Committee on the Rights of the Child
Fiftieth session
Summary record of the second part (public) * of the 1398th meeting
Held at the Palais Wilson, Geneva, on Friday, 30 January 2009, at 10 a.m.
Chairperson:Ms. Lee
Contents
Adoption of the report of the Committee on its fiftieth session
Closure of the session
The second part (public) of the meeting was called to order at 12.45 p.m.
Adoption of the report of the Committee on its fiftieth session (CRC/C/50/3)
1.The Chairperson said that, at its fiftieth session, the Committee had considered six periodic reports (of Malawi, the Netherlands, the Republic of Moldova, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Chad) submitted under article 44 of the Convention, three initial reports (of Maldives, the Republic of Moldova and Tunisia) submitted under article 8 of the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, and two initial reports (of Maldives and the Netherlands) submitted under 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.
2.The Committee had drawn up the provisional programme of work for its fifty-first session. It had adopted general comment No. 11 on the rights of indigenous children. It had also considered draft general comment No. 12 on the right of the child to be heard (art. 12), which had almost been finalized.
3.The Committee had participated in informal consultations convened by Slovenia entitled “Towards a communication procedure for the CRC”. Finally, the Committee had held its fifth informal meeting with States parties, which had been particularly fruitful.
4.Mr. Krappmann (Rapporteur) said that Committee members had often met in working groups in order to formulate draft general comments and to prepare the conference entitled “Dignity, Development and Dialogue”, which was to be held at the end of the fifty-second session to mark the twentieth anniversary of the Convention. Committee members had also been involved in the preparation of a conference on research on child rights and their implementation, which aimed to increase the participation of the research community in monitoring the Convention.
5.A working dinner had been organized by UNICEF for members of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in order to promote cooperation between the two bodies, whose work overlapped in many fields. The bureaux of the two committees were soon to hold their first joint meeting, during which they would discuss a cooperation programme.
6.The Committee had held a number of meetings with representatives of national and international NGOs and UNICEF in order to hear their opinions on the situation in the countries being examined and consider possible monitoring mechanisms. The Committee had held fruitful exchanges with the Group of NGOs on the issue of the participation of children in the drafting of alternative reports.
7.He wished every success to the outgoing Committee members, Ms. Al-Thani, Ms. Aluoch, Ms. Smith, Ms. Vuckovic-Sahovic, Mr. Parfitt and Mr. Siddiqui, and said that the re-elected members, Ms. Lee, Mr. Pollar and Mr. Zermatten, would help to continue the Committee’s work. He said he looked forward to meeting the six newly elected members, who would bring fresh ideas to the Committee.
8.The Chairperson said that, if there was no objection, she would take it that the Committee wished to adopt the report on its fiftieth session (CRC/C/50/3).
9. It was so decided.
Closure of the session
10.The Chairperson thanked all who had contributed to the success of the Committee’s fiftieth session.
The meeting rose at 12.55 p.m.