16 May 2008 - CRINMAIL CRC 14
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**INTERVIEW** Committee member Nevena Vučković �ahović
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To view this CRINMAIL online, visit: http://www.crin.org/email/crinmail_detail.asp?crinmailID=2775
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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48th Session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child [event]
Français / Español
The 48th Session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child will take place in May -June 2008 at the Palais Wilson in Geneva, Switzerland.
The Committee will examine reports from the Bulgaria, Eritrea, Georgia, Serbia and Sierra Leone on their implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child .
In addition, the Committee will review reports on the implementation of the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography (OPSC) from the Republic of Korea and the United States and reports on the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (OPAC) for the Philippines, the Republic of Korea and the United States.
A special CRC news page devoted to the activities of the Committee on the Rights of the Child has been set up on the CRIN website in partnership with the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The page provides summaries of the Committee sessions by country, UN press releases, NGO press releases, information about the Day of General Discussion, Decisions, General Comments and other activities of the Committee.
States Parties reports submitted by governments to the Committee on the Rights of the Child are available in English, French and Spanish on the website of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Word and PDF formats.
Alternative 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. The reports can also be searched by country, Committee session or by organisation. Note that alternative reports are posted on the CRIN website as they are received.
Further information
For more information, contact:
UN OHCHR - Committee on the Rights of the Child
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
CH 1211 Geneva 10
Tel: +41 22 917 9000 ; Fax: +41 22 917 9022
Website: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/index.htm
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=17249
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SUBMISSIONS: State Reports and Alternative Reports
States Parties reports submitted by governments to the Committee on the Rights of the Child are available in English, French and Spanish on the website of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
Alternative 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. The reports can also be searched by country, Committee session or by organisation. Note that Alternative Reports are posted on the CRIN website as they are received.
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GENERAL REPORTING
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Bulgaria - Second Periodic Report (CRC/C/BGR/2)
The State report is accessible in English, French, and Spanish on the OHCHR website.
Alternative reports
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Eritrea - Second and Third Consolidated Periodic Report (CRC/C/ERI/3)
The State report is accessible in English, French, and Spanish on the OHCHR website .
Alternative reports
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Georgia - Third Periodic Report (CRC/C/GEO/3)
The State report is accessible in English, French, and Spanish on the OHCHR website.
Alternative reports
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Serbia - Initial Report (CRC/C/SRB/1)
The State report is accessible in English, French, and Spanish on the OHCHR website.
Alternative reports
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Sierra Leone - Second Periodic Report (CRC/C/SLE/2)
The State report is accessible in English, French, and Spanish on the OHCHR website.
Alternative reports
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OPTIONAL PROTOCOLS
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Republic of Korea - Initial OPSC Report (CRC/C/OPSC/KOR/1)
The State report is accessible in English, French, and Spanish on the OHCHR website.
Alternative reports
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USA - Initial OPSC Report (CRC/C/OPSC/USA/1)
The State report is accessible in English, French, and Spanish on the OHCHR website.
Alternative reports
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Republic of Korea - Initial OPAC Report (CRC/C/OPAC/KOR/1)
The report is accessible in English, French, and Spanish on the OHCHR website.
Alternative reports
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USA - Initial OPAC Report (CRC/C/OPAC/USA/1)
The report is accessible in English, French, and Spanish on the OHCHR website.
Alternative reports
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Philippines - Initial OPAC Report (CRC/C/OPAC/PHL/1)
The report is accessible in English, French, and Spanish on the OHCHR website.
Alternative reports
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DAY OF GENERAL DISCUSSION 2008: Children's right to education in emergencies [event]
The Committee on the Rights of the Child has decided to devote its next Day of General Discussion (DGD) to children's right to education in emergencies - articles 28 and 29 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The meeting will be held at the Palais Wilson in Geneva, Switzerland, on Friday, 19 September 2008 from 10:00-18:00. Read the full outline.
The purpose of the Days of General Discussion is to foster a deeper understanding of the contents and implications of the Convention in relation to specific articles or topics. After the discussion the Committee adopts recommendations, taking into account the issues raised.
The right to education is set out in articles 28 and 29 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and a number of other international instruments. The 2008 Day of General Discussion is intended to provide States and other actors with more comprehensive guidance as to their obligations to promote and protect the right to education as outlined in articles 28 and 29.
Representatives of Governments, United Nations human rights mechanisms, United Nations bodies and specialised agencies, non-governmental organisations, national human rights institutions, children and experts are welcome to take part.
Participants will split into two working groups to discuss the issue (please see the outline for more details on the two working groups and their respective sub-themes):
Working Group 1: Continuation and/or reconstruction of the educational system
Working Group 2: Content and quality of education provided for children in emergency situations
NGO contributions
NGOs and children are invited to submit written contributions on the themes mentioned above to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) as soon as possible. The Committee requests that written contributions be limited to a maximum of seven pages. Although documents may be submitted in English, French or Spanish, they will not be translated into the other languages. Oral contributions from NGOs are also welcome during the day itself but should be limited to interventions in the debate rather than formal statements. Guidelines and additional information are available here: http://www.crin.org/docs/guidelines_DGG_08.doc
Deadline for submissions: 27 June 2008
NGO submissions will be posted on the CRIN website when they are received.
Registration
As the meeting is open to the public, written invitations will not be issued by the United Nations or the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child. For security reasons and due to limited space, attendance at the meeting requires advance registration. For this reason, please also note that organisations are strongly encouraged to limit participation in this event to a maximum of three representatives.
As this is a public meeting of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, there is neither a registration fee, nor does the Committee send out individual invitations. The United Nations is not able to provide assistance with visa, travel or accommodation arrangements. Participants are responsible for all expenses and arrangements related to their participation in the discussion day.
Download the registration form
Registration deadline: 15 July 2008
More information
For registration and to submit written contributions, please contact:
Secretariat, Committee on the Rights of the Child
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Email: [email protected]
If you have any questions about NGO contributions, please contact Lisa Myers:
NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child
Email: [email protected]
Other information
UN OHCHR - Committee on the Rights of the Child
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
CH 1211 Geneva 10
Tel: +41 22 917 9000
Website: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/index.htm
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ELECTIONS [news]
Elections to the Committee on the Rights of the Child take place in New York, during the month of December, every two years. Committee members are elected for a term of four years.
See a list of the current members, and when their membership expires
The NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child has produced a factsheet on the election process.
Read the factsheet here
It includes information on who can be nominated, how and when. The factsheet also includes information on NGO involvment. Although NGOs cannot nominate candidates, they can play a role in lobbying their State Party to nominate a good candidate who meets the criteria.
Visit: http://crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=17346
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UNITED KINGDOM: Campaign to remove CRC reservation [news]
Below is a press release from the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture.
[9 May 2008] - After many years of pressure from NGOs, international human rights monitors and Parliament itself, a public consultation over the removal of the UK's general reservation against the Convention on the Rights of the Child is now underway.
The Medical Foundation strongly advocates the removal of this unlawful "self-exemption" from the UK’s international obligations to immigrant children.
The general reservation states that: "The United Kingdom reserves the right to apply such legislation, in so far as it relates to the entry into, stay in and departure from the UK of those who do not have the right under the law of the UK to enter and remain in the UK, and to the acquisition and possession of citizenship, as it may deem necessary from time to time."
Read the full list of all State parties' reservations to the Convention.
The consultation is timely, as the Committee on the Rights of the Child will this year scrutinise the UK’s record of compliance with the Convention's obligations.
So how does the reservation affect child survivors of torture? According to the Border and Immigration Agency (BIA), it "allows the UK to apply its immigration laws without having them interpreted in light of the UN Convention". In other words, it allows blanket discrimination against foreign national children in the interests of so called "effective immigration control".
A fundamental principle of the Convention is contained in Article 2 which prohibits discrimination against any child irrespective of nationality, race, or any other status. Article 3 further states that in all decisions relating to a child, their best interests shall be a primary consideration. This has been held by the courts to mean starting at least equal with all other considerations.
Reservation 'violates international law'
Parliament, senior lawyers and international observers have found the reservation to be a violation of international law. As a result, the protection of children is undermined in a situation where they are likely to be at their most vulnerable and require more care and protection, not less.
Much of the most controversial policy and practice used by the Home Office has a direct effect on our child clients. They are subject to detention and forced removal; threats to withdraw already inadequate levels of welfare support; variable standards of care provided to separated children by many local authorities; and the persistent failure of the Home Office and the appeals tribunal to address their international protection needs in accordance with their best interests and procedural rights.
New policies reducing discretionary leave from 18 to 17½, the development of a forced removals programme sending children back to institutionalised care abroad, and the removal of children over 16 from their foster carers, are built on false assumptions that a child is able to function independently as an adult at the age of 16, even if they have suffered horrendous experiences along the way.
Even the draft Statutory Code of Practice to keep children safe from harm excludes any duties to consider their well-being and development.
The UK and European courts have already held that the Convention has to be considered in immigration decisions, and a balancing exercise is required for any case where removal will interfere with private and family life under the European Convention on Human Rights.
That the Home Office has now asked the question is encouraging. The UK played a major part in bringing the Convention into being.
The reservation states that it will be applied as is deemed necessary "from time to time". That time has now passed. New European asylum directives signed by the UK without reservation require that the best interests principle is a primary consideration.
It is paramount to send a clear message that the UK finally recognises its full responsibilities by formally and publicly removing the reservation. An act which at least for children would be every bit as important as the coming in to force of the Human Rights Act 1998.
For Medical Foundation clients and all other children who have suffered serious harm, Article 39 of the Convention can then be demonstrably implemented to the fullest effect: "States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to promote physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration of a child victim of: any form of neglect, exploitation, or abuse; torture or any other form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; or armed conflicts. Such recovery and reintegration shall take place in an environment which fosters the health, self-respect and dignity of the child."
Further information
For more information, contact:
Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture
111 Isledon Road
Islington, London, N7 7JW, UK
Tel: +44 (0)20 7697 7777
Fax: 020 7697 7799
Website: http://www.torturecare.org.uk/
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=17256
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**INTERVIEW** Committee member Nevena Vučković �ahović
CRIN interviewed Nevena for our 'From the Frontline' series, published in fortnightly Tuesday CRINMAILs. Read the interview here
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