[child-rights] CRC 34th Session: Address by Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights

UNITED NATIONS
Press Release
15 September 2003

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xxxxxxxxxxCOMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD OPENS
THIRTY-FOURTH SESSION
Hears Address by Acting High Commissioner
for Human Rights
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The Committee on the Rights of the Child this morning opened its
autumn session by hearing an address by the acting High Commissioner
for Human Rights who paid tribute to the 23 United Nations
colleagues, including High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio
Vieira de Mello, who were killed in Baghdad on 19 August.

Bertrand Ramcharan, the acting High Commissioner for Human Rights,
said that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights had
lost a leader, a colleague and a dear friend. The United Nations,
Iraq and the world had lost a tireless and selfless public servant
who paid the ultimate price doing what he believed in deeply:
defending the inherent and inalienable dignity and rights of every
human being. He said that the best tribute one could pay to Sergio
and the other colleagues who lost their lives in that despicable
attack was to carry on with their mission of assisting the people of
Iraq to rebuild their country and build worldwide a solid foundation
of human rights.

Committee Chairperson Jacob Egbert Doek also paid homage to Mr.
Vieira de Mello and the other UN staff who were victims of the
bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad. The best way to honour the
commitment and dedication of Mr. Vieira de Mello and all other UN
officers was to continue with even more perseverance with the work
for the promotion of, respect for, and implementation of humanitarian
and human rights, he said.

Before starting its work, the Committee observed a minute of silence
in memory of the victims of the attack on the United Nations in
Baghdad.

After the Committee adopted its provisional agenda and programme of
work, the Secretary of the Committee, Paulo David, said that since
the Committee's last session, seven reports had been submitted by
States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which
had been acceded to by 192 countries. So far, the Committee has
received 178 initial, and 77 second and periodic reports. The
Committee has considered 218 reports since it was created. As of 15
September, 17 initial and 99 second periodic reports were overdue.

During its three-week session, the Committee is scheduled to review
the promotion and protection of children's rights in San Marino,
Canada, New Zealand, Pakistan, Madagascar, Brunei Darussalam,
Singapore, Bangladesh and Georgia. When it considers the second
periodic report of New Zealand, the Committee will also review the
initial report of the State party under the Optional Protocol on the
involvement of children in armed conflicts. That will be the first
time ever that the Committee will consider a report under one of the
two new Optional Protocols to the Convention which came into force in
2002.

On Friday, 19 September, the Committee is scheduled to hold a day of
general discussion on the right of indigenous children.

When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 16 September, it
will take up the initial report of San Marino.

Statement by Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights

BERTRAND RAMCHARAN, Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights, said
that he would open the session with sad feelings by paying tribute to
the 23 UN colleagues who were assassinated in Baghdad less than a
month ago. The loss of the High Commissioner, Sergio Vieira de Mello,
was a bitter blow for the United Nations. "The death of any colleague
is hard to bear, but I can think of no one we could less afford to
spare, or who would be more acutely missed throughout the UN system,
than Sergio. Throughout his career, he has been an outstanding
servant of humanity, dedicated to relieving the suffering of his
fellow men and women, helping them to resolve their conflicts and
rebuild their war-torn societies," he said.

Sergio was loyally committed to the ideals of the UN Charter, Mr.
Ramcharan said. In Iraq, where he spent the last months of his life,
he was working day and night to help the Iraqi people regain control
of their own destiny and build a future of peace, justice and full
independence. It was tragic that he had now given his life to that
cause, along with others who, like him, were devoted and much-loved
servants of the United Nations. Those who killed him had committed a
crime, not only against the United Nations but also against Iraq
itself.

Mr. Ramcharan said the Office of the High Commissioner for Human
Rights had lost a leader, a colleague and a dear friend. The United
Nations, Iraq and the world had lost a tireless and selfless public
servant who paid the ultimate price doing what he believed in deeply:
defending the inherent and inalienable dignity and rights of every
human being. The best tribute one could pay to Sergio and the other
colleagues who lost their lives in that despicable attack was to
carry on with their mission of assisting the people of Iraq to
rebuild their country and build worldwide a solid foundation of human
rights.

Turning to the issue of "Strengthening the United Nations: an agenda
for further change", Mr. Ramcharan said that there had been much
discussion on the Secretary-General's reform proposals during the
past few months and he would soon report to the General Assembly on
that topic. The second Inter-Committee meeting convened from 18 to 20
June also focused to a large extent on options for implementing the
proposal of the Secretary-General in a meaningful way. The meeting
had considered that the proposal that each State should be allowed to
produce a single report summarizing its adherence to the full range
of international human rights instruments would not meet the concerns
and objectives the Secretary-General had expressed in relation to the
system. Requiring States to the different instruments to prepare an
expanded core or common document, to be updated regularly, as well as
treaty bodies could meet some of those concerns and objectives.

Mr. Ramcharan said that the fifth meeting of Chairpersons of human
rights treaty bodies had endorsed the recommendations of the second
Inter-Committee meeting and recommended that the third
Inter-Committee meeting in 2004 examine draft guidelines for an
expanded core document to be submitted by all States parties to the
principal human rights instruments. Both meetings had once more
highlighted the great need for harmonization of working methods among
all the seven treaty bodies.

Mr. Ramcharan said that during this session, the Committee would
also, for the first time, review an initial report under one of the
two new Optional Protocols under the Convention. New Zealand had
launched that process by submitting its initial report under the
Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflicts.
More initial reports under those two instruments were expected to be
submitted next year.




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