FMSI submits reports on four countries to the UN
On Oct. 4, FMSI submitted four new reports regarding different issues that affect children’s rights to the Human Rights Council after a six-month preparation from several Marist teams from the provinces of America Central and Compostela.
The Human Rights Council will review these countries next May.
The reports include issues such as early pregnancy, poor education for children with disabilities and the effects of the socio-political crisis in Nicaragua.
Reports on Portugal showed a need in the country to strengthen the national protection system for vulnerable children.
In Costa Rica, it was revealed that the youth disengage early from the educational system, violence, and the need for institutional coordination to guarantee the rights of the child.
In Ivory Coast, issues were unveiled regarding problems with juvenile justice in a report prepared by BICE, which was supported by FMSI.
During the next few months, FMSI and BICE will organise lobbying opportunities before the diplomatic corps at the embassies in their respective capitals and in their permanent missions in Geneva to present their recommendations.
These encounters also strengthen Marist partnerships with organizations like Franciscans International, Edmund Rice International, International Catholic Child Bureau (BICE) and many other national organisations.
Universal Periodic Review
It is a process carried out by the Human Rights Council (HRC).
It consists of the periodic review of the fulfillment of human rights in each of the member states of the United Nations. This process consists of the following phases:
- The State presents the report about human rights in the country;
- Exam and Interactive Dialogue between the State under review and the States party to the CHR and the observer States
- Adoption of the HRC report – Non-Governmental Organisations can address the State and members of the HRC orally
- The last phase involves both the State and NGOs and National Human Rights Institutes interested in implementing the recommendations.
This process constitutes a cycle that lasts four and a half years, so when this period ends the State is again examined by those who make up the HRC.
FMSI has participated in the elaboration of 44 reports, with the cooperation of other NGOs or alone (13 in America, two in Europe, 13 in Africa, nine in Oceania and seven in Asia).