Meeting of States Parties

Convention on Rights of Child

17^th & 18^th Meetings (AM & PM)

States parties to rights of child convention elect nine members to monitoring body

In fourrounds of voting today, the States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child filled half of the seats on its 18-member Committee charged with monitoring implementation of the treaty and its two optional protocols.  Five of the panel’s independent child rights experts were re-elected, and four new members were added, all to serve from 1 March this year to 28 February 2011.

The re-elected members, whose terms of office on the Geneva-based Committee on the Rights of the Child had been set to expire 28 February, were:  Kamel Filali ( Algeria); Moushira Khattab ( Egypt); Hatem Kotrane ( Tunisia); Lothar Friedrich Krappmann ( Germany); and Rosa Maria Ortiz ( Paraguay).

The new members elected today to replace outgoing Committee members were:  Agnes Akosua Aidoo ( Ghana); Luigi Citarella ( Italy); Maria Herczog ( Hungary); and Dainius Pūras ( Lithuania).

[Biographical data on the new members is included in the annexes to documents CRC/SP/38 and Add.1.]

The other nine members of the Committee, whose terms continue through February 2009, are:  Ghalia Mohd Bin Hamad Al-Thani ( Qatar); Joyce Aluoch ( Kenya); Yanghee Lee ( Republic Of Korea); David Parfitt ( Canada); Awich Pollar ( Uganda); Kamal Siddiqui ( Bangladesh); Lucy Smith ( Norway); Nevena Vuckovic-Sahovic ( Serbia); and Jean Zermatten ( Switzerland).

The Geneva-based Committee was formed in 1991 as a 10-member panel monitoring implementation of the Convention, which gives a comprehensive collection of children’s rights the force of international law.  It also monitors worldwide efforts to implement two optional protocols to the Convention, on involvement of children in armed conflict and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.  In 2003, the Committee expanded its membership to 18.

The treaty is the most widely accepted international human rights instrument, with 140 signatures and 193 ratifications.  Only Somalia and the United States have not ratified it.  All States parties are obliged to submit regular reports to the Committee on how the rights are being implemented.  States must report initially two years after acceding to the Convention and then every five years.  The Committee examines each report and addresses its concerns and recommendations to the State party in the form of “concluding observations”.

Also this morning the States Parties elected Paul Badji ( Senegal) to chair the eleventh meeting.

Elected as Vice-Chairpersons were:  Kirsti Lintonen ( Finland): Peimaneh Hasteh ( Iran); Uladzmir Gerus ( Belarus); and Eduardo L. Sevilla Somoza ( Nicaragua).

Opening the meeting, Ngonlardjé Mbaidjol, Representative of the Secretary-General, said that, since the last meeting in 2005, there had been a growing number of States parties to the Optional Protocols on the involvement of children in armed conflict and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography -- to 112 and 117 parties, respectively.  The number of States parties to the Convention had now grown to 193.

He said that the Committee had met in two parallel chambers to reduce the backlog of reports.  The Committee had, therefore, been able to consider 47 reports in 2006, successfully reducing the backlog of pending reports.  The Committee had also adopted new General Comments on:  treatment of unaccompanied and separated children outside their country of origin; implementing child rights in early childhood; the right of the child to protection from corporal punishment and other cruel or degrading forms of punishment; the rights of children with disabilities; and children’s rights in juvenile justice.

The Committee’s annual Days of General Discussion had also seen unprecedented interest, with increased participation of civil society, as well as children, he added.  Another important activity was the completion of the Secretary-General’s Study on Violence against Children, presented to the General Assembly in October 2006.  The aim of the study was to provide an in-depth picture of the prevalence, nature and causes of violence against children, and to propose recommendations to prevent and respond to the issue.  The Committee fully supported follow-up to the recommendations in that Study and underlined that the momentum created by the Study process should be maintained.

Voting Results

First Round of Voting

After ballots had been distributed, the representative of Lebanon announced that the name of the Lebanese candidate, Ghassan Salim Rabah, had been withdrawn.  After a procedural debate in which the representatives of Paraguay, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Morocco, Egypt and Hungary participated, the Chairman said that crossing out the name of the candidate on the ballot did not render that ballot invalid.

Number of ballot papers	188
Number of invalid ballots	0
Number of valid ballots	188
Abstentions	0
Number of members voting	188
Required majority	95

Number of votes obtained:

Agnes Akosua Aidoo ( Ghana)	73
Mariama Aribot ( Guinea)	39
Ojobo Atuluku ( Nigeria)	59
Lourdes G. Balanon ( Philippines)	67
Luigi Citarella ( Italy)	107
Mary Clark ( Jamaica)	71
Ruth Farrugia ( Malta)	49
Kamel Filali ( Algeria)	101
Maria Herczog ( Hungary)	93
Moushira Khattab ( Egypt)	116
Itumeleng Kimane ( Lesotho)	35
Hatem Kotrane ( Tunisia)	120
Lothar Friedrich Krappmann ( Germany)	131
Mirna Yolanda Lorenzana Arriaga De González ( Guatemala)	42
Rosa Maria Ortiz ( Paraguay)	100
Marta Maurás Pérez ( Chile)	80
Nakpa Polo ( Togo)	41
Dainius Pūras ( Lithuania)	105
Harimisa Razafindrakoto ( Madagascar)	44
Lidija Topić ( Bosnia and Herzegovina)	87
Esmeralda Elizabeth Arosemena de Troitiño ( Panama)	39
Sylvie Kayitesi Zaïnabo ( Rwanda)	56

Having obtained the required majority and the largest number of votes, Luigi Citarella ( Italy); Kamel Filali ( Algeria); Moushira Khattab ( Egypt); Hatem Kotrane ( Tunisia); Lothar Friedrich Krappmann ( Germany); Rosa Maria Ortiz ( Paraguay); and Dainius Pūras ( Lithuania) were elected to serve four-year terms on the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Second Round of Voting

In accordance with the States parties’ rules of procedure, the second round of voting was restricted to those candidates who had obtained the largest number of votes in the previous ballot and not more than twice the number of remaining places to be filled –- in this case, therefore, four candidates for the remaining two seats.

Number of ballot papers	182
Number of invalid ballots	0
Number of valid ballots	182
Abstentions	0
Number of members voting	182
Required majority	92

Number of votes obtained:

Agnes Akosua Aidoo ( Ghana)	90
Maria Herczog ( Hungary)	86
Marta Maurás Pérez ( Chile)	81
Lidija Topić ( Bosnia and Herzegovina)	79

As no candidate had obtained the required majority, a third round of voting was required.

Third Round of Voting

Number of ballot papers	179
Number of invalid ballots	0
Number of valid ballots	179
Abstentions	0
Number of members voting	179
Required majority	90

Number of votes obtained:

Agnes Akosua Aidoo ( Ghana)	100
Maria Herczog ( Hungary)	85
Marta Maurás Pérez ( Chile)	66
Lidija Topić ( Bosnia and Herzegovina)	77

Having obtained the largest number of votes and the required majority, Agnes Akosua Aidoo ( Ghana) was elected to the Committee.

Fourth Round of Voting

Number of ballot papers	177
Number of invalid ballots	0
Number of valid ballots	177
Abstentions	4
Number of members voting	173
Required majority	87

Number of votes obtained:

Maria Herczog ( Hungary)	101
Lidija Topić ( Bosnia and Herzegovina)	72

Having obtained the largest number of votes and the required majority, Maria Herczog ( Hungary) was the last candidate to be elected to the Committee.

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For information media • not an official record