HRC: Day on the Rights of the Child programme released

Summary: The programme for the 2012 Day on the Rights of the Child, on children and the administration of justice, has been released.

The 2012 Day on the Rights of the Child, on children and the administration of justice, will take place at the Human Rights Council on 8 March.

• Venue: Room XX, Palais des Nations, Geneva
• Time: 9:00-12:00 and 15:00-18:00

For full details of the day, view the attached document above. Below are themes and speakers for the morning and afternoon panels.

Morning Panel (9:00 -12:00)

Theme: Children in the judicial process: worrying trends and best practices

• Introduction: Madame Navanethem Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

• Moderator: H.E. Ambassador Laura Dupuy Lasserre, President of the Human Rights Council.

Panelists:

• Personal Testimony, Mr. Antonio Caparros Linares
• Justice for children, Ms. Kirsi Madi, Deputy Regional Director, UNICEF Regional office CEE/CIS
• Worrying trends/Criminalization of children, Mr. Jorge Cardona, member of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, Professor of Public International Law, University of Valencia
• Children in the judicial process, Ms. Julia Sloth Nielsen, Dean, Faculty of Law, University of the Western Cape and Member: African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child
• Inhuman sentencing and the process which enables it: death penalty, life imprisonment and corporal punishment, Ms. Connie de la Vega, Professor and Director of the International Human Rights Clinic at the University of San Francisco.
• Diversion and alternative measures to detention, Ms. Renate Winter, Judge to the appeals Chamber of the Special Court for Sierra Leone

Afternoon Panel (15:00-18:00)

Theme: Children deprived of liberty and children of incarcerated parents: protection and realization of their rights

• Chair: (tbc)
• Moderator: Mr. Sandeep Chawla, Deputy Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC

Panelists

• Prevention of/and responses to violence against children within the justice system, Ms. Marta Santos Pais, UN Special Representative of the Secretary General on Violence against Children
• Children of incarcerated parents in developing countries, Ms. Rani Shankardass, Secretary-General of Penal Reform and Justice Association (PRAJA), India
• Conditions of detention, Mr. Luis Pedernera, NGO - REDLAMYC (Latin American and Caribbean Network for the Defense of the Rights of the Boys, Girls and Adolescents)
• Right to health in detention; mental health, Mr. Dainius Puras, Head and Professor of the Centre of Child Psychiatry and Social Pediatrics at Vilnius University, Lithuania, former member of the Committee on the Rights of the Child
• Rehabilitation and reintegration into society, Mr. Abdul Manaff Kemokai, Executive Director of Defence for Children International (DCI) Sierra Leone

Outcome

The meeting will contribute to take stock of the implementation of the Convention to achieve a better understanding of the situation of children in conflict and in contact with the law, identifying main challenges and recommendations to move forward in accordance with international standards. A summary report of the annual day of discussion will be prepared by OHCHR.

How to follow the session

CRIN will be reporting from Geneva on the discussions. You can also visit our 19th session page for full details of all discussions during the session.

Please note, only NGOs with ECOSOC status are able to attend the meeting in Geneva. However, you can follow the discussions via the UN webcast.