There are four weeks left to send in a written submission to the UN Committee on the General Comment on children in street situations.
Once finished, the General Comment will be a key piece of international guidance explaining how the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child applies to street-connected children. It is vital that its content reflects the reality of their daily lives.
Please send in your submissions to the Secretariat in Geneva by 12 April 2016!
Today 18.03.2016 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, working with São Martinho for the streetchild consultations and the Street Child Games.
These consultations will help inform the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s General Comment on children in street situations. This will ensure that street-connected children’s voices are heard and their needs and experiences are accurately reflected in the General Comment.
For the first time street children across the world have a unique chance to make their voices heard and influence governments.
Street children from over 25 countries are taking the lead in seven pioneering consultation events and their views will be reflected in the forthcoming UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s General Comment on Children in Street Situations.
Once published this guidance will help governments provide better support and services tailored to the needs of street children.
Consultations (including regional & multi-country events) organised by CSC, Baker & McKenzie and local partners are taking place in: Brazil (with partners Street Child United andMerck), India (Plan India and Cargill), Belgium (Dynamo International and Salesforce), Mexico (REDIM andRegeneron), the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana and Zimbabwe (all organised by Streetinvest) in March and April 2016. Children will be consulted on the questions contained in the official call for submissions published by the UN Committee.
In the past, many national programmes and plans to address street children’s rights have failed because they have not taken account of or responded to children’s needs. Including street children’s views in the guidance will help to ensure that governments’ responses to these children reflect their real lives and experiences.
Street-connected children – who may live or work on the street, or simply spend much of their time in public spaces – experience severe and ongoing violations of their rights. They are constantly exposed to violence from adults, the police and other street children. They experience extreme stigma and discrimination, and are often unable to access food, clean water, shelter, healthcare and basic services.
Perceived as a hard-to-reach group, street children are too often ignored by society and made invisible in policy agendas. This pioneering event will make the voices of this often resilient and resourceful group of young people heard at the highest level.
The guidance, which is being developed by the UN’s highest authority on children’s rights, will lay out governments’ obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child – the key piece of international law on children’s rights, which has been accepted by all countries in the world except the USA.
Cristiano Morsolin and 74 experts of all the world writers the Open Letter to United Nations
All materials:
Haz clic para acceder a morso.pdf
Post scriptum
Wanderlino Nogueira Neto – UN Commitee declares:
“ Fui asignado para este evento por el Comité en Ginebra para acompañar como participante/observador de esta consultación en Rio de Janeiro en caracter extraordinario debidamente reconocido por el Gobierno Brasileño a través de su Ministerio de Relaciones Extranjeras”.