National consultation on UN Convention on Rights of Child
Friday, 3 August 2007
The two-day final round of national consultation on the UN Convention on Rights of the Child (CRC) 3rd and 4th State Party report concluded in the city Thursday, reports UNB.
The meeting culminated a series of consultations across all divisions of Bangladesh that began in Sylhet on 6 June 2007.
Women and Children Affairs secretary Rokeya Sultana was the chief guest at the official session of the consultation, chaired by Shahzadi Anjumanara, Deputy Secretary at the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MoWCA).
UNICEF Representative in Bangladesh Louis-Georges Arsenault and Mostafa Kamal, Project Director, 'Capacity Building for Monitoring Child Rights' project, also spoke on the occasion.
"It is an important mechanism to monitor and report the progress of CRC in Bangladesh through the experience and views of children and cross sectoral stakeholders … it also educates children as right holders and adults as duty bearers of the need for a critical partnership to realise the CRC," said Arsenault about the consultation process.
The 3rd and 4th state party report has been drafted by the MoWCA in coordination with other ministries with support from UNICEF.
Bangladesh was among the first few countries to sign and ratify the CRC in 1990, soon after it came into effect globally.
According to article 44 of the Convention, the Government of Bangladesh is obligated to submit periodic state party report to the UN Child Rights Committee on the state of CRC implementation in the country.
The state party is responsible to submit an initial report two years after ratification and periodic report every five years thereafter.
Bangladesh submitted the initial report and 2nd periodic report to the Committee in 1995 (due in 1992) and 2000 (due in 1997) respectively.
The Committee gave their Concluding Observations on the reports with some specific recommendations for improving the lives of the country's children.
Bangladesh, however, could not submit the 3rd report, which was due in 2002. Subsequently, the Committee allowed Bangladesh to submit the 3rd and 4th periodic reports as one consolidated report in September 2007.
Ministry of Women and Children Affairs in association with UNICEF and NGO partners has followed a rigorous process by organising consultations in all the divisions with concerned persons from different government ministries, departments, NGOs academicians, professionals and individual resource persons with extensive participation by children.
The main objectives of these exercises were to gather information about interventions, progresses and gaps regarding children at divisional levels (not included in the draft report), to validate the accuracy of the data/information provided in the draft report and to identify obstacles and constraints to implementing the CRC.
Additional to these consultations, two children's consultations were also organised in Rajshahi and Dhaka by Save the Children UK, Plan, Manusher Jonno Foundation, Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum in association with MoWCA and UNICEF.
The inputs and feedbacks received from both adult and children consultations will be incorporated in the final state party report.
The meeting culminated a series of consultations across all divisions of Bangladesh that began in Sylhet on 6 June 2007.
Women and Children Affairs secretary Rokeya Sultana was the chief guest at the official session of the consultation, chaired by Shahzadi Anjumanara, Deputy Secretary at the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MoWCA).
UNICEF Representative in Bangladesh Louis-Georges Arsenault and Mostafa Kamal, Project Director, 'Capacity Building for Monitoring Child Rights' project, also spoke on the occasion.
"It is an important mechanism to monitor and report the progress of CRC in Bangladesh through the experience and views of children and cross sectoral stakeholders … it also educates children as right holders and adults as duty bearers of the need for a critical partnership to realise the CRC," said Arsenault about the consultation process.
The 3rd and 4th state party report has been drafted by the MoWCA in coordination with other ministries with support from UNICEF.
Bangladesh was among the first few countries to sign and ratify the CRC in 1990, soon after it came into effect globally.
According to article 44 of the Convention, the Government of Bangladesh is obligated to submit periodic state party report to the UN Child Rights Committee on the state of CRC implementation in the country.
The state party is responsible to submit an initial report two years after ratification and periodic report every five years thereafter.
Bangladesh submitted the initial report and 2nd periodic report to the Committee in 1995 (due in 1992) and 2000 (due in 1997) respectively.
The Committee gave their Concluding Observations on the reports with some specific recommendations for improving the lives of the country's children.
Bangladesh, however, could not submit the 3rd report, which was due in 2002. Subsequently, the Committee allowed Bangladesh to submit the 3rd and 4th periodic reports as one consolidated report in September 2007.
Ministry of Women and Children Affairs in association with UNICEF and NGO partners has followed a rigorous process by organising consultations in all the divisions with concerned persons from different government ministries, departments, NGOs academicians, professionals and individual resource persons with extensive participation by children.
The main objectives of these exercises were to gather information about interventions, progresses and gaps regarding children at divisional levels (not included in the draft report), to validate the accuracy of the data/information provided in the draft report and to identify obstacles and constraints to implementing the CRC.
Additional to these consultations, two children's consultations were also organised in Rajshahi and Dhaka by Save the Children UK, Plan, Manusher Jonno Foundation, Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum in association with MoWCA and UNICEF.
The inputs and feedbacks received from both adult and children consultations will be incorporated in the final state party report.