Committee on the Rights of the Child

Fifty-third session

Summary record of the second part (public) *** of the 1501st meeting

Held at the Palais Wilson, Geneva, on Friday, 29 January 2010, at 5.40 p.m.

Chairperson:Ms. Lee

Contents

Adoption of the report of the Committee on its fifty-third session

Closure of the session

The second part (public) of the meeting was called to order at 5.40 p.m.

Adoption of the report of the Committee on its fifty-third session (CRC/C/53/3)

The Chairperson said that, at its fifty-third session, the Committee had considered eight periodic reports (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mongolia, Norway, Paraguay and Tajikistan) submitted under article 44 of the Convention, the initial reports of Ecuador, Israel, Liechtenstein and Mongolia submitted under article 8 of the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, and the initial reports of El Salvador, Ecuador, Estonia and Mongolia submitted under article 12 of the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

She said that, in the absence of any objections, she would take it that the Committee wished to adopt the concluding observations on all the reports it had considered.

It was so decided.

In the course of the session, in addition to the consideration of reports and adoption of concluding observations, the Committee had adopted the final report and recommendations of the commemorative ceremony of the twentieth anniversary of the Convention, which had taken place in Geneva on 8 and 9 October 2009.

A number of Committee members had participated in a meeting on the theme of “Harmful traditional practices” as part of a working group formed in collaboration with the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. The overall purpose of the working group was to establish closer collaboration and cooperation between the two Committees and to propose common strategies for advancing children’s and women’s rights. The Committee was also planning to meet to review ways of improving its working methods.

She said that, in the absence of any objections, she would take it that the Committee wished to adopt the report on its fifty-third session (CRC/C/53/3).

It was so decided.

Mr. Krappman n (Rapporteur) noted that working in two chambers had resulted in a high number of concluding observations, which required extra time for discussion, redrafting of paragraphs and final adoptions. Consequently, the Committee had considerably reduced its additional activities.

There had been a meeting with representatives of the International Catholic Child Bureau (BICE) in order to receive thousands of signatures, from both organizations and individuals, collected for the World Appeal to a new mobilization for childhood, which had been launched to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the Convention.

Some Committee members had participated in the public presentation of the Dublin Statement, an initiative by United Nations treaty body members acting in their personal capacity on the reform of the treaty bodies. The Committee had also held a meeting with Save the Children Sweden on a planned study on the impact of the Committee’s concluding observations in the field of child mortality and health.

Closure of the session

The Chairperson declared closed the fifty-third session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

The meeting rose at 5.45 p.m.