Submitted by crinadmin on
Nevena Vučković Šahović, 52, of Serbia, is a human rights lawyer and member of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. She teaches international law and has held a number of positions including President of the Child Rights Centre in Belgrade, where she lives, and member of the executive board of the International Service for Human Rights.
For her unpaid work at the Committee, Nevena travels to Geneva for one month, three times a year. Two weeks are devoted to the current session, and one to preparing for the next session. January 2009 will be Nevena’s last session at the Committee before a new member is appointed.
I am looking forward to the end of my time at the Committee. It has been such a good experience, and very rewarding. I have learned a lot and been able to contribute to an important process. But it is also a lot of work – I have been on eight trips between the last two sessions for Committee-related work – and it is also time for a change and to introduce someone different. I am looking forward to devoting more time to my students.
We are doing an injustice to children by denying them access to independent complaints procedure. One government said “why do it now? Can’t we wait for ten years?” But how can we deny justice for another ten years? There are a number of important arguments in favour of the mechanism. Firstly, there should be no distinction between children and other human beings – if adults have rights and have access to a complaints procedure then so should children.
Although the procedure is not judicial it makes such a difference. There is more strength in the response to the complaint than to the Concluding Observations, which States often do not respond to and take a long time to implement. The Committee has made no final decision on endorsing the proposal, although they will devote half a day to the discussion at the next session and we will have a better idea then.
It all depends on the States. Whatever the Committee decides it has little relevance compared to them, so we have to persuade them. If we have an Optional Protocol for the mechanism, the question is whether we have a separate committee for dealing with the complaints or whether the present Committee takes on the work. So, of course, it is a question of budget.
How could the work of the Committee be improved? The Committee’s work is underresourced. The budget covers the bare necessities. Since we are not paid, we are inhibited in terms of how much we can commit ourselves. We have to make an arrangement with our home life, and some members can only come to the session for two weeks. There needs to be a balance between our needs as members and the support of the UN and wider international system.
The Committee is composed of members elected by their governments, so the process is questionable as it relies on bargaining and politics – you cannot be certain that governments are electing the best people rather than serving their own interests. Although we are lucky with the people we have, elections shouldn’t feel like a risk for us.
We are rather old. While you should not be dumped on the rubbish heap when you are 50, it would be better to have some younger members. Although it often difficult as it is retired people who can commit the time. My background is in academia and civil society, and so I would sometimes like to move faster than we are able
We maintain good links with Montenegro in our work, and they have sought our expertise with their capacity building. The problem in Serbia is the terrible political situation. Half the country is going towards fascism, and the other half is more progressive and want to join the EU. Elections are next week and it is very close, with a slight advantage to the dark side. This could impede the implementation of lots of human rights standards [the Nationalists have since lost the election, in a surprise result].
Kosovo is like a black hole. No one reports on children, specifically Albanian children there. Albanian children are invisible to the international community and this needs to change. There are many cross-border problems such as drugs and trafficking, but all this will not be addressed if there is conflict because of fascists. There will be an impact for the whole of the Balklans. NOTE
An issue which needs more attention is education. There are many commitments but not much movement, and it is the quality of education that is ignored. Although there is a lot about access, access is futile if the education is poor or dogmatic. We have not moved one step. There needs to be human rights education at universities and in schools.
My advice to NGOs is not to give up! They need to keep their eyes open to learn about child rights and human rights issues. Read!
The CRC has made a big difference. You just need to look at the judgements of the European Court of Human Rights. Even States such as Myanmar and North Korea have changed some of their legislation after ratification. However, implementation and monitoring, as well as training and education, of the Convention is still weak. There are not enough people trained at a high level in child rights.