COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD OPENS TENTH SESSION

Press Release
HR/4200

COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD OPENS TENTH SESSION

GENEVA, 30 October (UN Information Service) -- A conference of all States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child will be held on 8 December to decide on expanding the membership of the Committee charged with monitoring its implementation, Ibrahima Fall, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, said this morning.

Speaking at the opening of the tenth session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, he said the initiative to increase the number of Committee members, from 10 to 18, first came from Costa Rica and several States parties had approved that proposition.

Also this morning, the Committee adopted its agenda and programme of work for the three-week session before dealing with other organizational matters.

Highlighting some of the developments since the Committee's last session, Mr. Fall stated that the Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities had adopted several resolutions on contemporary forms of slavery. It had also passed resolutions pertaining to children's interests, particularly concerning traditional practices affecting the health of children and women.

The Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing last month had clearly reaffirmed the principles laid down in the Declaration and Programme of Action of the Vienna Conference on the equality and the fundamental rights of women and girls, he said. The Beijing Declaration had called for the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls and had requested governments to intensify their efforts to ensure the full enjoyment of their rights and fundamental freedoms.

The Assistant Secretary-General further told the members about the sixth meeting of Chairpersons of the treaty bodies on international human rights instruments. That meeting had made specific recommendations on improving the functions of the treaty bodies and on the prevention of violation of human rights. With regard to the fifty-fourth session of the Human Rights Committee, he said that it had considered 29 individual communications and had adopted six observations and four decisions on admissibility of complaints. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, during its forty-seventh session, had examined the situation of human rights in eight countries. It had also held a joint meeting with the Subcommission in which both had decided to carry out common studies on human rights issues.

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