[child-rights] CRC 41th session: Committee on Rights of Child opens Forty-First Session

UNITED NATIONS Press release

Committee on the 
Rights of the Child 

9 January 2006 

*Hears Statement by Chief of Treaties and Commission Branch of
Office*
*of High Commissioner for Human Rights*

The Committee on the Rights of the Child this morning opened its
forty-first session by hearing an address by Maria Francisca
Ize-Charrin, Chief of the Treaties and Commission Branch of the
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. It also adopted its
agenda and programme of work. 
 
In her opening address, Ms. Ize-Charrin said the role of the
Committee in the process of reform and the implementation of the High
Commissioner's Plan of Action was essential, as the Committee had
expertise and insight which the High Commissioner relied upon.
Regarding the activities of the Committee, Ms. Ize-Charrin
acknowledged its role, saying it had a very busy three weeks before
it as it would consider 15 reports during the session, and continue
to discuss general comments, and meet with States parties in an
informal meeting. It would also interact with the many United Nations
entities, non-governmental organizations and other partners who
followed the Committee's work. The double workload would require
additional efforts on the part of all those involved. The
two-chambers decision would be evaluated for the General Assembly's
sixty-first session in 2006, and the Chairman of the Committee had
been invited to present an oral report at that same session.
 
At the beginning of the meeting, Committee Chairperson Jacob Egbert
Doek said it was the first time that the Committee would be meeting
in two parallel bodies in order to eliminate the backlog the
Committee was facing, and to be able to consider the reports under
the two Optional Protocols. The Committee in full would discuss the
concluding observations. 
 
During its three-week session, the Committee will consider reports
from Switzerland, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Peru, Ghana,
Liechtenstein, Andorra, Trinidad and Tobago, Hungary, Lithuania,
Azerbaijan, Mauritius, Saudi Arabia and Thailand on their efforts to
implement the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child. 
 
When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., Chamber A is scheduled to
take up the initial report of Switzerland on the Optional Protocol to
the Convention on the involvement of children in armed conflict
(CRC/C/OPAC/CHE/1). Chamber B is scheduled to take up the initial
report of Bangladesh on the Optional Protocol to the Convention on
the involvement of children in armed conflict (CRC/C/OPAC/BGD/1). 
 

*Statement by Chief of Treaties and Commission Branch*
 
MARIA FRANCISCA IZE-CHARRIN, Chief of the Treaties and Commission
Branch of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said
activities to implement the High Commissioner's Plan of Action
continued. The role of the Committee was essential, as it had
expertise and insight which the High Commissioner relied upon. The
on-going process of regularisation of posts had been extended until
March 2006, and this had placed a significant burden on those who
were working hard to finalise the recruitment process for a
considerable number of posts. Final decisions would be taken once the
processes for all the posts had been completed - and this also meant
that the recruitment process for the post of Secretary of the
Committee had still not been completed. On the Secretary-General's
Study on Violence against Children, the independent expert, Paulo
Sergio Pinheiro, had presented his progress report to the General
Assembly, and was currently finalising his report to be presented to
the Commission on Human Rights at its sixty-second session. 
 
Regarding the activities of the Committee, Ms. Ize-Charrin
acknowledged its role, in particular that of Mr. Norberto Liwski,
along with all the partners, in planning and carrying through a
successful regional workshop on follow-up to concluding observations
of the Committee, which took place in Buenos Aires, last November,
and which showed how the Committee, with its United Nations and civil
society partners, and the close cooperation and support of Government
representatives, could further the implementation of the Convention
on the Rights of the Child. The Committee had a very busy three weeks
before it, and would consider 15 reports during the session, and
continue to discuss general comments, and meet with States parties in
an informal meeting. It would also interact with the many United
Nations entities, non-governmental organizations and other partners
who followed the Committee's work. The session would be followed by a
pre-sessional working group, during which preparation for the
consideration of reports at the next session would begin. This
workload would require additional efforts on the part of all those
involved. The two-chambers decision would be evaluated for the
General Assembly's sixty-first session in 2006, and the Chairman of
the Committee had been invited to present an oral report at that same
session. 
 
Responding, Mr. Doek underscored the results of the support of the
Office of the High Commissioner, saying that it was crucial and well
appreciated by the Committee. The Committee would have a reflection
after the session as to the success of the two-chambers approach. He
also noted that the Committee should reach 100 per cent consideration
of all initial reports submitted by States parties by the end of the
year.
 
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/For use of the information media; not an official record/