This record is subject to correction.Corrections should be submitted in one of the working languages. They should be set forth in a memorandum and also incorporated in a copy of the record. They should be sent within one week of the date of this document to the Official Records Editing Section, room E.4108, Palais des Nations, Geneva.Any corrections to the records of the public meetings of the Committee at this session will be consolidated in a single corrigendum, to be issued shortly after the end of the session.GE.0543885 (E) 140905 150905 UNITED NATIONS

CRC

Convention on the Rights of the Child

Distr.GENERAL

CRC/C/SR.105315 September 2005

Original: ENGLISH

COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

Fortieth session

SUMMARY RECORD OF THE 1053rd MEETING

Held at the Palais Wilson, Geneva,

on Monday, 12 September 2005, at 10 a.m.

Chairperson: Mr. DOEK

CONTENTS

OPENING OF THE SESSION

STATEMENT BY THE CHIEF OF THE TREATIES AND COMMISSION BRANCH OF THE OFFICE OF THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA

ORGANIZATIONAL MATTERS

SUBMISSION OF REPORTS BY STATES PARTIES

The meeting was called to order at 10.05 a.m.

OPENING OF THE SESSION

The CHAIRPERSON declared open the fortieth session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. He announced that, beginning with the forty‑first session, the Committee would meet in parallel chambers to consider States parties’ reports.

STATEMENT BY THE CHIEF OF THE TREATIES AND COMMISSION BRANCH OF THE OFFICE OF THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Ms. IZE‑CHARRIN (Chief, Treaties and Commission Branch, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights) said that the High Commissioner for Human Rights was on her way to New York to attend the high‑level plenary meeting of the sixtieth session of the General Assembly, which was expected to bring together more than 170 heads of State and Government. The High Commissioner would meet with the Committee during its current session upon her return.

On the occasion of the fifteenth anniversary of the entry into force of the Convention, it was gratifying to note that significant progress had been made in obtaining recognition for children’s rights within the international human rights system. However, efforts were still needed to close the gap between human rights standards and the day‑to‑day reality of rights holders. Such efforts were the theme of the High Commissioner’s Plan of Action entitled “Protection and Empowerment”, which had been developed in response to the Secretary‑General’s recommendation to increase the effectiveness of the Office. The Plan of Action set out a strategy that focused on protecting human rights and empowering rights holders. The proposals included in the Plan of Action had been discussed at the fourth inter‑committee meeting and the seventeenth meeting of chairpersons of the human rights treaty bodies.

While the High Commissioner considered the human rights treaty system to be the cornerstone of the United Nations framework for human rights, she was also aware of the challenges facing the system. Action to meet those challenges was focused on coordinating the working methods and activities of the treaty bodies and streamlining their various reporting requirements, in particular through the development of guidelines for an “expanded” core document. The High Commissioner believed that streamlined reporting would strengthen the system and allow all seven committees to function more coherently for the benefit of all rights holders.

In her Plan of Action, the High Commissioner indicated her intention to develop proposals for a unified standing treaty body, which would be the subject of an intergovernmental consultation of States parties to be held in 2006. A concept paper, drawing on the experience of treaty body members, would be formulated. The Office of the High Commissioner had already begun to identify areas that would require an in‑depth examination, including legal and procedural questions related to the establishment of a unified standing treaty body; lessons to be drawn from the experience of regional and other reporting systems; the modalities of a unified standing body; and the role of stakeholders. The concept paper would be available early in 2006 and would be circulated to treaty body members for comment. A brainstorming meeting on the paper would subsequently be organized and its results would be evaluated by the fifth inter‑committee meeting and by the eighteenth meeting of chairpersons of the human rights treaty bodies in June 2006, prior to the intergovernmental consultation.

Progress had been made in carrying out activities related to the Secretary‑General’s Study on Violence Against Children: nine regional consultations had been completed; the progress report of the independent expert had been submitted to the General Assembly; and the secretariat supporting the work of the independent expert had begun analysing replies received from approximately 120 Governments to the questionnaire on the issue.

At its current session, the Committee would carry out a challenging programme of activities, including its day of general discussion on “children without parental care” and the organization of a workshop in Buenos Aires in November 2005 on follow‑up to the Committee’s concluding observations. In that connection, the Government of Costa Rica had confirmed its willingness to host a workshop in 2006 on follow‑up to the Committee’s concluding observations concerning the periodic reports of the Central American countries and Mexico. She fully supported the Committee’s initiative to improve its working methods by considering States parties’ reports in two parallel chambers.

The CHAIRPERSON said that the concept paper on the proposed unified standing treaty body should address the issue of input from non‑governmental organizations (NGOs) and United Nations specialized agencies.

ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA (CRC/C/151)

The agenda was adopted.

ORGANIZATIONAL MATTERS

The CHAIRPERSON said that, during the current session, the Committee would finalize its programme of work under the new system of parallel chambers. It would consider the final draft of a general comment on early childhood and children’s rights, continue to discuss general comments on juvenile justice and children with disabilities, and begin developing a general comment on the rights of indigenous children.

SUBMISSION OF REPORTS BY STATES PARTIES

Ms. ANDRIJASEVIC‑BOKO (Secretary of the Committee) said that, since its previous session, the Committee had received initial reports from Kiribati and the Republic of the Congo, second periodic reports from Ireland, Suriname and Mali, and a third periodic report from Jordan. The Committee had received 101 ratifications of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the involvement of children in armed conflict, under which it had received one report from the Czech Republic. The Committee had received 99 ratifications of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, under which it had received reports from Denmark, Turkey and the Syrian Arab Republic.

The meeting rose at 10.35 a.m.