Further steps towards the UN Guidelines on Children without Parental Care

Further steps towards the UN Guidelines on Children without Parental Care

11/06/2008 - In 2004 the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child gave the impulse for the development of guidelines on the protection of children without parental care. A group of NGOs, including SOS Children's Villages, prepared the first draft guidelines and since August 2006 the guidelines are being discussed by government experts under the leadership of the Brazilian government.

On 6 June, we moved one step closer towards the adoption of the UN Guidelines on the appropriate use and conditions of alternative care for children by the United Nations. Brazil and the Group of Friends (member states who are engaged in promoting the guidelines) hold a high-level panel discussion at the Human Rights Council in Geneva to present the guidelines and to rally support of more countries for their adoption.

In addition to presentations of the four panelists, who included representatives of the Brazilian government, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF and civil society, SOS Children's Villages and the International Social Service (ISS), took the opportunity to provide the two interventions in the programme allotted to NGOs.

Kersti (left), Alan Kikuchi-White, representative of SOS Children's Villages in Geneva, and Christina Bagliotta (ISS) - Photo: SOS Archives

SOS Children's Villages was very pleased to support the participation of Kersti from Estonia who, having been brought up in an SOS Children’s Village, has also participated in the youth consultations for both these guidelines and the Quality4Children standards. Kersti gave a strong presentation that emphasized the youth perspective on the need for these standards.

In the time available for the interactive dialogue, a total of 14 states made interventions and these were, for the most part, largely supportive of the draft and complimentary of Brazil’s considerable efforts to promote the draft within the council. Whilst many of those states who spoke can be counted amongst the original Group of Friends, a number of others who have not been directly connected to this initiative also spoke in favour, including China, Azerbaijan, Chile, and of course Austria, who recently joined the Group of Friends. There were a few notes of caution but on the whole, the draft now has support from a wider group of countries which represent all the UN regions. The chair of the meeting concluded that given the level of support expressed during the dialogue their was sufficient encouragement to make the necessary changes in order to achieve a resolution by consensus during the 9th session of the Human Rights Council this coming September.

Background

The Liaison & Advocacy Office of SOS Children's Villages in Geneva has been active in support of the advancement of the draft UN Guidelines. As co-convenor of the NGO Working Group on Children without Parental Care, together with International Social Service (ISS), and in collaboration with other NGO partners and UNICEF, SOS Children's Villages has lobbied the Permanent Mission of Brazil and the Group of Friends for the advancement of the draft towards.

The next steps

Following this event, Brazil and the Group of Friends will assess levels of support and potential obstacles for the guidelines to be adopted as a Human Rights Council resolution, which would then go for formal adoption to the UN General Assembly in New York in autumn 2008. When adopted, the guidelines will be a fantastic advocacy tool for SOS Children's Villages and other organisations to lobby for better quality alternative care!

For the webcast of the whole panel, go to the Human Rights Council webcast site at: http://www.un.org/webcast/unhrc/archive.asp?go=080606#noon