STATES PARTIES TO RIGHTS OF CHILD CONVENTION ELECT NINE MEMBERS TO MONITORING BODY
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| Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York |
Meeting of States Parties
Convention on Rights of Child
18th & 19th Meetings (AM & PM)
STATES PARTIES TO RIGHTS OF CHILD CONVENTION ELECT NINE MEMBERS TO MONITORING BODY
In three rounds of voting today, the States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child elected nine members to the 18-member Committee charged with monitoring implementation of the treaty and its two Optional Protocols. Three of the panel’s child rights experts were re-elected, and six new members were added, all to serve from 1 March 2009 until 28 February 2013.
The re-elected members, whose terms of office on the Geneva-based Committee on the Rights of the Child were to expire 28 February 2009, were: Jean Zermatten ( Switzerland); Yanghee Lee ( Republic of Korea); and Awich Pollar ( Uganda).
New members elected today to replace outgoing Committee members were: Sanphasit Koompraphant ( Thailand); Marta Mauras Perez ( Chile); Hadeel Al-Asmar ( Syria); Peter Guran ( Slovakia); Susana Villarán de la Puente ( Peru); and Kamla Devi Varmah ( Mauritius).
Those elected today join nine other members whose terms are set to expire on 28 February 2011: Agnes Akosua Aido ( Ghana); Luigi Citarella ( Italy); Kamel Filali ( Algeria); Maria Herczog ( Hungary); Moushira Khattab ( Egypt); Hatem Kotrane ( Tunisia); Lothar Friedrich Krappmann ( Germany); Rosa María Ortiz ( Paraguay); and Dainius Puras ( Lithuania).
[Biographical data on the members elected today is included in annex III of document CRC/SP/40 and in document CRC/SP/40/Add.1.]
The Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the General Assembly in 1989, was the first instrument to set out a complete range of international human rights for children -— including civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. Its guiding principles include non-discrimination; adherence to the best interests of the child; the right to life, survival and development; and the right to participate.
The Committee was formed in 1991 as a 10-member panel monitoring implementation of the Convention. In 2003, the Committee expanded its membership to 18. The Convention has two Optional Protocols, on the involvement of children in armed conflict, and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. Both were adopted by the Assembly in 2000.
All States parties submit regular reports to the Committee on how children’s rights are being implemented. They report 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 today, the States Parties elected Don Pramudwinai ( Thailand) as chair of the twelfth meeting. Elected as Vice-Chairpersons were Leslie Kojo Christian ( Ghana), Asif Garayev ( Azerbaijan) and Dianela Pi ( Uruguay), representing the Groups of African States, Eastern European States and Latin American and Caribbean States, respectively.
Opening the twelfth meeting, Mr. Ngonlardje Mbaidjol, Director of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in New York, said the two Optional Protocols had received wide attentionin the nearly two years since the last meeting. There were now 125 States Parties to the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, and 129 to the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. Today, the Convention itself was the most widely accepted international human rights instrument, with 193 States parties. The Committee annually considered reports of 30 States parties, a number expected to increase to 46 in 2010, should the General Assembly approve the resolution adopted by the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural).
Describing recent work, he said the Committee had pursued the development of general comments -- which sought to guide States parties on aspects of the Convention -- and that, to date, 10 such comments had been adopted. The Committee also convened annual days of general discussion, the last of which had taken place in September on the right of children to education in emergency situations. Next year, it would commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the Convention’s adoption, and look forward to the appointment of a Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children.
Voting Results
First Round of Voting
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:
Mr. Jean Zermatten ( Switzerland)
125
Ms. Yanghee Lee ( Republic of Korea)
121
Mr. Awich Pollar ( Uganda)
118
Mr. Sanphasit Koompraphant ( Thailand)
106
Ms. Marta Mauras Perez ( Chile)
98
Mr. Peter Guran ( Slovakia)
93
Ms. Carmen Zammit ( Malta)
89
Ms. Hadeel Al-Asmar ( Syria)
88
Ms. Susana Villarán de la Puente ( Peru)
83
Mr. Christos Konis ( Cyprus)
79
Ms. Kamla Devi Varmah ( Mauritius)
78
Ms. Beatriz Linares Cantillo ( Colombia)
77
Ms. Nora Amilcar Jean François ( Haiti)
77
Ms. Samira Moosa ( Oman)
77
Mr. Houngbédji Adjai ( Benin)
71
Mr. Jean-Baptiste Zoungrana ( Burkina Faso)
65
Ms. Nafisa Hamoud Al-Jaifi ( Yemen)
50
Mr. Ruslan Maliuta ( Ukraine)
42
Mr. Mohammad Farid Hamidi ( Afghanistan)
40
Mr. Farith Ricardo Simon Campaña ( Ecuador)
29
Having obtained the required majority and the largest number of votes, Jean Zermatten ( Switzerland), Yanghee Lee ( Republic of Korea), Awich Pollar ( Uganda) Sanphasit Koompraphant ( Thailand) and Marta Mauras Perez ( Chile) were elected to serve four-year terms on the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
As Ms. Beatriz Linares Cantillo ( Colombia), Ms. Nora Amilcar Jean François ( Haiti) and Ms. Samira Moosa ( Oman) had received the same number of votes, the Committee recommended that all three be eligible for election.
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.
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:
Ms. Hadeel Al-Asmar ( Syria)
100
Mr. Peter Guran ( Slovakia)
95
Ms. Susana Villarán de la Puente ( Peru)
93
Ms. Kamla Devi Varmah ( Mauritius)
86
Ms. Carmen Zammit ( Malta)
76
Ms. Nora Amilcar Jean François ( Haiti)
72
Ms. Samira Moosa ( Oman)
71
Ms. Beatriz Linares Cantillo ( Colombia)
65
Mr. Christos Konis ( Cyprus)
61
Having obtained the required majority and the largest number of votes, Hadeel Al-Asmar ( Syria) and Peter Guran ( Slovakia) were elected to the Committee.
Third Round of Voting
Since fewer than four candidates obtained the required majority, a third round of voting was required.
Number of ballot papers
180
Number of invalid ballots
0
Number of valid ballots
180
Abstentions
2
Number of members voting
178
Required majority
90
Number of votes obtained:
Ms. Susana Villarán de la Puente ( Peru)
104
Ms. Kamla Devi Varmah ( Mauritius)
91
Ms. Carmen Zammit ( Malta)
72
Ms. Nora Amilcar Jean François ( Haiti)
71
Having obtained the required majority, Susana Villarán de la Puente ( Peru) and Kamla Devi Varmah ( Mauritius) were elected to the Committee.
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For information media • not an official record