China Faces Tough Questions on Its Protection of Children’s Rights from UN Committee

On day one of a two-day review session, independent experts on the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child raised a wide range of concerns and posed detailed questions to the Chinese delegation on China’s implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The delegation responded to a number of the questions and will continue providing their responses on Friday, September 27.

Some of the key questions raised so far concerned:

• Protection of rights of children belonging to vulnerable groups.
• Availability of transparent, accurate, and disaggregated data concerning children.
• Measures to protect children from violence and exploitation, including sexual abuse.
• Measures to protect the right to life and to combat forced sterilizations and forced abortions.
• Legal status of the Convention in domestic law.

The Committee also asked the Chinese delegation to provide information on the whereabouts of rights defender Cao Shunli (曹顺利). Cao has been missing since September 14, the day she was scheduled to fly from Beijing to Geneva to attend a training session for NGOs on UN human rights mechanisms. Cao had been actively calling for public participation in China’s international human rights, including its second Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on October 22 at the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

China ratified the Convention in 1992. The Chinese delegation to this review session consists of 42 members from 14 central government organs, including the Ministry of National Defense. More than 40 representatives from non-governmental organizations and other civil groups observed the first day.

Follow HRIC tweets from the review: @hrichina

For more information on the Convention on the Rights on the Child, see:

• Video Playlist: UN Committee on Rights of the Child 2013 Review of China, September 26, 2013
• UN Expert Panel to Review China’s Record on Children’s Rights Protection, September 24, 2013

2013 Review

• HRIC Briefing Note on China’s response to the Committee’s List of Issues Submitted to the Committee on the Rights of the Child (EN, CH)
• HRIC Report, submitted to the Committee on the Rights of the Child in advance of its review of the PRC’s third report on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (EN, CH)