24 January 2007 - The Secretary-General's Study on Violence against Children 26
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- VIOLENCE: Call for nominations for international NGO representatives [news]
- European launch of the United Nations Study on Violence against Children at the Council of Europe [event]
- "All forms of violence against children must be banned" [news]
- Resources
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This list is the primary means of communication for NGOs interested in the UN Study on Violence Against Children and for the Subgroup on Children and Violence. Updates are sent approximately once a month. Please feel free to forward these updates to others who may be interested.
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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VIOLENCE: Call for nominations for international NGO representatives [news]
In October 2006, the Secretary General’s Study on Violence against Children was presented to the UN General Assembly. The GA asked the Independent Expert to submit to the General Assembly at its 2007 session a report on progress made in the initial phase of the follow-up and to anticipate the necessary strategy for follow-up to the implementation of the study. The Assembly specified this should be done in consultation with the UN and NGOs.
On several occasions Paulo Pinheiro has acknowledged with appreciation the strong support that he received from NGOs during the study process, including their capacity for producing coordinated inputs.
On those same occasions he encouraged the NGOs to reconstitute an advisory body to encourage and maintain NGO involvement at national, regional and international levels in follow-up advocacy with governments, UN agencies and others for full implementation of the UNSG's Study's recommendations. A previous body, the NGO Advisory Panel that was created at the beginning of the study process to support Pinheiro in conducting the study, officially ended its work in October, when the Study was finalised and presented.
NGOs have agreed they should respond positively and in consultation with Paulo Pinheiro and Jaap Doek, decided to start a process to constitute a new NGO Advisory Council.
The new NGO Advisory Council is expected to have 18 members: 9 representatives from national or regional NGOs, “representing” the nine regions designated for regional consultations for the Study, and 9 “international” members selected from international NGOs, with different nomination and selection processes.
Advisory Council members will be selected to ensure a balance of human rights, programmatic, professional and advocacy organisations, as well as to ensure gender and issue balance. There will also be recognition of the need for strong representation accessible to New York and Geneva, where much of the follow-up advocacy, at least in the initial period, will take place.
Members will be appointed as representatives of organisations that are actively involved in work on violence against children and committed to follow-up to the Study.
We are therefore issuing a call for nominations for international representatives. Please use the nomination form which also sets out the role of the Council and the criteria for selection.
Please only use this nomination form for candidates for the 9 international seats on the Advisory Council. Regional representatives will be selected through a regional process.
Nominations are invited by 23 February 2007 and should be sent to: [email protected]. Please note that candidates should be nominated by an organisation other than their own.
Prepared by: Jo Becker, former co-chair, NGO Advisory Panel for the SG's Study, Roberta Cecchetti, convenor, NGO Group for the CRC Subgroup on children and violence and Peter Newell, NGO representative, Editorial Board for the SG's Study
More information:
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=12345
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European launch of the United Nations Study on Violence against Children at the Council of Europe [event]
[STRASBOURG, 22 January 2007] - The Council of Europe is to call for European governments to put every effort into making a better life for children by acting on the findings of the United Nations Study on Violence against Children.
The call will be made at an event to launch the Study at European level, to be held during the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly session in Strasbourg today, at 1pm, at the Palais de l’Europe. It will be attended by Her Royal Highness the Princess of Hanover, Parliamentary Assembly President Rene van der Linden, Council of Europe Deputy Secretary General Maud de Boer Buquicchio, and report author Professor Paolo Pinheiro, and follows a debate on children in the Assembly session.
The UN Study – launched worldwide at the end of 2006 – paints a picture of the situation of violence against children around the world, and gives concrete recommendations on how to remedy the situation.
The Council of Europe spearheaded the European region’s input to the report and is now leading action for children through its programme “Building a Europe for and with children” - aiming to promote children’s rights, protect children against violence, ensure their participation and prosecute perpetrators of violence.
The Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis, and Ann Veneman, Executive Director of UNICEF, will sign a joint Declaration reinforcing co-operation between both institutions at 9am today.
Further information
For more information, contact:
Council of Europe
Nationality and Family Law Unit
Private Law Department
Directorate General I – Legal Affairs
Council of Europe
F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex
Tel: +33 3 88 41 25 51; Fax: +33 3 90 21 50 33
Website: www.coe.int
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=12277
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"All forms of violence against children must be banned" [news]
In an address to the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly today, Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg said the work in the field of child protection has to focus on implementation. “The first necessary step is to legally ban any kind of violence against children, whether it takes place in schools, in institutions or at home,” he said.
“With its recent modification of its civil law, Greece joined the growing number of Council of Europe member states that have fully and legally banned corporal punishment against children. Today 26 countries in Europe have done either that or firmly committed themselves to completing the prohibition.”
“Indeed the pace of legal reform in this area is gaining momentum as we approach 2009, the year set for the complete abolition of corporal punishment against children. We are gradually coming closer to the goal of making Europe a violence-free zone for children. […] We need to bridge the gap between words and deeds, between agreed norms and reality. I pledge to do my best within my mandate to contribute to making our continent safe for our children,” the Commissioner told MPs.
More information:
For more information, contact:
Commissioner for Human Rights, Council of Europe
Commissioner for Human Rights
Council of Europe
F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex
Tel: +33 3 88 41 20 00; Fax: +33 3 90 21 50 53
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.commissioner.coe.int
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=12337
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Resources
Women and girls must be protected from violence, UN official tells rights committee, United Nations.
Visit: http://www.crin.org/violence/search/closeup.asp?infoID=12229
Joint UN-Sudan Government task force to deal with issue of sexual exploitation, United Nations.
Visit: http://www.crin.org/violence/search/closeup.asp?infoID=12273
Children and Young People’s Preparatory Forum For the International Launch of the UN Secretary-General’s Study on Violence against Children, Save the Children Sweden, South and Central Asia Regional Office.
Visit: http://www.crin.org/violence/search/closeup.asp?infoID=12212
Uganda: Only Courts Can End Child Battering, AllAfrica
Visit: http://www.crin.org/violence/search/closeup.asp?infoID=12234
Guantanamo five years on: the situation of children, CRIN
Visit: Guantanamo five years on: the situation of children
CRIN Quizzes:
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This Update is an electronic mailing list administered by the Child Rights Information Network (CRIN), in collaboration with the co-chairs of the NGO Advisory Panel and the NGO Subgroup on Children and Violence. CRIN does not accredit, validate or substantiate any information posted by members to this Update. The validity and accuracy of any information is the responsibility of the originator.
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