The Geneva-based Committee of the Rights of the Child monitors the
implementation by States of the Convention on the Rights of the Child – the most
widely ratified international human rights instrument, with 193 States parties.
Composed of 18 independent human rights experts, the Committee also monitors
implementation of two optional protocols to the Convention: one on the
involvement of children in armed conflict, and the other on the sale of
children, child prostitution and child pornography.
During its just-concluded three-week session, the Committee examined the
situation of children in Slovakia, Maldives, Uruguay, Kazakhstan, the
Sudan, Guatemala, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Monaco, Norway
and Sweden, based on national reports submitted to it.
In a set of conclusions issued today, experts expressed concern over several
issues, including continued abductions of children for forced recruitment,
forced labour and sexual exploitation in several countries, and especially in
Darfur and South Sudan.
Among the other issues of concern to the Committee were high levels of
violence against children, discrimination against children born out of wedlock
and the plight of refugee children.
The Committee, which holds three sessions per year, will meet again in
September to examine the situation of children in Sierra Leone, Venezuela,
Bulgaria, France, Spain, Bulgaria, Croatia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Qatar and
Syria.