UN Human Rights Treaties

UNITED NATIONS
E
Economic and Social
Council
Distr.
LIMITED
E/CN.4/1998/L.92
16 April 1998
Original: ENGLISH
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Fiftyfourth
session
Agenda item 20
RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
Argentina, Austria, Belgium*, Bolivia*, Brazil, Canada, Chile,
Colombia*, Costa Rica*, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark,
Dominican Republic*, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia*, Ethiopia*,
Finland*, France, Germany, Greece*, Guatemala, Haiti*, Honduras*,
Hungary*, India, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands*,
Nicaragua*, Paraguay*, Peru, Poland, Portugal*, Romania*,
Slovakia*, South Africa, Spain*, Sweden*, Switzerland*, Tunisia,
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Uruguay and
Venezuela: draft resolution
1998/... Rights of the child
The Commission on Human Rights,
Bearing in mind the Convention on the Rights of the Child,
Recalling its resolution 1997/78 of 18 April 1997, as well as all its
previous resolutions on this subject,
Recalling also the adoption of the Programme of Action for the
Prevention of the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography,
the Programme of Action for the Elimination of the Exploitation of Child
Labour and the Programme of Action for the Prevention of the Traffic in
Persons and the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others,
* In accordance with rule 69, paragraph 3, of the rules of procedure of
the functional commissions of the Economic and Social Council.
GE.9812244
(E)
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Taking note of General Assembly resolutions 52/98, 52/99, 52/105, 52/106
and 52/107 of 12 December 1997,
Reaffirming the Declaration and Plan of Action adopted by the World
Summit for Children in 1990 and the Vienna Declaration and Programme of
Action, which, inter alia, states that national and international mechanisms
and programmes for the defence and protection of children, in particular those
in especially difficult circumstances, should be strengthened, including
through effective measures to combat exploitation and abuse of children such
as female infanticide, harmful child labour, sale of children and their
organs, child prostitution and child pornography as well as other forms of
sexual abuse, and which reaffirms that all human rights and fundamental
freedoms are universal,
Expressing its support for the ongoing negotiations on the creation of a
permanent international criminal court, and inviting those involved to be
guided by the principles and the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of
the Child, as appropriate,
Noting the work carried out by:
(a) The Committee on the Rights of the Child;
(b) The Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the
sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography;
(c) The recently appointed Special Representative of the
SecretaryGeneral
for children in armed conflict to follow up the
recommendations presented in the study concluded in 1996 by the expert
appointed by the Secretary-General;
(d) The working groups on draft optional protocols to the Convention
on the Rights of the Child relating to the involvement of children in armed
conflict and to the sale of children, child prostitution and child
pornography, respectively;
(e) The United Nations Children s Fund;
(f) Other relevant bodies and organizations of the United Nations
system, regional organizations, intergovernmental and non-governmental
organizations and institutions for the promotion and protection of the rights
of the child, and encouraging the establishment of bodies and institutions,
both governmental and non-governmental, to monitor, carry out or support
activities in favour of children,
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Profoundly concerned that the situation of children in many parts of the
world remains critical as a result of poverty, inadequate social and economic
conditions, natural disasters, armed conflicts, displacement, economic and
sexual exploitation, illiteracy, hunger, intolerance and disability, and
inadequate legal protection, and convinced that urgent and effective national
and international action is called for,
Recognizing that legislation alone is not enough to prevent violations
of the rights of the child, that stronger political commitment is needed and
that Governments should implement their laws and complement legislative
measures with effective action, inter alia in the fields of law enforcement
and in the administration of justice, and in social, educational and public
health programmes,
Recommending that, within their mandates, all relevant human rights
mechanisms and all other relevant organs and mechanisms of the United Nations
system and the supervisory bodies of the specialized agencies pay attention to
particular situations in which children are in danger and where their rights
are violated and that they take into account the work of the Committee on the
Rights of the Child,
Underlining the need for mainstreaming a gender perspective into all
policies and programmes relating to children,
Reaffirming, as set out in the Convention, that the best interests of
the child should be a primary consideration in all actions concerning
children,
I
Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
1. Welcomes:
(a) The nearly universal ratification of or accession by States to the
Convention on the Rights of the Child whose number, according to the report of
the Secretary-General (E/CN.4/1998/99), reached 191, and urges those States
that have not yet done so to sign and ratify or accede to the Convention as a
matter of priority;
(b) The role of the Committee on the Rights of the Child in creating
awareness of the principles and provisions of the Convention and in providing
recommendations to States parties on its implementation, and takes note of the
reports on its fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth sessions (CRC/C/62, 66
and 69);
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(c) The publication by the United Nations Children s Fund of the
Implementation Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which
constitutes an important advocacy tool to promote wider understanding of the
principles and provisions of the Convention;
2. Calls upon States parties:
(a) To implement the Convention fully, to cooperate closely with the
Committee on the Rights of the Child and to comply in a timely manner with
their reporting obligations under the Convention, in accordance with the
guidelines elaborated by the Committee, as well as to take into account the
recommendations made by the Committee in the implementation of the provisions
of the Convention;
(b) To withdraw reservations incompatible with the object and purpose
of the Convention and to consider reviewing other reservations;
(c) To accept the amendment to paragraph 2 of article 43 of the
Convention, adopted by the Conference of the States Parties on
12 December 1995 and approved by the General Assembly in its resolution 50/155
of 21 December 1995, which would increase the membership of the Committee on
the Rights of the Child from 10 to 18 experts upon its entry into force;
(d) To ensure that the rights set forth in the Convention are
respected without discrimination of any kind based on the child s or his or
her parent s or legal guardian s race, colour, sex, language, religion,
political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property,
disability, birth or other status;
(e) To ensure that the education of the child shall be carried out in
accordance with articles 28 and 29 of the Convention and that the education be
directed, inter alia, to the development of respect for human rights and
fundamental freedoms, for the Charter of the United Nations and for different
cultures and to the preparation of the child for responsible life in a free
society, in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, gender equality and
friendship among peoples, ethnic, national and religious groups and persons of
indigenous origin;
(f) To ensure that every child alleged or recognized as having
infringed the penal law is treated with dignity in accordance with the
principles and relevant provisions of the Convention;
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(g) And organs and bodies of the United Nations, within the scope of
their respective mandates, as well as intergovernmental and non-governmental
organizations, the media and the community at large, to make the principles
and provisions of the Convention widely known to adults and children alike in
accordance with article 42 and to encourage training on the rights of the
child for those involved in activities concerning children, for example
through the programme of advisory services and technical cooperation in the
field of human rights;
3. Decides, with regard to the Committee on the Rights of the Child:
(a) To request the Secretary-General to ensure the provision of
appropriate staff and facilities from the United Nations regular budget for
the effective and expeditious performance of the functions of the Committee,
while noting the temporary support given by the Plan of Action of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to strengthen the
implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, based on
voluntary contributions, which provides human resources to assist the
Committee with the increasing workload due to the near universalization of the
Convention, and requests the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
to brief Governments regularly on the implementation of the Plan of Action;
(b) To encourage the Committee, in monitoring the implementation of
the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to continue to pay attention to the
needs of children requiring special protection;
II
The girl child
4. Reaffirms the fundamental principle set forth in the Vienna
Declaration and Programme of Action and in the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action that the human rights of women and girls are an
inalienable, integral and indivisible part of universal human rights;
5. Calls upon all States:
(a) To take all necessary measures and to institute legal reforms to
ensure the full and equal enjoyment by girls of all human rights and
fundamental freedoms, and to take effective action against violations of those
rights and freedoms;
(b) And international and non-governmental organizations, individually
and collectively, to set goals and to develop and effectively implement
gender-sensitive strategies to address the rights and needs of children, in
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accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, especially the
rights and particular needs of girls in education, health and nutrition, and
to eliminate harmful cultural attitudes and practices against girls;
(c) To eliminate all forms of discrimination against girls and the
root causes of son preference, which result in harmful and unethical
practices, inter alia by enacting and enforcing legislation protecting girls
from violence, including female infanticide and prenatal sex selection,
genital mutilation, incest, sexual abuse and exploitation, and by developing
age-appropriate, safe and confidential programmes and medical, social and
psychological support services to assist girls who are subjected to violence;
(d) To intensify efforts to raise awareness of and to mobilize
international and national public opinion concerning the harmful effects of
female genital mutilation and other traditional or customary practices
affecting the health of women and girls, in particular through education,
information dissemination and training, involving, among others, public
opinion leaders, educators, religious leaders, medical practitioners, women s
health and family planning organizations and the media, in order to achieve
the total elimination of these practices, and to support women s organizations
at the national and local levels that are working for the elimination of
female genital mutilation and other harmful traditional or customary
practices;
III
Prevention and eradication of the sale of children and of
their sexual exploitation and abuse, including child
prostitution and child pornography
6. Welcomes:
(a) The report of the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children,
child prostitution and child pornography, Mrs. Ofelia Calceta Santos
(E/CN.4/1998/101 and Add.1 and 2), which contains a general overview of the
latest developments at the national and international levels on the themes
under her mandate, and focuses this year on the role of the media and of
education in the prevention of the problem of commercial sexual exploitation
of children and in the assistance, rehabilitation and reintegration of the
child victims;
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(b) The report of the working group on the question of a draft
optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of
children, child prostitution and child pornography on its fourth session
(E/CN.4/1998/103);
(c) The measures taken by Governments to implement the Programme of
Action for the Prevention of the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and
Child Pornography, taking note of the biennial report of the Secretary-General
thereon (E/CN.4/1997/11);
7. Calls upon all States:
(a) To develop urgently, implement and enforce measures to eliminate
the sale, traffic, abduction and sexual exploitation or abuse of children,
including through child sex tourism, keeping in mind especially the provisions
of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the concrete measures
outlined in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action and in the
Programmes of Action approved by the Commission in 1992, 1993 and 1996, as
well as in the Declaration and Agenda for Action of the World Congress against
Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (A/51/385, annex), held in
Stockholm in August 1996 at the initiative of the Government of Sweden;
(b) To participate constructively in the negotiations on an optional
protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children,
child prostitution and child pornography with the aim of an early agreement on
the text, recalling the mandate given to the working group by the Commission
in its resolution 1995/78;
(c) To criminalize effectively commercial and all other forms of
sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children, including child sex tourism,
while ensuring that the child victims of such exploitation or abuse are not
penalized for such practices, and to prosecute offenders, whether local or
foreign, and to ensure that a person who exploits a child for sexual abuse in
another country is prosecuted by competent national authorities, either in the
offender's country of origin or in the destination country;
(d) To step up cooperation and concerted action, at the national and
international levels, by all relevant authorities and institutions, especially
those charged with law enforcement, with a view to combating the existence of
a market that encourages such criminal practices against children and
dismantling national and international networks trafficking in children;
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(e) And relevant United Nations bodies and agencies to allocate
resources for comprehensive and gender-sensitive programmes to rehabilitate
physically and psychologically child victims of trafficking and of any form of
sexual exploitation and abuse, and to promote their social reintegration;
(f) To work towards strengthening partnerships between Governments,
international organizations and all sectors of civil society, particularly
non-governmental organizations, in order to achieve these objectives, and
welcomes the efforts already made in this respect;
(g) To cooperate with and assist the Special Rapporteur and to furnish
all information requested, including by inviting her to visit their countries;
8. Decides, with regard to the Special Rapporteur on the sale of
children, child prostitution and child pornography:
(a) To renew the mandate for a further three years and to request the
Secretary-General to provide the Special Rapporteur with all necessary
assistance and to urge all relevant parts of the United Nations system to
provide the Special Rapporteur with comprehensive reporting to make the full
discharge of her mandate possible and to enable her to submit an interim
report to the General Assembly at its fifty-third session and a report to the
Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-fifth session;
(b) To invite the Special Rapporteur to continue to cooperate closely
with other relevant United Nations organs and bodies and to convey her
findings to the Commission on the developments and recommendations on the
broad range of issues under her mandate;
9. Decides, with regard to the question of a draft optional protocol
to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child
prostitution and child pornography:
(a) To request the Secretary-General to transmit the report of the
working group on the question of a draft optional protocol to Governments,
relevant specialized agencies, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the
relevant Special Rapporteur and intergovernmental and non-governmental
organizations and to invite their comments, inter alia on the scope of the
optional protocol, in time for circulation prior to the next session of the
working group, and invites the Committee on the Rights of the Child to
consider being represented and the Special Rapporteur to consider being
present at the next session of the working group;
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(b) To request the working group to meet for a period of two weeks
prior to the next session of the Commission and to redouble its efforts with
the aim of finalizing the draft optional protocol by the tenth anniversary of
the Convention on the Rights of the Child and, to that end, encourages the
Chairman of the working group to conduct broad informal consultations;
IV
Protection of children affected by armed conflict
10. Welcomes:
(a) The appointment for three years of the Special Representative of
the Secretary-General for children in armed conflict, as proposed by the
General Assembly in its resolution 51/77 of 12 December 1996, to follow up the
practical recommendations contained in the final report of the expert
appointed by the Secretary-General on this question (A/51/306 and Add.1), as
well as his first report (E/CN.4/1998/119);
(b) The report of the working group on a draft optional protocol to
the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in
armed conflicts on its fourth session (E/CN.4/1998/102), whilst regretting
that consensus was not reached during that session;
11. Calls upon all States:
(a) To consider acceding to relevant international human rights and
humanitarian law instruments, and urges them to implement those instruments to
which they are parties;
(b) To participate constructively in the negotiations on an optional
protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of
children in armed conflicts with the aim of an early agreement on the text and
of the adoption of a higher standard of protection than the present one
contained in article 38 of the Convention, recalling that the original draft
used as a basis for the negotiations was prepared by the Committee on the
Rights of the Child (E/CN.4/1994/91) and taking into account the report of the
working group on its fourth session;
(c) In accordance with the norms of international humanitarian law, to
integrate in their military programmes, including those for peacekeeping,
instruction on responsibilities towards the civilian population, particularly
women and children;
(d) And relevant United Nations bodies, including the United Nations
Voluntary Trust Fund for Assistance in Mine Clearance, to contribute on an
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ongoing basis to international mine-clearance efforts and urges States to take
stronger action to promote gender- and age-appropriate mine-awareness
programmes and child-centred rehabilitation, thereby reducing the number and
the plight of child victims, and welcomes increased international efforts in
various forums with respect to anti-personnel mines, recognizes the positive
effect on children of those efforts, and in this regard takes due note of the
adoption of and implementation by those States that become parties to the
Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer
of Anti-personnel Mines and on Their Destruction, opened for signature in
Ottawa in 1997, as well as the amended Protocol on Prohibitions or
Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices of the
Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional
Weapons which May be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have
Indiscriminate Effects, of 1996;
12. Calls upon all States and other parties to armed conflict:
(a) To respect international humanitarian law and, in this regard,
calls upon States parties to respect fully the provisions of the Geneva
Conventions of 12 August 1949 and the Additional Protocols thereto of 1977,
while bearing in mind resolution 2 of the twenty-sixth International
Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent of 1995 entitled “Protection of
civil population during armed conflict”, and to respect the provisions of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child which accord children affected by armed
conflict special protection and treatment;
(b) To end the use of children as soldiers and to ensure their
demobilization, and to implement effective measures for the rehabilitation and
the reintegration into society of child soldiers, child victims in cases of
armed conflict or foreign occupation, including victims of landmines and all
other weapons, and victims of gender-based violence, inter alia through
adequate education and training, and invites the international community to
assist in this endeavour;
(c) As well as United Nations agencies to ensure access of
humanitarian aid and assistance to children affected by armed conflict;
13. Reaffirms:
(a) That rape in the conduct of armed conflict constitutes a war crime
and that under certain circumstances it constitutes a crime against humanity
and an act of genocide, and calls upon all States to take all measures
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required for the protection of children and women from all acts of
gender-based violence, including rape, sexual exploitation and forced
pregnancy, and to strengthen mechanisms to investigate and prosecute
perpetrators;
(b) That all humanitarian responses in armed conflict situations
should emphasize the special reproductive health needs of girls and women,
including those that arise from pregnancy as a result of rape, sexual
mutilation, childbirth at an early age or infection with sexually transmitted
diseases, as well as HIV/AIDS, and access to family planning services;
(c) The importance of preventive measures such as early-warning
systems, preventive diplomacy and education for peace to prevent conflicts and
their negative impact on the enjoyment of the rights of the child, and urges
Governments and the international community to promote sustainable human
development;
(d) The importance of special attention for children in situations of
armed conflict, in particular in the areas of health and nutrition, education
and social reintegration, in developing emergency and other humanitarian
assistance policies and programmes, and of enhanced coordination and
cooperation throughout the United Nations system to this end;
(e) Its support for the recommendations of the General Assembly and
the International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent concerning the
assessment and monitoring of the consequences of sanctions upon children, as
well as those concerning humanitarian relief;
14. Decides, with regard to the draft optional protocol to the
Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed
conflicts:
(a) To request the Secretary-General to transmit the report of the
working group on the draft optional protocol to Governments, relevant
United Nations bodies and specialized agencies, the Committee on the Rights of
the Child, the Special Representative on children in armed conflict and
intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, and to invite their
comments on annex I negotiated in plenary, as well as on annex II containing
the “Chairman's perception” based on informal consultations in time for
circulation prior to the next session of the working group, and invites the
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International Committee of the Red Cross and the Committee on the Rights of
the Child to consider being represented and the Special Representative to
consider being present at the next session of the working group;
(b) To encourage the Chairman of the working group to conduct broad
informal consultations with the aim of promoting an early agreement on the
optional protocol and to produce a report thereon by the end of 1998
including, if possible, recommendations and/or ideas on the best way for the
formal negotiations to proceed;
(c) To request the working group to meet in early 1999, primarily to
consider the Chairman's report on the status of the informal consultations,
which should be available well in advance, and to report to the Commission on
Human Rights at its fifty-fifth session;
(d) To request the Secretary-General to give the necessary support to
the working group to meet for a maximum of two weeks, if the working group
decides that an agreement on the draft optional protocol is possible at that
session;
(e) To reaffirm the aim of finalizing the draft optional protocol by
the tenth anniversary of the Convention;
15. Decides, with regard to the Special Representative of the
Secretary-General on children in armed conflict to recommend that the
Secretary-General ensure that the necessary support is made available to the
Special Representative for the effective performance of his mandate, to
encourage the United Nations Children s Fund, the Office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees and the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights to provide support to the Special
Representative, and to call upon States and other institutions to provide
voluntary contributions for that purpose;
16. Decides, with regard to preventive measures, to request the
Secretary-General, in cooperation with States, international organizations and
relevant non-governmental organizations to consider modalities for organizing
regional training programmes for members of the armed forces relating to the
protection of children and women during armed conflicts;
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V
Protection of refugee and internally displaced children
17. Calls upon all States:
(a) To protect refugee and internally displaced children, including
through policies for their care, well-being and development, in such areas as
health, education and psycho-social rehabilitation, with the necessary
international cooperation, in particular with the Office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Children's Fund and the
International Committee of the Red Cross, in accordance with their obligations
under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and taking into account the
1994 guidelines on protection and care of refugee children of the Office of
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the Conclusion on
refugee children and adolescents adopted by the Executive Committee of the
Programme of the High Commissioner at its forty-eighth session in
October 1997, as well as the recommendations by the Representative of the
Secretary-General on the internally displaced persons (see E/CN.4/1998/53 and
Add.1 and 2);
(b) And United Nations bodies and agencies, in coordination with other
international humanitarian organizations such as the International Committee
of the Red Cross, to ensure the early identification and registration of
unaccompanied refugee and internally displaced children, to give priority to
programmes for family tracing and reunification, and to continue monitoring
the care arrangements for unaccompanied refugee and internally displaced
children, taking into account the 1997 Guidelines on policies and procedures
in dealing with unaccompanied children seeking asylum of the Office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees;
(c) And other parties to armed conflicts to recognize that refugee and
internally displaced children are particularly exposed to the risks of injury,
exploitation and death in connection with armed conflicts, such as being
forcibly recruited or subject to sexual violence, abuse or exploitation,
stressing the special vulnerability of households headed by children, and
calls upon Governments and United Nations bodies and organizations to give
those situations urgent attention, enhancing protection and assistance
mechanisms, with the participation of women and youth in the design, delivery
and monitoring of measures to protect them;
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VI
Elimination of the exploitation of child labour
18. Welcomes:
(a) The report of the Secretary-General on the elimination of the
exploitation of child labour, submitted pursuant to General Assembly
resolution 51/77 on the initiatives on the elimination of child labour
contrary to accepted international standards and the appropriate means to
improve cooperation in this area at the national and international levels
(A/52/523);
(b) Recent publications and reports by the United Nations Children's
Fund and the International Labour Organization on child labour, as well as the
support given by them to governmental initiatives for the organization of
international conferences on child labour at a regional or global level, at
which declarations and programmes of action were adopted with the aim of the
effective elimination of the exploitation of child labour, giving priority to
the immediate elimination of the most intolerable forms of child labour and to
the rehabilitation of those children and the search for alternatives;
(c) The legislative, administrative, social and educational measures
taken by Governments to protect children from economic exploitation and from
performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with their
education, or to be harmful to their health or physical, mental, spiritual,
moral or social development, taking into account in particular the relevant
provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and of the
international instruments of the International Labour Organization, as well as
the measures outlined in the Programme of Action for the Elimination of the
Exploitation of Child Labour of 1993 and the Copenhagen Declaration and
Programme of Action adopted by the World Summit on Social Development in 1995
(A/CONF.166/9, Chap. I), and calls upon relevant United Nations agencies and
bodies, in particular the United Nations Children's Fund and the International
Labour Organization, to continue to support national efforts in this regard;
(d) The efforts by the Committee on the Rights of the Child in the
area of child labour, noting its recommendations on the economic exploitation
of children adopted at its fifth session in January 1994 (see A/49/41), and
encourages the Committee as well as other relevant human rights treaty bodies,
within their respective mandates, to continue to monitor this serious problem
when examining reports of States parties;
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19. Calls upon all States:
(a) That have not yet done so to consider ratifying the conventions of
the International Labour Organization relating to child labour, in particular
those concerning the abolition of forced labour (No. 29) and the minimum age
for admission to employment, including for particularly hazardous work
(No. 138), and those States that are parties to those conventions to implement
them effectively and urges all States, as a matter of priority, to eliminate
all extreme forms of child labour such as forced labour, bonded labour and
other forms of slavery;
(b) To eliminate progressively and effectively all forms of child
labour contrary to the accepted international standards, starting with its
most grave and intolerable forms, inter alia by implementing national action
plans with specific target dates, as well as supporting the upcoming
negotiations at the International Labour Organization for the early
finalization of a future instrument aimed at eradicating the most intolerable
forms of child labour;
(c) To recognize the right to education by making primary education
compulsory and ensuring that all children have access to free and relevant
primary education as a key strategy to prevent child labour, as well as making
secondary education generally available and accessible to all, and in
particular by the progressive introduction of free education;
(d) To systematically assess and examine, in close cooperation with
international organizations such as the International Labour Organization and
the United Nations Children's Fund, the magnitude, nature and causes of the
exploitation of child labour, and to develop and implement strategies for
combating those practices, giving special attention to specific dangers faced
by girls;
(e) To strengthen international cooperation and coordination,
inter alia through the United Nations programme of advisory services in the
field of human rights, the International Programme on the Elimination of Child
Labour of the International Labour Organization and activities of the United
Nations Children's Fund, as a means of assisting Governments in preventing and
combating violations of the rights of the child, in particular the
exploitation of child labour;
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VII
The plight of children working and/or living on the street
20. Calls upon:
(a) All States, while expressing grave concern at the large number of
children working and/or living on the street and at the continued growth in
incidents and reports worldwide of such children being involved in and
affected by serious crime, drug trafficking and abuse, violence and sexual
exploitation, including through prostitution, to continue actively to seek
comprehensive solutions to the problems of children working and/or living on
the street, while emphasizing that strict compliance with obligations under
relevant international human rights instruments, including the Convention on
the Rights of the Child, constitutes a significant step towards solving the
problems of children working and/or living on the street;
(b) All States to ensure the reintegration of children working and/or
living on the street into society and to provide, inter alia, adequate
nutrition, shelter, health care and education, taking into account that such
children are particularly vulnerable to all forms of violence, abuse,
exploitation and neglect, and encourages States to take the situation of
children working and/or living on the street fully into account in preparing
their reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, and requests the
Committee and other relevant treaty monitoring bodies, within their existing
mandates, to give due attention to the question of children working and/or
living on the street;
(c) All States to guarantee respect for all human rights and
fundamental freedoms, particularly the right to life, and to take urgent and
effective measures to prevent the killing of children working and/or living on
the street and to combat torture and violence against them, and to ensure that
legal and juridical processes respect children's rights in order to protect
them against arbitrary deprivation of liberty, maltreatment or abuse;
(d) The international community to support, through effective
international cooperation, the efforts of States to improve the situation of
children in need of special protection measures, including in urban
settlements in accordance with the Habitat Agenda (A/CONF.165/14) adopted by
the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), held in
Istanbul, Turkey, in June 1996;
E/CN.4/1998/L.92
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VIII
Children with disabilities
21. Welcomes the attention given by the Committee on the Rights of the
Child, when considering the reports of the States parties to the Convention,
to the subject of the rights of children with physical or mental disabilities
to enjoy their lives with dignity and to their individual development and
social integration, as well as the general debate on this issue, starting at
the sixteenth session of the Committee in 1997, focused on the rights to life
and development, self-representation and full participation and the right to
an inclusive education, with the aim of preparing recommendations for the
effective implementation of the Convention, and invites the Committee to
continue its task in cooperation with the representatives of the relevant
United Nations bodies and organizations, non-governmental organizations and
the Special Rapporteur on disabled persons of the Commission for Social
Development;
22. Calls upon all States parties to adopt, in accordance with
article 23 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, all necessary
measures to ensure the full enjoyment in equal conditions of all human rights
and fundamental freedoms by children with disabilities, especially ensuring
the effective access of such children to education and health services, to
develop and implement legislation prohibiting discrimination against these
children and to include these measures in their reports to the Committee on
the Rights of the Child;
IX
23. Decides:
(a) To request the Secretary-General to submit to the Commission at
its fifty-fifth session a report on the rights of the child, with information
on the status of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and on the problems
addressed in the present resolution;
(b) To continue its consideration of the question at its
fifty-fifth session under the agenda item entitled “Rights of the child”.