Entry into force of the Third Protocol

Regarding this challenge, what I have done so far is the following:

1. ➡I was Rapporteur of the Committee for the Rules of Procedure for the application of the OPIC
   

2. ➡I am a member of the Working Group set up to prepare the entry into force and commencement of the implementation of the third Optional Protocol to the CRC, within which:
   

3. ✓We are adapting communication forms to make them child friendly
   

4. ✓We are reviewing the children friendly versions of the Third Protocol to broadcast the ones we consider more adapted to children
   

5. ➡I have been appointed, within the group responsible for relations with the Department of Petitions of the OHCHR, regarding communications in Spanish (I am the only Spanish-speaking lawyer on the Committee)
   

6. ➡Some thoughts regarding the content of this new challenge have been published in:
   

7. ‣“El tercer Protocolo de la Convención de los Derechos del Niño: la consagración del niño como sujeto de derechos humanos y los nuevos desafíos del Comité de los Derechos del Niño”, in Revista do Instituto Brasileiro de Direitos Humanos, vol. 12 nº 12; pp: 211-228, 2012
   

8. ‣“La Convención de los derechos del niño: significado, alcance y nuevos retos", in Temas de actualidad jurídica sobre la niñez. Pp. 1-18; Ed.: Porrúa (México), 2012
   

What I could bring if elected:

The experience accumulated during the three years I've been in the Committee preparing the entry into force, coupled with my training and experience that allow me to know how the system of individual communications and country visits of other committees and international bodies works, can be an important help for the proper development and implementation of the OPIC.

Reform of the working methods

This reform is undergone in the framework of the strengthening process of the treaty bodies system

Regarding this challenge, what I have done so far is the following:

1. (A)Preparation:
   

1. ➡I was appointed coordinator of the working group of the Committee for monitoring the process of strengthening the treaty body system.
   

2. ➡I have been analyzing the development of this work in a number of publications, among which are the following:
   

3. ‣"Hacia el fortalecimiento del sistema de órganos de Tratados de Derechos Humanos de las Naciones Unidas" , in Nuevas fronteras del derecho de la Unión Europea: liber amicorum : José Luis Iglesias Buhigues. pp. 969 - 983.(España): Tirant lo Blanch,2012.
   

4. ‣"Vers la révision du système conventionnel de contrôle des droits de l"homme ?" (Editorial). European Society of International Law. Newsletter.pp. 1 - 3. European Society of International Law,2012. Disponible en Internet en: <http://www.esil-sedi.eu/english/February%202012.xps>.
   

5. ‣“Retos, amenazas y esperanzas en el sistema de control y garantía de los derechos humanos en Naciones Unidas”, in Unity and Diversity of International Law. Essays in Honour of Professor Pierre-Marie Dupuy (Leiden), 2014
   

2. (B)Revision of the Rules of the Committee:
   

I was appointed Rapporteur for the Revision of the Rules of the Committee in light of, firstly, adaptation to the experience of the daily work of the Committee, secondly, the proposals made ​​by the High Commissioner for Human Rights in her report on the strengthening of the treaty body system, and finally, the independence and impartiality rules adopted at the meeting of Presidents of treaty bodies in Addis Ababa. The proposed amendments were approved by the Committee at its session in February 2013.

100. (C)Review of the working methods:
     

I was appointed Rapporteur for the reform of the working methods of the Committee. I proposed (and finally approved) the following reforms:

1. ➡The dialogue system with the States, changing the system of Rapporteurs of the Country Task Forces in order to have a more structured dialogue and in which the State has more time to answer questions
   

2. ➡Preparation of documentation for the dialogue in order to make it more complete and, at the same time, more precise.
   

3. ➡The development of the dialogue, with precise timing allocation for the members of the Committee, better distribution of functions dividing them in an evening and a morning to give the States more time to prepare for answers.
   

4. ➡Formulation of shorter and more precise recommendations.
   

5. ➡Children's participation in the Committee's work
   

6. ➡Setting clear and objective criteria for the selection of topics for the General Comments and General Discussion days.
   

7. ➡Follow-up recommendations to States and General Observations
   

500. (D)Search for resources:
     

The Committee finds itself in a situation of serious lack of human and material resources to fulfill its functions. The Committee's work is overdue and almost collapsed. To assist in fulfilling the functions and provide means, the candidate has carried out to date the following activities:

1. ➡Establishing an internship program dependent on the Secretariat of the Committee starting from a week before the beginning of the session until a week later. It is a program of interns selected by the candidate from graduate students, of different nationalities, who, after a preparation seminar at the University of the Candidate, will work voluntarily performing all the tasks that are assigned to them by the Secretariat.
   

2. ➡The lack of a specific budget for the Committee to perform some activities, has led the candidate to organize international projects funded by public and private institutions, initiated and encouraged personally by the Candidate, with the involvement of the Committee, that is well informed of the development of these projects. The first project, funded by the OAK 's Foundation, is on implementation of General Comment No. 16 and concerns the development of two application manuals (one destined to State officials and other to civil society), plus 6 guides related to good practices in business regulation so that the rights of children are fully respected (project carried out by the candidate, with the help of the International Commission of Jurists). The second project, which is awaiting approval by the European Union Commission, refers to the monitoring and implementation of General Comment 14 and will consist of developing best practice guidelines and analyzing national and international case law to assist in the evaluation and determination of best interests of the child.
   

What I think I can contribute in relation to this challenge in the case of being elected is:

1. ➡Need to revisit the Regulations due to the ending of the intergovernmental process of strengthening the treaty body.
   

2. ➡Accumulated huge backlogs in the analysis of the reports of States and the great difficulties to extend the number of weeks that the Committee meets annually (12), require using procedures that will make the dialogue more effective and dynamic with the States (dual-chamber method, forwarding other activities of the Committee as general comments at the time between sessions through virtual meetings, etc.). In this scenario it is necessary that members of the Committee, with experience of at least 4 years and that have proven hard work during the first session, remain.
   

3. ➡There are several issues regarding the reform of the working methods to be discussed in the Committee and for which I submitted proposals: a review of the working methods in the development of General Observations (including extensive consultations with States and children, among other issues); review of the development of Days of General Discussion.
   

4. ➡Accountability: the Committee devoted a weekend in February 2014 to the issue of accountability. Among other issues, the issue of accountability by the Committee arose in the meeting, where proposals were also channeled.
   

5. ➡I plan to continue to maintain the graduate student training and internship program during the sessions and finding imaginative ways that allow furthering the development of the activities of the Committee
   

Deepening rights

1. (A)Participation of children:
   

The Committee has adopted criteria to improve the participation of children within their work: in preparing the dialogue with the States, in follow-up procedures, in the development of General Comments and during the day of General Debate. Now there is a need to implement these criteria. Having been the reporter for the proposals approved by the Committee I am in an ideal position to help carry out this task.

(B) Areas in need of more work

In addition to continuing the dialogue with States to review progress in implementing the Convention and its Protocols and assist them in meeting their obligations by issuing recommendations, the Committee has set several priorities on which to focus efforts to help States to better understand the obligations assumed by ratifying the Convention and its Protocols:

1. ➡Investing in childhood: guaranteeing children’s rights implies an adequate investment in child policies. To this end, the Committee has reiterated many times the need for budgets that clearly identify budgetary allocations destined to these policies and indicators to help determine budgetary sufficiency. But these general guidelines need to be refined to better understand the content of the obligations resulting from them. This is the meaning of the General Comment that the Committee has recently begun to prepare and of which I have been designated coordinator.
   

2. ➡Adolescents: The Committee was concerned specifically with issues relating to the right to health of adolescents in its General Comment No. 4 (2003), "The health and development of adolescents in the context of the Convention on the Rights of the Child”.  Adolescents find specific and diverse barriers to the exercise of many other rights to the ones faced by children up to 14 years. Moreover, several States and United Nations bodies who hold strong positions on the need for a Convention on youth rights, which would imply an overlap of conventions for the age group of young adolescents under 18 years. I have participated in two meetings organized by the OHCHR (Geneva, July 2013) and the Department of Social Policy of the UN Secretary General ( New York, December 2013) in which this issue was raised. This has led the Committee to believe that, regardless of whom performs or not this initiative, it is necessary to further the rights of adolescents in light of the Convention, in order to clarify certain areas that should not be jeopardize if a new instrument were to be elaborated (protection against early marriage , child labor, in the field of juvenile justice, etc. . ) and further,  obligations of States should be clear regarding the promotion, respect and protection of the rights of adolescents to obtain a better implementation of the Convention and a better identification of young people within it. For the development of this future General Comment, the Committee has established a working group to which I belong and to which I will be able to contribute my experience within the framework of the Ibero-American Convention on Youth Rights and my participation in international meetings of experts aforementioned.
   

3. ➡Private companies: The impact of business activity on the rights of children and the obligations of States to ensure that these rights are respected has been highlighted in General Comment No. 16 (2003) of the Committee.  Similarly, the Human Rights Council, following the adoption of the so-called “Ruggy Principles”, within the Working Group on business and human rights continues to develop these considerations. In fact, in the Second annual United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights established by the Council in December 2013, one of the Panels was allotted to “Business respect for the rights of children ", being organized by me on behalf of the Committee. But it is necessary to further develop this perspective. In this sense I was appointed Focal Point of the Committee for the project of implementation and monitoring of General Comment No. 16. This project is the result of the collaboration with the International Commission of Jurists and the OAK Foundation and has resulted in the project: "Child Rights and the Business Sector: Dissemination and Implementation of the Committee on the Rights of the Child General Comment on State Obligations Regarding the impact of the business industry on children's rights ", under which two manuals (one for State officials and other for civil society)  are in progress and aim at the implementation of the OG 16, as well as good practice guidelines to assist States in finding models to rely on, within their broad freedom to act in accordance with their legal traditions and social and economic models, in order to implement their obligations in this area