I recently had the priviledge of going out to Geneva to observe the examination of the UK's record on keeping the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Here's a copy of the diary style article I put together for local youth website
www.youthbeat.net
Its taken me over a year to try and get just a basic understanding of all the different aspects of the
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, so its been tricky to explain things in a diary style report. Because of that, I've included a lot of links to definitions of works and organisation, or to web-pages where you can read more about different parts of what was going on out in Geneva. Words in italics should display an explanation of themselves if you hover the mouse above them.
To give a really quick overview - the event I was at was the 'examination' of how well the UK government upholds the rights of Children across everything it does. These events take place every 5 years, and a group of experts from all over the world (the committee) quiz the government on what they are doing for Children, and then from that, and other information, the committee recommend things the government can do to improve how they uphold the rights of children.
I hope that makes sense. If anyone's got any questions - please do just ask. You can contact me at tim@youthbeat.net
Monday 16th - The day before
I'm not really sure what to expect from the trip. So far I've not been able to find out all that much about what its going to involve. From the information I've had so far all I know is that we're visiting lots of different people in arranged visits on the Wednesday and then observing the 'examination' on the Thursday where the UK government
delegation will be answering questions from the
committee. It doesn't seem all that organised at the moment as no-one I've spoken to seems to know why we're visiting all these different people on Wednesday or even who (young people wise) from Scotland, Wales & Ireland are going to be there. I'm expecting it to all be rather challenging and while it will be good to get to see Geneva whatever, I'm worried that as young people we're just being along so it looks good rather than so we can really be involved.
Day 1 - The Journey Out
Met Ella (who works for the CYPU in looking at the Convention and is part of the UK delegation to the committee) and Jay (also from the CYPU but coming to Geneva to support myself & Ross) at Victoria Station. Caught the train to Gatwick where we met Ross, the other young person from England travelling out to Geneva with the CYPU.
Got to Geneva in perfect time. The Easy Jet flight was, well, fairly easy. Caught a double-decker train from the airport to the center of Geneva and eventually found the hotel after going out the wrong exit from the station and walking through one of the more dodgy areas of Geneva by mistake. Apparently none of the rest of the delegation are out here till tomorrow. Managed to remember enough of my GCSE French to help order an evening meal (Geneva is in French speaking Switzerland). Some conversation over the meal about Children's Rights but not much.
Am not overly optimistic about how seriously the UK are taking this examination. Maybe tomorrow will be more positive when the rest of the delegation arrive.
Day 2 - Meeting People
Rest of the delegation have flown in - but they're now in a meeting till 8 when they're off to the Ambassadors residence for a meal, so I'm not sure if they are planning to have any contact with young people at all. The rest of the day has been really good though - all the people we visited were really interesting although we only had 30-45mins to talk to each which was a shame.
We met with Stu (a young person from Scotland) and Leila (young person from Wales) at the UK Mission (after going through all the security doors and checks - something that became a bit of a theme throughout the day).
Cars then arrived and took us off to the OHCHR (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) where first, crowded into a small office, we met Joel and Ben. Joel and Ben both work for the OHCHR and Joel particularly works on stuff to do with the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The meeting was fascinating. Ben explained how the OHCHR work to make sure Human Rights are respected globally - drawing particularly on his experience of working in Rwanda after the Genocide. Joel gave us an overview of how the committee works and answered our questions.
From this meeting we moved straight on to talk to Cecelia about the 'Special Rapportuer' on the Right to Education'. The 'Special Rapportuers' are individual volunteers nominated to look at a particular area of human rights or at human rights in a particular country. They report to the various human rights committees to help present a complete picture of rights and to highlight areas and issues where particular attention is needed.
After a lunch break we also met an assistant of the Special Rapportuer on Violence Against Women.
Next up was a visit to the UNHCR (The UN Refugee Agency) where we spoke with a member of the team who look at how the rights of refugee children are respected. She explained how the Convention on the Rights of the Child was central to work with young refugees.
From the UNHCR it was back to the cars ready to move onto the ILO (International Labour Office ) - a massive building where we met Yoshie. Yoshie works on the International Program on the Elimination of Child Labour and explained what they've been doing to make international agreements on working ages and protecting young people from dangerous work and how the ILO can enforce the agreements and deal with complaints.
Following that we went to the last visit of the day at UNICEF (The United Nations Children's Fund). There we met Leslie who had been at the event in July where young people presented their views on how well UK Children's Rights are respected to the committee. UNICEF do a lot of work in developing nations helping groups in those countries to be able to send reports to the committee and advocating for children's rights.
In evening visited Geneva old town. Ended up in McDonalds for tea! Not good. Managed to get in touch with some of the NGO young people who had flown out to observe the examination. tomorrow and met up. Heading back to the Hotel bumped into 'Mouth That Roars' film crew who are going to be filming tomorrow and who have already filmed some of the run up to the examination.
Got back to the hotel. Had coffee. Slept.
Day 3 - The crunch
Up early to go to UK Mission building. Told that due to mix up we don't need to go but go anyway. Currently sitting in briefing room waiting for something to happen. Home office member of the delegation comes over to speak to us. All other delegation members busy shifting through papers - everyone seems v. nervous.
....
At the examination room, about to start. Film crew arrived. Place is packed. Starting now...
...
Just had the first session of questions asked of the UK by the Committee. Lots of issues came up, particularly the need for the government to think in terms of what Children's rights are, not just what services they provide. The committee also asked lots about how the UK co-ordinates children's rights and provision for children across the devolved countries - it seemed the committee needed a lot of clarification on how the UK and devolved countries worked. Mrs Karp who is the 'Special Rapportuer' for the UK focused particularly on the issue of corporal punishment, questioning why are children not given the same protection in law from abuse as adults. Jaap Doek - The Committee Chair in his summing up echoed this, asking why the government would not even remove the right of parents to use 'reasonable force' to punish children. The government delegates are discussing how to answer at the moment. Mood among the children's rights NGOs is good at the moment. Answers are just starting. This could get interesting....
....
Second session was really good. More time for the delegation to answer questions. It all came across in a very constructive tone, the UK delegation did really well considering the didn't really know what to expect. Points from the Committee really came out about the fact that while policies and strategies were helpful - there needs to be a recognition of the 'human dignity of the child', and a respect therefore for all the rights of the child. The general format of the session seemed to be the committee pushing the delegation to explain how all the things the government does are in 'the best interests of the child'. The issue of smacking came up again, with the committee highlighting the need for such a developed country as the UK to be a moral lead and not shy away from banning smacking ('the unjustified inequality in abuse laws') because of perceived public opinion.
At times the tirade of information made it tricky to take in everything that was said, but issues ranged from provisions for disabled children in custody or mainstream education, to the treatment of rioters in Northern Ireland, to the controversial issue of female genital mutilation. Wasn't time for all the questions asked to be answered but the delegation has time to send more written answers before next week.
Not sure what to expect as a result of the whole meeting - won't really know how productive its all been till we get the recommendations from the committee and see how the government respond.
Got chance to chat to delegation members in the bar and at dinner - general mood seems positive - although still a real reluctance to commit to the language of rights by the UK delegation. Shall have to wait and see what happens.
Day 4 - Coming home
Flight back was all ok. Nothing much eventful. Just waiting to see what happens on the 4th October now and will report back then.
You can read the Press Release from the UN about the Examination dayhere.
