23 February 2007 - CRINMAIL CRC 8
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- Day of General Discussion 2007: Resources for the Rights of the Child - Responsibility of States
- Results of the 2007 elections to the Committee on the Rights of the Child
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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].
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Day of General Discussion 2007: Resources for the Rights of the Child - Responsibility of States
Date: 21 September 2007
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
The Committee on the Rights of the Child has decided to devote its next day of general discussion to the theme of resources for the rights of the child - responsibility of States which will focus on investments for the implementation of economic, social and cultural rights of children (CRC article 4). The meeting will take place at the Palais Wilson in Geneva, Switzerland, on Friday, 21 September 2007 from 10:00-18:00.
The meeting is open to representatives of non-governmental organisations, children and their organisations/networks, UN programmes and agencies, governments and other interested individuals, experts and organisations. An outline of the issues to be discussed is available here.
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 will be available shortly on the OHCHR website at http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/discussion.htm.
Written contributions should be sent electronically to [email protected].
Submission deadline: 25 June 2007.
NGO submissions to the 2007 Day of General Discussion will be posted on CRIN's website as they become available.
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. Please note that there is no funding available for travel expenses either from the United Nations or the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child and no assistance can be given for visas, travel or accommodation arrangements.
Registration deadline: 15 August 2007. To register, please complete the registration form before this date. Registration forms will be available soon at http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/docs/day-register.doc
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=12603
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 regarding NGO contributions, please contact:
Laura Theytaz-Bergman
NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child
Email: [email protected]
Other information
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Results of the 2007 elections to the Committee on the Rights of the Child
The eleventh meeting of State parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child was held in New York on 21 February 2007 to elect members to the Committee which monitors the treaty's implementation. The new members will replace the nine current members whose terms expire on 28 February 2007. In four rounds of voting, five of the Committee’s members were re-elected, and four new members were elected. Their terms will all start on 1 March 2007.
The Committee on the Rights of the Child is composed of 18 independent experts with recognised competence in the field of human rights. Members are elected for a term of four years by States parties in accordance with article 45 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Members serve in their personal capacity and may be re-elected if nominated.
Five members, Mr. Krappmann (Germany), Mr. Kotrane (Tunisia), Ms. Khattab (Egypt), Mr. Filali (Algeria) and Ms. Ortiz (Paraguay) all ran for re-election and were re-elected in the first round of voting. Mr. Krappmann received the highest number of votes with 131 out of a possible 188. Mr. Kotrane received 120 votes; Ms. Khattab received 116 votes; Mr. Filali received 101 votes; and Ms. Ortiz received 100 votes. The required majority was 95 votes. This is a second term for all members except for Ms. Khattab who has been a member of the Committee since 2002. Mr. Doek (Netherlands), Ms. Anderson (Jamaica), and Ms. Ouedraogo (Burkina Faso) did not run for re-election and the government of Argentina withdrew the nomination of Mr. Liwiski in November.
New Committee members elected in the first round included Mr. Dainius Puras (Lithuania) with 105 votes and Mr. Luigi Citarella (Italy), a former member of the Committee from 2001-2005, with 107 votes. The second round of voting was limited to four candidates and no candidate reached a majority of votes. In the third round of voting, Ms. Agnes Akosua Aidoo (Ghana) was elected with 100 votes out of a possible 179. In the fourth and final round of voting, Ms. Maria Herczog (Hungary) was elected with 101 votes out of a possible 173. The other two candidates who reached the second and third rounds were Ms. Marta Mauras Perez (Chile) and Ms. Lidija Topic (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Ms. Perez, having received the fewest votes in the third round, did not proceed to the fourth and final round of voting.
Committee members, who were not up for re-election and remain on the Committee through February 2009, are Ms. Al-Thani (Qatar), Ms. Aluoch (Kenya), Ms. Lee (Republic of Korea), Mr. Parfitt (Canada), Mr. Pollar (Uganda), Mr. Siddiqui (Bangladesh), Ms. Smith (Norway), Ms. Vuckovic-Sahovic (Serbia), and Mr. Zermatten (Switzerland).
The new regional breakdown of the eighteen members, based on the UN classification system, includes six members from Africa, five from the Western European and other group, three from Asia, one from Latin America and three from Eastern Europe. This shows that the Eastern European Group benefited to the detriment of the Latin Americans. A further breakdown of the regions shows that of the six Africans, three are from North Africa, two are from English speaking East Africa and one is from English speaking West Africa. The WEOG members include four members from Northern Europe, one member from Southern Europe and one from North America. The Asians include one from the Gulf region, one from South Asia and one from East Asia. This further breakdown shows that although all regions are represented, there is overrepresentation of Africa and Europe and an under-representation of Latin America.
The professional expertise of the four new members is varied. Ms. Aidoo is a former UNICEF representative and is presently an independent consultant. Mr. Citarella is a lawyer who is currently an expert consultant of the Inter-ministerial Committee for Human Rights for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy. Ms. Herczog is a University lecturer and researcher in the field of child welfare and child protection. Dr. Dainius is the head of the Center of Child Psychiatry and Social Pediatrics at Vilnius University. All four of the new members have experience working with national NGOs. Two mention having done some work for UNICEF (Aidoo, Herczog).
A short summary of the background information of all the Committee members will be available in early March.
Biographical data on the new members is available on the OHCHR website.
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=12606
For more information, contact:
NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child
1 rue Varembé, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland
Tel: + 41 22 740 47 30; Fax: + 41 22 740 1145
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.crin.org/NGOGroupforCRC
Further information
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