Submitted by crinadmin on
Summary: This is a joint statement on behalf of the following NGOs: Mr Chairperson, We welcome the progress made during the present session and the positive and constructive spirit in which it has taken place. The existence of this Working Group and the high number of States that have assisted in the present session (we have counted over 100 States present throughout the discussion), as well as the important participation of representatives from capitals show that a communications procedure under the CRC is both timely and necessary to recognise fully the status of children as rights-holders. We note the strong and unanimous support for moving on to the elaboration of the necessary Optional Protocol from the invited experts, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF, the Office of the High Commissioner, the European Network of Children’s Ombudspeople and civil society, including a submission from children. Many States indicated their commitment to this goal. We heard no State voicing opposition to the proposal for a communications procedure for the CRC. We believe that the mandate of this Working Group has been fulfilled. We strongly hope that the Human Rights Council at its next session will provide a mandate for an Open Ended Working Group to elaborate an appropriate Optional Protocol. We recognise that remaining technical issues will be debated and resolved in the normal way during elaboration. In fact delegations have already made constructive and detailed suggestions for achieving an appropriate procedure for children. This session provided clear answers to many of the issues raised by States. We hope that any States which have remaining questions will identify them and that any further necessary technical advice and information can be provided well in advance of the March session of the Human Rights Council, perhaps in the form of an expert roundtable organised by the Chair. As stressed by many delegations as well as by the experts, a communications procedure for the CRC will provide every child with an international remedy making their rights justiciable when national systems fail to address violations of their rights. It will also strengthen the effective implementation of the CRC at national level, notably by developing a child rights jurisprudence consistent with the CRC's high standards and providing an international model for a child-friendly mechanism. It will furthermore reinforce the status of children as right-holders, complement the Committee's current mandate and put child rights at the same level as other human rights. We welcome the fruitful discussions about the issue of unique and specific rights under the CRC. The explanations given by experts on that topic consistently stressed the interdependence and indivisibility of the rights in the CRC and the need for a holistic interpretation of it. A communications procedure established under the CRC should therefore enable communications from all children and their representatives concerning violations of any of their rights, in accordance with the international practice regarding communications procedures. We also noted with interest the numerous examples of national and regional best practices provided by States, notably on matters of children's access to justice and representation. We believe that these examples constitute valuable avenues for reflection for the Working Group once it will start the drafting process. As explained by Ms Santos Pais and Mr Schmidt, the OHCHR Head of the Petitions Unit, the elaboration of a new Protocol to the CRC can rely on 20 years of solid experience in implementing the Convention and on the established practices and lessons learned from other treaty bodies dealing with communications. We note also the reassurance provided that the new communications procedure will not require unreasonable additional resources and that based on the experience of other procedures the additional workload will be manageable. Mr Chair, In view of the scarcity of UN resources, we urge States to avoid prolonging general discussions that would divert additional resources from the elaboration phase of the Protocol and to move swiftly to the drafting stage. As the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stressed at the Annual full-day Meeting on the Rights of the Child on 11 March 2009: “We need to translate our commitment, engagement and work on children's rights into a tangible reality for each and every one of them”. Updates from Working Group Meeting Read statements: View Experts' Submissions (OHCHR website)
International Save the Children Alliance, Kindernothilfe, World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), Plan International, SOS Children's Villages International, Terre des hommes International, World Vision International, the Child Rights Information Network (CRIN), the Global Initiative to End Corporal Punishment, ENOC and the NGO Group for the CRC.