The Russian Federation’s record on children’s rights will face scrutiny by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on Thursday 23 January and Friday 24 January.

As one of the 193 State Parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Russia is required to undergo regular examinations of its record before the Committee of 18 independent experts. Russia is also being reviewed under the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict.  

Among the issues likely to be discussed by the CRC and the Russian delegation are: protecting vulnerable children from discrimination, including Roma children, children of migrant workers, LGBTI children; guidelines for separating children from parents; the “anti-juvenile” campaign; adoptions since passing of Dima Yakolev Act; abuse of children in care institutions; increased institutionalisation of children with disabilities; drug and alcohol abuse among adolescents.

The list of issues and Russia’s report can be found here:

http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=851&Lang=en

The session, which begins at 15:00 Geneva time (18:00 Moscow), will be broadcast live on the web here: http://www.treatybodywebcast.org/.

The CRC’s concluding observations on Russia will be published on Wednesday 5 February here:

http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=851&Lang=en

The Committee will hold a news conference in Geneva on 5 February to discuss its concluding observations on all six countries examined: Congo, Yemen, Holy See, Portugal, Russia and Germany.

For more information and media requests, please contact Liz Throssell (+41 (0) 22 917 9434/ ethrossell@ohchr.org

To arrange an interview with a Committee member, please contact Allegra Franchetti (+41 (0) 22 917 9340/ afranchetti@ohchr.org)

To learn more about the Committee on the Rights of the Child, visit: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRC/Pages/CRCIndex.aspx

Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/OPACCRC.aspx

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