Rwanda’s record on children’s rights will face scrutiny by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) this week beginning Thursday 30 May.
Rwanda is one of the 193 State Parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and is therefore required to undergo a regular examination of its record before the Committee of 18 independent experts chosen for their knowledge of children’s rights.
States are required to report periodically on what they are doing to implement the provisions of the Convention. The Committee examines each country’s report and addresses its concerns and recommendations to the State party in the form of “concluding observations”.
Rwanda ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990. The Committee will be considering Rwanda’s third and fourth periodic reports in this current session.
The Rwandan delegation that is expected in Geneva this week to appear before the Committee will also present reports under the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, which entered into force for Rwanda in May 2002, and under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography which took effect in April 2002.
On 30 May from 15:00 to 18:00 and on 31 May from 10:00 to 13:00 and 15:00 to 18:00, the CRC will engage in a dialogue with Rwanda’s delegation on questions relating to the promotion and protection of children’s rights in the country.
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