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Summary: [NEW YORK, 14 September] – During the 60th Session of the UN General Assembly taking place at the UN Headquarters, the Third Committee heard updates on children’s rights issues, including the presentation of the progress report of the Secretary-General’s (SG) Study on Violence Against Children, an update on achievements since the 2002 Special Session on Children and an update of the Special Representative of the SG’s for Children and Armed Conflict.
[NEW YORK, 14 September] – During the 60th Session of the UN General Assembly taking place at the UN Headquarters, the Third Committee heard updates on children’s rights issues, including the presentation of the progress report of the Secretary-General’s (SG) Study on Violence Against Children, an update on achievements since the 2002 Special Session on Children and an update of the Special Representative of the SG’s for Children and Armed Conflict.
Karin Holmgrunn Sham Poo, Interim Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, highlighted some of the positive achievements, such as the development and consolidation of protective standards and norms for children, the Optional Protocol to the CRC, and the six resolutions of the Security Council on the issue. However she said the situation remained grave for many children, and “a considerable distance still exists between strong child protection standards and norms on one hand, and the actual situation for children on the ground on the other”.
She therefore called on Member States to endorse the ‘era of application’ which includes establishing a monitoring and reporting mechanism to ensure compliance of children and armed conflict norms, promoting and ensuring mainstreaming of issues in institutions and institutional processes, public advocacy and dissemination and developing and strengthening local capacities.
Rima Salah, Deptuty director for UNICEF, presented the report of the SG progress achieved in realizing the commitments set out in “A World Fit for Children”, the outcome document of the Special Session. She said that the analysis of progress showed that goals for children, which complement the Millennium Development Goals, will only be achieved if actions to help children and their families are accelerated and intensified. So far, 172 countries had taken action since the Special Session, with 114 through developing national plans of action or policies specifically for children. However, she continued, “in many countries, the implementation of critical programmes for children will continue to be a challenge, due to weaknesses of institutional capacity, budgetary constraints and, in a number of cases, conflict and instability”.
A further update on progress will be provided at the General Assembly in 2006, leading up to a more detailed report and analysis to be presented to the commemorative plenary meeting to be scheduled for 2007.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, presented an update of the activities of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Highlights include the first upcoming session where the Committee will be examining State party reports in two chambers, the continued work of the Committee on thematic issues, with a recent decision adopted by the CRC on children without parental care, and a General Comment on child rights in early childhood. Other activities include regional workshops for follow-up on concluding observations and the participation of the Committee in a recent meeting on the SG’s reform proposal, which provided discussion for Treaty bodies’ reform.
Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the Independent Expert leading the Study on Violence Against Children, in presenting his progress report, gave an overview of the nine regional consultations that had taken place around the world. He highlighted some of the positive outcomes that had emerged from these, such as concrete follow-up activities developed by the Council of Europe, the organisation of an international forum on child development in Beijing, and the establishment of a network of journalists in West and Central Africa for reporting on children’s issues from a rights perspective.
He said there was a growing conscience to address the issue of violence against children, however, legal provisions in many countries still tolerate various forms of violence against children. “Violence, Pinheiro said, “can never be justified, it is perverse that children should still have less legal protection from being hit and humiliated than adults. However, violence persists under the guise of discipline or tradition”.
States have the primary responsibility to protect children, he continued, and the Study will challenge social norms, including all corporal punishment, whether it occurs in the home or elsewhere. Other issues that will be addressed in the Study include honour killings, homophobia, female genital mutilation and children in conflict with the law, which Pinheiro referred to as “one of the most serious issues that faces us, these children face violence at almost every level, and they do not belong in prisons or other institutions."
He concluded by saying that throughout the regional consultations, children had expressed how violence experienced in the home, schools, and other settings affected them. “Children, he continued, have dared to ask the most challenging questions, they have asked me to do something about what was being discussed, and Members must now take concrete steps to end violence against children."
Read his full speech here and see the Progress report
For more information about child rights that the UN General Assembly, visit: www.crin.org/CRCnews
For more information about the violence Study, go to: www.childrenandviolence.org