Submitted by crinadmin on
[14 March 2008] - A meeting on a proposed resolution on the rights of the child at the Human Rights Council took place, with Uruguayan convenor Pauline Davies calling for it to be made a “priority issue.” She said: “This was an initiative for more than ten years at the Commission, and the last resolution was in 2005, so we hope this will be a good opportunity for us to promote the issue at the Council.” The suggestion is for the adoption of an omnibus resolution on the rights of the child at the Council every four years, with a special (or thematic) focus every year in between. “In this way, we can benefit from the complementarity of both,” said Ms Davies. Some delegates at the meeting questioned, however, whether there was a need for another omnibus resolution, since the General Assembly already adopts an annual resolution on the rights of the child. A delegate from Switzerland said: “We don't believe restating the same thing year after year will be beneficial. We would have preferred to have been thematic, and clarify the difference between the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council.” A delegate from Canada agreed, noting that there had been extensive discussion on the issue already. However she said her Government would still be supportive of the text. A Spanish delegate disagreed, arguing: “We believe that if the the Human Rights Council needs a new approach, this new bilateral approach is perhaps a good way to address the issue.” Ms Davies then ran through the draft resolution, which will be further debated in the coming days. She noted the importance of a mainstreaming paragraph, which among other things aims to incorporate an annual meeting on the rights of the child into its programme of work. It also advocates taking into account the rights of the child in the Universal Periodic Review mechanism. Another notable paragraph emphasises the need to appoint a Special Representative on Violence Against Children as soon as possible. Cecile Trochu, of OMCT said she was disappointed that a clause on corporal punishment only made reference to schools, and not a ban in all settings, as advocated in the UN Study on violence against children and by Committee on the Rights of the Child.