CRINMAIL 716 - Special Edition on the 40th Session of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

27 September 2005 - CRINMAIL 716 - Special Edition on the 40th Session of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

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- SESSION SUMMARIES: Australia, Algeria, Uganda, China [news]

- ALTERNATIVE REPORTS: NGO Reports to the 40th Session [reports]

- DAY OF GENERAL DISCUSSION: Children without Parental Care [event]

- CANADA: Government Ratifies Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children [news]

- CONVENTION ON THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD: Interdisciplinary Conference [second and final call for papers]

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Your submissions are welcome if you are working in the area of child rights. To contribute, email us at [email protected]. Adobe Acrobat is required for viewing some of the documents, and if required can be downloaded from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html 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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- SESSION SUMMARIES: Australia, Algeria, Uganda, China [news]

The Committee has so far examined reports from Australia, Algeria, Uganda, China, Finland and Denmark. The NGO Group for the Convention of the Rights of the Child is producing summaries of the Committee sessions for each country. These are being made available on the CRIN website, on a news page devoted to the activities of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Visit: http://www.crin.org/CRCnews

Reports for Australia, Algeria, Uganda, China/Hong Kong/Macao are already available at the following links:

Australia: http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?ID=6235

Algeria: http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?ID=6241

Uganda: http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?ID=6236

China: http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?ID=6243

Hong Kong: http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?ID=6244

Macao: http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?ID=6245

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- ALTERNATIVE REPORTS: NGO Reports to the 40th Session [reports]

Reports submitted by NGOs to the Committee on the Rights of the Child are made available on the CRIN website, in partnership with the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child. These reports are known as NGO Alternative Reports.

The reports are submitted in accordance with article 45(a) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states that "The Committee may invite the specialised agencies, the United Nations Children's Fund and other competent bodies as it may consider appropriate to provide expert advice on the implementation of the Convention in areas falling within the scope of their respective mandates."

The reports can be searched by country, CRC session or by NGO on the CRIN website, at: http://www.crin.org/resources/treaties/CRC.asp?catName=International+Tre...

To view NGO Alternative reports for the 40th Session, visit the CRIN website: http://www.crin.org/resources/treaties/list.asp?ID=44&type=session

To view NGO alternative reports for all sessions, visit the CRIN website at:

http://www.crin.org/docs/resources/treaties/crc.25/annex-vi-crin.shtml

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- DAY OF GENERAL DISCUSSION: Children without Parental Care [event]

The Day of General Discussion on Children without Parental Care took place during session 40, on Friday 16th September, at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. It attracted some 250 participants from civil society organisations and government departments as well as young people.

The Committee will draft some Recommendations on Children without Parental Care, based on that discussion, as well as all the contributions and statements given by organisations and other participants to the Discussion Day. Once published, the Recommendations will be announced in CRINMAIL.

Written contributions submitted by NGOs to the Committee on the Rights of the Child are available on the CRIN website at: http://www.crin.org/docs/resources/treaties/crc.40/Discussion.asp

Oral statements as well as reports for the morning and afternoon sessions will be made available on that page as soon as they become available.

For more information, contact:

Secretariat, Committee on the Rights of the Child

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, UNOG-OHCHR

CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/discussion.htm

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- CANADA: Government Ratifies Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children [news]

[15 September 2005] - Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew and Minister of Justice and Attorney General Irwin Cotler announced last week that Canada had ratified the United Nations' Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography. The ratification took place on Thursday, 15th September in New York, on the margins of the UN 2005 World Summit.

"By ratifying the Optional Protocol, we are reaffirming the commitment we made at the 2002 UN General Assembly's Special Session on Children," said Minister Pettigrew. "The ratification also signals Canada's ongoing resolve to work with the international community on the protection of children. We encourage other states to sign and ratify the Optional Protocol."

"The protection of children is an overriding priority and principle for us," stated Minister Cotler. "It does not stop with our commitments arising from the ratification of the Protocol. We will continue to combat the exploitation of our children - the most vulnerable of the vulnerable - as reflected in two recent legislative initiatives, one relating to the protection of children from all forms of violence and abuse, and the other relating to trafficking in persons."

The Optional Protocol requires States parties to prohibit child prostitution, child pornography and the sale of children through criminal or penal legislation; to enhance international co-operation; to seize and confiscate goods used in the commission of these offences; to develop related public awareness measures; and to implement measures for the rehabilitation of child victims of these offences. Canada has complied with all binding obligations imposed on States parties, addressing these obligations through legislation, programs and policies within federal, provincial and territorial jurisdiction. This includes comprehensive Criminal Code prohibitions protecting children from abduction, kidnapping, abuse and sexual exploitation including child pornography and child prostitution.

The Optional Protocol was adopted by the UN General Assembly on May 25, 2000, and entered into force on 18 January 2002. As of 1 September 2005, there were 99 states party to the Optional Protocol.

For more information, contact:

Email: [email protected]

Visit: http://sen.parl.gc.ca/lpearson

To view the status of ratification of the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, go to:

http://www.ohchr.org/english/countries/ratification/11_c.htm

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- CONVENTION ON THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD: Interdisciplinary Conference [second and final call for papers]

Date: 18-19 May 2006

Location: Ghent, Belgium

The Belgian InterUniversity Attraction Poles (IAP) research network on children's rights is organising an "International Interdisciplinary Conference on Children's Rights: an appraisal of the Children's Rights Convention. Theory meets practice" to be held in Belgium in May 2006.

In 2006, more than fifteen years will have passed since the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child came into force. Since then, many child-related studies in several scientific fields made an attempt to interpret and clarify the meaning and scope of the Convention. Meanwhile, fieldworkers also tried to use the Convention as a tool for securing rights to children.

The conference aims at evaluating the progress and achievements of the Convention, and at exploring the challenges ahead in realising children's rights. It will in particular do so by creating an open forum where academics can meet and exchange views with other professionals, dealing with children's rights in a more practical way.

Major sub-themes of the conference include: (1) enforcement of the UNCRC at international, regional and domestic level, (2) the right to (human rights) education, (3) rights of children in especially difficult circumstances such as refugee children and children belonging to minorities, (4) juvenile justice and detention, (5) participation rights of children, (6) children's right to life, health and health care, (7) children's rights in relation to their family, and (8) exploitation of children.

The keynote speakers will be some of the world's leading experts on children's rights: Jaap Doek (Chairperson UN Committee on the Rights of the Child), Katarina Tomasevski (Special Rapporteur of the UN Commission on Human Rights on the right to education 1998-2004), Nigel Cantwell (International child protection consultant, founder DCI), Jean Trépanier (Professor at the Centre international de criminologie comparée of the University of Montréal). Emeritus Professor Eugeen Verhellen (Founder of the Children's Rights Centre at Ghent University) will also participate in the conference.

New submission deadline for papers: 30 November 2005

For more information, contact:

Marie Delplace, Human Rights Centre

University of Ghent, Universiteitstraat 4, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium

Tel: + 32 9 264 69 56; Fax: + 32 9 264 69 95

Email: [email protected]

Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=5449&flag=event

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