GENEVA (7 January  2016) – Children’s rights in France will be reviewed by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on 13 and 14 January in sessions that will be webcast live.

France is one of the 196 states that have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child and so is required to undergo regular examinations of its record by the Committee of 18 independent experts.

The CRC members will hold discussions with a delegation from the French Government on how the Convention is being implemented. The Committee will base its evaluation on the delegation’s replies, as well as information from civil society groups.

These are among the possible issues to be discussed:  Anti-bullying policies; measures to combat social exclusion, including of children at risk of poverty and Roma children living in camps; protection of children and adolescents seeking asylum; socio-economic inequalities between the mainland and overseas departments and territories; measures taken in response to allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation of children by French military personnel deployed abroad, notably in CAR ; measures taken to prevent recruitment of children by non-State armed groups and radical religious and ideological movements.

The full list of issues and France’s submitted written report can be found here: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=924&Lang=en

The CRC’s meetings with the French delegation will take place in Room XVI at Palais des Nations at the following times:
Wednesday 13 January: 15:00-18:00 
Thursday 14 January: 10:00- 13:00 

The sessions are public and will be webcast here: http://www.treatybodywebcast.org/.

The CRC will hold a news conference to discuss its findings on France and the other countries being reviewed - Senegal, Iran, Oman, Latvia, Ireland, Haiti, Peru, Maldives, Zimbabwe, Maldives, Zambia, Benin, Brunei and Kenya – at 12:00 on 4 February at the Palais des Nations. The findings, officially called concluding observations, will be published on 4 February here: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=924&Lang=en

ENDS

For more information and media requests, please contact Liz Throssell (+41 (0) 22 917 9466/ +41 79 752 0488 ethrossell@ohchr.org

To obtain media accreditation for the Palais des Nations, see:   http://unog.ch/80256EDD006B9C2E/(httpPages)/70991F6887C73B2280256EE700379C58?OpenDocument

To learn more about the Committee on the Rights of the Child, visit: http://www.ohchr.org/en/treaty-bodies/crc

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