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Promotion and protection of the rights of children; Follow-up to the outcome of the special session on children

>> Read more about the Commemorative high-level plenary meeting devoted to the follow-up to the outcome of the special session on children

Background: Promotion and protection of the rights of children

At its forty-fourth session, in 1989, the General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child (resolution 44/25). The Convention entered into force on 2 September 1990. At its fifty-fourth session, the Assembly adopted two optional protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (resolution 54/263): one on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and one on the involvement of children in armed conflict. The first protocol entered into force on 18 January 2002 and the second on 12 February 2002.

At its sixtieth session, the General Assembly urged States to fulfil their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, as well as the commitment to implement the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the Assembly entitled "Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century" (resolution 60/141) and of the twenty-seventh special session on children; requested the Secretary-General, as Chairman of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination, to ensure that all organizations and bodies of the United Nations system took into account the rights and the particular needs of the girl child in country programmes of cooperation in accordance with national priorities, including through the United Nations Development Assistance Framework; requested Member States to ensure that, in preventing and addressing HIV/AIDS, particular attention and support was given to the girl child infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS, including adolescent mothers; and requested the Secretary-General to submit a report to the Assembly at its sixty-second session on the implementation of the resolution, with a view to assessing its impact on the well-being of the girl child .

At its sixty-first session, the General Assembly decided (resolution 61/146):

  1. to request the Secretary-General to submit to the Assembly at its sixty-second session a report on the rights of the child, containing information on the status of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the issues addressed in the resolution;
  2. to request the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict to continue to submit reports to the Assembly and the Human Rights Council on the progress achieved and the remaining challenges on the children and armed conflict agenda;
  3. to invite the independent expert for the United Nations study on violence against children to promote the wide dissemination of the United Nations study on violence against children, to give support to the first year of effective follow-up to its recommendations and to submit to the Assembly at its sixty-second session a report on progress made in the initial phase of follow-up and to anticipate the necessary strategy for follow-up to the implementation of the study;
  4. to reiterate its invitation to the Chairman of the Committee on the Rights of the Child to present an oral report on the work of the Committee to the Assembly at its sixty-second session; and
  5. to continue its consideration of the question at its sixty-second session under the item entitled "Promotion and protection of the rights of children", focusing section III of the resolution on the rights of the child on "Violence against children" (resolution 61/146).
Documents
References for the sixtieth session (agenda item 67)

Background: Follow-up to the outcome of the special session on children

At its fifty-first session, in 1996, under the item entitled "Operational activities for development",(resolution 51/186) the General Assembly decided to convene a special session of the Assembly in 2001 to renew the achievement of the goals of the World Summit for Children, and to consider the arrangements for the special session at its fifty-third session .

At its twenty-seventh special session, in 2002, the General Assembly adopted a resolution entitled "A world fit for children" (resolution S-27/2), in which it requested the Secretary-General to report regularly on progress made in implementing the Plan of Action included in the annex to the resolution.

At its fifty-third to fifty-eighth and sixtieth sessions, the General Assembly continued its consideration of the item (resolutions 53/193, 54/93, 55/26, 56/222 and 58/282, and decisions 57/537 [page 26], 57/551 [page 19] and 60/537 [page 25].

At its fifty-eighth session, the General Assembly decided to convene a commemorative plenary meeting in 2007 (resolution 58/282).

At its sixty-first session, the General Assembly decided to pay particular attention to the protection of and the rights of children living in poverty at the commemorative plenary meeting to be held in 2007 devoted to the follow-up to the outcome of the twenty-seventh special session of the General Assembly (resolution 61/146).

At the same session, under the item entitled "Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly" (item 110), the Assembly approved the programme of work of the Third Committee, which contained sub-items (a) and (b) of item 63 (decision 61/532) [page 28].

At its resumed sixty-first session, in June 2007, the General Assembly decided to convene a commemorative high-level plenary meeting on 11 and 12 December 2007 to evaluate progress made in the implementation of the Declaration and the Plan of Action contained in the final document of the special session on children, entitled "A world fit for children" (resolution S-27/2, annex); and requested the Secretary-General to submit a comprehensive analytical report on progress achieved and challenges remaining in implementing the commitments set out in the Declaration and the Plan of Actionat least six weeks prior to its consideration by the General Assembly at its sixty-second session (resolution 61/272).

Document
References for the sixty-first session (agenda item 63 (a) and (b))

[Source: Annotated preliminary list of items to be included in the provisional agenda of the sixty-second regular session of the General Assembly (A/62/100, Corr. 1 and Add.1)]