11 May 2007 - Update: The Secretary-General's Study on Violence against Children 29
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- New NGO Advisory Council Announced [news]
- Update on the Activities of the Independent Expert [news]
- NGOs: Request to NGOs to submit information on follow up [call for information]
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FOLLOW UP: New NGO Advisory Council Announced [news]
A new NGO council is being formed specifically to support strong and effective follow-up to the UN Secretary-General’s Study on Violence against Children. Its primary purpose is 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 Study's recommendations. The new NGO Advisory Council will have 18 members: 9 representatives from international NGOs, and 9 representatives selected at regional level from national and regional NGOs.
The nine international representatives have already been selected based on nominations invited from INGOs around the world. Each representative was selected based on the representative’s/organization’s commitment to the study, expertise on violence against children, ability to relate to broader networks during the follow-up, past history of participation in the study process, and potential contribution to the follow-up process. Paulo Pinheiro and Jaap Doek were each consulted for the final selection process.
The selected organizations and their representatives are: CRIN (Veronica Yates), Defense for Children International (Virginia Murillo), ECPAT (Theo Noten), Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children (Peter Newell), Human Rights Watch (Jo Becker), OMCT/World Organization Against Torture (Cecile Trochu Grasso), Plan International (Ann-Kristin Vervik), Save the Children Alliance (Roberta Cecchetti) and World Vision (Sara Austin). Brief bios of each of the members appear below.
The process of selecting the 9 regional representatives is still underway, but will be announced shortly.
The mandate of the NGO Advisory Council is:
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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 recommendations;
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In particular to advocate for a Special Representative to the SG on violence against children and to work with a SR when appointed;
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To work with the Independent Expert and the Inter-Agency Working Group, particularly in identifying key priorities for the working group and its members and developing follow-up activities and strategies to ensure effective implementation of the Study’s recommendations;
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To identify and transmit important information regarding VAC from the field level to the SRSG and other appropriate UN bodies;
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To use and strengthen existing information channels/mechanisms (e.g. CRIN, NGO Group mailing lists, etc.) to inform the child rights NGO community regarding the follow-up of the UNSG’s Study on VAC and its implementation;
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To be strongly and systematically connected to the proposed Youth Council in order to support continued and increased participation of children in follow-up;
To participate in monitoring the implementation of the Study’s recommendations by member states.
Cristina Barbaglia will be working part-time, based in New York, to support the work of the Advisory Council during the lead-up to the 2007 UN General Assembly session. The Advisory Council can be contacted through Cristina at [email protected]
Visit: http://www.crin.org/violence/search/closeup.asp?infoID=13320
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Update on the Activities of the Independent Expert [news]
During 2007, a major focus of the Independent Expert will be to:
The Independent Expert will continue to advocate for implementation of the recommendations of the Study, and to ensure wide distribution and translation of the UNSG’s Report on Violence against Children, the World Report on Violence against Children, and the related products such as the child-friendly materials in as many languages as possible.
The Independent Expert will continue to update relevant partners about the follow-up process and will convene stakeholders in the Study follow-up, including through collaboration with the Inter-Agency Group and wider networks".
This work will culminate in the preparation of a progress report to the 2007 General Assembly on the follow up and within that report, defining a medium term follow up framework.
The Independent Expert will rely on cooperation with the Inter-Agency Group on VAC, the NGO Advisory Council and other networks, Governments, and a wide range of other partners for inputs to be considered for the 2007 GA progress report on implementation of the recommendations. He will also continue discussion with member states and all other relevant partners to define a feasible medium term follow up framework which considers actions at national, regional, and international levels.
The Independent Expert has prioritised the following five of the overarching recommendations and requests partners to provide information on substantial lines of action that have been taken in follow up to the Study:
- Integration in national planning processes of measures to prevent and respond to violence against children, including the appointment of a focal point to foster the implementation of this plan (Rec #1)
- Strengthening of legal frameworks in conformity with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, particularly galvanizing support for the prohibition of all forms of violence (Rec #2)
- Prevention of violence (Rec #3)
- Promotion of the participation of children and structures to support it (Rec #7)
- Strengthening of data collection and research (Rec #11)
Request for information: NGOs are encouraged to provide information on follow-up initiatives and activities related to any of the 12 recommendations in their regions or countries. Please send information to CRIN on [email protected].
Further information
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This Update is an electronic mailing list of the Child Rights Information Network (CRIN), in collaboration with the Secretariat for the UN Study on Violence Against Children, the NGO Advisory Council for the Violence Study 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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