20 January 2006 Rights CRINMAIL 19
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- COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD: 41st session [event]
- DISABILITY CONVENTION: 7th session of the Ad Hoc Committee [event]
- COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS: 62nd session and reform [event]
- EDUCATION: Child Rights, Classroom and School Management [course]
- CHILDREN AND VIOLENCE: Post-graduate training programme [course]
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Rights CRINMAIL is a component of a project of the Child Rights Information Network (CRIN). It is published monthly with the purpose of informing and building the community of practitioners in rights-based programming. Your submissions are welcome. To contribute, email us at[email protected].
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COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD: 41st session [event]
The 41st Session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child is currently taking place at the Palais Wilson in Geneva, Switzerland. The session started on Monday 9th January and will end on Friday 27th. For the first time, the Committee is examining States parties reports in two separate chambers. Indeed, at its 59th session (2004), the UN General Assembly agreed to the request of the Committee to work simultaneously in two chambers during 2006, in order to increase the working capacity of the Committee and decrease the existing backlog of reports.
Therefore, at the 41st session, the Committee will examine reports from Azerbaijan, Ghana, Hungary, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Mauritius, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Trinidad and Tobago. It will also examine reports on the implementation of the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography (OPSA) for Andorra, Kazakhstan and Morocco, and reports on the implementation of the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (OPAC) for Andorra, Bangladesh and Switzerland.
Note: the Italian government was scheduled to present its report at the 41st session, but has requested postponement.
States Parties reports
States Parties reports 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
All 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 be searched by country, Committee session or by organisation. Not all alternative reports are available yet. They are posted on the CRIN website as they are received.
News
A special 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 on Days of General Discussion, Decisions, General Comments and other activities of the Committee.
For more information on the Committee, contact:
UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Committee on the Rights of the Child
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
For more information on Alternative Reports, contact:
Laura Theytaz-Bergman, CRC/NGO Liaison Officer
NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child
PO Box 88, CH-1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 740 47 30; Fax: + 41 22 740 1145
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.crin.org/NGOGroupforCRC
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DISABILITY CONVENTION: 7th session of the Ad Hoc Committee [event]
The Seventh session of the Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities is currently taking place in New York. The session opened on Monday 16th January and will close on Friday 3rd February. The aim of the 7th Ad Hoc Committee meeting is to conclude a draft text of the Convention in order to submit it to the General Assembly for its adoption, hopefully at its 61st session.
The Ad Hoc Committee was established by General Assembly Resolution 56/168 of 19 December 2001, with the aim of considering proposals for a Convention to protect and promote the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities. The Resolution also invited States, relevant UN bodies and concerned NGOs to make contributions to the work of the Ad Hoc Committee.
At its 2nd session, in 2003, the Ad Hoc Committee recommended to the General Assembly that a Convention be elaborated, and established a Working Group to prepare a draft text which would be the basis for negotiation in the next sessions. The Committee started its negotiation on a Draft Convention at its 3rd Session in 2004, and has been discussing the draft text since. During the 6th Session, in August 2005, Don MacKay, Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee, said the final text should be ready in a year, hopefully at the 8th session, scheduled to take place in August 2006. 2008 was mentioned as the year when the Convention might go into effect, depending on how many ratifications were obtained.
People with disabilities have argued for many years that disability is a human right, not a welfare issue. Their arguments were finally accepted when the UN, in 2001, agreed to set up an Ad Hoc Committee to consider proposals for a new human rights convention to address the rights of people with disabilities.
The aim of the Convention is not to create new human rights standards. All the rights embodied in the existing human rights treaties apply equally to people with disabilities. The problem lies in their implementation. People with disabilities, for example, are widely denied equal civil rights, rights to family life, recognition of legal capacity and are disproportionately vulnerable to both physical and sexual violence.
Yet any review of the government reports on implementation of the two international covenants reveals a virtual total absence of any acknowledgement of how the rights of people with disabilities are being realised. Furthermore, those violations are not being challenged by the treaty monitoring bodies. In many ways, people with disabilities are rendered invisible. Accordingly, the aim of the new Convention is to introduce obligations on governments to implement existing human rights for people with disabilities on an equal basis with non-disabled people.
[Gerison Lansdown]
More information on the 7th Committee meeting, and background documents
Current status of negotiations, current draft text with revisions and amendments
For regular news updates on disability issues and the drafting of the Convention, visit CRIN's news page
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COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS: 62nd session and reform [event]
Dates: 13 March - 21 April 2006
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
The Commission on Human Rights held a meeting last week in which it elected its bureau for its 2006 session, to be held in March-April this year. Manuel Rodriguez Cuadros of Peru was elected as Chairperson by acclamation. The Vice-Chairpersons elected were Roger Julien Menga of the Congo; Zohrab Mnatsakanian of Armenia; and Paul Meyer of Canada. The Rapporteur elected was Sunu Mahadi Soemarno of Indonesia.
Louise Arbour, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the discussion on the reform of the United Nations human rights system had evolved in a most significant manner, culminating with the World Summit and its outcome document.
Everyone eagerly awaited the outcome of the negotiations on the establishment of a Human Rights Council, which were currently taking place in New York. She strongly valued the Commission's heritage and believed that it should be honoured and carried forward in the most appropriate manner. She also very much hoped that the crucial and defining role that the Commission had had in the field of human rights for six decades would continue to be embodied in the newly-created Council.
Mrs. Arbour said she wished to highlight the crucial role played by the special mechanisms in past decades, a system which was developed by the Commission over the years and which should be transferred to the Human Rights Council when established. The new Council should rightly build on the achievements of the Commission, particularly in preserving and nurturing a particularly close relationship with civil society through national institutions and non-governmental organisations.
It should also be able to address human rights violations wherever there may occur and, in this connection, the setting up of a universal review system might prove to be a valuable tool in reducing the potential for polarisation and politicisation. Another asset would be for the Council to be able to meet more frequently and in an easier manner than in the current setting.
The incoming Chairperson of the Commission, Ambassador Rodriguez Cuadros, said it was a great honour for Peru and for himself to be elected as the Chairperson of the 62nd session of the Commission. The Commission on Human Rights was today perhaps facing the most decisive moment of its existence since it was created in 1948. The contributions of the Commission were many. He hoped that the process leading to the end of this historical cycle of the Commission and to the creation of the Human Rights Council would enhance the human rights protection system, make it more effective and close to the victims, and distance it from any kind of political manipulation.
The outgoing Chairperson of the Commission, Makarim Wibisono of Indonesia, said it had been a great honour to serve as the Chairman of the Commission for the past year, not only due to the vital function of the Commission for the promotion and protection of human rights world-wide, but also because of the historic changes which were affecting this institution.
For more information, visit CRIN's news page on the Commission on Human Rights and the reform of the UN Human Rights system
Visit the website of the Subgroup on the Commission on Human Rights, NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child
Visit the website of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
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EDUCATION: Child Rights, Classroom and School Management [course]
Date: Phase I: 29 May to 16 June 2006 - Phase II: November 2006
Location: Lund, Sweden, and South Africa
International Training Programmes (ITP) are organised by the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (Sida). These programmes aim at enhancing managerial and technical skills in partner countries and cover subjects of strategic importance to economic and social development. Special emphasis is placed on areas in which Sweden has a considerable level of expertise to offer.
Sweden has extensive experience of working with the mainstreaming of democratic governance and human rights in policy, legal instruments and practice and it is actively working to promote the right to education for all. Sida has therefore decided on sponsoring the international training programme "Child Rights, Classroom and School Management" scheduled to take place in 2006 in Sweden and South Africa.
The right to, in and through education will be the guiding principle in this course and the training programme has a child rights based approach. The programme aims to develop the skills and attitudes in favour of rights-based educational work at classroom and school level. The programme gives opportunities to compare and share experiences among the participants from different countries while taking into consideration the Convention of the Rights of the Child, Education for all and other internationally agreed declarations.
The training will be conducted in English. The target group for the training programme are persons working with pedagogical support and pedagogical development, at school level, district level and central level. In addition, the course will also be open for application to professional staff at NGOs working in the field of education and human rights, based in developing countries.
Application deadline: 1 March 2006
For more information, contact:
Richard Stenelo, Programme Co-ordinator
Lund University Education AB
Box 117, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden
Tel: + 46 46 222 07 52; Fax: + 46 46 222 07 50
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.education.lu.se/sida/child
More information here.
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CHILDREN AND VIOLENCE: Post-graduate training programme [course]
Date: 6-11 February 2006
Location: Fribourg, Switzerland
The Institut Universitaire Kurt Bösch (IUKB) is organising the Master of Advanced Studies in Children's Rights (MCR), a two year post-graduate training programme on children's rights. The 5th Module of this year's MCR, takes violence against children as its theme. The international norms and practice relating to the issues of violence against children in the family, trafficking in children, children in armed conflict situations and child sexual exploitation will be examined from a number of different perspectives. In addition to the regular MCR students, a maximum of five persons will be accepted in the module as free auditors.
Application deadline: 31 January 2006
For more information, contact:
Sarah Bruchez, Programme Secretary
Institut Universitaire Kurt Bösch (IUKB)
Master of Advanced Studies in Children's Rights
PO Box 4176 CH - 1950 Sion 4, Switzerland
Tel: + 41 27 205 73 06; Fax: + 41 27 205 73 01
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.iukb.ch
More information here.
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