CRC ELECTIONS 2014: Interviews with the candidates

Submitted by jthomas on

On 25 June 2014, UN Member States will gather at the UN General Assembly in New York to elect nine people to the most important children's rights organisation in the world: the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Those selected will replace outgoing members of the 18-strong Committee whose terms expire on 28 February 2015.

In the CRIN tradition, we are interviewing all candidates who are willing to speak to us to give both States parties and civil society a better picture of their credentials. We are asking them about their experience in children's rights, what they think they can contribute to the Committee, what they think about key issues, their vision for the Committee and how they see NGOs' role.

The line-up

Thirteen candidates are in the running: their CVs and interviews with us are available below.

Current members seeking reelection

New candidates

  • Ms. Norah Amilcar Jean Francois (Haiti): Interview/ CV
  • Mr. Joseph Clarence Nelson (Samoa): Interview/ CV
  • Ms. Suzanne Aho Assouma (Togo): Interview (in French) / CV (also in French)
  • Ms. Hynd Ayoubi Idrissi (Morocco): Interview (in Arabic | English) / CV (also in Arabic | French)
  • Mr. José Angel Rodriguez Reyes (Venezuela): Interview/ CV
  • Ms. Mirna Antonieta Perla Jimenez (El Salvador): Interview/ CV
  • Ms. Louisa Oussedik-Chalal (Algeria): Interview/ CV (also in Arabic | French)
  • Mr. Sambala Traore (Mali): Interview/ CV

The election process

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child not only has the authority to influence governments' compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), but also to interpret and expand on the provisions set in the CRC. In the future, it will even be able to examine individual complaints relating to violations of children's rights.

Elections to the Committee on the Rights of the Child take place every two years. Committee members are elected for a term of four years.

In the 2014 elections, States parties will cast their votes at  at the UN General Assembly in New York. Some current members have put themselves forward for re-election.

For further information, please contact Child Rights Connect, which supports NGOs in this process. You can email Lisa Myers at [email protected].

Terms due to expire

In February 2015, the terms of nine members of the Committee on the Rights of the Child will expire.  These include:

Ms. Agnes Akosua Aidoo (Ghana)
Ms. Aseil Al-Shehail (Saudi Arabia)
Mr. Jorge Cardona Llorens (Spain)
Mr. Bernard Gastaud (Monaco)
Ms. Maria Herczog (Hungary)
Mr. Hatem Kotrane (Tunisia)
Mr. Gehad Madi (Egypt)
Ms. Kirsten Sandberg (Norway)
Ms. Hiranthi Wijemanne (Sri Lanka)

 

Campaign: 
Transparency

Please note that these reports are hosted by CRIN as a resource for Child Rights campaigners, researchers and other interested parties. Unless otherwise stated, they are not the work of CRIN and their inclusion in our database does not necessarily signify endorsement or agreement with their content by CRIN.