soldiers in various armed groups.
Abuses continue
In eastern Congo, the signing of a ceasefire agreement in Goma on 23 January 2008 raised hopes that the armed conflict would be contained, but tensions have again mounted as details emerged of renewed killing of civilians in the region. These add to the estimated five million civilian deaths throughout the country since 1998, a toll that makes Congo’s conflict more deadly to civilians than any other since World War II.
In western Congo, security forces used excessive force to put down at times violent protests by the political-religious group Bundu Dia Kongo, resulting in the deaths of at least 68 people, according to United Nations estimates. Thousands of people have been displaced.
Given the gravity of the human rights abuses in Congo, the continuation of the expert mandate should have been a foregone conclusion. In response to the egregious abuses in the eastern parts of Congo, Human Rights Watch has called for an additional special adviser to be appointed to monitor the human rights obligations of the Goma ceasefire agreement and assist the parties in bringing an end to such abuses.
“The Human Rights Council should be expanding its work on Congo, not abandoning it,” de Rivero said. “Congo urgently needs independent human rights expertise, which could help to save lives.”
Further information
For more information, contact:
Human Rights Watch
350 Fifth Avenue, 34th floor, New York, NY 10118-3299
Tel: + 1 212 216 1837; Fax: + 1 212 736-1300
Email: hrwnyc@hrw.org
Website: www.hrw.org
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=16790
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UPR: 1st Session [event]
The first session of the Universal Periodic Review is about to get underway. You can find a list of those countries being reviewed here: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=16441&flag=event
CRIN will summarising mentions of child rights in the reports from States, civil society and treaty bodies which have been submitted to OHCHR for the UPR process. Our summaries will be made available on our HRC news page: http://crin.org/chr/news/, and in CRINMAILs.
For more information, contact:
UN Human Rights Council
Website: http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=16441&flag=event
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Vacancy: Chairperson of the Forum on Minority Issues
Deadline for submission of candidates: 30 April 2008
The President of the Human Rights Council must "appoint for each session, on the basis of regional rotation, and in consultation with regional groups, a chairperson of the Forum among experts on minority issues, nominated by members and observers of the Council; the chairperson, serving in his/her personal capacity, shall be responsible for the preparation of a summary of the discussion of the Forum, to be made available to all participants of the Forum." (Paragraph 4, resolution 6/15 of the Human Rights Council)
Send nominees to the President's office: hrcpresidency1@ohchr.org, hrcpresidency3@ohchr.org or contact the Civil Society Unit: NGO Liaison Officer, Tel. +41 22 917 9656, Fax. +41 22 917 9004 e-mail: civilsocietyunit@ohchr.org
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This update has been produced by CRIN, in collaboration with the NGO Group Subgroup for the Human Rights Council. To subscribe, unsubscribe or view archives, visit http://www.crin.org/email.
Further information about child rights at the Human Rights Council is available on the CRIN website at: www.crin.org/hrc. To submit information, contact us on info@crin.org. CRIN, c/o Save the Children, 1, St John's Lane, London EC1M 4AR, UK.
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