COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD CONCLUDES EIGHTY-FIRST SESSION

The Committee on the Rights of the Child this afternoon concluded its eighty-first session after adopting its concluding observations and recommendations on the reports of Botswana, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Malta, Singapore and Tonga under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the report of Sri Lanka under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

The concluding observations and recommendations on the reports will be available on the Committee’s webpage on Thursday, 6 June.

Luis Ernesto Pedernera Reyna, Committee Chairperson, said that there were now 196 States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child; 168 States had ratified or acceded to the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict; 176 States had ratified or acceded to the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography; and 44 States had ratified or acceded to the Optional Protocol on a communication procedure. The Committee had held its eighty-first session from 13 to 31 May. The concluding observations and recommendations on the seven reports considered during the session would be available online on 6 June. The Committee had considered seven individual communications under the third optional protocol. It found violations in two of them against Spain; three were considered inadmissible (one against Finland and two against Spain); and two cases were filed against Switzerland. A revised version of General Comment number 10 on the rights of the child in juvenile justice was adopted, and the Committee would begin its work on the next General Comment on children’s rights and the digital domain.

Amal Salman Aldoseri, Committee Rapporteur, spoke about activities held by Committee Experts during the intersessional period, as well as private meetings that the Committee held with different stakeholders during the session. She also listed the work of the Working Groups of the Committee on various issues. Among others, she said the United Nations Children’s Fund had developed a child friendly version of the Convention. The Committee had proposed amendments, and then approved it. The Rapporteur’s report was then adopted.

In concluding remarks, the Chair said this was a bitter sweet end to the session because they did not know if the Committee was going to meet again this year. He urged the United Nations Secretary General and the High Commissioner for Human Rights to deploy all efforts to ensure that the third session of the Committee this year would be held, as well as upcoming sessions of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and other treaty bodies. Otherwise, this would be a hard hit to the credibility and stability of the system. He hoped that the Committee would be meeting again in September.

Meeting summaries of all public meetings held during the eighty-first session can be found here.

The Committee is scheduled to hold its eighty-second session at the Palais Wilson in Geneva from 7 to 27 September 2019, during which it is scheduled to review the reports of Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mozambique, Portugal and the Republic of Korea under the Convention, the report of Georgia under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography; and the reports of Georgia and Panama under the Optional Protocol on children and armed conflict.



For use of the information media; not an official record

CRC/19/19E