Committee on the Rights of the Child

Fifty-seventh session

Summary record (partial)* of the 1639th meeting**

Held at the Palais Wilson, Geneva, on Friday, 17 June 2011, at 3 p.m.

Chairperson:Mr. Zermatten

Contents

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

Closure of the session

The discussion covered in the su mmary record began at 5.05 p.m.

Adoption of the report of the Committee on its fifty-seventh session (CRC/C/57/3)

The Chairperson said that, at its fifty-seventh session, the Committee had considered a total of nine reports, of which seven had been submitted by States parties under the Convention — the Czech Republic, Bahrain, Cambodia, Egypt, Cuba, Finland and Costa Rica — and of which two had been initial reports submitted by Egypt under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. The Committee had formally adopted concluding observations on each of them.

Ms. Aidoo (Rapporteur) said that, in addition to the main work of the session, Committee members had been involved in working groups preparing general comments on article 3 of the Convention, on the best interests of the child; article 24 of the Convention, on the highest attainable standard of health; harmful traditional practices (in cooperation with the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women); and business and the rights of the child. The Committee had also held briefing sessions with the Executive Director of the African Child Policy Forum; the Assistant Director-General for Family and Community Health, of the World Health Organization (WHO); the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the open-ended working group on an optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child to provide a communications procedure; and the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Over the course of the session, Committee members had held separate meetings with a group of children from Egypt who had accompanied the State party delegation. They had also briefed student observers from various universities.

She underscored the importance of the Korczak international seminar on the right of the child to be heard and to express their own views, due to be held in Geneva on 18 June 2011, in which many Committee members were expected to participate.

Various side events had been held at the Palais des Nations, including an event on business and the rights of the child organized by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre. One further event would be held in the coming week on universal birth registration as a means to prevent statelessness, organized by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Plan International and Refugees International, inter alia.

The Chairperson said that that very day, 17 June 2011, was a momentous occasion for the rights of the child, as the Human Rights Council had just adopted a resolution recommending that the General Assembly should adopt the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure, which would enable the Committee to receive individual communications. Furthermore, on the previous day, the International Labour Conference, at its 100th session, had adopted the Convention Concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers, which, once it entered into force, would provide the Committee with a new tool for tackling the issue of child domestic workers.

If he heard no objection, he would take it that the Committee wished to adopt the report on its fifty-seventh session (CRC/C/57/3).

It was so decided.

Closure of the session

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

The discussion covered in the summary record ended at 5.25 p.m .