CRINMAIL 85:
In this issue:
To view this CRINMAIL online, click here
HRC Session 20
The Human Rights Council will reconvene for its 20th session from 18 June to 6 July 2012 in Geneva, after a busy 19th session which saw children's rights featuring prominently on the agenda.
Key children's rights discussions
Children's rights will be raised in a number of panel discussions with UN experts, including the Special Rapporteur on the right to education (read his report), and the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children (read her report).
A thematic study on the issue of violence against women and girls with disabilities will be presented by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The report includes an analysis of national legislation, policies and programmes for the protection from and prevention of violence.
Finally, the Working Group on Business and Human Rights will share examples of current initiatives to disseminate and implement the Guiding Principles, and outline proposals by NGOs and other stakeholders made during its first session. (Read their report).
For full details of the session, including the list of side-events and how you can follow the discussions, visit our 20th session page.
Universal Periodic Review (UPR)
Second Cycle commences
Fourteen States have so far been reviewed in the second cycle of the UPR, which began on 21 May with the 13th session.
Below you can read summary reports of each of the State reviews compiled by International Service for Human Rights, and also CRIN's reports extracting mentions of children's rights in the pre-review documents sent by States, UN bodies and NGOs.
- Visit our 13th session page
CRIN's research
CRIN has recently completed child rights extract reports for all 192 States reviewed during the first cycle of the UPR. In these reports, you can see which children's rights recommendations States have accepted and rejected.
Children's Rights Wiki
Last year, CRIN launched a Children's Rights Wiki which assembles all information about children's rights in every country in one place. All the above recommendations are included in this Wiki, in addition to violations raised by other UN and regional mechanisms. Visit our Children's Rights Wiki.
Advocacy and participation
Progress reports
With the 2nd cycle of the UPR underway, there is a focus on assessing the extent to which recommendations are being implemented on the ground. Find out what NGOs and States are saying in their mid-term progress reports here.
Why not submit your own progress report? Please do share with us any of your reports. Contact [email protected].
Upcoming research
We are currently compiling a document which will include the full list of children's rights recommendations accepted by all 192 States in the first cycle. NGOs will be able to quickly see which recommendations States have agreed to.
A second document is being compiled with all the rejected recommendations, so that NGOs can lobby States to reassess their positions. The research will be posted on our HRC news section in due course.
Advocacy tips
UPR-Info and Mandat International have conducted a survey to find out how States draft their interventions for the reviews. The aim of the survey is to improve NGOs' understanding of these processes, with a view to facilitating their interaction and advocacy efforts with States.
Thirty-one States submitted responses, with information ranging from contact details of the State official responsible for drafting the interventions to timings for NGOs to contact State missions prior to an upcoming UPR session.
Upcoming Session / Deadlines
The 14th session of the UPR will take place from 22 October to 5 November 2012. Visit our 14th session page.
For full information on deadlines for the 2nd cycle, click here. (Please note the deadlines for the 16th session have been changed).
Further Information
Special Procedures
Upcoming visits
- The Special Rapporteur (SR) on migrants will visit Turkey from 25 to 30 June
- The SR on slavery will visit Kazahkstan from 10 to 20 July
- The SR on the right to food will visit Cameroon from 16 to 23 July
- The SR on internally displaced persons will visit Cote d'Ivoire from 23 July to 1 August
- View the full list of visits for 2012 here.
- Find out how you can engage with Special Rapporteurs here.
- Visit CRIN's page on information and advocacy opportunities
Other news / reports
No end in sight!
During it's fourth Special Session on the deteriorating human rights situation in Syria and the recent killings in El Houleh on 1 June, the Human Rights Council adopted a resolution condemning the violence and ongoing human rights violations.
The Council requested that the Commission of Inquiry hold a special inquiry into events in El Houleh, and invited the Joint Special Envoy of the UN and the League of Arab States to brief the Council at its 20th session. Read more here.
Syria also featured in the UN Secretary-General's annual report on children and armed conflict to the Security Council which gives an overview of the situation of children in conflict zones and measures taken for their protection. Read our Armed Conflict CRINMAIL here.
{THE LAST WORD}
"The second cycle will prove to be a moment of truth for many"
President of the Human Rights Council, Ambassador Laura Dupuy Lasserre, speaking ahead of the second cycle of the Universal Periodic Review.
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