9 March 2009

Report by Amalia Rasheed

Informal meeting organised by NGO Instituto Internazionale, Maria Ausiliatrice on “The Right To Education For Street Children In Latin America.”

What struck me hardest was that the question of education appears to have evolved beyond simply providing free and compulsory schooling for the sake of fulfilling the rights of children to acquire knowledge and skills. In Children’s education as a need for the development of communities as a whole, more focus needs to be given to the quality of education, bearing in mind a respectful and caring human approach. Caregivers and teachers need to be seen, not merely as conveyors of practical instruction, but as facilitators of human development. It was mentioned, too, that cultural resources need to be fostered as a valuable contribution in education processes towards better governance.

Navi Pillay, High Commissioner on Human Rights said that more engagement of NGOs is needed as partners to governments and the private sector in order to implement quality programs. She welcomed suggestions and reports, and encouraged communication with her office. She said that NGOs can also advocate through corporate business and the media to get support for promoting Human Rights. She stressed the importance of linking up with other organisations so that human rights workers and organisations can have a bigger impact, but also to enhance and find solutions — all of us being ‘agents’ and ‘learners.’ She encouraged NGOs to give advice to the relevant local and national bodies as well as internationally to the UN offices, to alert them to issues of specific concern.

11 March 2009

Panel on “Promoting the Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child at the International Level”

High Commissioner, Navi Pillay, opening the panel discussion, said it was very timely and appropriate to focus on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which, twenty years after its adoption, enjoyed almost universal acceptance. There was no doubt that the Convention had transformed the way the world viewed children — they are no longer viewed as the property of parents or the passive recipients of charity or goodwill, but as rights-holders. This conceptual shift also underscored States' accountability in fulfilling their obligations towards children's rights.

Dainius Puras, a panellist from Member of the Committee on Rights of the Child, said the challenges the Committee on the Rights of the Child faced were many. While the Committee was encouraged by the compliance with reporting obligation, there is a substantial backlog. The Secretariat assisting the Committee on its work had grown smaller despite the increased work load.The Committee was also worried by the numerous and sometimes very broad reservations expressed by States upon ratification. The Committee urged States to reconsider these so that all the rights enshrined in the Convention could in reality be enjoyed by all children.

Philip O’Brien, Director of Private Fundraising and Partnership of the United Nations Children’s Fund in Geneva and a panellist, said that, since the Convention was adopted, more children were living beyond their first or fifth birthdays and fewer children were suffering from preventable childhood diseases. More children, including girls, were in school and staying in school longer. More children had access to safe drinking water. Fewer girls were being married as children. More births were being recorded, and more children were receiving life-saving treatment for HIV/AIDS. Generally awareness about the rights of children was much greater among policy makers and community leaders, as well as among children themselves.

Asma Jahangir, Chair of the Coordination Committee of Special Procedures and a panellist, said that this was an important opportunity to discuss how the Council could further integrate a child rights perspective into its work. In this regard, Special Procedures played a crucial role, as their work informed the Human Rights Council's debates to an important extent and deliberations, giving specific attention to the situation of children. As Special Rapporteur for the Freedom of Religions and Belief, she also spoke of the need for a balance between the rights of children and of parents in their parental duties to guide, with consideration for the maturity and evolution of the child’s own potential and development and their own wishes concerning their religious and spiritual needs.

Alan Kikuchi-White, a panellist and Representative of the NGO Group for the Convention of the Rights of the Child, said that the NGO Group noted that the Universal Periodic Review focused largely on violations of the rights to life, survival and development, and on discrimination-based abuses. Other issues, such as education and health had found a place in the Universal Periodic Review but were viewed only through the lens of special protection for vulnerable groups, and discrimination against, for example, children with disabilities, or migrant children. The NGO Group suggested that efforts were required by stakeholders and the Council alike to ensure that certain overlooked clusters of rights, for example, civil rights and freedoms, family environment and alternative care, and not least of all, the principle of child participation in all spheres of social life, were appropriately represented in the Universal Periodic Review.

Maud De Boer-Buquichio, a panellist and Deputy Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, spoke of the need to recognise children as no longer “mini persons with mini rights,” and that they should be treated with respect if the are to grow into respectful and responsible adults. She said that many cases concerning children’s rights had been brought before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, raising issues such as the prohibition of degrading and humiliating treatment, the right of children to a fair trial and the right to respect for private and family life. Cases concerning corporal punishment of children provided the international community with a good illustration of how the Strasbourg Court increasingly applied the standards of the United Nations Convention in judgements related to children.

In the interactive discussion that followed, countries and NGOs raised several issues, including the focus on the development potential in the Universal Periodic Review process; sexual abuse of children; awareness-raising efforts of the Convention; special measures for the protection of girls; education of children; strategies for social protection and social inclusion of children; strengthening of the international legal framework; and attention to the ongoing violence that children suffered every day in private spheres. One speaker said that twenty years after the Convention on the Rights of the Child came into force, the world situation of childhood, although much improved, was still not very encouraging. Children are threatened by wars, hunger and inequality. A number of speakers suggested that the Committee on the Rights of the Child needed a bigger secretariat. Some delegations urged States to reduce the number of reservations to the Convention.

A new family-friendly website on children's rights was presented. http://www.CyberDodo.com

The first issue of 7 colourful books, available in several languages, was presented as a tool for education of children on Human Rights. Cyber Dodo, the defender of Life. With comics and games, it is playfully informative and can be ordered. contact@cyberdodo.com