Committee on the Rights of the Child
Sixtieth session
Summary record of the 1 7 2 5th meeting*
Held at the Palais Wilson, Geneva, on Friday, 15 June 2012, at 3 p.m.
Chairperson:Mr. Zermatten
Contents
Adoption of the report of the Committee on its sixtieth session
Closure of the session
The meeting was called to order at 3.10 p.m.
Adoption of the report of the Committee on its sixtieth session (CRC/C/60/3)
1.The Chairperson said that, as at 10 May 2012, the Committee had received a grand total of 534 State party reports under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 90 under the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, and 75 under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.
2.At its sixtieth session, the Committee had considered 11 State party reports, six of them under the Convention (Algeria, Australia, Cyprus, Greece, Turkey and Viet Nam), three of them initial reports under the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict (Australia, Greece and Nepal) and two of them initial reports under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (Australia and Greece). The Committee had adopted concluding observations on each of those reports.
3.Many specialized agencies of the United Nations had been represented at the session, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). A number of NGOs had also participated in the session, including Save the Children, Plan International, World Vision, the International Commission of Jurists, the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Disability Alliance and ECPAT International.
4.As at 15 June 2012, 22 States had signed the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure, adopted on 19 December 2011, 20 of them having done so at the signing ceremony on 28 February 2012. The new Optional Protocol would enter into force once the tenth instrument of ratification had been deposited by a State party to the Convention or one of its two other optional protocols.
5.The pre-sessional working group had met about 10 times between 6 and 10 February 2012 to prepare lists of issues for the consideration of the reports of eight States parties (Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Namibia and the Philippines). The States concerned had until 2 July to submit their replies.
6.Ms. Aidoo (Rapporteur) said that Ms. Marcia Kran, Director of the Research and Right to Development Division at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, had confirmed the appointment of Ms. Imma Guerras-Delgado as adviser on child rights. As such, Ms. Guerras-Delgado would be called on to work closely with the Committee.
7.The Committee had continued to prepare for its September 2012 day of general discussion on the rights of all children in the context of international migration.
8.The working groups had continued their work on drafting general comments, including draft general comment No. 14 on the best interests of the child (article 3 of the Convention). Members of the working group on business and children’s rights had held talks with representatives of UNICEF, Save the Children and the International Court of Justice to discuss the future general comment, the first draft of which was being prepared, with a view to its adoption at the January–February 2013 session. The working group on the right to rest and leisure, to engage in play and to participate in cultural life and the arts (article 31) had met with partners on 2 June 2012 to discuss the future general comment on that subject, which should also be adopted at the January–February 2013 session. The general comment on the right to health was in the final drafting stage. The working group on the general comment on harmful practices, which was being prepared by the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, had met to consider a detailed draft and should meet again in autumn 2012. The working group on adolescents had held its first meeting to agree on the outline of the future general comment on adolescents. Lastly, the working group on indicators had organized an informal meeting with representatives of the International Institute for Child Rights and Development of the University of Victoria, Canada.
9.In the course of the sixtieth session, the Chairperson, Mr. Zermatten, had met with a group of partners to discuss the issue of street children, with a view to clarifying the future work of the Committee in that area. Ms. Herczog had attended a meeting at the European Parliament on 6 June 2012 on avoiding the placement of children in institutions.
10.The Committee would meet for a retreat on 16 and 17 June 2012 in Sion, Switzerland, to consider in detail the draft rules of procedure for the Optional Protocol on a communications procedure.
11.The Chairperson said that the sixty-first session of the Committee would be held from 17 September to 5 October 2012 and that the pre-sessional working group would meet from 8 to 12 October 2012, in preparation for the sixty-second and sixty-third sessions of the Committee. The Committee had been informed that 13 State party reports (Armenia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Iraq, Malaysia, Morocco, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu and Yemen) had been transmitted to the Secretary-General between the fifty-ninth and sixtieth sessions for consideration by the Committee.
12.If he heard no objections, he would take it that the Committee wished to adopt the report on its sixtieth session (CRC/C/60/3).
13.It was so decided.
Closure of the session
14.The Chairperson declared closed the sixtieth session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
The meeting rose at 3.30 p.m.