Committee on the Rights of the Child
Fifty-fourth session
Summary record (partial)** of the 1541st meeting
Held at the Palais Wilson, Geneva, on Friday, 11 June 2010, at 3 p.m.
Chairperson:Ms. Lee
Contents
Adoption of the report of the Committee on its fifty-fourth session
Closure of the session
The second part of the meeting was called to order at 5.30 p.m.
Adoption of the report of the Committee on its fifty-fourth session (CRC/C/54/3)
The Chairperson said that, at its fifty-fourth session, the Committee had considered seven periodic reports (Argentina, Belgium, Grenada, Japan, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Nigeria and Tunisia) submitted under article 44 of the Convention, and the initial reports of Argentina, Colombia, Japan, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Serbia submitted under article 8 of the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict and 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.
Owing to the effects of Tropical Storm Agatha, the Guatemalan delegation had been unable to attend the current session. The consideration of the third and fourth periodic reports of Guatemala had therefore been postponed until the fifty-fifth session.
The Committee was deeply concerned that its work continued to be disrupted because it did not receive translations of State party reports and written replies in a timely manner. Moreover, those delays contributed to a loss of credibility on the part of OHCHR. It was interesting to note, nonetheless, that all the documents for the universal periodic review had been translated. In the forthcoming session, there was already a risk of creating a diplomatic issue if unavailable translations forced the Committee to cancel its consideration of State party reports. The Committee called on all the relevant authorities to address the situation immediately.
She said that, in the absence of any objections, she would take it that the Committee wished to adopt the report on its fifty-fourth session (CRC/C/54/3).
It was so decided.
Mr. Krappmann (Rapporteur) noted that the Committee had continued to work in two chambers, which left considerably less time for additional activities. Indeed, discussions on all 17 concluding observations had often had to be completed during lunch breaks and in the evenings.
The Committee had begun its work with a two-day retreat in Sion, Switzerland, where it had reviewed the new draft guidelines on treaty-specific reporting and discussed an NGO paper, which would form the basis of the Committee’s general comment on article 19 of the Convention.
On 5 June, many members of the Committee had participated in the international seminar on the right to education in teacher training, organized by Korczak associations from several countries and hosted by the Polish Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva.
The Committee had also had a meeting with members of the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which had reaffirmed the importance of close cooperation and reached agreement on several specific points.
The following week, the Committee would be meeting members of the group that had developed a set of indicators based on the Committee’s general comment No. 7 on implementing child rights in early childhood. A first pilot study had been completed, and the Committee would be asked to consider supporting further studies and incorporating the indicators into its monitoring procedures.
Closure of the session
The Chairperson declared closed the fifty-fourth session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
The discussion covered in the summary record ended at 5.40 p.m.