A summary of issues of relevance to Children’s Rights that were raised during 

The 61 session, 7th meeting of 
Commission on Human Rights
16th of March 2005

A number of child-related issues were touched upon during this three hour long 7th meeting, at which speakers were allotted 15 minutes each. The points focusing on children’s rights concerned three areas. First, the most common concern was the trafficking of women and girls. Many countries spoke of this problem and the actions taken to eradicate this problem. A second theme mentioned by many speakers was the importance of education. A wide variety of ways of improving education were mentioned. Third, the combat against involuntary recruitment of children by illegal armed groups, was also an important concern for a number of countries.

This is a slightly more detailed account of the the major points made by those speakers who touched upon children rights issues .

The first speaker was Ms. Maria Pilar Hernadez, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affaris of Venezuela. In her statement, she stressed the importance of education in general for the population. She also briefly described actions undertaken by the Venezuelan government to improve reading abilities of children  and adults. This programme, denoted "Robinson", is estimated to have improved the literary skills of 1,5 million people.

The next speaker, Mr. P.T.C Skelemani, Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration of Botswana, emphasized the children's right to education and health. He mentioned the "Mother to child transmission programme" which had been organized in order to prevent infectious diseases like HIV to spread from the mother to the baby.

Ms. Marta Altolaguirre, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Guatemala, explained that the demilitarisation of Guatemala has made it possible to start schools buildings formerly belonging to the military. She also emphasized the battle against the trafficking of women and girls.

Dr. Jorge Hernandez Alcerro, Minister of Governance and Justice of Honduras, brought up the problem of violence and civil insecurity in Honduras. He mentioned that the government has set up an "Investigation Unit of Death of Minors", with the task of arresting and transmitting people suspected of violence against children to prosecutors’ offices. Due to the creating of this unit, he explained, many such crimes have been solved and the perpetrators been brought to justice. The government has also taken action to prevent children from joining illegal armed gangs, and to help them to leave such gangs. The government also claims to be aware of the problems caused by the sex-tourism and works hard to put an end to this phenomenon.

Mr. Itsunori Onodera, Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Japan, emphasized his government’s efforts of providing assistance to children affected by the tsunami. The "Child Support Plan for Tsunami Victims" program helps with finances (up to $500 million of grant money), knowledge and human resources. Japan has also recently ratified two Optional Protocols on the Convention of the Rights of the Child and has adopted a number of measures to combat trafficking in persons.

Mr. Hans Winkler, Deputy Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Austria, acknowledged the issue of trafficking and explained that the Austrian government has set up a task force for victim's protection and legal support. On behalf of the Austrian government, he welcomed the decision to appoint a Special Rapporteur on this issue.

The last speaker of the meeting, Dr.Fransisco Santos, Vice-President of Colombia, highlighted the forced recruitment of children to armed gangs. He was concerned about the risk of sexual exploitation of young girls by these gangs. To prevent this, the government has increased the number of law enforcement bodies.

The following speakers were present at the meeting but spoke little, if at all, of child right-related issues:

- Mr. Jakob Kellenberger, President of the International Comitee of the Red Cross

- Mr. Dao Viet Trung, Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs of Vietnam

- Mr. Felipe Pérez Roque, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Cuba

- Mr. Alhaji Abukakar Tanko, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Nigeria, 

- Mr. Bill Rammell MP, Minister for International Human Rights of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland