WUNRN

http://www.wunrn.com

 

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

 

Special Procedures - Special Rapporteurs & Independent Experts

 

UN SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON SALE OF CHILDREN, CHILD PROSTITUTION

& CHILD PORNOGRAPHY TO VISIT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

 

Country

Mandate

Date

Click for more info on the Mandate

 

United States of America

Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, Ms. Najat Maalla M'jid

 

 

14 to 27 October,

2010

http://bit.ly/cA1FgI

 

____________________________________________________________________________

 

http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/children/rapporteur/index.htm

 

 

 

Special Rapporteur on Sale of Children, Child Prostitution & Child Pornography

 

News

Experte des Nations unies sur la vente d'enfants, la prostitution des enfants et la pornographie mettant en scene des enfants - Observations préliminares à l'issue de la visite au Sénégal

United Nations Expert on Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography - end of visit in United Arab Emirates

Separated Haitian children risk being sold, trafficked or kept in slave-like conditions: UN human rights experts

Expert de l'ONU sur la vente des enfants, la prostitution d'enfants et la pornographie impliquant des enfants, se rend
en visite officielle au Sénégal

 

Background to the mandate

On 20 November 1989, the United Nations General Assembly in New York adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child.. This international instrument recognizes "that in all countries in the world, there are children living in exceptionally difficult conditions, and that such children need special consideration". The Convention is now ratified by 193 States. In May 2000, the General Assembly adopted and opened for signature an Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography; the Protocol, which has now been ratified by 126 states, entered into force in January 2002.

By 1990, international awareness of the commercial sexual exploitation and the sale of children had grown to such a level that the United Nations Commission on Human Rights decided to appoint a Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography by resolution 1990/68, mandating the Special Rapporteur to investigate the exploitation of children around the world and to submit reports thereon to the General Assembly and the Commission on Human Rights, making recommendations for the protection of the rights of the children concerned. These recommendations are targeted primarily at Governments, United Nations bodies and non-governmental organizations.

Since then, the appointment of the Special Rapporteur has been regularly renewed, most recently by the Human Rights Council in March 2008 for a three-year period. In its resolution, the Human Rights Council mandates the Special Rapporteur, in particular through visits and exchange of communications with Governments, to, inter alia:

- analyse the root causes of the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography;

- identify new patterns of sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography;

- identify, exchange and promote best practices on measures to combat the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography;

- continue efforts to promote comprehensive strategies and measures on the prevention of sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography;

- make recommendations on the promotion and protection of human rights of children actual or potential victims of sale, prostitution and pornography, as well as on the aspects related to the rehabilitation of child victims of sexual exploitation.

Ms. Najat M’jid Maalla ( Morocco) was appointed Special Rapporteur in May 2008. Ms. M’jid Maalla is a medical doctor in pediatrics, who has been involved for the past two decades in the protection of vulnerable children. She has notably been involved in the training of social workers in her country, and in the drafting of studies on the situation of children victim of trafficking, of violence and of sexual or other forms of exploitation; children living in the street; institutionalized children; unaccompanied children; children deprived of parental care, etc. She participated in the elaboration of the Moroccan national policy on the protection of the child, and has worked with several non-governmental and inter-governmental organizations. She is a member of the Commission on the Rights of the Child of the Moroccan Consultative Council on Human Rights, and the founder and an active member of the non-governmental organization BAYTI, the first programme addressing the situation of children living in the street in Morocco.

Previous mandate-holders are Mr. Vitit Muntarbhorn (1991-1994), Ms. Ofelia Calcetas-Santos (1994-2001) and Mr. Juan Miguel Petit (2001-2008).