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Protecting children in the Arab countries
April 27, 20157:00 p.m.
MADRID
Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Alcalá, 62).
7:00 p.m.
Free entrance until the event’s capacity is reached.
In English with simultaneous translation into Spanish.
This round table discussion is being held on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Convention on Children's Rights.
Amal Aldoseri, Vice-President of the United Nations Committee on Children’s Rights (Bahrain), and Samman J. Thapa, a specialist on social policy at the Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa of UNICEF (Jordan), are giving this conference moderated by Jorge Cardona Llorens, a member of the United Nations Children’s Rights Committee. Presenting the event is Eduardo López Busquets, the General Director of Casa Árabe.
The year 2015 will mark the 25th anniversary of the date when the United Nations Convention on Children’s Rights took effect. This Convention led to a change in paradigm, with children ceasing to be viewed as subjects requiring protection to becoming regarded as subjects of Law.
Throughout these 25 years, States have gradually assumed this change in paradigm, and little by little they have changed their legislation, establishing strategies, plans and programs so that Children’s Rights would be respected. The commitments taken on have meant important steps in guaranteeing the rights of boys and girls to survival, health care, education and access to a protective environment in which they are defended from exploitation, abuse and violence.
Nevertheless, this path has not been devoid of obstacles and difficulties, and these regulatory frameworks and policies will remain mere empty promises if they are not translated into budget allocations and efficient public spending aimed at the protection of children’s rights.
In a context in which the worldwide crisis has placed new pressures upon both family economies and public finances, and therefore on the true materialization of children’s rights, in both developed and developing countries, the speakers analyze the advancements and challenges yet to be faced in order to make children’s rights a reality in Arab countries and protect those rights.
The conference is being held within the framework of the Regional Consultation among the Arab countries in the Middle East and North Africa organized by Casa Árabe and the United Nations Committee on Children’s Rights, with the cooperation of UNICEF, at Casa Árabe in Madrid.
New strategy on childhood implemented by Spanish Cooperation
The year 2015 will mark the 25th anniversary of the date when the United Nations Convention on Children’s Rights took effect. This Convention led to a change in paradigm, with children ceasing to be viewed as subjects requiring protection to becoming regarded as subjects of Law.
Throughout these 25 years, States have gradually assumed this change in paradigm, and little by little they have changed their legislation, establishing strategies, plans and programs so that Children’s Rights would be respected. The commitments taken on have meant important steps in guaranteeing the rights of boys and girls to survival, health care, education and access to a protective environment in which they are defended from exploitation, abuse and violence.
Nevertheless, this path has not been devoid of obstacles and difficulties, and these regulatory frameworks and policies will remain mere empty promises if they are not translated into budget allocations and efficient public spending aimed at the protection of children’s rights.
In a context in which the worldwide crisis has placed new pressures upon both family economies and public finances, and therefore on the true materialization of children’s rights, in both developed and developing countries, the speakers analyze the advancements and challenges yet to be faced in order to make children’s rights a reality in Arab countries and protect those rights.
The conference is being held within the framework of the Regional Consultation among the Arab countries in the Middle East and North Africa organized by Casa Árabe and the United Nations Committee on Children’s Rights, with the cooperation of UNICEF, at Casa Árabe in Madrid.
New strategy on childhood implemented by Spanish Cooperation
Amal Aldoseri
Ms. Aldoseri is the Vice-President of the United Nations Committee on Children’s Rights. She has been the President of the Parliamentary Project for Youth in Bahrain and Director of the National Strategy for Youth at the General Organization for Youth and Sports in her country. This strategy was given two awards by the International Council for National Youth Policies (ICNYP) in Vienna in 2004. Prior to that, Aldoseri was the Director of the Department for Childhood at that organization. She also headed the team which prepared the initial report of the Kingdom of Bahrain for the International Commission of the Convention on the Rights of Children (CRC) in Geneva in 2001, and she led the national survey which would be presented at the Special United Nations Session for Children in 2002. She later headed the Committee for the National Strategy on Childhood of Bahrain’s Ministry of Social Development and was named a member of the United Nations Committee on Children’s Rights.
Shamman J. Thapa
Mr. Thapa is a specialist on social policy of the Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa of UNICEF in Amman. His work is aimed mainly at providing technical support to the 16 offices which UNICEF has in the region, strengthening the collection of evidence on child poverty and inequalities and contributing to the design of key policies in response to these problems, above all through forms of social protection that are sensitive to children, and social and financing policies that are more equitable in terms of children, in such a way that they can improve children’s welfare. In the past, Thapa worked at UNICEF’s offices in Vietnam and Cambodia, as well as the Regional Office for Eastern Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok. He has a Master’s degree in International Development and International Economics from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
Jorge Cardona Llorens
Mr. Cardona Llorens is a professor of Public International Law at the University of Valencia and is a member of the United Nations Committee on Children’s Rights, a body with 18 members from different countries responsible for supervising the enforcement of the Convention on Children’s Rights in those countries which have ratified it. Cardona was elected in 2010, re-elected in 2014 and is the first Spaniard ever in this entity. The author of over one hundred scientific works on International Public Law, his contribution to the Committee’s work has been seen in talks and essays on children with disabilities, with a highlight on the right to participate and the perspective of enforcing guarantees for boys and girls as subjects of Law instead of objects of Law. In other words, children should not just be viewed as passive recipients of protection, but rather they should be seen as possessing the right to make decisions.
Ms. Aldoseri is the Vice-President of the United Nations Committee on Children’s Rights. She has been the President of the Parliamentary Project for Youth in Bahrain and Director of the National Strategy for Youth at the General Organization for Youth and Sports in her country. This strategy was given two awards by the International Council for National Youth Policies (ICNYP) in Vienna in 2004. Prior to that, Aldoseri was the Director of the Department for Childhood at that organization. She also headed the team which prepared the initial report of the Kingdom of Bahrain for the International Commission of the Convention on the Rights of Children (CRC) in Geneva in 2001, and she led the national survey which would be presented at the Special United Nations Session for Children in 2002. She later headed the Committee for the National Strategy on Childhood of Bahrain’s Ministry of Social Development and was named a member of the United Nations Committee on Children’s Rights.
Shamman J. Thapa
Mr. Thapa is a specialist on social policy of the Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa of UNICEF in Amman. His work is aimed mainly at providing technical support to the 16 offices which UNICEF has in the region, strengthening the collection of evidence on child poverty and inequalities and contributing to the design of key policies in response to these problems, above all through forms of social protection that are sensitive to children, and social and financing policies that are more equitable in terms of children, in such a way that they can improve children’s welfare. In the past, Thapa worked at UNICEF’s offices in Vietnam and Cambodia, as well as the Regional Office for Eastern Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok. He has a Master’s degree in International Development and International Economics from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
Jorge Cardona Llorens
Mr. Cardona Llorens is a professor of Public International Law at the University of Valencia and is a member of the United Nations Committee on Children’s Rights, a body with 18 members from different countries responsible for supervising the enforcement of the Convention on Children’s Rights in those countries which have ratified it. Cardona was elected in 2010, re-elected in 2014 and is the first Spaniard ever in this entity. The author of over one hundred scientific works on International Public Law, his contribution to the Committee’s work has been seen in talks and essays on children with disabilities, with a highlight on the right to participate and the perspective of enforcing guarantees for boys and girls as subjects of Law instead of objects of Law. In other words, children should not just be viewed as passive recipients of protection, but rather they should be seen as possessing the right to make decisions.