The Committee on the Rights of the Child this afternoon held its fifteenth informal meeting with States. Committee Experts discussed the Committee’s draft general comment on realising children’s rights through access to justice and effective remedies, its communication and simplified reporting procedures, and its work with parliamentarians to promote children’s rights, among other topics. States, meanwhile, made statements chiefly concerning the impact of the conflict in the Middle East on children.
Ann Marie Skelton, Committee Chair, opening the meeting, said that since the last meeting with States, the Committee had reviewed 23 States party reports. In its May 2023 session, the Committee had launched its general comment 26 on children’s rights and the environment, with a special focus on climate change, which attracted a great deal of attention throughout the world, with over 16,000 children participating in consultations. In September 2023, on the first anniversary of the Committee’s joint statement on illegal intercountry adoptions, the Committee also held an event with the Committee on Enforced Disappearances and Special Procedure mandate holders.
However, Ms. Skelton noted, the Committee was operating in an increasingly strained environment. The United Nations’ liquidity crisis threatened to undermine the capacity of the treaty bodies to defend rights holders. States needed to do all they could to strengthen the treaty bodies system, she said.
Also providing opening statements were Committee Experts Benoit Van Keirsbilck, Hynd Ayoubi Idrissi, Bragi Gudbrandsson, Velina Todorova and Sopio Kiladze.
Pakistan, State of Palestine, Türkyie, Israel, Finland and the United States participated in the discussion.
Documents relating to the Committee’s work are available on the session’s webpage. Summaries of the public meetings of the Committee can be found here, while webcasts of the public meetings can be found here.
The Committee will next meet in public on Friday, 2 February, at 5 p.m. to adopt its concluding observations and recommendations on the reports of Bulgaria, Republic of the Congo, Lithuania, Russian Federation, Senegal and South Africa, which were reviewed during the session, and publicly close the ninety-fifth session.
Opening Statements by Committee Experts
ANN MARIE SKELTON, Committee Chair, said that the Committee welcomed the opportunity to meet with States. Since the last meeting with States, the status of ratification of and accession to the Convention had not changed; the Convention had been ratified or acceded to by all States except the United States. There had only been one new ratification of one of the Committee’s Optional Protocols during the last year, with the Republic of Moldova ratifying the Optional Protocol on the communications procedure. The pace of reporting under the Optional Protocols continued to be slow. Since last February, the Committee had received only four new initial reports under the two substantive Optional Protocols; 36 initial reports were still overdue under the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, and 48 were overdue under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.
The Committee had reviewed 23 States party reports since the last meeting with States. The backlog of reports would be 65 at the end of the session. In May 2023, the Committee had conducted a pilot project for a back-to-back review of Sao Tome and Principe with the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. It was currently evaluating that procedure to contribute to the treaty body strengthening process.
Three Committee Experts had visited the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and Tuvalu to take stock of efforts to advance children’s rights in the region. The Experts had also convened a workshop in Samoa in November 2023 to meet with Government delegations from Pacific Island States and discuss children’s rights issues, including the protection of children from violence and the effects of climate change. On the first day of the workshop, the Committee launched its general comment 26 on children’s rights and the environment, with a special focus on climate change. Two Committee Experts had also undertaken visits to Cambodia and Thailand at the request of the United Nations Children’s Fund in November 2023.
During its ninety-second session, the Committee started applying the simplified reporting procedure for initial reports. This was implemented as the standard reporting procedure for periodic reports under the Convention and initial reports under the Optional Protocols as of 1 January 2024. Nine States had opted out from the simplified procedure. A new cluster of questions on “children’s rights and the environment” had been added to the Committee’s procedure for dialogues with States.
In its May 2023 session, the Committee launched its general comment 26 on children’s rights and the environment, with a special focus on climate change. This had attracted a great deal of attention throughout the world. The Committee received 170 written submissions from various stakeholders concerning the general comment. Over 16,000 children participated in consultations, supported by a children’s advisory team. The general comment highlighted how children’s rights were affected by environmental degradation and climate change, and stressed the fact that children had the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. Many follow-up meetings and events had been held on the general comment since its launch.
In September 2023, on the first anniversary of the Committee’s joint statement on illegal intercountry adoptions , the Committee held an event with the Committee on Enforced Disappearances and Special Procedure mandate holders. The Committee had also held online exchanges with the Council of Europe’s Committee on Economic and Social Rights and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.
The Committee was operating in an increasingly strained environment. The United Nations’ liquidity crisis threatened to undermine the capacity of the treaty bodies to defend rights holders. As a result of the crisis, treaty bodies’ use of Webex in interactions with civil society had abruptly been stopped. States needed to do all they could to strengthen the treaty bodies system.
BENOIT VAN KEIRSBILCK, Committee Expert, said that the Optional Protocols gave children the possibility to report to the Committee on infringements of their rights. The Committee had the power to investigate complaints and engage in dialogues with States on them. The Committee would in May hold an exchange with States on the impact of the Optional Protocol on the communications procedure in the 10 years since its creation. Fifty-one countries had ratified this Optional Protocol, relatively few compared to the broad ratification of the Convention. At least 15 countries had indicated their interest in ratifying but had yet to do so.
The Committee had registered 238 communications. In 45 cases, the Committee had identified violations of children’s rights, while 50 were interrupted, many after remedies were implemented or domestic cases were reopened. The Committee had insufficient resources to carry out this work. There were over 100 cases pending review, but the Committee could review only about 25 per year. There was a child behind each case. The Committee was deeply concerned that it was not able to handle all the cases it received. It was not always able to respond to communications received within 48 hours. The Committee regularly intervened in cases of refoulement to protect children who had been sent back to countries where they were at risk of rights violations. The Committee’s actions had also triggered States to review procedures for processing school enrolments, allowing hundreds more children to attend school. The Optional Protocol allowed the Committee to challenge States to review their legislation and to make changes in general and individual cases. This functions of the Committee needed to be further strengthened.
HYND AYOUBI IDRISSI, Committee Expert, said that the Committee had the opportunity last year to lay out the procedure for investigations of individual communications. Inquiries could be launched only when the Committee believed that serious rights violations had occurred. The Committee’s inquiries aimed to shed light on such situations and could include country visits by Committee Experts. The entire procedure was totally confidential. It was in the interest of Member States to cooperate, so that they could be aware of rights violations occurring on their territory and take countermeasures. The Committee was planning a country visit next month and was considering one other country visit. After the Committee published a report on an inquiry, it engaged in various follow-up procedures.
BRAGI GUDBRANDSSON, Committee Expert, said the simplified reporting procedure was now the Committee’s default procedure. It prevented repetition and addressed new developments in the field of children’s rights. It introduced new clusters of questions on children’s rights and the environment and on children’s standard of living. The follow-up information presented under Optional Protocols was integrated into the relevant clusters in dialogues with States parties. Relevant issues in these clusters had been revisited to prevent overlaps and repetitions. The Committee hoped that this system would contribute to making dialogues with States parties more constructive.
VELINA TODOROVA, Committee Expert, said that States parties needed to call on legal guardians to provide children with appropriate guidance in the exercise of their rights. In this regard, the Committee had issued a statement that aimed to clarify how article five of the Convention struck a balance been the obligations of parents and the rights of children. The recognition of children as the subjects of rights had triggered concerns in some States that such a recognition would undermine the rights of parents. This belief had provoked a normative pushback against children’s rights in some States. Article five affirmed that children had rights irrespective of their age and were entitled to an increasing level of agency and autonomy as they grew. The concept of “evolving capacities” of children had been discussed in several of the Committee’s general comments. Children needed to receive appropriate direction and guidance from parents, and States had a responsibility to hold parents accountable for not fulfilling that obligation. Parents needed to consider the views of children and offer children direction through dialogue in ways that enhanced the autonomy of children. States parties needed to widely disseminate this statement and convey it to parents and children.
BENOIT VAN KEIRSBILCK, Committee Expert, said the Committee would dedicate its next general comment to the topic of realising children’s rights through access to justice and effective remedies. Access to justice had an important role to play in combatting inequalities. A vast majority of children whose rights had been violated did not have access to justice. Children faced many barriers to accessing justice, including lack of knowledge and proper complaints mechanisms. Access to justice, which was essential for the promotion of human rights, was often confined to children who had breached penal law, but the scope of access needed to be much wider.
The Committee wanted to ensure that children were aware of their rights and were able to access proper remedies. States needed to adapt their justice systems to respond to the needs and rights of children. The Committee would collect information to provide guidance to States regarding appropriate legislative and other actions to ensure the full realisation of children’s right to access justice. The Committee would hold workshops at national, regional and international levels, offering opportunities for contributing to this general comment, including for children who had interacted with justice systems. The Committee would call on States to contribute to the general comment.
SOPIO KILADZE, Committee Expert, said that the engagement of parliaments in the protection of child rights was highly valued by the Committee. The Committee and the Inter-Parliamentary Union had issued a joint statement addressing what parliaments could do to promote the participation of children. The Committee had recently arranged a workshop for hundreds of parliamentarians on this topic from all over the world, and another such workshop would be held in 2024. The workshop would help parliaments to promote the well-being of children more effectively, and would also support the implementation of the Committee’s concluding observations. In this regard, Ms. Kiladze encouraged States parties to include parliamentarians in their delegations for dialogues with the Committee.
Statements and Questions by States Parties
In the ensuing discussion, a speaker said that the Committee needed to help strengthen norms for protecting children in armed conflict. A large number of children were affected by armed conflict across the world. Close to 12,000 Palestinian children had lost their lives in the conflict in Gaza. All children in Gaza needed urgent mental health support. How could the Committee respond to this challenge.
One speaker said that the Committee had not acted sufficiently in response to the conflict in Gaza. Innocent Palestinian children had been killed by indiscriminate bombing; 8,000 Palestinian children had been killed since the Committee’s last statement on the issue. Bombing Gaza was tantamount to bombing mainly children and refugees, who had nowhere else to go. Nearly 50 per cent of those killed in Gaza were children. One Palestinian child was being killed every 10 minutes. Gaza had become a graveyard for children. Thousands of children were still missing, buried under the rubble. Many more children had no surviving family members. Children were slowly dying from hunger and thirst, and were drinking contaminated water. The Committee needed to call for an immediate ceasefire and remedies for the victimised Palestinian children, the speaker said.
A speaker said that Hamas’ distain for human life was one of the causes of children’s suffering in the region. Israeli children had been orphaned, burned, tortured, raped and killed in terrorist acts by Hamas. Israeli children could not survive while they were being targeted by such acts of terrorism, the speaker said.
One speaker was heartbroken by the suffering in Gaza. Israel had the right to defend its people against terrorists while complying with international humanitarian law, including its obligation to protect civilians, the speaker said.
Another speaker asked if the Committee had identified a need to revise its rules of procedure.
Responses by Committee Experts
ANN MARIE SKELTON, Committee Chair, said that the Committee bore a heavy weight regarding ongoing conflicts in the world. It had this week undertaken work in this regard and would release a statement in the coming weeks. On World Children’s Day, the Committee issued a statement saying that the day could only be marked as a day of mourning for children who had fallen victim to armed conflict. This was in addition to the Committee’s statement on grave violations of children’s rights in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory . The urgent humanitarian crisis in Gaza was at the top of Committee Experts’ minds.
BENOIT VAN KEIRSBILCK, Committee Expert, said the Committee was extremely concerned and desperate regarding the crisis in the Middle East, calling for children to be protected in the context of armed conflict.
The Committee’s rules of procedure had not changed recently. Changes to the rules were implemented in the past to allow the Committee to work more efficiently and to deal with complaints in a more effective manner. The system could only achieve results if it was provided with appropriate support from States to do so. If the Committee could not respond to complaints within an adequate timeframe, it would be cheating children. States needed to ensure that the system had the capacity to respond to complaints.
HYND AYOUBI IDRISSI, Committee Expert, said several cases regarding complaints had been closed after positive initial responses were received. The major problem was delays in responses to children’s complaints. The system needed to function effectively to protect the rights of children.
Concluding Remarks
ANN MARIE SKELTON, Committee Chair, thanked speakers who had made constructive suggestions to the Committee. She noted that the passionate statements made by some speakers demonstrated their strong desire to protect the rights of children.
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