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COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD OPENS TWENTY-SECOND SESSION
20 September 1999
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HR/CRC/99/38
20 September 1999
Hears Statement by Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights
The Committee on the Rights of the Child met briefly this morning to open its autumn three-week session, adopting its agenda and programme of work and hearing a statement by Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Betrand Ramcharan.
Mr. Ramcharan told the members of the Committee that the High Commissioner had decided to focus in the future on increasing international attention on the matter of juvenile justice, and for this purpose she envisaged a possible major international conference on juvenile justice in 2002.
Several Committee members expressed support for that initiative, saying it would strengthen recognition of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
It was also announced that during the current session the Committee would organize jointly with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights a two-day special meeting devoted to the commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
A Secretariat representative reported that four initial reports and six periodic reports had been received since the Committee’s spring session. Since the Committee's inception in 1991, 166 reports had been received -- 137 initial and 29 periodic -- and 104 had been considered, the representative said. Some 56 initial and 96 periodic reports were overdue, he said.
When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. Tuesday, 21 September, it will take up an initial report of Venezuela.
Statement by Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights
BERTRAND RAMCHARAN, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, stressed that juvenile justice constituted one of the main challenges for the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Having taken note of the systematic concerns and recommendations of the Committee in that area and in view of numerous requests and appeals for intervention from a wide range of parties, the High Commissioner had decided to focus in the future on increasing attention on the issue of juvenile justice. For that purpose, the High Commissioner had envisaged initiating the process of organizing in 2002 a major international conference on juvenile justice, Mr. Ramcharan said.
Mr. Ramcharan said that on 20 November 1999, the commemorative day of the adoption of the Convention by the General Assembly 10 years ago, the High Commissioner for Human Rights would receive in Geneva children representing socio-economically disadvantaged groups from a wide range of countries. That meeting would be the culminating point of a one-week gathering organized by the French non-governmental organization ATD Fourth World, he said.
Furthermore, Mr. Ramcharan said, his Office had, since late 1998, been actively involved in the issue of trafficking in persons with a special focus on trafficking in women and children. Concrete steps, including the allocation of additional human-rights and financial resources, had already been taken to increase its efforts in the field.
Remarks by Chairperson
NAFSIAH MBOI, Chairperson of the Committee, said she was conscious of the limits of what the Committee could accomplish alone to advance children's causes around the world. She said she was encouraged by the presence of the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights at the opening of the Committee's current session.
Ms. Mboi recalled that the Committee had fixed as an objective finding ways to speed up the consideration of delayed reports. In addition, it was essential to make known to the public the role of the Committee and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, she said. She announced that since she had been called to another duty at the World Health Organization (WHO), she would quite her Committee membership in November.
20 September 1999
Hears Statement by Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights
The Committee on the Rights of the Child met briefly this morning to open its autumn three-week session, adopting its agenda and programme of work and hearing a statement by Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Betrand Ramcharan.
Mr. Ramcharan told the members of the Committee that the High Commissioner had decided to focus in the future on increasing international attention on the matter of juvenile justice, and for this purpose she envisaged a possible major international conference on juvenile justice in 2002.
Several Committee members expressed support for that initiative, saying it would strengthen recognition of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
It was also announced that during the current session the Committee would organize jointly with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights a two-day special meeting devoted to the commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
A Secretariat representative reported that four initial reports and six periodic reports had been received since the Committee’s spring session. Since the Committee's inception in 1991, 166 reports had been received -- 137 initial and 29 periodic -- and 104 had been considered, the representative said. Some 56 initial and 96 periodic reports were overdue, he said.
When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. Tuesday, 21 September, it will take up an initial report of Venezuela.
Statement by Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights
BERTRAND RAMCHARAN, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, stressed that juvenile justice constituted one of the main challenges for the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Having taken note of the systematic concerns and recommendations of the Committee in that area and in view of numerous requests and appeals for intervention from a wide range of parties, the High Commissioner had decided to focus in the future on increasing attention on the issue of juvenile justice. For that purpose, the High Commissioner had envisaged initiating the process of organizing in 2002 a major international conference on juvenile justice, Mr. Ramcharan said.
Mr. Ramcharan said that on 20 November 1999, the commemorative day of the adoption of the Convention by the General Assembly 10 years ago, the High Commissioner for Human Rights would receive in Geneva children representing socio-economically disadvantaged groups from a wide range of countries. That meeting would be the culminating point of a one-week gathering organized by the French non-governmental organization ATD Fourth World, he said.
Furthermore, Mr. Ramcharan said, his Office had, since late 1998, been actively involved in the issue of trafficking in persons with a special focus on trafficking in women and children. Concrete steps, including the allocation of additional human-rights and financial resources, had already been taken to increase its efforts in the field.
Remarks by Chairperson
NAFSIAH MBOI, Chairperson of the Committee, said she was conscious of the limits of what the Committee could accomplish alone to advance children's causes around the world. She said she was encouraged by the presence of the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights at the opening of the Committee's current session.
Ms. Mboi recalled that the Committee had fixed as an objective finding ways to speed up the consideration of delayed reports. In addition, it was essential to make known to the public the role of the Committee and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, she said. She announced that since she had been called to another duty at the World Health Organization (WHO), she would quite her Committee membership in November.
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