UNGA Side Event: ‘Treaty Body Reform – Lessons from the 84th Extraordinary Outreach Session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child’
1pm on Wednesday, 23 September, New York time
6am on Thursday 24 September, Samoa time
Moderator,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Talofa lava and Greetings from Samoa,
The 84th Extraordinary Outreach Session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child held in Samoa this year, was a historic event, not only for Samoa but also for the Pacific region. Samoa was pleased to not only welcome the Committee for its inaugural session outside of Geneva and New York, but also to host our Pacific neighbours especially from Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia and Tuvalu who were presenting their reports on the protection and promotion of the rights of children under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The success of this extraordinary Session in Samoa was the result of the important collaboration between Government, UN, the Committee of the Rights of the Child and its Secretariat, and our regional organisations particularly the Pacific Community Regional Rights Resource Team (‘SPC RRRT’). More importantly, the active engagement of the non-government organisations, civil society, schools and children from Samoa and across the Pacific was essential providing insights on life in the Pacific islands.
Hosting the CRC in Samoa has increased the visibility on the rights of the child and the specific issues children face in the Pacific region. It allowed for the promotion of the implementation of the Convention, and a key opportunity for Samoa to hear the articulation of children’s views. Government also used this as a platform to improve engagement and consultation of different stakeholders to feed into our Sustainable Development Goals and Human Rights Conventions implementation and review processes.
The extraordinary session served as an exemplary learning opportunity for Samoan and Pacific officials, civil society, National Human Rights Institutions and all involved in promoting rights of the child. The opportunity also to learn from the presentations of our Pacific neighbours is valuable. The majority of participants would not have been able to attend the Geneva sessions given financial and travel constraints. With many pacific islands without representation in Geneva, this was a long awaited opportunity for our region to engage and share our specific realities with a treaty body.
Increased participation from the Pacific is of great importance in the work of human rights. Our island contexts and diverse voices provide a different viewpoint that is not often heard in Geneva due to the lack of representation. We firmly believe that one size does not fit all in terms of application and implementation; it is essential to have our say in these UN Human Rights processes.
The lessons learnt and experience from the CRC meeting in Samoa is an important input to the current UN Human Rights Treaty Body reform discussions. We thank the Pacific Community and all the co-sponsors of this important event, as it provided an opportunity to discuss the review and importance of such regional meetings to the effective implementation of treaty body obligations.
For Samoa as host of this extraordinary session, we looked at the totality of the experience of all participants and coordinated closely with all partners to ensure the participation of the children. The formal meetings, the side events and opportunities for engagement with the communities and people, all add to the Committee’s experience.
While Samoa was not being reviewed, hosting the meeting automatically puts the spotlight also on the host country and its efforts to implement the convention and on the rights of the child issues.
How this relates then to Samoa’s CRC reporting and our engagement with the Committee is an important point for further discussion going forward and also for consideration of future countries that can host these sessions.
We look forward to more extraordinary sessions such as this one, and for the Pacific region to again play host.
This will further the work of the treaty bodies and allow for enhanced visibility, increased participation and better understanding of the treaty bodies on human rights in the Pacific.
Thank you.
The recording of the Hon. Minister Tuitama’s statement is available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mrdFxMhvfZXeZ2EtmYlHFYrGKHCnvW6k/view?usp=sharing
