UN GA Resolution 2002: Rights of the Child

The General Assembly,

Reaffirming all of its resolutions on the rights of the child,¹ in particular resolutions 55/78 and 55/79 of 4 December 2000, and taking note with appreciation of Commission on Human Rights resolution 2001/75 of 25 April 2001,²

Considering the postponement of the special session of the General Assembly on children due to exceptional circumstances,

Welcoming the progress made so far in the preparation of the special session of the General Assembly on children, including its outcome document, and reaffirming that the Assembly, at its special session, while reviewing the achievements in the implementation and results of the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children and Plan of Action for Implementing the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children in the 1990s, adopted by the World Summit for Children, held in New York on 29 and 30 September 1990,³ will make a renewed commitment and consider future action for children in the forthcoming decade,

1. Takes note with appreciation of the report of the Secretary-General entitled “We the children: end-decade review of the follow-up to the World Summit for Children”⁴ and the reports of the Secretary-General on the status of the Convention on the Rights of the Child⁵ and on children and armed conflict,⁶ as well as the report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict;⁷

2. Welcomes the fact that, as at 18 October 2001, ten States had become parties to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography,⁸ thereby allowing it to enter into force on 18 January 2002, and that, as at 12 November 2001, ten States had become parties to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict,⁹ thereby allowing it to enter into force on 12 February 2002;

3. Welcomes also the adoption of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime,¹⁰ as well as the large number of ratifications of International Labour Organization Convention No. 138, concerning the Minimum Age for Admission to Employment and Convention No. 182, concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour;

4. Welcomes the convening of the Second World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children at Yokohama, Japan, from 17 to 20 December 2001, and the regional consultative meetings for its preparation, and invites Member States and observers to ensure their participation in the Congress at a high political level;

5. Decides:
(a) To request the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its fifty-seventh session a report on the rights of the child, containing information on the status of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocols thereto;
(b) To request the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict to submit to the General Assembly and the Commission on Human Rights reports containing relevant information on the situation of children affected by armed conflict, bearing in mind the existing mandates and reports of relevant bodies;
(c) To request the Secretary-General to conduct an in-depth study on the question of violence against children, taking into account the outcome of the special session of the General Assembly on children, and to put forward recommendations for consideration by Member States for appropriate action, including effective remedies and preventive and rehabilitative measures;
(d) To revert to its comprehensive consideration of this question at its fifty-seventh session under the item entitled “Promotion and protection of the rights of children”.

88th plenary meeting
19 December 2001

^1. Resolutions 50/153, 51/77, 52/107, 53/128 and 54/149.
^2. See Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 2001, Supplement No. 3 (E/2001/23), chap. II, sect. A.
^3. A/45/625, annex.
^4. A/S-27/3.
^5. A/56/203.
^6. A/56/342-S/2001/852.
^7. See A/56/453.
^8. Resolution 54/263, annex II.
^9. Ibid., annex I.
^10. Resolution 55/25, annex II.