Committee on the Rights of the Child

Fifty-f ifth session

Summary record (partial)** of the 1583rd meeting

Held at the Palais Wilson, Geneva, on Friday, 1 October 2010, at 3 p.m.

Chairperson:Ms. Lee

Contents

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

Closure of the session

The discussion covered in the summary record began at 5.40 p.m.

Adoption of the report of the Committee on its fifty-fifth session (CRC/C/55/3)

The Chairperson, introducing the report of the Committee on its fifty-fifth session, said that the realization of children’s rights required the sustainable collaboration and cooperation of many stakeholders. After 20 years of the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the time had come to demand serious accountability. States parties and the international community alike must be held accountable for their actions. The international community had recently pledged $40 billion in resources for women’s and children’s health at the launch of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health. The international community must remember that unfulfilled promises made children into victims. That situation was unacceptable.

At its fifty-fifth session the Committee had met in two chambers, and had considered eight periodic reports, from Angola, Burundi, Guatemala, Montenegro, Nicaragua, Spain, Sri Lanka and Sudan, submitted under article 44 of the Convention; the initial reports of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Nicaragua, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka and Sudan, submitted under article 8 of the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict; and the initial reports of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Nicaragua and Sierra Leone, submitted under article 12 of the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

If she heard no objection, she would take it that the Committee wished to adopt the concluding observations on all the reports it had considered.

It was so decided.

The Chairperson expressed grave concern about the Committee’s continued problems with documentation: many documents, in particular States parties’ replies to the Committee’s lists of issues, had not been translated in time for the Committee’s dialogue with States parties.

During the current session, the Committee had adopted decisions on treaty-specific reporting guidelines, elements to contribute to the open-ended working group on the communications procedure under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and future reporting to the Committee. It had also decided that the subjects of its days of general discussion would thenceforth be determined two years in advance. In that regard, the day of general discussion in 2011 would address the topic of children with parents in prison, and the day of general discussion in 2012 would deal with the issue of children in migration situations.

She reported that she had participated in an expert seminar on strengthening the treaty bodies and that the Committee had recently participated in an expert consultation on child-sensitive counselling and complaints and reporting mechanisms. The Committee had also adopted a provisional programme of work for its fifty-sixth session.

If she heard no objection, she would take it that the Committee wished to adopt the report on its fifty-fifth session (CRC/C/55/3).

It was so decided.

Mr. Krappmann (Rapporteur) said that the current session had seen the appointment of a new Committee Secretary, Ms. Mathews, whose dedication was much appreciated. The Committee wished to express its gratitude to the outgoing Secretary, Ms. Andrijasevic-Boko.

The Committee regretted that there had been no day of general discussion during the session. That tradition would continue in 2011. A short list of priority issues had been identified, to be the subjects of future general comments. The backlog of State party reports due for consideration had been stabilized; however, despite the Committee’s best efforts, it had not been reduced. He expressed concern that the Committee’s workload was likely to increase, owing to the large number of reports that were due, or even overdue.

The Committee had discussed the two general comments that were currently at the drafting stage: one concerning article 3 of the Convention on the best interests of the child and one concerning article 19 on violence. The Committee had also held a joint discussion with representatives of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) regarding the draft handbook on the implementation of the Committee’s general comment No. 12, which would be published in the near future. The Committee had met with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), representatives of the International Labour Organization and children’s rights associations, as well as the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children.

The Chairperson recalled that the Committee would join the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in Sion for a workshop to further develop the joint general comment on harmful traditional practices. That initiative marked the first time that two treaty bodies had worked together to issue a combined general comment.

Closure of the session

After the customary exchange of courtesies, t he Chairperson declared closed the fifty-fifth session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

The meeting rose at 5.50 p.m.