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Human Rights Council Working Group on an optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child to provide a communications procedure Submission_Marta_Santos_Pais.pdf

From the report:

" 3 - A communications procedure to further consolidate the protection of children’s rights

I warmly welcome the opportunity to support the consolidation of existing children’s rights standards, and feel inspired by the prospective of putting in place a truly child sensitive communications procedure, shaped by the principles and provisions of the Convention and informed by our shared experience over the last twenty years.

At the the Twenty-Third Meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) on Children and Youth, held in Georgetown, Guyana, CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque called for greater investment in evidence-based policies and sustainable social programmes to address violence against children and youth.

Mr. LaRoqcue urged Ministers with responsibility for children and youth to “challenge concertedly and decisively the deeply entrenched cultural practices and norms that condone violence and violate the rights of our children and youth.”

Kingston, Jamaica, 15 May 2012 – A nine-year old boy systematically raped by the pastor his mother left him with while she went to work, an 18-month old baby boy dying because his inner organs were destroyed when his uncle raped him, a little girl who was infected with HIV, gonorrhea, syphilis and herpes by an uncle who was in and out of prison.

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Representative in Jamaica, Robert Fuderich, has made an appeal for the region to "break the silence" surrounding child abuse to end the scourge, which is affecting a significant number of children.

MANILA, Jan. 21, 2012—The anti-corporal punishment bill for children currently pending in the Philippine Senate, would be the first of its kind in Asia, if passed.

This according to Marta Santos País, the United Nations’ Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) on Violence Against Children, who visited Manila for a dialogue with children and children rights’ advocates, yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines -- If pass into law, the Anti-Corporal Punishment bill that recently passed in the House of Representatives but is still pending at the Senate could be first in the Asia, a visiting UN official said during a dialogue with children and the child rights advocates in Manila today.

According to Marta Santos Pais, Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) on Violence against Children, the proposed legislation could be first in the entire Asia should the Philippine Congress pass it this year.  

Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) on Violence against Children joined the Government of Sweden and the Children’s Welfare Foundation Sweden in the organization of an expert consultation on knowledge for change, data and research.

More than 40 high level experts participated in the meeting held from 19 to 21 June.
The meeting aimed at assessing progress on the consolidation of data systems and research on violence against children, and considering ways of promoting the use of knowledge and research in policy and action to protect children from violence.

Special Representative Santos Pais participated in the South Asia Follow Up Regional Consultation on the UN Study on Violence against Children, on 26-30 May, 2012, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The consultation was organized by South Asia Initiative to End Violence Against Children (SAIEVAC), in collaboration with the Office of the SRSG, and with the support of South Asia Coordination Group on Action against Violence against Women and Children.

In order to support and sustain the implementation of the recommendations of the UN Study on Violence against Children (UNVAC Study), the South Asia Initiative to End Violence against Children (SAIEVAC) organised a follow-up Regional Consultation for South Asia, in collaboration with the South Asia Coordinating Group on Action against Violence against Women and Children (SACG) and in cooperation with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children (SRSG-VaC).

The Consultation was held in Colombo and hosted by the Government of Sri Lanka, on:

a) Regional Children's Consultation: 26-27 May, 2012
b) Inaugural ceremony: 28 May, 2012