* No summary record was prepared for the rest 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.07-42057 (E) 230507 250507 UNITED NATIONS

CRC

Convention on the Rights of the Child

Distr.

GENERAL

CRC/C/SR.1229

25 May 2007

Original: ENGLISH

COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

Forty-fifth session

SUMMARY RECORD (PARTIAL)* OF THE 1229th MEETING

Held at the Palais Wilson, Geneva,on Monday, 21 May 2007, at 10 a.m.

Temporary Chairperson:Ms. KANG(Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights)

later:Ms. SMITH

Chairperson:Ms. LEE

CONTENTS

OPENING OF THE SESSION

STATEMENT BY THE DEPUTY HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

SOLEMN DECLARATION BY THE NEWLY ELECTED MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE

ELECTION OF OFFICERS

ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA

The meeting was called to order at 10.05 a.m.

OPENING OF THE SESSION

The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON declared open the forty-fifth session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

STATEMENT BY THE DEPUTY HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Ms. KANG (Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights) said that, since the Committee’s previous session, three new human rights instruments had been adopted: the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Optional Protocol thereto and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. A signing ceremony for the first two instruments had been held in New York on 30 March 2007. There were currently 85 signatories to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and 45 to its Optional Protocol. Jamaica had been the first State party to ratify the Convention. The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance had opened for signature on 6 February 2007 and had been signed by 59 States.

The Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture, established under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, had held its first session in Geneva in February 2007. It had elected its bureau and would soon begin monitoring places where persons, including minors, might be deprived of their liberty. Since January 2007, Cambodia and New Zealand had become parties to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, and Nicaragua had signed it.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, for which responsibility had been transferred to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, would begin meeting in Geneva in 2008.

During the Human Rights Council’s fourth regular session in March 2007, she had addressed the participants in a special event held on follow-up to the recommendations of the Secretary-General’s study on violence against children. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) had clearly stated its intention to support follow-up to the study. At its fifth session, the Human Rights Council would focus on establishing the universal periodic review mechanism and reviewing all mandates and mechanisms inherited from the Commission on Human Rights.

The International Law Commission had discussed reservations to human rights treaties with United Nations human rights experts in Geneva on 15 and 16 May 2007. Mr. Zermatten had represented the Committee on the Rights of the Child and would be able to inform the Committee of the discussions.

As part of the follow-up to the recommendations of the fifth inter-committee meeting and the eighteenth meeting of chairpersons of the human rights treaty bodies, the working group on the harmonization of the working methods of treaty bodies had met on 17 and 18 April 2007 to finalize its discussion of the High Commissioner’s proposal on the establishment of a unified standing treaty body, the concept paper on that proposal, and the working group’s report to the inter-committee meeting. Mr. Filali had represented the Committee on the Rights of the Child and would provide the Committee with more information. The Committee had received the working group’s report in English, French and Spanish. The sixth inter-committee meeting, for which the Committee’s representatives should be nominated as soon as possible, would be held from 18 to 20 June 2007; the nineteenth meeting of chairpersons was scheduled for 21 and 22 June 2007.

Since the Committee’s previous session, Cuba, Egypt and Yemen had become parties to the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, and the Comoros, Mauritania, Moldova and Sweden had become parties to the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. The book on the legislative history of the Convention on the Rights of the Child would be launched on 11 June 2007 in the presence of the High Commissioner.

At its forty-fifth session, the Committee would discuss the regional workshop on follow-up to the Committee’s concluding observations that OHCHR was currently planning in cooperation with partners; the workshop would be held in Burkina Faso in November 2007. The Committee would also consider the possibility of holding a regional workshop in the Republic of Korea in 2008.

The Committee would be seeking new ways of cooperating with the Council of Europe and would hold an informal meeting on 7 June 2007 with the Deputy Secretary General of the Council to obtain an overview of its new programme for the promotion of children’s rights and the protection of children from violence, entitled “Building a Europe for and with children”.

Ms. KHATTAB asked if the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights had an action plan to implement the findings of the Secretary-General’s study on violence against children. Since the Committee would be urging States parties to seek assistance to implement the findings of the study, she wished to know what practical assistance they would receive from the Office.

Ms. KANG (Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights) said that OHCHR was fully committed to following up the study, which had already been published and sent to as many stakeholders as possible. The Office was helping the Independent Expert to prepare his report to the General Assembly.

Ms. CONNORS (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights) said that OHCHR had put considerable effort into producing the study and was currently finalizing a strategic workplan. As an active member of the Inter-Agency Group on Violence against Children, the Office was providing the Independent Expert with logistical and staff support. The forthcoming visit by the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe was of considerable relevance, since relations between OHCHR and the Deputy Secretary General over the years had facilitated a regional approach to the study. OHCHR had already participated in follow-up activities in Egypt, Burkina Faso and Mali, and hoped to be involved in other regional activities.

SOLEMN DECLARATION BY THE NEWLY ELECTED MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE (agenda item 1)

The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON invited the newly elected members of the Committee to make the solemn declaration contained in rule 15 of the Committee’s rules of procedure.

Ms. AIDOO, Mr. CITARELLA, Ms. HERCZOG and Mr. PURAS solemnly declared that they would perform their duties and exercise their powers as members of the Committee on the Rights of the Child honourably, faithfully, impartially and conscientiously.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS (agenda item 3)

The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON announced that, following consultations with the members of the Committee concerning the election of officers, Ms. Lee had been elected the new Chairperson of the Committee, Mr. Filali, Ms. Ortiz, Mr. Pollar and Mr. Zermatten had been elected Vice-Chairpersons, and Mr. Krappmann had been elected Rapporteur.

Ms. Lee took the Chair.

ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA (agenda item 2) (CRC/C/45/1)

The agenda was adopted.

The discussion covered in the summary record ended at 10.30 a.m.