Question of a Convention on the Rights of the Child.

1988/75. Question of a convention on the rights of the child

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 and annexed to Commission resolution 20 (XXXIV) of 8 March 1978, the amended version of the draft submitted to the Commission on 5 October 1979 (E/CN.4/1349), and the documents submitted by Poland to the General Assembly at its thirty-sixth session, on 7 October 1981 (A/C.3/36/6), and at its fortieth session, on 7 October 1985 (A/C.3/40/3 and Corr.1), 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, 40/113 of 13 December 1985, 41/116 of 4 December 1986 and 42/101 of 7 December 1987, by which the Assembly requested The Commission on Human Rights to give the highest priority to, and to make every effort at its forty-fourth and forty-fifth sessions to complete, a draft convention on the rights of the child and to submit it, through the Economic and Social Council, to the General Assembly at its forty-fourth session, Recalling also its prior resolutions, in particular resolution 1987/48 of 11 March 1987, and pertinent Economic and Social Council resolutions, in particular resolution 1987/58 of 29 May 1987, Noting that 1989 will be the year of the thirtieth anniversary of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child and the tenth anniversary of the International Year of the Child, Recognizing, as stated in General Assembly resolution 42/101 , that these anniversaries could constitute an appropriate target date for completion of the work on a draft convention on the rights of the child and for its adoption by the General Assembly, Aware that, twenty-eight years after the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, the situation of children throughout 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, Welcoming the efforts made by the United Nations Children's Fund with a view to protecting and assisting children throughout the world, 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, Noting the growing interest in successful completion of the work on a comprehensive international convention on the rights of the child displayed by numerous Governments and international organizations, Bearing in mind the necessity of taking due account of the cultural values and needs of developing countries in the second reading of the draft convention, in order to achieve the universal recognition of the rights in the future convention on the rights of the child,

1. Notes with appreciation that the first reading of a comprehensive draft convention on the rights of the child has been completed by the open-ended working group of The Commission on Human Rights;

2. Decides to continue, as a matter of the highest priority, its work on the elaboration of the draft convention on the rights of the child;

3. Requests the Economic and Social Council to authorize, within existing resources, the convening of an open-ended working group for a period of up to two weeks in November-December 1988, with a view to completing the second reading of the draft convention on the rights of the child prior to the forty-fifth session of the Commission for transmission, through the Economic and Social Council, to the General Assembly at its forty-fourth session;

4. Requests the Secretary-General to circulate the report of the working group on its tenth session (E/CN.4/1988/28) and the text of the draft convention, as adopted during its first reading, to all States with a view to facilitating their participation, on a universal basis, in the second reading of the convention;

5. Further requests the Secretary-General to provide the resources necessary for the technical review of the first reading of the convention, as requested by the working group, so that the technical review may be completed by 31 August 1988 and its results sent to all States well in advance of the second reading;

6. Encourages all countries, especially developing countries, to take an active part in the second reading so that the convention will reflect the needs of the children of all countries;

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

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

56th meeting
10 March 1988
[Adopted without a vote. See chap. XIII.]