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Summary: CRIN is contacting all candidates standing for election to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in December 2012. 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, importantly, how they see NGOs' role. Interviews have been edited where appropriate for clarity and brevity.
Renate WInter is currently a member of the Appeals Chamber of the Special Court of Sierra Leone, of which she was President between 2008 and 2010. Why do you want to serve on the Committee? I think that serving on the Committee would give me the possibility to protect the rights of children better and, if necessary, to change things. Recommendations can help states to change legislation and implement [rights protections]. We have 14 general comments and the third optional protocol, all need to be implemented and the third protocol needs effective protection mechanisms to be put in place. Finally all of this needs monitoring. This is why I want to serve. What experience do you have on working in children's rights? [I have] 35 years of serving as a judge, always connected with children. I started as a juvenile judge in my home town of Vienna, then I served as a consultant for UNODC [the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime] being sent to several countries to assist with putting into place plans of action. Then [I served as] a judge for the UN in Kosovo, where I had to deal with child soldiers and child victims [as well as] political issues and [people] on trial for difficulties between different ethnicities. Finally, I was and still am a judge in the Special Court of Sierra Leone [and] I was the President. There we had to deal extensively with children as child soldiers. Furthermore, I have been the president of the International Association of Youth and Family Court Judges and Magistrates. What do you think are the main barriers to children's rights being fulfilled? I can say this in a nice way and a nasty way. The nasty way first. Children are [viewed] as commodities in most countries especially in poor countries. I had a conversation with a warlord who said, “you can have all of my children if you want them back, if you give me a cheaper weapon. There is no cheaper weapon, because children are stupid, obedient, audacious and abundant. If I sent 200 children today and they all die, it doesn't matter because tomorrow I will have 2,000 more”. I think that is my nasty answer. The other [reason] is perhaps not so nasty, but not nice. Children are not voters and politicians think in voting cycles. The one who is in power may say that children are the future of the country, but [will not do] anything now, because children are not his voters tomorrow. Governments must understand that it is very short-sighted to think in electoral cycles concerning children. Which areas of the Convention do you think need more clarification? The Convention [itself], I think does not need clarification. I think we need clarification on the ways of implementing the Convention. One thing that we have always discussed is the age of criminal responsibility. Some people say [the Committee said that the minimum age of criminal responsibility should be] 12 years, which is not true. It was very very clearly expressed that this was a minimum and not a maximum. I think [this] is one thing that could be clarified. Civil society organisations play a key role in the CRC monitoring process, yet globally, States are becoming more hostile towards their participation. How do you think this could impact the work of the Committee? Not all states [are hostile to civil society]. Yes, there are states hostile to civil society [and] I do think that civil society is absolutely necessary in each and every country. I do think that the [alternative reports] for the Committee are important. I think that what we can get from civil society is important, not only for the reporting but also for assisting governments. Even for difficult governments, in difficult countries, civil society can assist. [Little by little] societies are opening up to civil society. Part of the Committee's role will be to examine complaints submitted under the new optional protocol to the CRC. How do you think this will change children's rights advocacy? This depends on the mechanism of protection for those who reach the Committee. If [there is not an effective] mechanism in place then [the Protocol] will not serve at all. It does not help if a complaint reaches the Committee and before the Committee can react the child is dead. So it depends [on whether] we have a good mechanism in place. Countries are not keen on being blamed by an international committee, I think we have seen that [with] other committees. I think it is going to assist if civil society, for instance, [carries out] information campaigns [highlighting the procedure]. This relates back to the previous question on where civil society is absolutely necessary. The Committee on the Rights of the Child is the only UN treaty body that lacks a follow-up procedure. If you were to develop the procedure, what would it look like? I would say that [the Committee Against Torture follow-up procedure] is a very good system, and I would also change the reporting [procedure] if it comes to me. I think if the Committee gives 50 to 100 recommendations it is not really possible in four years to change in so many aspects. I do think that if one gives a kind of executive summary at the beginning of the report, if one highlights the five most important recommendations and [addresses these] between reporting periods, this would be a very useful instrument. If you were appointed Chair and had to make one big change to how the Committee works, what would it be? I would change the reporting system, because the Committee has a huge backlog. It is not [useful] for the States when the Committee thanks them for [their] report and [then next deals with it] in 2016. This is not helpful for the State. We cannot change it with more personnel, because we are not going to get it, we cannot change it with more money, because we are not going to get it, so we have to change the system. I think we can do this because there are States that [have limited] problems: maybe two or three [serious] problems. If one sees that two or three reports are positive, perhaps there the real problems could be addressed in a [shorter] report and leave aside the chapters [where] no real problems have been seen. If you could propose a new right for the CRC what would it be? I do not think that we need to address new rights, I think we have enough rights. The only thing that I can imagine that would be important is connected with rights related to [voting]: to give children a right [to vote] as soon as possible and to give children more value to children's right to express themselves. Maybe that would help governments to understand that it is not good to neglect children. Who has most inspired you in your work and why? There are several people. One of them, in my legal work [has been] Navi Pillay, when she started to work on women's issues, especially assisting in declaring that rape is not a tool of war. Another person [who has] inspired me very much [is] Nelson Mandela, because of his way of working with restorative justice. This is one of my key legal issues. Restorative justice is, to my mind, the best way to deal with children in conflict with the law. Finally, Aung San Suu Kyi. I had the honour to meet her [recently] and her patience, firmness and endurance [have made] this frail woman a strong person. That impressed me very much. What do you think is the most pressing children's rights issue in Austria, why and what can be done to address the problem? I think that Austria has only one real pressing problem and this is [that] of refugee children and children from immigrant [backgrounds]: to get them in the mainstream and to see that those children have the same possibilities and the same chances as any other child in Austria. The remedy, I think, is education from the very beginning. To have programmes [to ensure that] parents of those children can understand [the importance of] going to school, with no difference between boys and girls. Learning how to accept the school system and [learning] the values of society is important. Children are ready to learn if they are in the surroundings to do it. I think that the problem is to get to the parents and to make them understand that it is far better for the children if they integrate to a certain extent, so that they can live with the other children and have all the rights that the other children have. I think that is the problem for Austria.