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Summary: Daily updates about child rights at the 61st
Session of the Commission on Human Rights.
No 4 – Monday 4 April 05
Children Have Rights Too!
Child rights at the 61st Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights
LATEST NEWS – Reform of the Commission: “No Quick Fix”
Much discussion has been going on regarding the reform of the
Commission on Human rights (CHR) following the release of the SG’s
report. United Nations Watch, a NGO based in Geneva whose mandate is
to monitor the performance of the United Nations by the yardstick of its
own Charter, invited several high level speakers to discuss the SG’s ideas.
Some of the main issues discussed were the politicisation of the CHR and
potential selection criteria for membership.
The CHR has often been criticised for allowing some of the worst human
rights violators to be members. Asma Jahangir UN Special Rapporteur on
Freedom of Religion, said that transparency was essential in selecting
members to the Commission, and that it was important to broaden the
stakeholders and have a more diverse group of members from around the
world. She believed that governments cannot be whitewashed, and
that ‘we need the good and the bad, and we need the not-so-good and
not-so-bad’ to interact.
Stephen Toope, Chair of the UN Working Group on Enforced and
Involuntary Disappearances, thought that criteria had to be weak, and
more importantly, selection criteria must not give seal of approval to
countries. Mary Whelan, Irish Permanent Representative to the UN in
Geneva, commented on the risks of membership becoming smaller that the
current 53. Her concern is that it will be even harder for smaller countries
to join.
Toope commented on the general criticism of the UN being ineffectual and
explained that it was not an autonomous organisation that can act on its
own will, “of course it is going to be political, it’s an intergovernmental
organisation… human rights are political and normative, let’s stop
pretending it is not”. What is important, he continued, is to reform more
than the structure, “there is no quick fix, many issues need to be
addressed” he continued.
CHILDREN'S HUMAN RIGHTS CAUCUS – Children’s rights in Latin America
In this morning’s session, Señora Stella Maris Margetic, lawyer, presented
the results of her research about young Colombians forcibly migrating into
Ecuador. This issue has not been addressed by either the Colombian
Government nor the Ecuadorian Government, however the number of
children migrating to Ecuador could be as high as 100,000 to 300,000.
One of the main reasons for this is violence, more specifically, violence
caused by the guerrilla and by FARC. Other causes include sexual and
labour exploitation and arbitrary detention.
Many girls and adolescents who were sexually exploited by the guerrilla in
Colombia, crossed the border in search for a better life, but often find sex
work becomes their only option because of low self-esteem, lack of
alternative options and a need for economic security. In terms of arbitrary
detention, minors are often deprived of their liberty simply for being
undocumented Colombians. Furthermore, general discrimination against
Colombians is exacerbated by the Ecuadorian government that reinforcing
the idea that all their problems come from Colombia.
The second briefing was by Sofia Nordermark from the Andean commission
of Jurists. She presented a study carried out on corporal punishment in
Latin America, with a focus on violence against children. The Study was
undertaken in cooperation with Save the Children Sweden and looked at
national legislations in Latin America and the Caribbean on the use of
corporal punishment within the family and in detention centres. She
stressed that no Latin American country has any legislation on corporal
punishment against children. Only Brazil and Costa Rica are trying to come
up with a reform to abolish corporal punishment against children, but this
is still being discussed in parliaments.
PLENARY SESSION – Monday 4 April
The Commission continued its consideration of civil and political rights,
hearing presentations by the Special Rapporteurs on the independence of
judges and lawyers; torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment; and extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary
executions. There was little mention of children’s rights, although the
former Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary
executions, Asma Jahangir, to the Sudan in June 2004, denounced the
Government of Sudan for executing individuals who had been sentenced
to death for crimes committed when they were under the age of 18, which
is a clear violation of international standards as well as national
legislation.
The Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions,
Philip Alston, presented his report in which the central issue was
accountability. He enumerated four principal topics that needed to be
addressed: genocide and crimes against humanity; violations of the right
to life in armed conflict and internal strife; capital punishment; and
violations of the right to life by non-State actors. He also calls on
permanent members of the Security Council to pledge themselves not to
use the veto in cases involving genocide and large-scale human rights
abuses.
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For detailed reports, visit : http://www.crin.org/chr/reports.htm
COMING UP – Tuesday 5 April
13 – 15, Room XXIII: Confronting violence against children: The Secretary
General’s study
14 – 17, Room XXI: Millennium+5, the MDGs and human rights
Wednesday 6 April
9 – 10, Room E-3025: Caucus Briefing: UN Study on Violence against
children: Children in conflict with the law
13 – 15, Room XX: Children in conflict with the law: NGO Advisory Panel to
the UN Study on Violence Against Children and the NGO Group Subgroup
on juvenile justice
Full agenda is available online at: http://www.crin.org/chr/agenda.htm
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This update has been produced by the Child Rights Information Network,
in collaboration with the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of
the Child, Subgroup for the Commission on Human Rights. These updates
are also available at the following link: www.crin.org/chr/news. You can
sign up to receive these by email. Send an email to: childrightscaucus_chr-
[email protected] . Further information about the 61st Session is
available on the CRIN website at: www.crin.org/chr. To submit information,
contact Veronica Yates on [email protected]. CRIN, c/o Save the Children, 1,
St John’s Lane, London EC1M 4AR, UK.
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