INVITATION
Report from Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to
United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child
Due June 2010
ACYA issued a Draft Initial Report on 30 October 2009 and the text is available at the right hand Announcements.
We have also provided a Participation Package. Some of the information is now set out:
In 2003 ACYA co-ordinated the NGO Alternative Report sent to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. This gave NGOs the opportunity to comment on what the New Zealand Government had done - and not done - to implement the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
This report was one of many steps taken to advocate for improved wellbeing of all children in Aotearoa New Zealand. The next opportunity for such a report is June 2010.
ACYA has been working with many agencies and individuals over the past three and a half years to prepare for the next report. We held workshops in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 to consult on specific aspects of the Report (please see www.acya.org.nz/?t=103)
Last year we made a submission on child rights to the UN Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review. We have been active in making submissions to various UN committees (Committee Against Torture, Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, etc) and Parliamentary Select Committee hearings (please see www.acya.org.nz/?t=28).
From this activity we have gathered rich information on the status of children’s wellbeing in this country and the Government’s compliance with its obligations under the Convention.
We seek now to prepare more specifically for the NGO report and write to ask for your participation in this important work. There are many ways in which individuals and organisations can contribute.
The length and structure of the Report we are allowed to submit is tightly set by the UN Committee. The impact of our Report will come from the evidence that we are able to provide, and from the key issues we are able to highlight to the Committee.
We would value your help in one or more of the following ways:
- By telling us what you think are the key themes that should be prioritised in the 2010 report. The key themes in the 2003 report were violence against children; child poverty; discrimination (especially against Maori, Pacific and some other groups of children); limited opportunities for children to participate in their schools, communities and society; and the lack of planned, co-ordinated and resourced government action.
- By providing comments and reviews of the first and second drafts of the report. Careful review of the drafts is a crucial part of our process of consultation and we will value your feedback.
- You and/or your organisation may wish to provide a working paper in your area of particular expertise or experience.(Currently there are several working papers on key issues either completed or in development.)
- You might like to be part of a “Cluster Group” of people doing more detailed work on each of the headings under which we have to report to the UN Committee. We invite people to indicate their interest in being a member of such a group. Information on the topics we have to report on can be found at http://www.acya.org.nz/?t=102.
A second draft of the report will be prepared for consultation in the new year. The 2010 ACYA workshop will review the third draft.
We sincerely hope that you and/or your organisation will be part of this process and that your engagement will provide formal endorsement of the Report as the concerted voice of many Child Rights organisations.
Please let us know ways in which you would like to contribute. Please email feedback@acya.org.nz or write to us at PO Box 41532, St Lukes, Auckland 1346.
If you are willing to be part of a Cluster Group and/or wish to submit a working paper, we will send you details of how these activities will be arranged when we have heard back from those wishing to be involved.
We very much look forward to working with you on this important task.
Yours sincerely
Alison Blaiklock
Chairperson
