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Summary: Highlights from first day of the Working Group for the communications procedure under the UN CRC.
GENEVA, 16 December 2009 - Over one hundred governments were represented today at the opening of the UN Working Group to discuss a communications procedure to be developed under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The meeting was due to open on Monday but was postponed until Wednesday morning due to lack of interpretation. A stronger mandate The mandate of the Working Group is 'to explore the possibility of elaborating an Optional Protocol to the CRC to provide a communications procedure complementary to the reporting procedure under the Convention'. This means that they will not begin drafting, but will discuss whether there is a need for such a mechanism. It is hoped that by the end of the week, the Working Group will agree that there is a need to begin drafting this new procedure and that the remaining questions will be tackled during the drafting process. In order for this to happen, the Working Group would have to seek a stronger mandate to begin drafting. This would have to be done through a Resolution in the Human Rights Council at its March session. Programme of work The meeting was opened by Jane Connors, who was speaking on behalf the High Commissioner for Human Rights. She emphasised the support of the High Commissioner to the development of this procedure, stressing once again that the CRC was the only treaty that did not have a complaints mechanism. Mr Drahoslav Stefanek from Slovakia was then appointed Chairperson for the Working Group. He said he aimed to be impartial and hoped for an open and frank discussion. The ultimate goal, he said, was to strengthen the implementation of the rights of the child. He then invited statements from governments and other organisations. Following governments' statements, experts would begin discussing the issue of timing and reasons for elaborating the OP to the CRC. The afternoon session will look at existing international, regional and national mechanisms and their efficiency in protecting the rights of the child. Governments' statements Uruguay confirmed its support to this working group and the OP and welcomed the opportunity to secure a communications procedure for the CRC. The representative from Finland said that there was a need for adequate domestic remedies for dealing with violations and international, regional mechanisms must only be used when domestic remedies have been exhausted. If adopted, the new OP would provide full implementation of the rights of the child and such a well functioning complaints mechanism would help countries with weak domestic mechanisms. The representative from Nigeria spoke on behalf of the African Group. He highlighted the fact that the African Union has gone further than other regional groups by adopting a regional mechanism in Africa to deal with child rights, including a complaints mechanism. He said that the African Group believed that the complaints procedure should start at the domestic level, but should move to an international level if domestic remedies are exhausted. Slovakia said that they were pleased to hold the chairmanship among many very supportive States. He said there was no doubt that children were full rights holders and should have every chance to have their rights respected. "Having the CRC committee investigate complaints is the only way to go to ensure all their rights are fulfilled", he said, however "the OP should not be a new obligation, but a tool to increase effective implementation". A representative from China said his country will cooperate fully with this process of elaboration and welcomes the experts and NGOs participating in the meeting. He said this convention had made a great contribution to the rights of the child and his government was supportive of this discussion and but stressed that they needed to avoid overlapping with other human rights treaties and discuss the workload of the Committee of this new OP. The representative from Norway said they recognised that the CRC was the only international treaty without a complaints procedure and welcomed the opportunity to discuss the possibility of elaborting one under the CRC. Mexico expressed their full commitment to this issue. He said this meeting was an excellent opportunity to discuss the various issues at state in the construction of an OP. He said his country would like to see comparative studies of complaints mechanisms of the other treaties. Indonesia said careful consideration should be given to children's special needs and status, and further indepth studies were needed to see whether this OP could bring improvements to the implementation of the CRC on the ground. The representative of Germany said this OP would contribute to national laws and hence will help the overall productivity of the CRC. She said that it was known that other treaties have adopted a complaints procedure effectively and there existed therefore examples of best practice to look at. Thailand explained that children do not have adequate remedies to violations due to the lack of the complaints procedure and they therefore joined the core group of States supporting this initiative. Switzerland said Article 12 was a key article in this process. They said an appropriate solution for children to submit individual complaints was needed and other mechanisms could serve as a guide, but could not just be copied. Belgium highlighted the issue of children's legal capacity when submitting complaints. The representative of the UK welcomed the role that child rights NGOs had played in the development of this Working Group. He said his government had an open position on the elaboration of this OP. He raised the question how minors could make use of the complaints and have complaints made on their behalves. The issue of legal capacity was also raised by Russia. They also said there had to be a thourough discussion on the issue of compatibility with existing mechanisms. Pakistan's main questions were on how to ensure domestic remedies are exhausted, and how to ensure children were not exploited in the process. Slovenia, who had been one of the first countries in support of this new OP, said the 20th anniversary of the CRC was a good time to take stock. He expressed his concern that the we often say children should come first but the OP has come last. Denmark, also a co-sponsor of the Working Group said they had no formal position but would play an active part in the negotiations. Austria said they were open to the idea of this OP and were interested in discussing three issues: requirements for admissibility, special needs of the child and length of time for a complaint to be dealt with. South Korea said a communications procedure wass the only way to make the CRC more implementable, “we are fully behind it” the representative affirmed. The speaker representing NGOs said this discussion was the first step in the establishment of the OP. This is not a new idea. She recalled the strong NGO campaign with over 600 organisations worldwide supporting this mechanism. «We must provide an OP which will reflect the international community’s commitment to children as rights holders » she said. Poland, as other States, said there was a need to discuss complementarity with other mechanisms. The speaker also asked who would be able to lodge a complaint. A representative from the International Committee of Jurists (ICJ) said having this remedy was « fundamental in law, and human rights law in particular », and « for rights to have meaning, effective remedies must be available and we must draw from experience gained by the OP for ICESCR, CEDAW, as well as the disability convention», he continued. Portugal reiterated the specific rights provisions under the CRC, particularly the right to be heard, and said that the working group should be re-enforced to push forward with this process. The representative from Argentina said they were looking at forming a regional seminar to discuss child rights and the OP in particular. This OP was vital he said, and will afford special protection to children and will give civil society new tools to advocate for better national systems. Bangladesh said they were open and here to learn and discuss a number of issues, including national remedies and comparative examples. Sweden said they were looking looking forward to an engaging and active discussion. France, which was one of the first States to publicly support this initiative, said the timing was right and that all concerns should be heard and asked. The representative of the Netherlands said there are no convincing examples of principle that would prevent adoption of the OP. «We signed the OP on the ICESCR, we are also in the process of signing and ratifying the disabilities OP. So it is possible », he said. He further said that there were some controversies and uncertainities but hoped the debate would overcome this. Brazil said they were supportive of this process and recommended a quick move to drafting. A representative from UNICEF said her organisation welcomed the efforts to strengthen child rights at all levels. She urged for the effective participation of children in all processes as well as a child sensitive procedure. She said the arguments expressed were familiar and there was a need to quickly move forward. UNICEF, she said, was ready to offer its support and technical assistance in this procedure. Further information