UN Convention on Rights of the Child
Final consultation on implementation held
Staff Correspondent
The final round of national consultation on the third and fourth state party report on the UN Convention on Rights of the Child (CRC) was held in the city yesterday.Women and Children Affairs Secretary Rokeya Sultana addressed the consultation as chief guest on the concluding day of a two-day consultation at the Jatiya Mahila Sangstha Auditorium. The Ministry of Women and Children Affairs in association with the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) organised the consultation attended by representatives from government, non-government and other stakeholder organisations. Speaking on the occasion Rokeya Sultana said Bangladesh as one of the first few countries to sign and ratify the CRC in 1990 is obligated to submit an initial report two years after the ratification and periodic report every five years thereafter to the UN Child Rights Committee. Bangladesh submitted the initial report in 1995 and second periodic report in 2000 on the state of CRC implementation in the country, she said. The ministry in association with the Unicef and other NGO partners followed a rigorous process by organising consultations in all divisions to help prepare the third and fourth report that is due to be submitted in September this year, she added. Highlighting the progress of CRC implementation the secretary said birth registration is increased to 15 percent from seven in 2005, child mortality rate decreased and immunisation rate increased. The main objectives of the consultation is to gather information about interventions, progresses and gaps on the state of children and to identify obstacles and constraints to implement CRC, said Capacity Building for Monitoring Child Rights Project Director Mostafa Kamal. Addressing as special guest Unicef Representative in Bangladesh Louis-Georges Arsenault said, "It is an important mechanism to monitor and report the progress of CRC in Bangladesh through the experience and views of children and cross sectoral stakeholders." Senior Assistant Secretary to the ministry Shahnaz Arefin presented some findings of divisional consultations where children participated along with other stakeholders held earlier this year. The findings suggested that awareness on CRC to be increased, extensive research and survey on the state of children to be initiated and slow process of mainstreaming children with disability to be stepped up. Deputy Secretary to the ministry Shahzadi Anzuman Ara chaired the meeting.
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