Committee on the Rights of the Child
Fifty-fourth session
Summary record (partial)* of the 1502nd meeting
Held at the Palais Wilson, Geneva, on Tuesday, 25 May 2010, at 10 a.m.
Chairperson:Mr. Zermatten (Vice-Chairperson)
Contents
Opening of the session
Statement by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Solemn declaration by a new member
Adoption of the agenda
Organizational matters
Submission of reports by States parties
The meeting was called to order at 10.10 a.m.
Opening of the session
1.The Chairperson declared open the fifty-fourth session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Statement by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
2.Ms. Pillay (United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights) said that the date of the meeting, 25 May, was the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights would be taking part in an official commemoration at United Nations Headquarters in New York. At that event, two global campaigns would be launched to promote the universal ratification of the Optional Protocols by 2012, the year that would mark the tenth anniversary of their entry into force.
3.She was pleased to note that the Committee, after having reviewed its working methods in the light of the challenges arising from the large number of reports submitted for consideration, had agreed to reduce the length of the documents it produced, while maintaining a focus on key priorities. She welcomed the numerous initiatives involving cooperation between the Committee and regional human rights mechanisms or other treaty bodies, such as the meeting of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child in Addis Ababa in March 2010, or the first meeting of the joint working group of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in January 2010. At the latter meeting the participants had examined a number of avenues of cooperation and decided, inter alia, to draw up a joint general comment on harmful traditional practices, with a focus on female genital mutilation and early marriage.
4.On 10 March 2010, members of the Committee had participated in the Human Rights Council’s annual discussion on the rights of the child, which had been devoted to the theme of sexual violence against children. In that regard, she recalled that at its thirteenth session the Council had adopted resolution 13/3 on the open-ended working group on an optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child to provide a communications procedure; she urged the Committee to continue contributing to that process.
5.Noting that the Inter-Committee Meetings and the annual Meetings of Chairpersons of Human Rights Treaty Bodies were extremely important for streamlining and strengthening the treaty body system, she said that the participants at the tenth Inter-Committee Meeting had recognized the need to further improve and harmonize the working methods of the treaty bodies and had reiterated its recommendation to establish a working group to discuss those issues. The working group would meet in December, taking the form of a working group on follow-up, while the eleventh Inter-Committee Meeting would take place in June.
6.As of 1 January 2010, the Human Rights Treaties Branch had become a division, with enhanced resources. The division’s structure had been improved to reflect the expansion of the treaty body system, the importance of enhanced visibility of the treaty bodies and the need for each treaty body to have its core staff. The core staff providing the technical and substantive assistance to the Committee were located in the Groups in Focus Section, whose new chief was Ms. Wan-Hea Lee.
7.She wished the Committee a successful fifty-fourth session and welcomed its new member, Ms. El Ashmawy.
Solemn declaration by a new member
8.The Chairperson invited the new member of the Committee, Ms. El Ashmawy, who was replacing Ms. Khattab, to make the solemn declaration contained in rule 15 of the Committee’s rules of procedure.
9.Ms. El Ashmawy solemnly declared that she would perform her duties and exercise her powers as a member of the Committee on the Rights of the Child honourably, faithfully, impartially and conscientiously.
Adoption of the agenda (CRC/C/54/1)
10. The agenda was adopted.
Organizational matters
11.The Chairperson said that at the current session the Committee should be able to adopt draft guidelines on the preparation of State party reports and a draft general comment on article 19 of the Convention (violence and abuse). In view of the backlog of reports to be considered, the Committee would not hold a day of general debate in 2010 but would hold one in 2011. The Committee’s fifty-fifth session would be held from 13 September to 1 October 2010, and work would be conducted in two chambers.
Submission of reports by States parties
12.Ms. Andrijasevic-Boko (Secretary of the Committee) said that, since its previous session, the Committee had received seven periodic reports under the Convention (Armenia, Guyana, Lithuania, Malta, Slovenia, Uzbekistan and Yemen), eight initial reports under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict (Burkina Faso, Holy See, Montenegro, Morocco, Rwanda, Slovakia, Thailand and United States of America), and five initial reports under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (Argentina, Burkina Faso, Holy See, Rwanda and United States of America).
The discussion covered in the summary record ended at 10.35 a.m.