2937th Meeting, 101st Session, Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

Honorable colleagues, representatives of United Nations agencies and civil society, and most importantly, their children.
Today is especially remarkable day.
I welcome you to the 101st session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2937th meeting.
First, I would like to invite Mr.
Mohamad Siskuro, the Director of the Human Rights Council and Treaty Mechanism Division, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to make his opening remarks as representative of the Secretary-General.
Thank you for joining us today.
Miss Cisco, please yours, please.
Thank you, Bonjour.
Good morning.
Madam Chair, distinguished members of the committee, distinguished guests, dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen.
On behalf of the United Nations Secretary-General, it is an honor to open the 101st session of the committee on the right of the child, which will take place from today until Tuesday 28, September 2026.
Regrettably, due to the United Nations liquidity crisis, the committee has been able to hold only two sessions this year rather than the three sessions that are normally scheduled.
As a result, the session originally planned for May 2026 is taking place only now.
We are therefore particularly pleased that despite these constraints, the committee is able to continue its essential work.
During this session, you will engage in constructive dialogues with representative of eight state parties.
Consider 16 individual communication addressing issues such as armed conflict, juvenile justice, the detention of migrant children, and non refoulement.
You will also finalize your work on the draft general comment on children's right to access to justice and to an effective remedy.
Furthermore, after a few years delay due to the liquidity crisis, the committee will once again be able to hold its ninth biennial meeting with OECHR and UNICEF senior staff from regional offices and headquarters divisions.
This will provide an important opportunity to strengthen our collective efforts towards effective implementation of the Convention on the right of the Tide and its optional protocols.
Taken together, these activities reflect the committee's strong commitment to promoting and protecting children's rights worldwide, even in challenging circumstances.
I also wish to commend the committee for its continued dedication and flexibility in ensuring the continuity of its work during this particularly challenging year.
In this regard, I welcome your decision to adopt on an exceptional basis, the list of issues for the countries to be reviewed at the 103rd session through an intersessional online silent procedure conducted in April this year.
This important step made it possible to schedule new countries review for upcoming sessions and in doing so, avoid further delays in considering state parties report.
Madam Chair and distinguished members, we are meeting at a time when the world is becoming increasingly polarized and divided.
Rising tensions, misinformation, conflict, and growing social fragmentation are increasingly eroding human rights, including children's rights.
Children are often among the first to feel the consequences of these trends, whether through discrimination, exclusion, violence, or shrinking opportunities to participate in decisions that affect their lives.
At the same time, the very recognition of children as right holders is increasingly being challenged.
This makes our collective responsibility all the more important.
We must ensure that children understand the right and human right more broadly.
They must be empowered not only to claim and exercise the right, but also to participate in shaping the society in which they live.
It is in this context that on 11 June this year, the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights launched the Global Alliance for Human Rights.
The global Alliance is a platform designed to strengthen collective action and reconnect human rights with everyday life, public decision making and the future of our societies.
The global alliance is built on simple but fundamental premises, which is human rights must be lived locally, understood, and trusted by people, defended when they're at risk, embedded in solutions to emerging global challenges, and supported by resident institutions and sustainable resources.
One of the Alliance's first initiative, right in every classroom seeks to accelerate the integration of human right education across primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of learning.
Its ambition is clear to cultivate a culture of dignity, participation, and respect from an early age.
In the framework of the Global Alliance, OECHR also launched the Youth for Right activation to ensure that young people, including children, play a key role in the Global Alliance.
As part of this initiative, the office established the Youth Youth for Right Advisory Group, a consultative youth body consisting of 12 young leaders and change makers from different regions that will support the design and implementation of global alliance initiatives and help engage young people and children worldwide.
These initiatives are particularly important because children and young people should not simply be seen as beneficiaries of human rights.
They are right holders and they must have a voice in shaping the future of human rights.
Madam President.
Madam Chair, ladies and gentlemen, members of the committee, colleagues, guests, allow me now also to congratulate the committee for significant progress made in drafting the general comments on the rights of children, access to justice and effective remedy.
This is now in its final stage, thanks to the considerable work done by the committee in its sessions and in the intersessional period.
This progress is the outcome of a wide consultation process with about 500 contributions from different states, international bodies, national human rights institutions, the judiciary, civil society, academia, the law profession, and particularly young people and children themselves.
I'd also like to underscore the participation of children themselves throughout this process.
More than 5,500 children involved from Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, got their voice heard and talked about their experiences.
That has meant that this draft reflects a broad range of voices, particularly those of children come from rural communities, those who are vulnerable, children with disabilities.
And other organizations representing children's rights, ladies and gentlemen, the treaty bodies are working within an ever changing global context, very different context to what prevailed 60 years ago when the committee was created.
This session is being held yet again in an environment plagued with huge challenges and uncertainty.
Are facing a direct calling into question of human rights.
More and more stakels are trying to undermine this, including in the area of human rights.
At the same time, the persistent liquidity crisis has limited credits to OHCHR reduced its ability to plan and support the work done by the treaty bodies.
This situation means we have to in the short term, deal with the immediate constraints, ensure that there is continuity and effectiveness within our system in the medium and long term.
We're going to have to reflect on how we can strengthen and adapt the treaty body system so that they can continue to do their effective work.
In that regard, last year, the High Commissioner shared a working paper to engage all stakeholders and get reflection going on reform and try to find the necessary solutions.
This is based on three main areas, first of all, setting decentralized clustered dialogue.
Secondly, streamlining the submission of reports from state parties thanks to an integrated multilingual platform for online submissions, and thirdly, strengthening the election procedure of the treaty bodies thanks to an online candidates platform in order to ensure that there is a necessary transparency.
We have the very best criteria in terms of experience, independence.
In line with the Adis Ababa guidelines.
During the recent meeting of the chairpersons meeting, it was agreed that this proposal should be examined by the different committees in order to identify what could be implemented, what still needs fine tuning, and those areas where extra information is necessary.
I would therefore invite you to look at the specific parts of this proposal.
Feasibility and the impact on rights holders who made their constructive suggestions on the way in which decentralized dialogues could take shape.
Your committee has a great deal of experience in Samoa, you had that experience in Samoa, and I think that was a pioneering experience in this area and I think it means you have precious experience in this regard.
But let's be frank.
For these proposals or indeed any other reform to be successful, we need to have real engagement from state parties to ensure that there are adequate, predictable resources that are commensurate with the mission we have ahead of us in order to preserve the normative protection.
Distinguished members.
Turning now to the work related to the Human Rights Council, the second session of the open ended intergovernmental working group on an optional protocol to the Convention on the right of the child on the right to early childhood education, free primary education, and free secondary education is taking place this week.
The session will focus on the draft key principles developed by the chair Rapporteur.
The participation of the CRC members in these discussions is of essential value to the process.
Looking ahead, the Human Rights Council annual full day meeting on the rights of the child in March next year will focus on children's mental health and well being.
Human Rights Council Resolution 61 stroke 21 further requests OECHR to prepare a report on children's rights and artificial intelligence to be presented to the Human Rights Council in September next year.
This issue could not be more timely.
Artificial intelligence is transforming childhood in real time while innovation continues to move faster than the safeguard designed to protect children.
New risks are emerging from AI generated child sexual abuse material to manipulative design to new form of exploitation and discrimination.
At the same time, millions of children remain excluded from opportunities offered by the digital technology.
In this regard, I welcome the joint statement on AI and the right of the child launched in January this year under the committee's leadership, as well as the new state led coalition for Children's Rights and Protection in the Age of Artificial Intelligence launched on seven July.
Both initiatives are firmly grounded in the convention on the rights of the child and demonstrate the importance of bringing children's rights to the center of discussions on emerging technology.
Madam President, Madam, ladies and gentlemen, by way of conclusion, I wish you every success during your session.
Your expertise, your independence, and your commitment enables this committee to continue its key mission, namely to ensure that those rights enshrined in the convention are not just simple principles, that they become a true reality for each and every child in the world.
Many thanks for your attention.
Thank you very much, Mr.
Sisuro Your statement very much appreciated.
Excellencies, dear colleagues, members of international organizations and civil society, ladies and gentlemen and most importantly, their children.
As we open the 101st session of the committee on the Rights of the Child, I invite you to picture a child who should be opening a school book and instead, here's an explosion.
A child who should be thinking about tomorrow but is forced to think about the survival.
Behind every number we cite in this room is such a child, a child whose name, dignity, and future must never be reduced to a pure statistics.
UNICEF estimates that more than 473 million children, more than one in six worldwide live in conflict affected areas.
The latest report of the Secretary-General verified 38,558 grave violations in 2025, affecting 24,174 children, the highest number since the UN monitoring began.
In my previous speeches, I highlighted clearly on several occasions what harm and suffering armed conflict bring to children.
Today, I would like to bring to your attention another important dimension of the topic.
Most terrifying is that the warfare itself is changing.
Artificial intelligence can accelerate targeting and enable autonomous weapons to operate at machine speed.
AI and advances in synthetic biology may also lower barriers to chemical, biological, and other weapons of mass destruction, bringing capabilities once concentrated in the hands of states and highly resourced actors closer to non state actors and individuals.
Uncontrolled, these technologies can multiply the speed, scale, and opacity of suffering, most importantly, of children.
Machines must never decide who lives and who dies, especially children.
Human control and accountability are indispensable in this case.
At the same time, we must recognize the extraordinary opportunities AI and emerging technologies can offer to children.
More accessible education, translation, earlier health diagnosis, greater inclusion for children with disabilities, and new opportunities for creativity and participation and many others.
I can list it really I can list it all day if it's possible if our time allows.
But As the recent UN AI Scientific Palin report and special report on AI and child rights published yesterday, if I'm not mistaken, AI is developing an unprecedented scale, and if not controlled and regulated, it can put the existence of children and the whole humanity under question.
At the same time, it brings unprecedented opportunities, as I mentioned already, and if used and safeguarded properly, it can be main tool to ensure that every child enjoys rights guaranteed by the Convention.
This is why the global dialogue on AI governance and the ITU AI for Good Global Summit in July were so important.
Children were family at the center of these discussions.
The Secretary-General message that no child should become a guinea pig for unregulated AI should remain with us.
Our work with ITU began in 2024 has already produced an important milestone and Mr.
Cisko has already mentioned.
In January 2026, during the 100 session, the committee, ITU, UNICEF, OHCHR, and 13 other partners from the UN family, we launched the joint statement on artificial intelligence and the rights of the child, which is not only consigned by 13 UN entities, but also supported and launched by over 60 organizations across the world.
It is the first international soft law framework specifically dedicated children's rights across the AIA life cycle.
The recently issued report of the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI and the Rights of the Child further demonstrates its relevance and builds on this important foundation.
But this is only the beginning.
We must ensure that technology serves children, not that children bear the risks of technological progress.
Unfortunately, the technology is not our only challenge.
According to latest reports of different UN entities, hundreds of millions of children across the globe live in extreme port, are out of school, experience different forms of violence, including sexual violence, discrimination, mental health problems, and so forth and so forth.
Meanwhile, earthquakes, floods, darts, and wildfires continue to take children's lives and destroy homes, health, water, and education and violate every child's right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, affirmed by the general comment number 26 of the committee on the Rights of the Child.
We all have recently witnessed devastating earthquakes and floods.
The last terrifying one on Nepal and China border caused by climate change and pollution of environment.
During this session, we will continue strongly advocate for implementation of our general comment number 26 and we will undertake strengthened reports to gain the attention of states on this very important issue and how they can protect children.
Through our engagement, including with UNICEF colleagues, we have helped governments reconsider, we see across the globe, countries undertake measures to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility.
General comment number 24 calls for a minimum of 14 years due to the fact that the brain of the child is still developing.
No child is born a criminal.
Children who offend at a young age are often children whom adults and institutions failed to protect.
I fully share the suffering of victims and the public safety is, of course, not negotiable, but lowering the age is not the answer.
Prevention, diversion, and rehabilitation, as our GC mentions, these are the answers.
Through our engagement, including with UNICEF colleagues, we have helped governments reconsider such reductions and we succeeded in certain cases.
We cannot make children responsible for the failure of adults.
Finally, the United Nations liquidity crisis, which was against addressed by Mr.
Cis Guru, has directly affected our mandate.
The cancellation of our May session delayed reviews of eight states as well as individual communications, inquiries, and other protection work.
For a child, this is not simply a postponed meeting.
It may mean a delayed law, a delayed remedy, or a delayed opportunity for protection.
Children's rights cannot depend on the cash flow of the United Nations.
Despite these constraints, the committee members have continued their work between sessions, giving their personal time, energy, and commitment.
To every colleague, I'd like to say thank you for your incredible work and dedication.
Your dedication has immense meaning for children across the world.
As we begin the 101st session, I assure you, despite all difficulties we face, the committee on the Rights of the Child will do its utmost to fulfill its mandate and support state parties to better implement their obligations towards children.
Thank you.
Now, I would like to invite our partners from OHCHR, UNICEF and Child Rights Connect, who are with us today to deliver statements on CRC related updates regarding their work.
I have the pleasure to give the floor to first, miss Angran representative from UNICEF.
Please and Flo is yours.
Chair, Madam Chair, Distinguished committee members, dear colleagues, thank you for this opportunity to address the committee on behalf of UNICEF and to share updates on our recent work most relevant to your mandate.
It's a pleasure to be with you again, our first meeting since January following the cancellation of the MI session.
As we meet and as you have said, children across all regions continue to face an unprecedented conversions of crisis, climate disruption, armed conflict, discrimination, and poverty compounded by a global pushback against child rights that threatens decades of hard won progress.
Cuts in foreign aid coming at a time of unparalleled need have placed millions of lives at risk and undermined protections enshrined in international human rights standards, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
We stand in solidarity with the committee, OHHR and civil society at this time of profound crisis for multilateralism and the UN, including its human rights mechanisms.
Cancellation of meetings and hybrid modalities and the late confirmation of reviews in recent years have severely weakened the UN human rights system and significantly narrowed opportunities for civil society and child participation in reviews.
Short notice scheduling and last minute cancellations of postponements complicate visa applications, raise travel costs, jeopardize funding, and limit children's and CSO's ability to prepare meaningful submissions.
We call on states to resume and strengthen their political and financial support to the human rights system so that it can continue to make its essential and unique contribution to peace development and a life of dignity for all.
We are pleased that despite this challenging context, we are able to hold a long overdue CRC UNICEF OHHR biannual senior level meeting during this session.
Meeting will focus on a set of rights that have been particularly targeted by the pushback against children's rights, civil and political rights, and more specifically Article 13 to 17 of the CRC, precisely because they're often perceived as a challenge to parental and state authority.
The discussions will produce a joint action plan for the next two years, including steps to generate better information on the implementation of these rights at the country level and in turn ensure more systematic consideration in the committee's reviews.
This new joint plan will build on the achievements of the previous ones, notably the committee's 2023 statements on parental guidance, which affirmed that parental rights over children are not absolute and must be exercised in ways that respect and promote children's rights.
That statement has become a key advocacy tool for asserting children's status as full rights holders at the Human Rights Council, the General Assembly, and at country level, and is particularly relevant to our advocacy on the draft African Charter on the protection of the family sovereignty and values currently under discussion.
Under the current joint work plan, the committee on UNICEF also collaborated on General Commit 27 on children's rights to access justice and an effective remedy.
We look forward to supporting the dissemination and implementation of the GC once finalized and supporting Child rights Connect in developing a child friendly version.
This work complements our cooperation in the reporting process where UNICEF shares information and expertise for virtually all countries under review as called for by the convention itself under Article 45.
It also complements the work of the 156 UNICEF country offices which continue to promote and support implementation of the committee's recommendations as an integral part of their country programs.
Support this work, and as announced earlier this year, we are developing a website on Chi RS governance for states, UNICEF and other partners.
It will offer guidance to states on each general measures of implementation set out in the committee's general comment number five, drawing on committees jurisprudence and will serve as a central hub for existing resources on Ch Rise governance, sharing concrete country examples and good practice.
We hope to launch the website in November.
Finally, on the day before the Biennial meeting, UNICEF senior management will meet to review progress in implementing the UNICEF child rights Framework for action and to identify concrete practical steps for further evolving the framework for the reminder of the UNICEF strategic plan.
UNICEF's engagement with human rights mechanisms, including this committee will, of course, continue to feature prominently in these next steps.
We wish you all a productive session and look forward to close cooperation in the coming weeks.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, miss Granj.
I would like to give the floor to miss Rosella Uuru, Child Rights Connect, please, miss Uuru.
Thanks, Madam Chair.
Distinguished members of the committee, representatives of UN agencies and civil society organizations, colleagues and friends.
Child Rights Connect as the largest global network of child rights NGOs warmly welcomes the holding of this 101st session of the committee on the Rights of the Child.
In the context of the ongoing liquidity crisis, we particularly appreciate the efforts of the committee and its Secretariat to secure a five week session, including the pre session following an unprecedented level of canceled meetings, including one session and two pre sessions.
Maintaining this session is critical at a time when the committee's work remains essential to advancing the implementation of the convention and addressing the many challenges children face around the world.
As we have highlighted in previous sessions, the cancellation and late confirmation of meetings over the past two years have significantly reduced opportunities for meaningful engagement for civil society and children, affecting their ability to prepare submissions and participate in person.
We welcome the analysis of the OHCHR paper on the matter, which confirms our observations and recommends to identify appropriate approaches to safeguarding meaningful NGO and civil society participation under current and future operational constraints.
As part of TBNet, the network of NGOs supporting each treaty body of which Child Rights Connect is part of.
Child Rights Connect is actively engaged in discussions with OHHR and treaty bodies chairs on strengthening the effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability of UN treaty body system as a whole, for the benefit of this committee and meaningful civil society participation.
In this context, we recommended making available a year round indicative schedule of state reviews.
Such year round schedule, even as tentative and subject to change, will provide greater predictability for civil society and children and help their participation, which is critical to the effectiveness of reporting procedures.
Child Rs Connect remains committed to actively engaging with and supporting discussions with the committee, the Secretariat, OCHR, UNICEF, and our partners, bringing forward practical ideas and solutions to help preserve meaningful opportunities for civil society participation throughout this period of uncertainty.
In addition, we warmly welcome the transition to the OHCHR events platform for the submission of reports by civil society.
For many years, Child rights Connect has hosted a safe platform on our website for NGOs, NHRIs and children to submit reports through an efficient and coordinated process.
We believe that moving submissions directly into the OHCHR system is an important step toward a more coherent and streamlined reporting process across the treaty bodies.
We are pleased to support this transition and to see the work built up through our platform continue within the wider UN system.
We also welcome the theme of the upcoming UNICEF Biennial meeting with the committee focusing on children's civil and political rights under Article 13 to 17 of the Convention.
We have observed that these rights remain relatively under reported by civil society and are not systematically addressed in the committee's recommendations.
We therefore see an important opportunity for the meeting to strengthen guidance and attention to these rights, supporting more comprehensive reporting and ultimately, their better protection and fulfillment at national level.
Strengthening global and national policy frameworks for children's civil and political rights is also a key objective of Child rights Connect Strategic Plan 25 29.
Finally, I would like to highlight three areas where our network is actively contributing to advancing these rights, among others, advancing guidance on freedom of association.
We have partnered with Amnesty International to ensure children's voices shape the UN Human Rights Committee New General Commend 38 on the rights to Freedom of Association.
For the first time, child human rights defenders aged 12 to 17 met directly with a member of the Human Rights Committee to share their experiences.
Their key message is clear.
Freedom of association is essential for children's development and education through a joint submissions, These insights have been translated into concrete drafting proposals to ensure the new guidance better protects children's rights to join and create associations.
Second, we continue to implement the committee's 2018 day of general discussion recommendations by advancing the strategic vision for child human rights defenders endorsed by the committee.
These includes launching the Latin American regional Dialogues, which brought together 108 participants to map existing initiatives in support of child human rights defenders in the region.
We are also working on advising our new AI powered chat bot designed to help child defenders in accessing reliable information on their rights and digital protection.
An additional update is the work in strengthening protection in armed conflict.
With the number of active armed conflict reaching historic levels, our network has intensified its international advocacy on the rights of children in armed conflict.
We supported the dedicated consultation between children from conflict conflicted areas and the European Union, pen holder for the HRC Bnal resolution on the rights of the child.
Their recommendations helped shape the resolution which was adopted by consensus and includes strong measures on accountability and calls for child participation throughout the conflict cycle.
This outcome underscores the vital importance of meaningful child participation in shaping international standards even during times of crisis.
We encourage the committee to draw on the state's commitment in the resolution in its review of state.
On the Child rights mainstreaming agenda, the resolution sends a reminder of the importance of ensuring the systematic and effective application of the SG Secretary-General guidance note, in particular in ongoing UN reforms.
We look forward to engaging with the committee throughout this five week session, contributing to these critical discussions and working together to ensure that children's rights remain at the heart of the UN agenda even amidst financial uncertainty.
I thank you.
Thank you, miss Uu.
Now, on behalf of miss Ima GuersHCHR, miss Allegra Franchetti will read this statement by her, please.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Opening remarks from the Child and Youth rights unit of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Dear committee members, I thank you very much for the opportunity to brief you on recent developments in our work relating to children's rights.
We greatly value our continued cooperation with the committee and reaffirm our strong support for your essential role in advancing the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child globally, particularly in the current context of multiple and intersecting crises.
Since our last briefing in January, we have continued to support key child rights processes within the Human Rights Council and across the United Nations system, while strengthening efforts to ensure the safe, meaningful, and inclusive participation of children in these processes.
In this context, we are pleased to note the launch earlier this year of Include Us Children and Young People's Standards for their meaningful participation in global events.
Develop through a child led process supported by OCHRM partners.
This guidance captures children's own recommendations on effective and meaningful participation in international decision making processes and provides a valuable resource for all stakeholders.
As you heard in the opening, we continue to provide support to the open ended intergovernmental working group on a possible optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, on the rights to early childhood education, free pre primary education, and free secondary education.
The working group is currently meeting and is focusing on discussions around the key principle developed by the chair Rapporteur.
Since the committee's last session, the working group's progress report has been presented to the Human Rights Council.
And intersessional consultations have been held with states, experts, civil society, and committee members on the chair Rapporteur's draft key principles.
We are particularly grateful for the continued engagement of the committee.
Together with Child Rights Connect, we continue to support meaningful child participation throughout the process.
Okay.
Following the Human Rights Council's annual Day on the Rights of the Child, which took place last March, the council adopted by consensus resolution 61 slash 21 on realizing the rights of children affected by armed conflict.
The resolution reaffirms the complementarity between international human rights law and international humanitarian law, consistent with the committee's longstanding jurisprudence that children's rights continue to apply during armed conflict.
The same resolution 61 slash 21 requests OHCHR to organize the Human Rights Council 2027 Annual Day on the Rights of the Child on the theme of children's mental health and well being.
Preparations for this process will start later this year, and we look forward to consulting with the committee and other stakeholders as discussion advance.
This work takes place alongside broader OHCHR efforts on youth mental health, including the study on the impact of mental health challenges on the enjoyment of human rights by young people, presented to the Human Rights Council at its 63rd session.
Resolution 61 slash 21 further request to prepare a report on children's rights and artificial intelligence to be presented to the Human Rights Council in September 2027.
I also would like to update you on Human Rights Council resolution 56 slash six on children's rights and safety in the digital environment.
OHCHR has launched a series of regional consultations running from now through November 2026 with a final in person consultation planned in Geneva on 26 November.
The process is firmly grounded in the convention and the committee's general comment number 25, and we warmly welcome to the committee's engagement and expertise in this initiative.
With CHR jointly with child rights partners, conducted the ME and I AI global Survey, engaging more than 1,100 children aged ten to 17 across 50 countries.
The survey provides input to the global dialogue on AI governance in July.
Furthermore, the OHHR guidance on getting children's safety online right, launched by the High Commissioner last May is rights based and design focused, grounded in the convention and a wider international human rights framework.
With CHR also continues to advance child rights mainstreaming across the United Nations system through its participation in the interagency task team on child rights mainstreaming and contributions to the ongoing availability assessment of the Secretary-General guidance note on child rights mainstreaming.
We welcome the dedicated child rights expertise at the Human Rights Inquiries branch aimed at strengthening the integration of child rights and age sensitive approaches across investigative mechanisms.
We welcome the second Global ministerial conference on ending violence against children, on prevention at scale, ending violence against children in and through homes and schools, hosted by the government of the Philippines in partnership with UNICEF and WHO, and we look forward to the committee's engagement.
We remain committed to our close collaboration and look forward to continuing our joint efforts to promote, protect, and fulfill the rights of all children worldwide.
Thank you.
Thank you, miss Franchetti, and thanks to miss Imgues Delgado and to all our partners for the support you provide to the committee's work.
Now, I will proceed with the first item, which is adoption of agenda based on the provisional agenda for the 100 session contained in the document CRC slash slash 100 slash one.
Provisional agenda item two is organizational matters.
In accordance with Rule 39 of the rules of procedure, the meetings of the committee will be held in public unless the committee decides otherwise.
During the present session, the committee will have meetings for the opening, consideration of records of state parties and closing in public and all other meetings closed as indicated in the tentative program of work available on the committee's web page.
All the public meetings will be webcast live on UN web TV.
Under this item, the committee will consider its program of work for the session, as well as any other matters concerning the performance of its functions under the convention.
For the provisional agenda item three on submission of reports of state parties, I call on the secretary to the committee, miss Allegra Franchetti, to inform us of the reports received since our last session in January 2026.
Floyd's, miss Franchetti.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Two reports have been received by the Secretariat of the committee since the 100 session held in January 2026, bringing the number of reports pending consideration to 57.
With reference to the status of ratification of the convention, as of today, the total number of ratifications remains at 196.
One report has been received under the Convention of the Rights of the Child, and this is the combined fourth and fifth periodic reports of the United Arab Emirates.
All the reports the initial reports under the convention have been received and there are still 59 periodic reports which are overdue.
With reference to the status of ratification of the optional protocols as of today, no new countries have ratified or exceeded the two optional protocols on respectively involvement of children in armed conflict and on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography.
One new country has exceeded the optional protocol on a communication procedure, and this is Serbia and the total number of ratification for the optional protocol on a communication procedure is now at 54.
One initial report has been received under the optional protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography, and this is the initial report of Burundi.
Thank you for your attention.
Thank you very much, miss Franchetti.
Under the provisional agenda item four on consideration of records of state parties, this committee will conduct consideration of records of the following eight state parties during this session.
Urkina Faso fifth and sixth periodic reports under the convention, Kazakhstan, fifth and sixth periodic reports under the convention, Lesto third to seventh periodic reports under the Convention, Slovenia, fifth to six periodic reports under the convention, Tajikistan, six to seventh periodic reports under the convention, Timor-Leste fourth periodic records under the convention, Uganda, third to fifth periodic reports under the convention, and United Republic of Tanzania, six periodic records under the convention.
Provisional agenda item five is cooperation with other United Nations bodies, specialized agencies and other competent bodies.
The committee will continue its discussion on how its cooperation with various relevant bodies could be further strengthened to enhance the promotion and protection of the rights of the child.
On 17th of September 2026, the committee will hold its ninth biannuial meeting with senior staff of the United Nations Children's Fund and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Provisional agenda item six on methods of work of the committee and treaty body strengthening.
The committee will continue its discussion concerning the organization of its future work and the procedure to be followed in the consideration of records of state parties and their follow up.
In particular, the committee will discuss issues relative to its methods of work and will continue its discussion on follow up to the treaty body strengthening process and the 2020 review, including recommendations emanating from the 30 to 38th meeting of the chairs of the human rights treaty bodies.
Under the provisional agenda item seven on activities of the committee under the optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on communications P, the committee will consider any communication and information it has received in relation to this optional protocol.
Provisional agenda item eight, which is general comments.
The committee will continue its work on its draft general comments on children's rights to access to justice and to an effective remedy.
Regarding item nine on future sessions, the committee will be informed of any developments relating to the schedule of its future sessions, in particular with regards to the impact of the current liquidity crisis in relation to the regular budget.
Provisional agenda item ten, other matters.
Under this item, the committee will discuss any other matter proposed by the members relating to the work of the committee as considered necessary.
Does any member wish to make comments on this provisional agenda of the 101st session? I see no hands.
I take it as the committee wish to adopt the agenda and I so declare the agenda is formally adopted.
The public opening of the 101st session is now over and we will continue the meeting in private.
We'll have 5 minutes break.
Thank you.