* No summary records were prepared for the 1421st to 1424th meetings.** No summary record was prepared for the first part (closed) of the meeting.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 Editing Unit, 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.09-42937 (E) 220609 230609 UNITED NATIONS

CRC

Convention on the Rights of the Child

Distr.

GENERAL

CRC/C/SR.1425*

23 June 2009

Original: ENGLISH

COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

Fiftieth-first session

SUMMARY RECORD OF THE SECOND PART (PUBLIC)** OF THE 1425th MEETING

Held at the Palais Wilson, Geneva,

on Friday, 12 June 2009, at 10 a.m.

Chairperson: Ms. LEE

CONTENTS

ADOPTION OF THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON ITS FIFTY-FIRST SESSION

CLOSURE OF THE SESSION

The second part (public) of the meeting was called to order at 12.40 p.m.

ADOPTION OF THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON ITS FIFTY-FIRST SESSION (CRC/C/51/3)

The CHAIRPERSON said that, at its fifty-first session, the Committee had been pleased to welcome six new members. The Committee had considered six periodic reports (of Bangladesh, France, Mauritania, Niger, Romania and Sweden) submitted under article 44 of the Convention, and the initial reports of Slovenia and Oman submitted under both article 8 of the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict and article 12 of the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. The Committee had adopted concluding observations on all the reports it had considered.

The Committee had also adopted general comment No. 12 on the right of the child to be heard, which should help to develop a culture of children’s participation in all matters affecting them.

During the session, the Committee had been invited by a panel convened by the Permanent Mission of Slovakia to discuss the possibility of establishing a communications procedure under the Convention. The Committee had expressed its support for the proposed establishment of an individual complaints mechanism. It was expected that the Human Rights Council, at its forthcoming session, would set up an open-ended working group to put that proposal into effect.

The Committee had adopted the agenda and programme for a commemoration on 8 and 9 October 2009 of the twentieth anniversary of the Convention, and had issued invitations to that event, the theme of which would be “Dignity - Development - Dialogue”.

Mr. KRAPPMANN said that one of the events planned for the commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the Convention was a conference to be organized by International Save the Children Alliance to discuss how to advance the justiciability of the provisions of the Convention. During the session, the Committee had been briefed on the preparations for that event.

The Committee’s group on cooperation with the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child had held a meeting with the Secretary of the African Committee to discuss the experience of the two bodies in monitoring implementation of children’s rights. It had been agreed that they would hold regular meetings and would set up a working group on joint monitoring, research and advisory services.

The Committee had not only taken part in the panel discussion on communications procedures; it had also met with the executive committee of a group of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that were promoting the establishment of a communications mechanism. It had discussed with them how their organizations could best help the Committee pursue its work in that area. The Polish Permanent Mission had also organized an event in honour of Mr. Janusz Korczak, who had pioneered the idea of adopting a convention on children’s rights.

The Committee members had held meetings with representatives of United Nations bodies, States parties and children’s rights organizations, and had also briefed five visiting groups of students.

In the week ahead, the members of the Committee would meet the newly appointed Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on violence against children, would have a full-day discussion with high-level UNICEF representatives in order to strengthen cooperation and would prepare for the dialogues with States parties to be held during the fifty‑second session.

The CHAIRPERSON said that, in the absence of any objections, she would take it that the Committee wished to adopt the report on its fifty-first session (CRC/C/51/3).

It was so decided.

CLOSURE OF THE SESSION

The CHAIRPERSON declared closed the fifty-first session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

The meeting rose at 12.55 p.m.