[child-rights] CRC 45th session: Committee on Rights of the Child opens forty-fifth session

UNITED NATIONS Press release
21 May 2007 

Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Addresses Meeting 

The Committee on the Rights of the Child this morning opened its
forty-fifth session, adopting its agenda, swearing in new Members,
and electing its Bureau. Kyung-Wha Kang, Deputy High Commissioner for
Human Rights, also addressed the Committee. 

Committee Expert Yanghee Lee was elected as Chairperson. The
Vice-Chairpersons elected were Kamel Filali, Rosa Maria Ortiz, Awich
Pollar and Jean Zermatten. Lothar Krappmann was elected as
Rapporteur. 
The Committee's new members, Agnes Akosua Aidoo, Luigi Citarella,
Maria Herczog, and Dainius Puras made solemn declarations that they
would perform their duties and exercise their powers as members of
the Committee on the Rights of the Child honourably, faithfully,
impartially and conscientiously. 

In opening remarks, Kyung-Wha Kang, Deputy High Commissioner for
Human Rights, highlighted that a special event on follow-up to
recommendations of the Secretary-General's Study on Violence against
Children had been held during the fourth regular session of the Human
Rights Council, in March 2007. Along with Bacre Ndiaye, Director of
the Human Rights Procedures Division, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the
Independent Expert on violence against children, and Moushira
Khattab, Vice-Chairperson of the Committee on the Rights of the
Child, Ms. Kang had addressed those attending the event. The
intention of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights (OHCHR) to support the Study's follow-up, including via
the work of the Organization's special procedures and treaty bodies,
had been made clear. 

Ms. Kang informed members that since its last session Cuba, Egypt and
Yemen had become parties to the Optional Protocol on the involvement
of children in armed conflict, and Comoros, Mauritania, Moldova and
Sweden had become parties to the Optional Protocol on the sale of
children, child prostitution and child pornography. Additionally, it
was expected that the long-awaited book containing the legislative
history of the Convention on the Rights of the Child would be
launched next month, on 11 June 2007, in the presence of the High
Commissioner. 

During its present session, the Committee would consider the periodic
reports of Kazakhstan, Maldives, Slovakia, and Uruguay, as well as
initial reports on the Convention's Optional Protocols from
Bangladesh, Guatemala, Monaco, Norway, Sweden, Sudan and Ukraine. Ms.
Kang said the Committee would also be meeting in closed session with
non-governmental organizations, UN agencies, regional organizations
and student groups on a diverse number of issues related to
children's rights. The Committee would discuss treaty body reform
issues, the Committee's General Days of Discussion and General
Comments. It would also discuss the regional workshop on follow-up to
the Committee's concluding observations that OHCHR was in the process
of planning in cooperation with partners, to be held in Burkina Faso
in November, and the possibility of holding a regional workshop in
the Republic of Korea in the course of 2008. Also during this
session, the Committee would be seeking new modalities for
cooperation with the Council of Europe, and would meet informally
with the Deputy Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, on 7
June. 

A Committee Expert then asked whether there was an action plan to
implement the recommendations in the Secretary-General's Study on
Violence against Children. Ms. Kang, and other representatives of
OHCHR, outlined progress on follow-up and confirmed that OHCHR was
finalizing a strategic plan in that regard. 

When the Committee reconvenes in public on Tuesday, 22 May at 10
a.m., it is scheduled to take up the second periodic report of
Slovakia (CRC/C/SVK/2) on how that country is implementing the
provisions of the Convention. 

Statements 

KYUNG-WHA KANG, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, extended a
warm welcome to the Committee's new members, and congratulated those
members that had been re-elected. The fact that all five members
standing for re-election had been successful demonstrated the
confidence States parties had in the work that had been carried out
by the Committee on the Rights of the Child and its Experts over the
past years. 

With respect to developments that had taken place since the
Committee's January session, Ms. Kang drew attention to three new
instruments had been adopted into the human rights treaty regime: the
International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
and its Optional Protocol, and the International Convention on the
Protection of All Persons from Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance.
A signing ceremony for the Convention on Persons with Disabilities
and its Optional Protocol had been held on 30 March 2007 in New York.
At the moment, there were 85 signatories to the Convention and 45
signatories to its Optional Protocol. The Convention on Enforced
Disappearance had been opened for signature in February 2007, and 59
States had signed so far. 

Furthermore, Ms. Kang noted that the Subcommittee on the Prevention
of Torture, established under the Optional Protocol to the Convention
against Torture, had held its first session in Geneva in February.
The Subcommittee had elected its Bureau, and would soon begin its
work, which involved monitoring, through visits, places where
persons, including those under the age of 18, might be deprived of
their liberty. Since the Committee's last session, Cambodia and New
Zealand had become parties to the Optional Protocol and Nicaragua had
become a signatory. 

Ms. Kang highlighted that a special event on follow-up to
recommendations of the Secretary-General's Study on Violence against
Children had been held during the fourth regular session of the Human
Rights Council, in March 2007. Along with Bacre Ndiaye, Director of
the Human Rights Procedures Division, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the
Independent Expert on violence against children, and Moushira
Khattab, Vice-Chairperson of the Committee on the Rights of the
Child, Ms. Kang had addressed those attending the event. The
intention of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights (OHCHR) to support the Study's follow-up, including via
the work of the Organization's special procedures and treaty bodies,
had been made clear. 

Turning to the reform of treaty bodies, Ms. Kang informed the
Committee that last week, on 15 and 16 May, in Geneva, the
International Law Commission had held a discussion on reservations to
human rights treaties with UN experts in the field of human rights.
Committee Expert Jean Zermatten had represented the Committee on the
Rights of the Child at that meeting and would be able to provide an
update during this session. 

Also, as part of the follow-up to recommendations of the Fifth
Inter-Committee Meeting and the Eighteenth Meeting of Chairpersons of
Treaty Bodies, the Working Group on the harmonization of the working
methods of the treaty bodies had met on 17 and 18 April 2007 in order
to finalize its discussion on the High Commissioner's proposal for
the creation of a unified standing treaty body, among other things.
Committee Expert Kamel Filali had attended that meeting and would
provide the Committee with more information during the course of the
session. 

Regarding developments in the area of children's rights, Ms. Kang
informed members that since its last session Cuba, Egypt and Yemen
had become parties to the Optional Protocol on the involvement of
children in armed conflict, and Comoros, Mauritania, Moldova and
Sweden had become parties to the Optional Protocol on the sale of
children, child prostitution and child pornography. 

Additionally, Ms. Kang observed that it was expected that the
long-awaited book containing the legislative history of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child would be launched next month,
on 11 June 2007, in the presence of the High Commissioner. 

Turning to the work of the Committee during this session, Ms. Kang
recalled that the Committee would consider the periodic reports of
Kazakhstan, Maldives, Slovakia, and Uruguay, as well as initial
reports on the Convention's Optional Protocols from Bangladesh,
Guatemala, Monaco, Norway, Sweden, Sudan and Ukraine. It would also
be meeting in closed session with non-governmental organizations, UN
agencies, regional organizations and student groups on a diverse
number of issues related to children's rights. The Committee would
discuss treaty body reform issues, the Committee's General Days of
Discussion and General Comments. It would also discuss the regional
workshop on follow-up to the Committee's concluding observations that
OHCHR was in the process of planning in cooperation with partners, to
be held in Burkina Faso in November, and the possibility of holding a
regional workshop in the Republic of Korea in the course of 2008, as
well as other issues pertinent to the work of the Committee. 

Also during this session, the Committee would be seeking new
modalities for cooperation with the Council of Europe. In that
context, Ms. Kang recalled that the Committee would meet informally
with Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary-General of the Council
of Europe, on 7 June. The meeting would allow members to get an
overview of the Council of Europe's new programme for the promotion
of children's rights and the protection of children from violence,
"Building a Europe for and with children", and the organization's
goals and activities. 

On a final note, Ms. Kang informed members that Ibrahim Salama had
been appointed as the new Chief of the Treaty Bodies and Council
Branch. He would be taking up his appointment in the coming months. 

Following that statement, an Expert asked whether an action plan had
been put in place to further the recommendations of the
Secretary-General's Study on Violence against Children. In
particular, if the Committee were to recommend to States to seek
OHCHR's assistance in that regard, she wished to know how much OHCHR
was committed to providing that assistance. 

Ms. Kang replied that so far, OHCHR had been concentrating on getting
the message out, through disseminating and translating the study.
They were now in the process of helping the Independent Expert draft
his first-year follow-up to the study to be presented to the General
Assembly. 

JANE CONNORS, Senior Human Rights Officer at OHCHR, said that OHCHR
was finalizing a strategic plan for the implementation of the
recommendations in the Secretary-General's Study. OHCHR was an active
member of the inter-agency group that supported the Independent
Expert. They were finalizing the recruitment of a mid-level staff
person to assist Mr. Pinheiro to e nsure full-fledged follow-up.
OHCHR was working very closely with the United Nations Children's
Fund, which was much larger, and was trying to push targeted goals. 

Ms. Connors recalled that Professor Pinheiro would be meeting with
the Committee on 22 May to present his ideas on follow-up to the
study and exchange views with the Committee in that regard. 

__________ 

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