GENEVA (11 January 2024) - The UN Child Rights Committee (CRC) will hold its upcoming session from 15 January to 2 February, during which it will review Congo, Bulgaria, Senegal, the Russian Federation, Lithuania and South Africa.

The six countries are among the 196 States parties to the Child Rights Convention. They are required to undergo regular reviews by the Committee of 18 independent international experts on how they are implementing the Convention, its Optional Protocols, as well as the Committee's previous recommendations. Among them, Senegal is also submitting its initial reports under, respectively, the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (OPSC), as well as the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict (OPAC), for the Committee to review.

The CRC, which has received the respective country reports and other submissions from non-governmental organisations, will discuss a range of issues with the six State delegations through public dialogues on the following dates at Geneva time:

Congo
15 January 15:00 - 18:00
16 January 10:00 - 13:00

Bulgaria
17 January 15:00 - 18:00
18 January 10:00 - 13:00

Senegal
18 January 15:00 - 18:00
19 January 10:00 - 13:00

19 January 15:00 – 18:00 (OPSC/OPAC)

The Russian Federation
22 January 15:00 - 18:00
23 January 10:00 - 13:00

Lithuania
23 January 15:00 - 18:00
24 January 10:00 - 13:00

South Africa
24 January 15:00 - 18:00
25 January 10:00 - 13:00

The above public dialogues will be held in the Ground Floor Conference Room, Palais Wilson, Geneva. All public meetings are open to accredited journalists and livecast on UN Web TV. More information about the session, including reports submitted by the States and the full schedule of meetings, is available on the session webpage.

For media accreditation:
Please apply online or contact press_geneva@un.org

Accredited media attending public meetings at Palais Wilson, please register with:
Vivian Kwok at vivian.kwok@un.org
UN Human Rights Office Media Section at ohchr-media@un.org

Background:
The Committee on the Rights of the Child monitors States parties' adherence to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols on involvement of children in armed conflict, and on sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. The Convention to date has 196 States parties. The Committee is made up of 18 members who are independent human rights experts drawn from around the world, who serve in their personal capacity and not as representatives of States parties.