Violence Against Children: Letter to UNSG

Submitted by crinadmin on

FRANCAIS / ESPAÑOL / ARABIC

Dear Colleagues,

You are being contacted today as you were among over 1000 organisations which last year signed the petition calling on the UN to establish a Special Representative on Violence Against Children. We need your urgent support.

As you may know, the Resolution adopted by 183 Member States called for the appointment of the SRSG. This is a major victory and a result of strong and consistent pressure from NGOs like yours. It is now up to the Secretary-General to appoint the new SRSG.

As this process unfolds, a number of organisations have been concerned at various aspects. The NGO Advisory Council for follow up to the UN Study on Violence Against Children and other NGOs have made direct representation to the Secretary-General’s office on these matters.

To update you, among the current proposals, issues of particular concern include:

  • Terms of Reference for the mandate are being re-written; again we feel that this is unnecessary as the Resolution provides adequate and detailed terms of references which should be used in the appointment.
  • The level of the post of SRSG may be at a lower level than the SRSG on Children and Armed Conflict, i.e. Assistant Secretary-General, rather than Under Secretary-General, creating not only issues of parity between the two posts, but also creating the impression that the overall issue of violence against children is less important.
  • The Location: We also feel that in order to be able to cooperate closely with all the relevant key UN agencies, it would make more sense for the SRSG to be based in Geneva where all other relevant UN partners are based, as well as the UN Human Rights Council and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. The SRSG should have his/her own premises rather than be based with a single agency.

URGENT ACTION: What we ask you to do

1. Please send the attached letter, or your own adaptation of it, to the Secretary-General, by fax: +1 212 963 2155 or by e-mail [email protected]

2. Please notify your Foreign Ministries and/or Missions in New York that you have sent this letter, by sending them a copy of the letter

Further information:

 

pdf: http://www.crin.org/docs/Sample_Letter_SG.doc

Organisation: 
Child Rights International Network
Attachment Link: 
http://www.crin.org/docs/Sample_Letter_SG.doc
Web: 
http://www.crin.org/violence/petitions/petition.asp?petID=1004

Countries

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