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[31 March 2008] - Child rights must be central to the work of the Human Rights Council, and not just an added extra, said experts at a meeting on mainstreaming. Delegates from the USA, United Kingdom, Portugal, Argentina, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia and Belgium joined representatives from NGOs and UN agencies at the meeting. Andrej Logar, chair and delegate from Slovenia, said: “There is a strong need to recognise the child dimension in all the work of the United Nations.” He added that child rights should be a key indicator when conducting each country assessment during the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process, and that it should be mainstreamed into the work of all the special procedures. Child rights "partially addressed" Cécile Trochu Grasso, of OMCT, offered some examples of child rights mainstreaming, defining it as bringing child rights into the agendas of institutions which have so far ignored or only partially addressed children’s rights. She said: “Mainstreaming is not an end in itself, but a tool or strategy for the implementation of child rights.” Examples have included the submission of shadow reports by OMCT and other NGOs covering child rights issues to treaty bodies. She said following the example set by women’s rights groups in setting up a panel on gender mainstreaming at the Council’s sixth session would be a positive step. The review of mandates, a process aimed at identifying gaps in the promotion and protection of human rights, should include discussions of child rights, Cécile said. Work of the Special Procedures Bacre Waly Ndiaye, Director of the Treaties and Council Division of the OHCHR, said that from a review of 80 Special Procedures reports, they found many to contain at least a reference to children, with country mandates often reporting on ratification of the CRC and its Optional Protocols. He added there was no consistency, or mainstreaming, however. Roberta Cechetti, of the Save the Children Alliance, spoke on the efforts made so far to integrate children’s issues into the Council’s work. She agreed most instances could be traced to the reports of the Special Procedures. She said children’s themes discussed at the Council were “very specific”, and mostly concerned with protection. Resolutions were not adopted following discussions. Where child rights have been addressed, she continued, it has been in three main areas: reports by Special Procedures and debates on pre-trial detention, child executions and the right to food; special events, such as on the Disability Convention; and country-specific debates, she said, most mainstreaming has taken place although this has mostly been on protection issues. Five resolutions have contained the word “child”, three of those on the renewal of mandates. A representative from World Vision suggested child rights training for the new batch of Special Procedures, organised by NGOs. Further information