Committee on the Rights of the Child

Celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Adoption
of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
8 – 9 October 2009 Geneva

Introduction 

On 20 November 2009, the international community will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) by the United Nations General Assembly.

To mark this anniversary, the Committee of the Rights of the Child and the Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR) and other partners will organize a two-day celebration. 

The celebration will focus on the theme “Dignity, Development and Dialogue,” and will provide an important opportunity to bring together States parties, United Nations bodies and other intergovernmental organizations, national human rights institutions,  international and national non-governmental organizations, children’s and youth groups, academics  and all others interested in the CRC.  

The celebration will take place in Geneva on Thursday, 8 and Friday, 9 October 2009, in the Centre International de Conférences de Genève (CICG) (rue de Varembé 17, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland)

General information 

The meeting has three main objectives:

• To celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the Convention;
• To highlight  three main challenges facing the Convention: ensuring the dignity of the child, providing the child with full possibilities for development  and facilitating dialogue between adults and children in accordance with the participatory approach of the Convention; and
• To evaluate the status and implementation of the CRC, after 193 ratifications and 17 years of reporting; and identify priorities for the future taking into consideration the two Optional Protocols to the Convention. 

The meeting will consist of presentations in plenary and discussions in workshops which will: 

• Identify achievements in implementation and examples of best practice;
• Identify challenges for the future and constraints; and
• Formulate priority recommendations to enhance implementation. 

Interested participants can make written submissions on the three themes of the anniversary event. Written submissions will be posted on the website of the Child Rights Information Network (CRIN): http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=20614&flag=event

Background documents for each Working Group

Working Group 1:
Children: rights-holders versus commodity

Working Group 2:
Discrimination against children

Working Group 3:
States parties’ obligations: realizing economic, social and cultural rights. Are child rights a luxury during an economic crisis?

Working Group 4:
Evolving capacities as an enabling principle in practice

Working Group 5:
A new democratic dynamic: child participation in the public sphere?

Working Group 6:
Children’s voices in the family: overcoming resistance