Rights of the Child – Human Rights Council tenth session – Press release (excerpts)

COUNCIL HOLDS PANEL DISCUSSION ON PROMOTING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE

CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD AT THE INTERNATIONAL LEVEL

Human Rights Council

MORNING

11 March 2009

The Human Rights Council this morning opened its annual full-day meeting on the rights of the child with a panel discussion on promoting the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child at the international level.

Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, opening the panel discussion, said it was very timely and appropriate to focus on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which, twenty years after its adoption, enjoyed almost universal acceptance.

There was no doubt that the Convention had transformed the way the world viewed children – they were no longer viewed as the property of parents or the passive recipients of charity or goodwill, but as rights-holders. This conceptual shift also underscored States' accountability in fulfilling their obligations towards children's rights.

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Interactive Discussion

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JUAN ANTONIO FERNANDEZ PALACIOS (Cuba), speaking on behalf of Non-Aligned Movement, …

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In the latest summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, held in Havana in September 2006, and in the Ministerial Meeting held in Teheran in July 2008, the Non-Aligned Movement Member States reaffirmed once again their commitment to the defense of the right of the child. In this sense the Non-Aligned Movement had condemned the killings of many Palestinian children, who had died as a result of the use of excessive and indiscriminate force, and extrajudicial executions against the Palestinian people. …

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IBRAHIM S. AL-ADOOFI (Yemen), speaking on behalf of the Arab Group, welcomed the fact that the Human Rights Council was holding an annual day on the rights of the child. The rights of children in every region of the world had to be considered today. In some regions of the world, the day children were born was the day they died, as had been seen recently by Palestinians in Gaza. The recent incursion by Israel in Gaza left children as the main victims, with many children severely wounded, and even many cases of a serious pathological and psychological nature as a result of destruction waged by Israel. Many children were displaced and had to leave their homes due to roughly 14,000 houses that had been destroyed, including schools, due to Israeli attacks. This was a violation of every humanitarian law, and in particular the Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians during armed conflict. The Human Rights Council had a responsibility to clearly condemn Israel's actions in Gaza. …

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