A/HRC/19/28 from 10 to 16 February 2011. At the end of the meeting, the working group adopted a report ad referendum and agreed to transmit the draft optional protocol (annexed thereto) to the Human Rights Council for consideration at its 17th session. 12. The Committee on the Rights of the Child held a Day of general discussion on the theme, “Children with incarcerated parents,” at Palais des Nations on 30 September 2011. The key partners were the NGO Group for the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Quaker United Nations Office. The event was preceded by an exhibition, entitled “Collateral Convicts: If my parents go to prison, what happens to me?” depicting thematically-relevant pictures of and messages from affected children, as well as positive examples of supportive programmes. The exhibition was sponsored by the Government of Austria; the Chairman of the Committee participated in the official launch of the exhibition. The Day of general discussion was attended by over 250 participants, including Committee members, representatives of States parties, children, national, regional and international NGOs as well as prison service professionals. After plenary presentations by experts from South Africa, Brazil, Pakistan and two children from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, whose parents were incarcerated, two working groups (for which Committee members served as Chairs and Rapporteurs) deliberated the issues, “Babies and children living with or visiting a parent in prison” and “Children left „outside‟ when their parent is incarcerated,” and presented recommendations at the plenary session of the Day of general discussion. The Committee will adopt a report of the event during its 59th session in January 2012. 13. During the Global Forum on Migration and Development, held in November 2011, the Chairperson of the Committee on Migrant Workers and the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants led two side events aimed at promoting awareness of the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and cooperation with stakeholders. The Committee held a Day of general discussion on the theme, “The rights of migrant workers in an irregular situation,” and decided to draft a general comment on the topic. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination organized at its 78th session a thematic discussion on racial discrimination against people of African descent; the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture held thematic discussions, in a closed meeting, on the role of human rights education – including training – in torture prevention, the role of judicial control and due process of law in torture prevention in prisons, free legal aid and the public defence system, mental health and detention, corruption and torture prevention and detention of migrants, respectively. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Human Rights Committee held a joint meeting in October 2011 to discuss possible joint areas of work. 14. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) updated the fact sheet on the United Nations Human Rights Treaty System, which will be available in all the official languages of the United Nations in 2012. OHCHR Headquarters also conducted and participated in training workshops on treaty-body reporting and followup, in cooperation with country and regional offices in Belgium, Belize, Croatia, the Gambia, Mexico, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Republic of Moldova, South Africa and Turkmenistan. III. Update on the treaty body strengthening process 15. On 14 September 2009, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, in her statement to the Human Rights Council, inter alia, underscored the importance of the treaty bodies, through both their reporting and individual complaints mechanisms as well as the universal periodic review process. She highlighted that the overall success of the human rights 5

Select target paragraph3

Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents