On October 12, 2011 the Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) on violence against children, Ms Marta Santos Pais, addressed the Third Committee of the General Assembly (GA).  This was the SRSG’s second appearance before the GA, and the first interactive dialogue held with member states in the two years since she laid out her approach to the mandate in 2009.

On October 12, 2011 the Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) on violence against children, Ms Marta Santos Pais, addressed the Third Committee of the General Assembly (GA).  This was the SRSG’s second appearance before the GA, and the first interactive dialogue held with member states in the two years since she laid out her approach to the mandate in 2009.

Enthusiastic about the direct attention given to this historically under-recognised issue, the GA embraced the SRSG’s call for accelerated progress in legally banning all forms of violence against children. While States welcomed the work of the SRSG, many had questions regarding the cooperation and collaboration of her office with other aspects of the UN system concerned with child protection. This emphasis on coordination should be seen in light of the draft resolution on “Strengthening of the coordination of the United Nations system on child protection” put forward by Thailand this year.

Perhaps anticipating the focus of the interactive portion of the dialogue, Ms Pais’ statement went to some length to address the significance of the coordination and collaboration between her office and other UN partners concerned with child protection. 

In the dialogue portion of the address, States frequently returned to the subject of collaboration and coordination. Australia pressed the SRSG for greater regional involvement, and asked about the Office’s future plans for coordinated efforts with ASEAN.  The EU wanted to know how the mandate was going to build on the coordination framework and how it was going to cooperate with other mandate holders.  In a similar vein, Jordan inquired about the constraints placed on collaborative efforts by the slight financial and human resources available to the SRSG’s Office. 

In her responses, Ms. Pais said her mandate gave her important guidance, including on cooperation with the rest of the United Nations system.  Among other things, she chaired an inter-agency working group on violence against children in which all child-related agencies participated. She also stressed the importance of developing and maintaining a schedule of sub-regional meetings to discuss UN and regional partnerships, and spoke of how these partnerships allowed her Office to expand operations beyond what her Office would be able to accomplish on its own.

In addition to emphasising collaboration and coordination, Ms Pais addressed the topic of law reform.  She made note of the fact that significant progress has been made in this area since the completion of the UN Study on Violence against Children in 2006 (the 2006 Study). At that time, only 16 countries had legislation banning violence against children in all settings.  In the five years since, the number has almost doubled. Ms Pais singled out The Philippines and Brazil for praise in this regard, citing the accelerated efforts of those national parliaments to achieve full prohibition. Other states have adopted legal provisions to protect children from specific forms of violence, such as bullying and sexual abuse, or focused parliamentary efforts on banning violence against children in distinct settings such as schools. Ms. Pais pointed to Belize, India and Peru as being particularly successful in that regard. Australia encouraged the parliamentary bodies of other States to amend family law legislation to better respond to allegations of violence against children. Other States (Sweden, Algeria, Brazil) emphasised the need to address corporal punishment if there is to be any progress in eliminating violence against children.

Ms Pais also addressed the importance of collecting sound information and data upon which to base policy, programs and practice, explaining that it is difficult to engage in any sort of national planning or policy-making efforts without this “bedrock”.  She explained that widely varying cultural attitudes towards violence against children can severely obstruct the effectiveness of data collection.  Without providing specifics, Ms Pais noted that many countries still socially condone violence as a disciplinary measure or regard it with passivity.  In order to overcome these cultural impediments, Ms Pais encouraged States to enhance advocacy, obtain greater access to children directly, and facilitate child access to counselling and complaint mechanisms. 

States also expressed particular concern for children with disabilities (EU, Sweden).  The SRSG noted that children with disabilities were five-to-ten times more likely to become victims of violence.  She also stated that efforts to protect children with disabilities from violence must also be based on advocacy and access to the child, with particular emphasis placed on increasing the visibility of these children.

In closing, Ms Pais announced a new global survey to be undertaken to map and assess progress in the implementation of the 2006 Study’s recommendations, to gain perspective on the progress achieved, to reflect on good practices and success factors, and to boost efforts to overcome persistent challenges in and generate renewed momentum towards the protection of children from violence. An analytical report detailing the outcomes of the survey will be submitted to the General Assembly in 2012, at which time the Assembly will review the three-year mandate and consider further follow-up to the study.

The SRSG will also be issuing a thematic report in the coming months that builds on the work of an expert consultation on law reform organized by the SRSG last summer with strategic partners in the UN system, national governments, and independent institutions.