29 September 2006 - CRC CRINMAIL 3
43rd session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child
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- Committee on the Rights of the Child closes its 43rd session - session reports
- Committee on the Rights of the Child issues its Concluding Observations
- Day of General Discussion: Recommendations on the Child's Right to be Heard
- Day of General Discussion: Children and Young People's Forum
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This list provides specific information on the work of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Updates are sent during CRC sessions and on an ad hoc basis. Please feel free to forward these updates to others who may be interested. To contribute, email us at [email protected].
If you do not receive this email in html format, you will not be able to see some hyperlinks in the text. At the end of each item we have therefore provided a full URL linking to a web page where further information is available.
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Committee on the Rights of the Child closes its 43rd session - session reports
The 43rd session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child is closing today. The session started on Monday, 11th September. On Friday, 15th, the Committee held its annual Day of General Discussion. This year's topic focused on article 12: the child's right to be heard.
During this session, the Committee received government delegations from Benin, Ethiopia, Ireland, Jordan, Kiribati, Oman, Republic of Congo, Samoa, Senegal, Swaziland to discuss ways of improving the child rights situation in their respective countries.
The Committee also examined the status of implementation of the two Optional Protocols of the Convention on the Rights of the Child for: Denmark, Syria, Vietnam (OP on the sale of children) and Kazakhstan, Malta, Vietnam (OP on children and armed conflict).
Summaries of the 43rd session by country have been produced by the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The following country summaries are already available: Benin - Ethiopia - Ireland - Kiribati - Oman - Republic of Congo - Samoa - Senegal - Swaziland - Denmark (OPSC) - Kazakhstan (OPAC) - Syria (OPSC) - Vietnam (OPSC / OPAC). The remaining summaries (Malta and Jordan) will be posted on CRIN's CRC news page as soon as they become available.
During the third week, the Committee held closed meetings in order to take time to draft its Recommendations, or "Concluding Observations", to States reporting at this session. Committee members also needed some time to discuss various issues, including: the theme of next year's Day of General Discussion, the drafting of new General Comments (child participation, children and disability, and indigenous children), and the modalities of the forthcoming regional workshops on follow-up to the Committee's Concluding Observations. The Committee reconvened in a public meeting today, in order to close the 43rd session and present its Concluding Observations (see next item).
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=10417
Further information
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Committee on the Rights of the Child issues its Concluding Observations
The following Concluding Observations to the States parties reports considered at the 43rd Session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child are available (in English) on the website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. French and Spanish versions are forthcoming.
CRC
OPTIONAL PROTOCOLS
For more information, contact:
Committee on the Rights of the Child
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
8-14 Avenue de la Paix, CH 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Tel: + 41 22 917 9000; Fax: + 41 22 917 9022
Website: http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc
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Day of General Discussion: Recommendations on the Child's Right to be Heard
[GENEVA, 15 September 2006] - Over 30 children and young people from around the world attended this year's Day of General Discussion, on 15th September, in Geneva. It is the first time such a large number of under-18s are able to participate in the Committee's annual debate.
This year’s discussion focused on the child’s right to be heard which is expressed in Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. As well as children, the event is bringing together members of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, NGOs, UN agencies, governments and other interested experts to identify priority issues, share good practice and issue recommendations.
The discussion day was opened by Jaap Doek, Chair of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, who said that “children and young people are the rights owners of the CRC, it is their treaty. All articles are important, but article 12 is of special importance because it should be an integral part of all other articles.”
Key note speeches were delivered by Moushira Khatab (Member of the Committee on the Rights of the Child), Victor Karunan (UNICEF) and some of the young people attending the discussion day. One of the young participants from Bangladesh said that in coming to Geneva she had met children from around the world to discuss the issues they face and realised that children everywhere face similar problems. She therefore asked the Committee to consider the following requests from the group of young people, including:
- the need to have child friendly environments so that we are not afraid of adults;
- adults should treat us as children and also respect us as children and value our opinions equally;
- we need a complete separate child friendly juvenile system and courts;
- there should be a child and advisory committee working in parallel to ensure the Committee is made aware of children's issues and monitor the work of the Committee at regular intervals.
Following the plenary, participants divided into two working groups. The first one looking at the child’s right to be heard in judicial and administrative procedures. Such proceedings could relate to civil and criminal law, family and alternative care, protection, health, immigration status and schooling. See report from working group 1
The second working group was to discuss children as active participants in society, including the child’s right to express views in various settings such as the family, school, associations and politics, and become active participants in decision making processes in these settings. See report from working group 2
When both working groups reconvened at 5pm, Jaap Doek spoke of the role of the discussion in furthering children’s participation. He commented that the work on Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is not something that can be achieved overnight; it is a long process because it involves changing attitudes at all levels of society. He said today’s discussion was an opportunity for advocates and other child rights professionals, UN agencies, NGOs and children themselves to express their views, experiences and concerns about children’s participation to the Committee. The Committee has no magic bullet, he said, but it does have an ongoing responsibility to remind States of their obligations.
The Recommendations - published today - will be sent to governments who are expected to take them seriously and make them part of policies and programmes. “Are they going to do this? I am not sure, but you are there to, if necessary, knock them over the head with these recommendations,” Doek told participants. “Children’s rights, despite all the lip-service, are not automatically translated into practice and it is the responsibility of all of us to work on this. These recommendations are an instrument for you.”
The next step of this process is the elaboration of a General Comment in which the Committee further explains to governments what they are supposed to do to implement Article 12. This document must be drafted in close consultation with NGOs and children across the world.
Further information
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Day of General Discussion: Children and Young People's Forum
An Interagency Planning group, comprising Save the Children, ECPAT International, Plan International, IFCO, CRIN and UNICEF, organised a two-day preparatory forum for the children attending the Day of General Discussion on 13 to 14 September in Geneva.
The objective of the Forum was to:
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Support children and young people to influence policy makers on the application of a child’s right to be heard
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Support the higher visibility of children and young people and their issues in the Day of General Discussion
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Support a process in which children and young people can shape the opportunities for their participation presented by the Day of General Discussion
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Support and promote the amplification of children’s voices through their own channels such as children’s media initiatives, CRIN, Voices of Youth etc
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Continue efforts to increase the accountability of governments and duty bearers in terms of reporting to the Committee on the Rights of the Child and, in particular, on Article 12
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Facilitate opportunities to enable children and young people to develop a plan of action for mobilising children’s participation within their countries to influence the General Comment.
The children met with Committee members and learnt about the work of the Committee; they shared stories and experiences on child participation and best practice in their countries; they discussed the child’s right to be heard in judicial and administrative proceedings and the issue of children as active participants in society; they prepared and delivered key meesages to the Committee on the Rights o the Child. CRIN attended and documented the Children and Young People's Forum:
Day 1: Programme (13 September)
Day 2: Programme (14 September)
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=10148
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