CRINmail 139
Children's Rights at the United Nations
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March is a busy time at the United Nations. The Human Rights Council held its annual day on the rights of the child during the 28th session, and other experts reported on their work, including several focusing on children's rights. This edition provides an update on some of the key outcomes from the Council’s session for children’s rights and other happenings at the UN.
CRIN was reporting live from the session, read the daily updates:
Day one round-up [9 March 2015]
Day two round-up [10 March 2015]
Day three round up [11 March 2015]
Day four round-up - annual day on the rights of the child [12 March 2015]
Following this year's discussion on "better investment in the rights of the child", a resolution was adopted which urges States to ensure that national laws and policies are translated into “transparent, participatory and accountable budgets” for the promotion and protection of children’s rights.
The resolution also includes the decision by the HRC to focus next year’s annual day on the rights of the child on “Information and communications technology and child sexual exploitation” and requests the OHCHR to prepare a report on that issue.
Read our special CRINmail on this year’s annual day.
Read CRIN’s submission to OHCHR’s report on better investment in rights of the child.
The Council created two new mandates for a period of three years:
The Council also elected four mandate holders:
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Albert Kwokwo Barume from the Democratic Republic of the Congo as the African member of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
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Idriss Jazairy from Algeria as the Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights.
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Rhona Smith from the United Kingdom as the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia.
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Dante Pesce from Chile as the Latin American and Caribbean Member of the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises.
Human rights abuses committed by Islamic State (also called Da’esh) were at the centre of discussions over the situation in Libya, Iraq and Syria.
In a resolution on Libya, the Council requested the High Commissioner to urgently dispatch a mission to investigate violations and abuses of international human rights law in Libya by the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Da’esh in Libya) and other terrorist organisations with a view to ensuring full accountability.
The Independent International Commissions of Inquiry (COI) on Syria and Eritrea presented updates to the Council, followed by interactive dialogues with States and non-governmental organisations.
The COI on Eritrea, established by the Council to examine alleged human rights violations since the country gained independence in 1993, has found “very clear patterns” of violations and abuses.
Presenting the Commission’s interim report, Mike Smith, Chair of the Commission, said that in Eritrea national service is universal and of an indefinite duration. From the age of 17, Eritreans could expect to spend their lives in national service, struggling to live on less than two dollars a day.
For Eritreans, Mr. Smith said, “detention is an ordinary fact of life, experienced by an inordinate number of individuals – men and women, old and young, including children.” Detention centres range from official to the unofficial, located above ground or underground. Some have metal containers where prisoners are kept in extreme heat.
“Once in one of them, there is a likelihood that you will be subject to torture to extract a confession or to simply punish behaviours,” he added.
The Council adopted a new resolution calling on Syria to allow the COI to continue its work documenting violations and abuses of human rights committed by all parties in the country's conflict.
The resolution renews the mandate of the COI for another 12 months and states that the Commission will examine indiscriminate attacks and the deliberate targeting of protected civilians.
The UN, and particularly the Security Council, has been widely castigated for its inaction on Syria. To mark the grim fourth anniversary of the war in Syria, CRIN published a piece that looks at the issue of impunity and what is being done around the world to hold perpetrators responsible for human rights violations committed during the conflict in Syria. Read the full article here.
The Council asked the OHCHR to prepare a number of studies including one on the impact of the world drug problem on the enjoyment of human rights and on combating intolerance, negative stereotyping and stigmatization of, and discrimination, incitement to violence and violence against, persons based on religion or belief.
During the Council’s session, 14 States had their UPR reports adopted (from the 20th session of the UPR held from 27 October to 7 November 2014):
Italy, El Salvador, Gambia, Bolivia, Fiji, San Marino, Kazakhstan, Angola, Iran, Iraq, Madagascar, Slovenia, Egypt and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
CRIN is compiling extracts featuring child rights issues from the reports - including the National report, the Compilation of UN information and the Summary of stakeholder information. Here is a snapshot of issues raised for each State:
During the review of Egypt, the National Human Rights Commission called on the Government to take action in several key areas, and to adopt a new law on demonstrations, strengthen efforts to combat terrorism, and cancel all laws which restrict individual freedoms.
During the review of Bosnia and Herzegovina, speakers urged the establishment of a national preventive mechanism on torture, and the adoption of an Action Plan on Anti-Discrimination, and raised concerns about the increase of attacks on journalists, the recent adoption of the Law on Public Order by Republika Srpska, and discrimination on multiple grounds, including based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
During the review of Kazakhstan, speakers shared concerns about legal restrictions on freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, and on the work of human rights defenders.
During the review of Angola, speakers regretted that the State had rejected the recommendations to refrain from using criminal defamation laws to restrict the right to freedom of expression.
During the review of Iran, speakers called for further efforts to protect and empower women. Speakers also expressed concerns about the use of the death penalty, about restrictions on freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly and the situation of ethnic and religious minorities.
During the review of Iraq speakers voiced concern about human rights violations by all parties in Iraq, deplored the widespread atrocities committed by Islamic State, and called on Iraq to hold all perpetrators, including the Shi’a militias, accountable for abuses they perpetrated. The Government was urged to address the rampant use of torture and ill-treatment.
During the review of Madagascar, speakers raised concerns about corruption, the situation of street children, and cruel and inhumane treatment inflicted on prisoners.
Speakers encouraged Slovenia to continue its efforts for the promotion of gender equality and for combatting violence against women and human trafficking.
Italy was encouraged to make further efforts to protect the rights of migrants and combat gender discrimination and violence. Speakers also called for stronger measures to prevent hate speech, racial violence and discrimination, and xenophobia.
Speakers expressed serious concerns to El Salvador about its draconian abortion laws, which criminalised abortion on all grounds including danger to a woman or girl’s life or in cases of rape or incest.
Speakers called on Bolivia to decriminalise abortion and to implement judicial reform.
During the review of Fiji, concerns were expressed about restrictions on the media and freedom of expression, and Fiji was urged to facilitate a visit by the Special Rapporteur on Torture.
During the review of San Marino, the State was encouraged to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers and the Convention on Enforced Disappearances.
The international community must act “collectively and expeditiously” to thwart the growing number of children affected by armed conflicts”, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon declared at the the Security Council’s open debate on children and armed conflict.
Mr. Ban observed that since he last addressed the Council on the issue in 2014, hundreds of thousands more children had been confronted with the emergence or intensification of conflict, while UN agencies on the ground were verifying more and more cases of child abductions by armed groups.
Overall, an estimated 230 million children reside in countries and areas where armed groups are fighting and up to 15 million children were impacted by the violence.
Also addressing the Council, Leila Zerrougui, SRSG for Children and Armed Conflict, lamented the growing challenges facing the international community “despite the consensus and our combined efforts to spare children the horrors of war.”
She noted that out of the 59 parties documented as having committed violations against children, 51 were non-State actors.
Echoing her point, Yoka Brandt, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director, emphasised that voicing outrage was “not enough” but that the international community’s words “must be matched by action to prevent violations of child rights.”
The 69th session of Committee on the Rights of the Child will open on 18 May 2015 to review the following States:
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Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Honduras, Mexico, Nepal, Netherlands under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
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Honduras, Israel, Lao People's Democratic Republic under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children child prostitution and child pornography
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Honduras, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Nepal, Netherlands under the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict.
You can find the provisional agenda of the session and other relevant documents on the website of the Committee.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is calling for submissions on “consequences arising at various stages of the imposition and application of the death penalty on the enjoyment of the human rights of those facing the death penalty and other affected persons”.
Send your submission by 17 April to: [email protected]
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Human Rights Committee: 5 June 2015 for the review of Canada, France, Spain, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Crown Dependencies), United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Overseas Territory), Uzbekistan, Venezuela.
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Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: 11 May 2015 for the review of Chile, Ireland, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Thailand, Uganda and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
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Committee Against Torture: 6 April 2015 for the review of Colombia, Congo, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain and The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
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Committee on Migrant Workers: 20 March 2015 for the review of Kyrgyzstan, Peru, Sri Lanka and Uganda.
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The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: 10 April 2015 for the review of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, France, Germany, Guatemala and Sudan.
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Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes: Kazakhstan from 26 March to 8 April;
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Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief: Lebanon from 23 March to 2 April;
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Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism: Senegal from 7 to 17 April;
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Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance: Greece from 4 to 17 April;
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Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography: Armenia from 11 to 18 May and Japan from 1 to 10 September;
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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: Serbia from 18 to 26 May;
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Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent: Italy from 1 to 5 June;
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Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice: Hungary from 1 to 11 September.
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Closing
Despite the many claims of support for the promotion and protection of children’s rights, State delegations at the annual day on the rights of child of the Human Rights Council (HRC) seemed to have forgotten that children’s rights exist for children living today, and not in “our future leaders”.
State delegates speaking at today’s annual day on the rights of the child generally spoke of children as “our future” to justify the investment in children’s rights. But, the prevailing view of children primarily as a long-term investment paints them more as an opportunity to buy shares in the development of a country, rather than as children now, with human rights now.
So as a friendly reminder of a human rights imperative, children’s rights matter for the quality of their lives today, as well as their lives tomorrow.
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