The Committee on the Rights of the Child this morning opened its ninety-seventh session, which is being held in Geneva from 26 August to 13 September, during which the Committee will review reports on the efforts of Argentina, Armenia, Israel, Mexico and Turkmenistan to adhere to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as on Bahrain's efforts to implement the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography and on the involvement of children in armed conflict.
During the meeting, the Committee signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the African Committee on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.
Ann Marie Skelton, Committee Chair, said that the signing was a significant event in the history of the two treaty bodies. The Memorandum of Understanding would streamline cooperation between the Committees and presented exciting future opportunities for further joint work.
Wilson de Almeida Adão, Chairperson of the African Committee on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, said the Memorandum of Understanding was a manifestation of a collective commitment to reinforcing the protection and promotion of children's rights through enhanced collaboration and mutual support. It was a step towards harmonising and synergising efforts for the greater good of children.
Opening the session, Mahamane Cisse-Gouro, Director, Human Rights Council and Treaty Mechanisms Division, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Representative of the Secretary-General, said that despite the current liquidity situation at the United Nations, the Office of the High Commissioner had successfully ensured the continuation of all annual sessions of the treaty bodies. This was confirmation that the work of the treaty bodies was of high priority for the United Nations.
Ms. Skelton said the United Nations treaty body system had been constrained by deep uncertainty in the past few months. When the Chairs of the treaty bodies met the Secretary-General in New York in June this year, they stressed that urgent measures had to be taken to ensure recovery from the liquidity crisis.
The Committee needed increased strength now, Ms. Skelton said, because children's rights were being eroded on a massive scale throughout the world. In a year in which tens of thousands of children had been killed in wars around the world, backsliding in children's rights monitoring was unconscionable. The Committee needed to be empowered to step up the work that it was mandated to do, she said.
Before adopting the session's agenda, the Committee also heard statements from representatives of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Children's Fund, Child Rights Connect, and the Secretary of the Committee.
Summaries of the public meetings of the Committee can be found here, and webcasts of the public meetings can be found here. The programme of work of the Committee's ninety-seventh session and other documents related to the session can be found here.
The Committee will next meet in public at 3 p.m. this afternoon to consider the combined fourth to sixth periodic report of Namibia (CRC/C/NAM/4-6).
Opening Statements
MAHAMANE CISSE-GOURO, Director, Human Rights Council and Treaty Mechanisms Division, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Representative of the Secretary-General, said it was an honour to open the ninety-seventh session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Despite the current liquidity situation at the United Nations, the Office of the High Commissioner had successfully ensured the continuation of all annual sessions of the treaty bodies, thanks to the steadfast support of the High Commissioner. The only regrettable exception was the pre-sessional working groups related to the second annual sessions of the treaty bodies. This was confirmation that the work of the treaty bodies was of high priority for the United Nations.
Mr. Cisse-Gouro said today's signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Committee and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child was very welcome. The Office of the High Commissioner and the African Union had a long history of cooperation. Since November 2023, this cooperation had been governed by the African Union-United Nations Joint Framework on Human Rights. A joint steering committee was working to define the activities that the two organizations would implement in the next four years.
This session would also mark a few important milestones, notably the tenth anniversary of the entry into force of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the communications procedure. The Committee would hold an open event to celebrate the anniversary on 12 September, which would include the participation of child victims and their representatives, as well as States that had had experience with the complaints and inquiries mechanisms.
Mr. Cisse-Gouro noted with satisfaction that the Committee's work on its draft general comment 27 on children's rights to access justice and effective remedies was progressing rapidly. Consultations for adults and children at global, regional and local levels were currently taking place in different regions of the world, organised by various stakeholders. The first draft would then be submitted for public consultation next year.
The Office of the High Commissioner continued to actively support efforts to strengthen the treaty body system, which was the key topic at the thirty-sixth annual meeting of the treaty body Chairpersons in New York in June. The Chairpersons made marked progress in terms of aligning working methods, advocated for enlarged support for the implementation of the treaty body strengthening process, and called for resources to implement the predictable review schedule and other key strengthening proposals.
The Human Rights Council, at its fifty-sixth session last month, adopted resolution 56/5 establishing an open-ended intergovernmental working group to elaborate a draft Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child explicitly recognising the right to education, including early childhood care and education. The proposed draft Optional Protocol would aim to make public pre-primary education available free to all, beginning with at least one year, and public secondary education available free to all.
With reference to the Summit of the Future, the Office of the High Commissioner would contribute to a Youth Action Day, which would take place on 20 September in New York. The Office would co-lead a thematic session at this event focused on youth and governance.
During the Committee's very busy current session, it would consider the reports of Argentina, Armenia, Bahrain, Israel, Mexico and Turkmenistan, as well as nine individual communications lodged against Argentina, Denmark, Finland, France, Spain and Switzerland on the rights of indigenous children, institutionalisation of children and separation from parents, deportation of children, and determination of the age of unaccompanied migrant children. The Committee would continue to ensure that children's rights were respected as indivisible and non-negotiable rights that belonged to all children, in all territories and at all times. Mr. Cisse-Gouro concluded by wishing the Committee a fruitful and productive session.
ANN MARIE SKELTON, Committee Chair, said the United Nations treaty body system had been constrained by deep uncertainty in the past few months. When the Chairs of the treaty bodies met the Secretary-General in New York in June this year, they stressed that the entire fabric of the treaty body system was unravelling, that urgent measures had to be taken to ensure recovery from the liquidity crisis, and that an adequate budget for treaty body activities, including for all the personnel that supported the system, needed to be assured.
The Committee needed increased strength now, not for its own sake, but because children's rights were being eroded on a massive scale throughout the world. In a year in which tens of thousands of children had been killed in wars around the world, many more injured, and millions faced malnutrition, backsliding in children's rights monitoring was unconscionable. In this session - which almost did not happen due to the liquidity crisis - the Committee was due to review Israel, among several other States. When children around the globe were facing infringements to the most fundamental rights to life, survival and development, the Committee needed to be empowered to step up the work that it was mandated to do.
Pushbacks on children's civil rights were undermining the acceptance of children as rights holders. Upholding children's rights in this context was increasingly difficult, but also increasingly vital. The Committee was ready and willing to take up the task to the best of its ability. It faced a daunting task to deal with the backlog of States party reviews, which currently stood at 78 reports that were due for consideration.
The Committee had received many written submissions from States and other stakeholders regarding general comment 27 on children's rights and access to justice and remedy. It greatly appreciated this, and the work being done by many in civil society, with support of the United Nations Children's Fund, to ensure that there was a vibrant consultation process on this general comment, including with children. The Committee would continue to work on the draft general comment during the session.
The Committee looked forward to an interesting session, during which it would be marking the tenth year of operation of the Optional Protocol on a communications procedure on 12 September 2024 at the Palais des Nations. During the session, the Committee would continue its discussion on how its cooperation with various relevant bodies could be further strengthened to enhance the promotion and protection of the rights of the child. It would take concrete steps to strengthen its cooperation with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children in Armed Conflict, and with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children. It would also continue its discussion on follow-up to the treaty body strengthening process and the 2020 review.
The Committee would further consider communications and information it had received through its communications procedure, including individual communications and inquiries, and continue its discussion on integrating days of general discussion into the process of developing general comments.
WILSON DE ALMEIDA ADÃO, Chairperson of the African Committee on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, said the Memorandum of Understanding between the African Committee and the Committee on the Rights of the Child was not merely a document but a manifestation of a collective commitment to reinforcing the protection and promotion of children's rights through enhanced collaboration and mutual support. It was a step towards harmonising and synergising efforts for the greater good of children.
The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, which came into force in 1999, addressed the unique context and realities faced by children in Africa. As of today, 51 out of the 55 Member States of the African Union had ratified the Charter, which covered a wide range of rights, including civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, with specific emphasis on issues pertinent to the African context.
The African Committee was mandated to monitor and promote the implementation of the Charter across African countries, review reports of States parties, consider communications, and issue recommendations to enhance child rights and welfare in Africa. Additionally, it engaged in advocacy and capacity-building efforts to strengthen the protection of children's rights on the continent and collaborated with stakeholders working on child rights and welfare issues.
In its work, the African Committee had identified several positive trends that offered hope for the future of children's rights in Africa. These included the increasing recognition of the importance of child participation, the growing involvement of civil society organizations in monitoring and reporting on children's rights, and the strengthening of national child protection systems in many countries.
However, challenges remained. Thematic issues such as child marriage, child labour, and the impact of armed conflict on children continued to pose significant threats to the rights and well-being of African children. To address these challenges, the African Committee strongly believed that collaboration with the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child was not just desirable but essential. This partnership enhanced effectiveness by sharing expertise, resources and best practices, while avoiding duplication of efforts. It also facilitated coordinated actions, such as joint training, field visits and unified statements.
In closing, Mr. de Almeida Adão called for cooperation between the two Committees to achieve their common goal: creating a world fit for children.
ANN MARIE SKELTON, Committee Chair, said the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the African Committee on the Rights and Welfare of the Child was a significant event in the history of the two treaty bodies. The Committees shared the experience of monitoring compliance with the fulfilment of children's rights that were presented in the Committees' respective treaties. Although there were many similarities between the two treaties, there were also some significant and meaningful differences. Both the similarities and differences provided an impetus to learn from each other's jurisprudence. The Memorandum of Understanding would streamline further cooperation and presented exciting future opportunities for further joint work.
The Chairs of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child and the African Committee on the Rights and Welfare of the Child then signed the Memorandum of Understanding.
ALLEGRA FRANCHETTI, Secretary of the Committee, said that eight reports had been received by the Committee since the last session, bringing the total number of reports pending consideration to 74. The total number of ratifications of the Convention remained at 196. Fifty-nine periodic reports were overdue, of which 10 were for more than five years and six for more than 10 years. No States had ratified any Optional Protocols since the last session. There were 173 ratifications of the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict; 178 ratifications of the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child pornography and child prostitution; and 52 ratifications of the Optional Protocol on a communications procedure. No new reports had been received under the Optional Protocols since the last session. Thirty-six initial reports were overdue under the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict; and 47 initial reports were overdue under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.
Statements by United Nations Bodies and Civil Society Representatives
In the discussion, speakers welcomed that a solution was found for the Committee's third session to proceed despite the liquidity crisis. They regretted that online participation would not be possible for pre-sessions, which constrained the participation of civil society actors. One speaker called for budgets for next year's sessions to be secured and for the schedule of reviews to be communicated with States and civil society at an early stage.
A speaker expressed concern that the Committee had the highest backlog of reports of all treaty bodies, at 78 reports. The Committee and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights needed to look for creative solutions to address the backlog.
One speaker congratulated the Committee on the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding with the African Committee on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.
A speaker said that there was a pushback against children's rights at the June session of the Human Rights Council, particularly children's right to participate in matters affecting them, right to access health-related information and services, right to privacy in the digital environment, and right to peaceful assembly. Girls' right to participate in public life and their sexual and reproductive rights were also challenged. The Council also discussed war crimes and crimes against humanity in the context of the occupied Palestinian territory and Afghanistan.
One speaker discussed the Human Rights Council resolution on a proposed Optional Protocol of the Convention on free pre-primary and secondary education. One speaker expressed concern about a proposal to include parental rights in the proposed Optional Protocol. This could be used to control the types of educational material available in schools, restricting discussions around racism, gender and sexuality, and limiting the exercise of children's rights. The proposal was rejected; however, it would likely reemerge in discussions on the Optional Protocol next year.
A speaker also discussed other Human Rights Council resolutions, reports and panel discussions relating to children, including a panel discussion and report on quality education for peace and tolerance for every child; a report on violations of the human rights of children in armed conflicts; a study on birth registration and the use of digital technologies; and a resolution requesting five regional workshops to be convened to assess the risks to the safety of the child in the digital environment, and a report and an interactive dialogue on the matter.
One speaker presented efforts to support entities across the United Nations system and civil society organizations to strengthen the integration of children's rights in their work. The second report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on child rights mainstreaming would focus on the integration of children's rights across United Nations entities. One speaker presented efforts to establish global guidelines on children's participation in global events.
A speaker also addressed the Committee's general comment 27 on the right to access to justice and effective remedies, which was currently in development. The speaker expressed support for the draft general comment and presented efforts to organise consultations with adults and children on the general comment at national and regional levels, particularly the Latin American and the Caribbean and East Asia and Pacific regions. One speaker presented efforts in support of preparations for the 2025 World Congress on Justice With Children, a key instrument to promote the general comment.
A speaker reported that they had participated in fora promoting children's rights to a healthy environment and to participate in public affairs. The speaker said they would soon launch a strategic vision on protection of children's rights defenders.
