COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD HOLDS SIXTH INFORMAL MEETING WITH STATES PARTIES

The Committee on the Rights of the Child this afternoon held its sixth informal meeting with States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The meeting focused on follow up on concluding observations, the treaty body reform and harmonisation and the backlog of the Committee in considering reports.

In opening remarks, Committee Chairperson Yanghee Lee sought States parties’ views on the concluding observations and asked them to actively follow up on those recommendations. She informed the Experts that guidelines for harmonisation of the treaty body reform were published on the website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Speaking about the backlog of the Committee in considering reports, the Chairperson said the Committee was constantly looking for creative ways of working and suggested institutionalising the double chamber system for one session a year.

A State raised the question of sufficient time being given to States parties to react to draft concluding observations and recommendations and the need to recognise and reflect in these conclusions the information provided by States parties.

In their answers, Committee Experts said that comments on concluding observations from States parties were highly appreciated, particularly because it was not often that such reactions were received in the Committee. Committee Experts encouraged States parties to actively participate in the informal meeting, the purpose of which was to exchange views on the issues. With respect to the issue of the backlog, a Committee member warned of the consequences if this backlog was not cleared and said that soon, with all the forthcoming reports, the Committee would not be able to cope. The proposal of institutionalising the work in two chambers once a year would be the solution that could work. On the issue of the new protocol on communications, there was a need to think about how this new protocol would be implemented and how the Committee could have a definitive remedy for delays in reporting and communications.

Among the States parties’ delegates who participated in the discussion were the representatives of Norway, Hungary and Syria.

When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. on Monday, 24 January 2011, it will review the fourth periodic report of Denmark (CRC/C/DNK/4).

Opening Statement by the Chairperson of the Committee

YANGHEE LEE, Chairperson of the Committee, in opening remarks, said that the Committee wished to seek States parties’ views on the concluding observations and to ask them to actively follow up on those recommendations. It was now the time to solicit more engagement within the framework of regional consultations on the follow up in the regions, Ms. Lee said. Turning to harmonisation of the treaty body reform, the Chairperson said that guidelines were published on the website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Committee had a very limited secretarial support, the Chairperson said. The documentation was an ongoing problem and various documents, including States parties’ reports and replies sometimes did not get translated in all United Nations working languages, which created problems in monitoring the parties’ compliance. Turning to the backlog of the Committee in considering reports, the Chairperson said that the Committee was constantly looking for creative ways of working, with the view of reducing the backlog. On average, the Committee would consider 30 reports a year, but had reviewed 45 with the double chamber system in place last year.

The Chairperson suggested institutionalising the double chamber system for one session a year and asked if it was possible to include this proposal in the language of a resolution.

In closing, Ms. Lee said that the Chairperson of the Committee on the Rights of the Child had been invited to present a report to the United Nations General Assembly, but without an opportunity of having an interactive dialogue with members, regarding the high level of interest in the status of the implementation of the Convention.

Discussion

Following the presentation by the Committee Chairperson, the Representative of Norway said Norway appreciated the opportunity for a dialogue with the Committee on the issues related to the process of the implementation of the Convention. The Committee had reviewed the fourth periodic report of Norway in 2010 and the Government had highly appreciated the cooperation with the Committee on the Rights of the Child. The Norwegian Ombudsman for children and the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were doing an excellent job in monitoring children’s rights in Norway; they were in an open dialogue with the Government which took their views into account. Norway however experienced that the supplementary reports from the Ombudsman and the NGOs had become predominant in the consideration of Norway’s fourth periodic report and that the information provided by the Government had not been adequately reflected in the concluding observations of the Committee. To ensure meaningful dialogue with the State, it was essential that information provided by the State about positive actions to address problems and challenges also were recognised and reflected in concluding observations.

It was important that the Committee gave States parties the opportunity to correct mistakes and errors in concluding observations before their publication. Norway had been given only a few hours which had not been sufficient. Norway believed there was a need to look at the administrative practices in this respect and to give States more time to comment on the draft concluding observations. In closing, the speaker reiterated Norway’s commitment to honouring its obligations under the Convention and to continuing cooperation with this Committee.

The representative of Hungary asked what kind of feedback on concluding observations was envisaged and what would be the best method of providing it. On the resolution issue, Hungary said it would be useful to have an interactive dialogue in the Third Committee, together with the strategies for reducing of backlog.

The representative of Syria, concerning the proposal for the two chambers meeting in parallel, said this might not be a practical proposal, since it was important to ensure dialogue in the Committee.

Answers

Answering the remarks offered by the representative of Norway, the Chairperson said the Committee would strive in the future to do it in a more systematic manner. Another Committee member said that comments from States parties were highly appreciated, particularly because it was not often that such reactions were received in the Committee. Also, more effort should be invested in understanding the concerns of States parties. Often, due to a heavy workload, concluding observations were finished only a few hours before the end of the Committee’s session. This issue could be included in the agenda for discussions for the forthcoming consultation with States parties within the framework of strengthening treaty bodies in May 2011 in Sion, the Chairperson said.

Further on the follow up on concluding observations, an Expert encouraged States parties to react to concluding observations and said that in the experience of Latin America, publicising concluding observations and making them understood by the public was a positive practice. At the national level, when an Expert’s visit was expected, it served as an opportunity to give greater attention to the Committee and concluding observations and this built the momentum for the implementation of concluding observations.

Another Committee Expert encouraged States parties to take part in the informal meeting and said that its purpose was to exchange views with States parties. It should be emphasized that this meeting was not an official exchange and all should be free to say what they think about the work of the Committee and the Convention. It would not be recorded as an official state position.

An Expert asked what information States would send back about the concluding observations. Regarding the implementation, the Committee was not an implementing body, but it had a very strategic purpose. Any feedback from the State party on the concluding observations, the process and the support the Committee could provide, would be very helpful in terms on knowing how the recommendations were implemented, how the reporting challenges were faced, et cetera.

With respect to the issue of backlog, a Committee member warned of the consequences if this backlog was not cleared. Some of the States which had also ratified the two Optional Protocols still had not submitted their reports. If all reports that still needed to be submitted were taken into account, the Committee which was meeting in one chamber three times a year would not be able to cope. In 2008 and in 2010, the Committee had received an authorisation to meet in two chambers which had helped in reducing the backlog. A number of other measures were proposed, such as meeting four times a year, meeting for four instead for three weeks and others. The Committee had looked into a number of solutions, and this proposal of institutionalising the work in two chambers once a year would be the solution that could work, but the Committee needed to hear from States parties what their opinions were.

On the issue of the new protocol on communications, an Expert said that the Committee supported this idea and that this would probably happen in the not too distant future. There was a need to think about how this new protocol would be implemented and how could the Committee have a definitive remedy for delays in reporting and communications. Another Expert said that once the new protocol entered into force, the Committee would get a lot of additional work that would not be visible to States parties. This would have to be factored in, together with the procedure on how to deal with complaints and other issues related to communications.

Concluding Remarks

YANGHEE LEE, Chairperson of the Committee, in concluding remarks, said that the Committee was grateful to the States parties attending this meeting and looked forward to the new interactive dialogue and a consultation in two years from now.


For use of the information media; not an official record

CRC11/006E