MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD AND AUTHORITIES FROM THE INTER-AMERICAN CHILDREN’S INSTITUTE ANALYZED THE METHODOLOGY AND START-UP OF THE “SITE FOR ACTION COORDINATION IN FAVOR OF CHILDREN”
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MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD AND AUTHORITIES FROM THE INTER-AMERICAN CHILDREN’S INSTITUTE ANALYZED THE METHODOLOGY AND START-UP OF THE “SITE FOR ACTION COORDINATION IN FAVOR OF CHILDREN” |
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The
Members of the United Nations’ Committee on the Rights of the Child for
the Americas— Marilia Sardenberg (Brazil), Rosa María Ortiz (Paraguay),
and Norberto Liwski (Argentina)— held a working meeting with Alejandro
Bonasso, Director General of the Inter-American Children’s Institute,
and with Julio Rosenblatt, Coordinator of the IIN’s Information Program,
on Monday 1st September, in the city of Montevideo (Uruguay). One
of the central issues for discussion and exchange amongst the authorities
that were present at this meeting was the analysis of the methodology that
had been developed for the `Systematization of Reports to the Committee on
the Rights of the Child’, as well as the presentation of the
improvements undergone by the SMD 1.0 computer tool for Right-monitoring. Another important point for discussion at this working meeting was the technical presentation of a “Site for Action Coordination in favor of Children”, a novel system and a novel tool developed by the IIN with the support of Sweden’s “Save the Children” organization. This Site, which has just finished undergoing its experimental phase, will enable the resolution of certain particular cases affecting children and adolescents in which there is more than one country involved. Such sensitive issues as adoption, child support, guardianship, lack of identity papers, abduction, trafficking, missing children or adolescents, sexual exploitation, the situation of children and adolescents living in the streets, ill-treatment, and child labor, can now be jointly dealt with, going beyond each country’s boundaries and creating a true coordinating link that integrates governing bodies that deal with the issues of children and adolescents, legal bodies for the defense of the Rights of the Child, family courts and courts for the underage, specialized police forces, defense counsels, children and the civil society. This system –which is also a tool –, will make it possible to provide a solution for those situations affecting thousands of children and adolescents that could not be solved before, since no specialized international network had been created in order to deal with such situations. The Members of the Committee on the Rights of the Child regarded the contributions made by the IIN as important and pertinent, and it was agreed that they should be formally submitted to the Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva. This is to take place in January 2004.
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