Question of a Convention on the Rights of the Child.

1986/59. Question of a convention on the rights of the child[1]161

The Commission on Human Rights, Bearing in mind the draft convention on the rights of the child submitted by Poland to the Commission on Human Rights on 7 February 1978,[2]162 the amended version of the draft submitted to the Commission on 5 October 1979,[3]163 and the documents submitted by Poland to the General Assembly at its thirty-sixth session, on 7 October 1981[4]164 and at its fortieth session, on 7 October 1985,[5]165 Recalling General Assembly resolutions 33/166 of 20 December 1978, 34/4 of 18 October 1979, 35/131 of 11 December 1980, 36/57 of 25 November 1981, 37/190 of 18 December 1982, 38/114 of 16 December 1983, 39/135 of 14 December 1984 and 40/113 of 13 December 1985, by which the Assembly requested the Commission on Human Rights to give the highest priority to, and to make every effort at its forty-second session to complete, the draft convention and to submit it, through the Economic and Social Council, to the General-Assembly at its forty-first session, Recalling also its resolutions 20 (XXXIV) of 8 March 1978, 19 (XXXV) of 14 March 1979, 36 (XXXVI) of 12 March 1980, 26 (XXXVII) of 10 March 1981, 1982/39 of 11 March 1982, 1983/52 of 10 March 1983, 1984/24 of 8 March 1984 and 1985/50 of 14 March 1985, and Economic and Social Council decisions 1980/138 of 2 May 1980 and 1981/144 of 8 May 1981 and resolutions 1978/18 of 5 May 1978, 1978/40 of 1 August 1978, 1982/37 of 7 May 1982, 1983/39 of 27 May 1983, 1984/25 of 24 May 1984 and 1985/42 of 30 May 1985, by which it authorized a meeting of an open-ended working group for a period of one week prior to the forty-second session of the Commission, with a view to completing the work on the draft convention on the rights of the child, Aware of the fact that 26 years after the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child,[6]166 the situation of children in many parts of the world still continues to be far from satisfactory, and that the full enjoyment by children of human rights calls for continuous improvement of the situation of children as well as their development and education in conditions of peace and security, Stressing the importance of an international convention on the rights of the child for the effective improvement of the situation of children all over the world, Welcoming the efforts made by the United Nations Children's Fund with a view to promoting and protecting children's rights, life and well-being, Noting the further progress made by the open-ended working group during its one-week meeting prior to the forty-second session of the Commission, Noting also the growing interest in elaborating a comprehensive international convention on the rights of the child displayed by numerous Governments and international organizations,

1. Decides to continue at its forty-third session, as a matter of the highest priority, its work on the elaboration of the draft convention on the rights of the child, with a view to completing the draft at that session for transmission, through the Economic and Social Council, to the General Assembly,

2. Requests the Economic and Social Council to authorize a one-week session of an open-ended working group prior to the forty-third session of the Commission on Human Rights, with a view to completing the work on the draft convention on the rights of the child at that session;

3. Recommends the following draft resolution to the Economic and Social Council for adoption:

[For the text, see chap. I, sect.A, draft resolution VIII.]

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[1]161 Adopted at the 56th meeting, on 13 March 1986, without a vote. See chap. XIII. [2]162 Commission resolution 20 (XXXXV), annex. [3]163 E/CN.4/1349. [4]164 A/C.3/36/6. [5]165 A/C.3/40/3 and Corr.1. [6]166 General Assembly resolution 1386 (XIV).