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The Committee on the Rights of the Child opened its forty-fourth session, adopting the agenda and discussing the organisation of work for the session. Bacre Waly Ndiaye, Director of the Division of Human Rights Procedures at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, also addressed the Committee. In opening remarks, Mr. Ndiaye briefed the Committee on the latest developments since the Committee's last session. He noted that the General Assembly had adopted the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, as well as the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its additional protocol – three instruments that would enrich the international system for the protection of human rights. He also drew attention to the first global study on all forms of violence against children, which had been presented on 11 October to the General Assembly by the Independent Expert charged with the study, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro. The UN Report on Violence against Children, the fruit of that study, had been launched in Geneva on 20 November. The Committee on the Rights of the Child had a fundamental role to play in following up that study, as the Committee's Concluding Observations had already testified. In addition, the study recommended that a Special Representative on violence against children be nominated, and he was sure that the Committee's recommendation in that regard would be decisive. In addition, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women would take up its seat in Geneva this year and the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment of the Committee against Torture would hold its first meeting here next month. It was important to recall that that new tool for the prevention of torture and cruel treatment undertook to establish a system of unannounced visits to places of detention. Regarding the reform of treaty bodies, Mr. Bacre wished to recall that, following the recommendation of the fifth Intercommittee Meeting of human rights treaty body organs, held in June 2006, the Working Group on reform of treaty bodies had met on 28 and 29 November 2006 and its report had been included in the dossier for this session. He wished to underscore that the proposition made by the Committee on the Rights of the Child, which sought to create a permanent bureau tasked with coordinating the harmonisation of working methods, had been well received by the representatives of other Committees, and it had been agreed to put in place, on a trial basis, a brainstorming group on treaty bodies. That group would meet three times a year and would be composed of two member from each Committee, elected for a period of two to four years. In addition, the Working Group on Reservations had held a successful meeting on 14 and 15 December 2006, accomplishing a further step towards the harmonising Committees' working methods. Finally, during the present session, the Committee would examine the reports of Chile, Honduras, Kenya, Malaysia, Mali, the Marshall Islands and Suriname, Mr. Bacre said. Costa Rica and Kyrgyzstan would present reports on the two Optional Protocols – on the involvement of children in armed conflict and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. Before concluding, Mr. Bacre wished to express the gratitude of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and of the Secretary-General to the four members of the Committee whose mandate was expiring next month: Jacob Egbert (Jaap) Doek, Norberto Liwski, Alison Anderson, and Awa N'Deye Ouedraogo. Jaap Doek, Committee Chairperson, in a brief opening statement, said this was an election year, which was a good year for all democracies. Unlike States, however, the Committee did not stop its work in an election year. The Committee had three sessions last year in two chambers and they had accomplished what they had set out to do: that is, they had cleared up their backlog. All reports submitted by 31 December 2006 would therefore be able to be treated in 2007, an achievement the Committee could be proud of. He added that, during this session, the Committee would start work on a General Comment on the rights of children of indigenous peoples. They would discuss an outline for the Day of General Discussion in September on Article 4 (which specifies that States must undertake all appropriate legislative, administrative, and other measures for the implementation of the rights recognised in the present Convention). Other issues to be discussed included follow-up on the UN Report on Violence against Children and continued work on a General Comment on juvenile justice. Maja Andrijasevic-Boko, Secretary of the Committee, in a brief update on the status of reporting, said that, in the interim period before this session, an initial report had been received from Malaysia, and she had just been informed that the report of Timor-Leste had come in. Second periodic reports from Uruguay and Venezuela were also received. With regard to the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, Spain, France, Syria, Croatia, Bulgaria, Ireland and Germany had submitted reports, and for the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, three reports had been received: from Spain, France and Bulgaria. Written replies from eight States parties of the 10 States parties originally scheduled to be considered had been received, all but for the Marshall Islands. Further information
pdf: http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/0E4AB14E9123AE8DC12572...