ASEAN Dialogue on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

General Comments

11-12 December 2019 | Metro Manila, Philippines

Dialogue Proceedings

An original publication of AICHR Philippines

Copyright 2020

Produced through the support of the Norwegian Mission to ASEAN

Editor
Child Rights Coalition Asia

Writer
Leni Velasco

Layout
Irish Flores

Photocopies and reproductions of excerpts are allowed with proper

credits.

This material is printed on recycled paper using soy ink.

 THE ASEAN DIALOGUE ON THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD GENERAL COMMENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Abbreviations 6

Executive Summary 7
Introduction 8

UN CRC GENERAL COMMENTS 25

GENERAL COMMENT NO. 14 – BEST INTEREST OF THE CHILD 31

Dialogue Discussion Points 39

Good Practices and Challenges in Implementing the 43

Principle of the Best Interest of the Child
Children’s Rights in the Context of ASEAN Economic Integration and 44
Immigration Proceedings
Children Exposed to Domestic Violence, Either as Witnesses or Victims 63
Dialogue Discussion Points 68
Adolescent Health Care: Ensuring a Right, the Right Way 71
Children in Situations of Vulnerability 75
Dialogue Discussion Points 78

GENERAL COMMENT NO. 12 – RIGHT OF THE CHILD TO BE HEARD 81

Dialogue Discussion Points 86

Good Practices and Challenges in Implementing Child Participation 89

The Right to be Heard in Judicial and Administrative Proceedings 90
The Right to be Heard in International Settings 92
Dialogue Discussion Points 97
A Child's Perspective 99
Dialogue Discussion Points 100

UPDATES FROM THE COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD 103

Dialogue Discussion Points 106

EXHIBIT, PERFORMANCE, AND WORKSHOP 109

Exhibit of Children’s Illustrations on the UN CRC 110
Performance 110
Workshop: Ways Forward 111

List of Attendees 120

Annex 122
 THE ASEAN DIALOGUE ON THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD GENERAL COMMENTS

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ACWC ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights
of Women and Children

AICHR ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights

AMS ASEAN Member States

ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations

CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination

against Women

CRC Asia Child Rights Coalition Asia

CRC Committee Committee on the Rights of a Child

CSOs Civil society organizations

ILO International Labour Organization

NGOs Non-government organizations

OPAC Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on

the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict

OPIC Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on

a Communications Procedure

OPSC Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on

the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography

SDGs Sustainable Development Goals

UN United Nations

UN CRC United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

VAC Violence against Children

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 THE ASEAN DIALOGUE ON THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD GENERAL COMMENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
On 11-12 December 2019, stakeholders from ASEAN Member States and its partners gathered
in Metro Manila, Philippines for the ASEAN Dialogue on the United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child (UN CRC) General Comments, which aims to uphold the UN CRC by providing
a venue for the target beneficiaries to develop a deeper understanding on child rights as guided
by the General Comments.

Organized by the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), led

by AICHR Philippines in partnership with Child Rights Coalition Asia and with the support of
the Norwegian Mission to ASEAN, the Dialogue focused on General Comments that provide
guidance on two of the four principles of child rights: General Comment No. 14 (2013) on the
right of the child to have his or her best interests taken as a primary consideration and General
Comment No. 12 (2009) on the right of the child to be heard.

The Dialogue started with a presentation on the background information on General

Comments, which are authoritative interpretations of the UN CRC and serve as guidelines on the
implementation of the convention. Afterwards, with the help of the United Nations Committee on
the Rights of the Child, the salient features of the General Comments were discussed, supported
by case studies and actual experiences in order to better understand the advice and application
of the General Comments.

General Comment No. 14 explains that the “best interests of the child” is a right, a principle, and
a rule of procedure that should be the primary consideration, not only of parents and caregivers,
but also of all those concerned with the adoption of laws, policies, strategies, budgets, and
other child rights implementation measures. One procedural safeguard in implementing the
best interest of the child is the conduct of child rights impact assessments before and after the
creation of laws and policies relevant to children.

General Comment No. 12 expresses that UN CRC Article 12 on the right of the child to be heard
is a clear acknowledgement that children also have rights which they can claim and exercise,
such as their civil, political, economic, and socio-cultural rights. Although the UN CRC does not
explicitly mention “participation” in its text, “child participation” is now widely used to describe
ongoing processes with three important components: Sharing information to children in a way
that they understand; Dialogue between children and adults done on an equal basis and with
mutual respect; and Feedback to children.

To deepen the understanding on the General Comments, presenters from government, civil
society, and the academe, shared the good practices and the challenges in implementing the
child rights principles in certain settings and situations. The session on the best interest of the
child included discussions on children’s rights in the context of economic integration; children
in immigration proceedings; children exposed to domestic violence; children’s right to health
during the period of adolescence; and children in situations of vulnerability. For the child
participation session, good practices and challenges were shared on the rights of the child to be
heard in judicial and administrative proceedings and in international settings. A child speaker
also shared her experience in speaking out for her rights and the rights of her peers.

During the presentations, speakers identified a few key issues on the implementation of the
principles (See “A Few Key Issues” boxes). The open forum also brought out a multitude of insights,
challenges, and action points that could be referred to by ASEAN Member States for future
action (See “Dialogue Discussion Points” sections). In addition, the Dialogue held a workshop,
which resulted in recommendations to several stakeholders including AICHR and other ASEAN
Sectoral Bodies (See “Workshop: Ways Forward” section). Some of these recommendations
and future action points include the withdrawal of reservations on the UN CRC; strengthening
of collaboration between AICHR, ACWC, civil society, and children; and conduct of regional
forums to improve the understanding on and implementation of the General Comments and
Concluding Observations.

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INTRODUCTION
In 2019, the world commemorated the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the United
Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN CRC). The Convention, a global act
of unity to secure the rights of all children, was adopted by the United Nations (UN)
General Assembly on 20 November 1989. To this day, it remains to be the most widely
and swiftly ratified international human rights agreement.

In 1995, even when Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar had yet to become members of
ASEAN, all the current ten Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) already ratified or acceded to the UN CRC, binding themselves to its 54 Articles
to respect, protect, and fulfill a full range of rights for all children. The UN CRC is the first
human rights treaty ratified by all the ASEAN Member States (AMS). Since then, the
AMS, together and individually, have made significant progress in improving the lives of
millions of children across the region.

The AMS’ commitments to the UN CRC are reaffirmed and reflected in several ASEAN
regional instruments, such as the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration, Declaration on
the Commitments for Children in ASEAN, Ha Noi Declaration on the Enhancement
of Welfare and Development of ASEAN Women and Children, Declaration on the
Elimination of Violence against Women and Elimination of Violence against Children
in ASEAN, and the ASEAN Regional Plan of Action on the Elimination of Violence
against Children, among others.

With more than a third (34.8%) of its population aged 19 years below, ASEAN has
declared that children belong to the vulnerable group whose rights are “inalienable,
integral, and indivisible part of human rights and fundamental freedoms” (ASEAN
Human Rights Declaration General Principle No. 4). While there are significant steps
taken by the AMS to bring about positive changes to child rights issues, like many
other issues, ASEAN recognizes child rights issues are continuously evolving and
requires continuous discussions and updating.

At the international level, these emerging child rights issues are addressed and
discussed in instruments such as the UN CRC Optional Protocols and the General
Comments. At the moment, the UN CRC has the Optional Protocol on the Involvement
of Children in Armed Conflict (OPAC), the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children,
Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography (OPSC), and the Optional Protocol on a
Communications Procedure (OPIC or OP3 CRC).

The General Comments issued by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC
Committee) are authoritative interpretations of the articles in the UN CRC and its
Optional Protocols. They aim to address what the CRC Committee sees as systematic
violations, misunderstood provisions, or emerging issues relevant to children’s rights.
These General Comments should be used to assist the State Parties in implementing
the UN CRC and in preparing its reports to the CRC Committee. As of September
2019, the CRC Committee has issued 24 General Comments.

Both the Optional Protocols and General Comments aim to address the evolving
child rights issues. The ASEAN, faced with challenges in child rights issues, needs to
revisit and be updated on these to better safeguard the welfare and development of
children in Southeast Asia. The said instruments, when considered and adapted to
the regional characteristics of ASEAN and to the national situations of the AMS, shall
contribute to the full realization of the rights of millions of children in the region.

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ABOUT THE DIALOGUE

On 11-12 December 2019, the ASEAN
Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights
(AICHR) conducted the ASEAN Dialogue on the
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the
Child General Comments in Manila, Philippines. It
was led by AICHR Philippines in partnership with
Child Rights Coalition Asia (CRC Asia) and with the
support of the Norwegian Mission to ASEAN.

Objectives

The main objective of the Dialogue is to uphold the UN CRC by providing a venue
for the target beneficiaries to develop a deeper understanding on child rights as
guided by the General Comments.

Specifically, the project aims to:

• Share good practices and challenges in implementing General Comment
No. 14 and General Comment No. 12;
• Meet and explore ways to have a closer collaboration, cooperation, and
coordination between ASEAN and the CRC Committee; and
• Share the Dialogue results to concerned stakeholders at the country-level.

In the short-term, the Dialogue is expected to provide new and relevant information
for the participants and to identify possible ways forward or action points that may be
used as basis for the next projects of AICHR and/or other ASEAN Sectoral Bodies. In the
long-term, the impacts of the project are expected to reflect on the State reports of the
AMS to the UN CRC, as well as in the regional and national level actions to implement
the UN CRC.

This Dialogue is a continuation of the

project ASEAN Dialogue on the United
Nations Convention on the Rights of the
Child and Its Related Instruments organized
by AICHR in Manila, Philippines in October
2018, and the AICHR-ASEAN Commission
on the Promotion and Protection of the
Rights of Women and Children (ACWC)
Training Workshop on the UN CRC held in
Singapore in July 2017.

In the previous dialogues, recommendations

were made to popularize the UN CRC Scan to view the
General Comments and to strengthen the proceedings of the
collaboration and cooperation between 2018 ASEAN Dialogue
on the UN Convention
ASEAN and the CRC Committee. on the Rights of the
Child and Its Related
Instruments

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ASEAN INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMMISSION

ON HUMAN RIGHTS
The AICHR is a regional human rights body that reflects the commitment of
ASEAN to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms. It
was established in 2009 and is composed of one representative from each of
the ASEAN Member States

The ASEAN Dialogue on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child General Comments
was conducted in accordance with the following:

AICHR Mandates

4.3. To enhance public awareness of human rights among the peoples of ASEAN
through education, research and dissemination of information
4.4. To promote capacity building for the effective implementation of international
human rights treaty obligations undertaken by ASEAN Member States

AICHR Work Plan 2016-2020

4.4.3 Design and organize and annual thematic workshop

4.4.4 Design and organize annually specific courses for target groups

ASEAN Political-Security Community Blueprint 2025

[Link]. Encourage ASEAN Member States to enhance engagement with the United
Nations and relevant human rights mechanisms to which ASEAN Member States are
parties, including on the Universal Periodic Review and relevant Treaty Bodies as well
as share experiences and best practices;
[Link]. Encourage coordination and consultation among relevant ASEAN Organs
and Bodies with a view to enhancing the implementation of the AHRD, the Ha Noi
Declaration on the Enhancement of Welfare and Development of ASEAN Women
and Children as well as the Bali Declaration on the Enhancement of the Role and
Participation of Persons with Disabilities in the ASEAN Community, while maintaining
their respective reporting lines

ASEAN Human Rights Declaration

27. (3). No child or any young person shall be subjected to economic and social
exploitation. Those who employ children and young people in work harmful to their
morals or health, dangerous to life, or likely to hamper their normal development,
including their education should be punished by law. ASEAN Member States should also
set age limits below which the paid employment of child labour should be prohibited.

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30. (2). Special protection should be accorded to mothers during a reasonable period
determined by national laws and regulations before and after childbirth. During such
period, working mothers should be accorded paid leave or leave with adequate security
benefits.

30. (3). Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. Every
child, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same protection.

31. (2). Primary education shall be compulsory and made available free to all. Secondary
education in its different forms shall be available and accessible to all through every
appropriate means. Technical and vocational education shall be made generally available.
Higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

31. (3). Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality
and the sense of his or her dignity. Education shall strengthen the respect for human
rights and fundamental freedoms in ASEAN Member States. Furthermore, education
shall enable all persons to participate effectively in their respective societies, promote
understanding, tolerance and friendship among nations, racial and religious groups, and
enhance the activities of ASEAN for maintenance of peace.

ATTENDEES

The Dialogue was attended by the participants from the following bodies, sectors, and
fields:

AICHR representatives from Philippines and Thailand

ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC)
Representatives on Children’s Rights
ASEAN Secretariat
ASEAN Sectoral Bodies
National Ministries of Foreign Affairs
National Ministries on Education
National Coordination Bodies on Children’s Rights
National Legislator Representative
Embassy of Norway to the Philippines
Embassy of Malaysia to the Philippines
Royal Thai Embassy Manila
Civil Society Organizations

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SPEAKERS
H.E. Elizabeth P. Buensuceso
Ambassador and Representative of the Philippines to the
ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights
H.E. Elizabeth Buensuceso delivered the keynote of the Secretary
of Foreign Affairs, Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. The message highlighted
the importance of sharing best practices and challenged the
participants to find more ways to interpret and implement the
Convention’s core objective of promoting and protecting children’s rights. In her
Closing Remarks, Ambassador Buensuceso committed to report the results of the
dialogue, along with the recommendations from the participants, to relevant policy
makers and stakeholders. Ambassador Buensuceso also encouraged the participants to
communicate the dialogue’s recommendations to their stakeholders.

Undersecretary Florita Villar

Department of Social Welfare and Development
(Philippines)
Undersecretary Villar delivered the special message of the
Secretary of Social Welfare and Development, affirming the
importance of working with the global community to uphold
the rights of the child. The Department, which serves as the lead
social protection agency of the country, is committed to always put premium to the
children’s best interest by formulating and implementing its own child protection policy,
conducting children’s conferences and youth development sessions, and providing
technical assistance and resource augmentation to the local councils for the protection
of children, among others.

Undersecretary Josephine Maribojoc

Department of Education (Philippines)
Undersecretary Maribojoc conveyed the story behind the artwork
exhibits of the children who participated in the workshop on the
rights of the child. She mentioned that the displayed drawings are
candid depictions of the questions, thoughts, and aspirations of
these children.

Atty. Mikiko Otani

Member, United Nations Committee on the Rights
of the Child
Atty. Otani presented the salient features of General Comment
No. 14 on the best interest of the child and General Comment No.
12 on the right of the child to be heard. She explained the key
concepts and texts in the UN CRC and the General Comments by
providing background information in the drafting process, presenting case studies, and
sharing the experiences of the CRC Committee in monitoring the implementation of
these rights. In addition, Atty. Otani provided updates on the work of the CRC Committee.

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H.E. Bjørn Staurset Jahnsen

Norwegian Ambassador to the Philippines
In his opening remarks, Ambassador Jahnsen emphasized that
empowering children and young people is a good investment
as it fosters the development of active citizens. He proudly said
that Norway is at the forefront of international efforts to uphold
children’s rights by, among others, ensuring compliance with the
UN CRC and establishing and maintaining independent institutions that children can
turn to and speak out for them.

Prof. Dato’ Noor Aziah Mohd. Awal

Commissioner for Child Affairs, SUHAKAM (Malaysia)
Prof. Awal’s presentation centered on the pluralistic legal system
in Malaysia and how it affects the implementation of the best
interest of the child in custody and divorce cases involving Muslims,
non-Muslims, and natives of some states. She also provided a
background on child protection legislations in Malaysia, specifically
focusing on Child Act 2001 and its amendments.

Dr. Seree Nonthasoot

Former Thailand Representative to the
ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights
Dr. Nonthasoot emphasized the importance of incorporating
child rights in the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 by presenting
AICHR’s child rights impact assessment of the ASEAN Community
Blueprints. He brought particular attention to the impact of free
trade agreements on children. Furthermore, Dr. Nonthasoot discussed the situation of
children in immigration and asylum-seeking proceedings and the need to implement
alternatives to detention in AMS.

Ms. Ericka
Child Advocate, Children Talk to Children
Ericka shared her experience as a child advocate since she was
12 years old. She continuously joins child rights-based activities
that allow her to see child rights in different ways. The constant
engagements also opened more opportunities for her to speak,
recommend, and listen to children’s issues. Her most recent
engagement at the international level is when she attended the 30th anniversary
commemoration of the UN CRC in Geneva as a panelist and keynote speaker. As a child
advocate, Ericka believes that having children in discussions and letting them speak is
a solution itself.

Ms. Amihan Abueva

Regional Executive Director, Child Rights Coalition Asia
In her opening remarks, Ms. Abueva expressed hope that this
process of dialogue with the governments, CRC Committee, civil
society, and a child representative would lead to the advancement
of the implementation of child rights. Ms. Abueva, at the latter
part of the Dialogue, also talked about the 2019 Asian Children’s
Summit as one of the experiences in upholding the rights of the child in international
setting.

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Ms. Hazelyn Joy Bitaña

Program Manager, Child Rights Coalition Asia

To level off the understanding of the participants on General

Comments at the start of the Dialogue, Ms. Bitaña discussed the
purpose, process of development, and implementation of the UN
CRC General Comments. Later on, she also presented the efforts
to uphold child participation in the planning, implementation, and
follow-up and evaluation of the CRC Committee’s 2019 Day of General Discussion on
children as human rights defenders.

Dr. Emma Llanto

President, Philippine Society of Adolescent Medicine
Specialists
Dr. Llanto underscored the importance of investing in adolescents
through providing access to health care. Part of her discussion is
about the science of the adolescent brain and how this should be
taken into consideration when making laws and policies involving
children. Dr. Llanto also shared the programs of Silid Kandugan – Teen Moms Clinic based
in the Philippine General Hospital. The clinic uses a human rights-based approach to
adolescent girls and boys in early pregnancy and parenthood.

Dr. Hartini Zainudin

Co-Founder, Yayasan Chow Kit
Dr. Zainudin presented the work of Yayasan Chow Kit (Chow Kit
Foundation) as an example of implementing the best interests of
children in situations of vulnerability. The Foundation strives to
address the gaps on child protection services in Chow Kit, a suburb
in central Kuala Lumpur. It provides direct services and programs
to children to ensure that they get positive opportunities that allow
them to reach their full potential.

Dr. Farah Nini Dusuki

Senior Lecturer of the Faculty of Law, University of Malaysia
Dr. Dusuki shared the legislations in Malaysia that have child
participation elements in the judicial and administrative
proceedings. For instance, Malaysia’s Evidence of Child Witness
Act 2007 provides optional mechanisms to support a child witness/
victim in testifying or producing evidence. One of the challenges,
however, is that the existing mechanisms are not being utilized by the service providers.

Ms. Maria May-i Fabros

Overall Moderator/Facilitator
Ms. Fabros of the Department of Foreign Affairs moderated the
two-day Dialogue.

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WELCOME REMARKS

H.E. Ambassador Elizabeth P. Buensuceso

Representative of the Philippines to the AICHR
Atty. Mikiko Otani, member of the United Nations Committee on the
Rights of the Child, Ambassador Bjørn Staurset Jahnsen, Special
Envoy of the President to UNICEF Monica Prieto-Teodoro, Prof.
Dato’ Noor Aziah Mohd. Awal, Commissioner for Child Affairs of
SUHAKAM , Undersecretary Florita Villar (DSWD), Undersecretary
Josephine Maribojoc (DepEd), representatives of the ASEAN Intergovernmental
Commission on Human Rights, members of the Diplomatic Corps, distinguished guests,
colleagues, ASEAN sisters and brothers, a very good morning to you all.

First of all, let me extend to you a very warm welcome to the Philippines and let me greet
all of us a Happy International Human Rights Day, which we celebrated yesterday. Our
activity, the ASEAN Dialogue on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the
Child¸ also comes at an opportune time as we commemorate the 30th anniversary of the
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. As you know, the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most widely ratified international human
rights agreement. It is also the first convention ratified by all ASEAN Member States.

Today’s Dialogue will take stock of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the
Child by focusing the discussions on the UN CRC General Comments issued by the
United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child as authoritative interpretations of
the UN CRC articles and their Optional Protocols. We will have exciting and productive
sessions on General Comment 14 on the right of the child to have his or her best interests
taken as a primary consideration; and on General Comment No. 12 on the right of the
child to be heard.

We have in our roster of speakers, resource persons, and delegations from

member states of ASEAN and other countries, authoritative experts in the field
of advocating, promoting and protecting the rights of children. If you noticed in
your registration earlier today, you were asked to abide by the Child Safeguarding
Protocol and Conduct. This is because participating with us in this Dialogue is
a child herself, 16-year old Ericka of VIDES Philippine Volunteers Foundation
Inc. Ms. Ericka will share with us her experience as a child rights advocate.

I enjoin you to ask questions, share your experiences and expertise and suggest ways
forward in implementing the CRC even as we acknowledge that our children now live
in a complex world with more complicated challenges, but at the same time, are more
cognizant of the need to provide space for children to live out their full potentials.

We will also witness a cultural performance by dancers from the Philippine National
School for the Blind, of the Tinikling, the Philippine national dance, to showcase that
our advocacy for the rights of children is also inclusive of those who would otherwise
be marginalized in society. We also mounted a mini-exhibit of the artwork of children to
teach us their interpretation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Thank you for joining the Philippines in advancing the rights of the child in the region.
Mabuhay.

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KEYNOTE MESSAGE

H. E. Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr.

Secretary, Department of Foreign Affairs

Mabuhay and welcome to the Philippines!

Today, we mark the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention
on the Rights of the Child, one of the most widely ratified international human rights
treaties covering the worse imaginable human rights violation — that of children — in the
history of human cruelty.

Your presence today for the ASEAN Dialogue on the United Nations Convention on
the Rights of the Child General Comments proves the importance we all give to the
protection of children. It is a top priority of the Philippines and of ASEAN.

With the help of our partners, this Dialogue will sharpen the focus on child rights in the
midst of new and rising threats that confront children of this and future generations,
wherever they may be.

While ASEAN has collectively advanced the rights of the child through:

• The Regional Plan of Action on the Elimination of Violence Against Children;

• The Declaration on the Protection of Children from all Forms of Online Exploitation
and Abuse;
• The Declaration on the Rights of Children in the Context of Migration; and
• The Joint Statement on Reaffirmation of Commitment to Advancing the Rights of
the Child in ASEAN

All these will not be enough for the 200 million children in ASEAN who live in a changing
world, where violence and exploitation against children persist in new forms; in the worst
of which the Philippines is a hub: child pornography under the auspices of their parents.
This is all the miracle that the Internet has brought our country; alongside the infinitely
faster and easier spread of lies and distortions, among the far less discriminating
credulity of the Filipino public taking its news online.

The protection measures we had in place for our children 30 years ago are now
inadequate and ineffective. Changing values, new tactics in the war against basic
humanity — because animals do not abuse their children but rather protect them; and
new far more pernicious forms of slavery generated by the more indiscriminate and cruel
wars of the 21st century; along with advances in digital technology that increase the
vulnerability of children to be misled and abused; all these call for a major reappraisal of
the methods of combating child abuse. In my view it should be in the direction of greater
severity against the malefactors. There is no evil but bad people are behind it.

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Use this year’s Dialogue to discuss and reflect on these changes that threaten the lives
and well-being of our children.

Share best practices that have saved many of them from abuse and neglect.

Find more ways to interpret and implement the provisions of the Convention in a way
that gives meaning to the Convention’s core objective of promoting and protecting
children’s rights.

Reaffirm our commitment to eliminate pockets of exclusion that continue to exist for our
children.

And let’s all join hands to create a world where my children’s children and their children
grow up happy, healthy, schooled, and safe.

I congratulate AICHR Philippines and CRC Asia, and thank Norway especially, for
spearheading this important exercise and commend all of you for ensuring a fruitful
Dialogue to protect the children of ASEAN.

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SPECIAL MESSAGE

Hon. Rolando Joselito D. Bautista

Secretary, Department of Social Welfare and
Development

His Excellency Ambassador Bjørn Jahnsen, Her Excellency Ambassador Elizabeth

Buensuceso, Philippine Representative to the AICHR, Her Excellency Monica Prieto
Teodoro, the Special Envoy of the Philippines to UNICEF, Ms. Amihan Abueva, Atty. Mikiko
Otani from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, other distinguished guests
and panelists, representatives from the national government agencies, non-government
organizations, civil society organizations of the Philippines and other ASEAN countries,
fellow child advocates, ladies and gentlemen, a pleasant morning to all of you.

It is a great honor and privilege to be invited to deliver a message for this milestone
gathering as we commemorate the 30th anniversary of the adoption by the UN General
Assembly of the UN CRC. As the lead social protection agency in the Philippines, the
Department of Social Welfare and Development affirms the importance of working
together with the global community, especially with the other ASEAN Member States
in upholding the rights of children, and as a signatory to the UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, the Philippines has worked hand in hand with various child advocacy
groups, civil society organizations as well as with the children’s sector in promoting and
protecting the rights of children.

As part of our mandate, the DSWD formulated its child protection policy in the workplace
and in its seventy-one residential and nonresidential facilities all over the country,
thereby sending a clear message to its officials and personnel that child protection is
everybody’s responsibility and priority.

Likewise, this policy reflects the Department’s commitment to always put premium to the
children’s best interests through the implementation of child-friendly policies, programs,
projects, and services that are responsive to the ever-changing needs of our children.
The Department also recognizes that children should be given opportunities to articulate
their needs, concerns, and aspirations.

At the ASEAN level, all the ten Member States participate in the conduct of ASEAN
Children’s Forum. This is one of the best, if not the best, today which is a form of enabling
children to be heard. This forum serves as a venue for children from ASEAN Member
States to participate in the ASEAN community building by 2015. This is also a forum for
children to express their views and pursue their aspirations on issues affecting their lives
and other regional issues of their interest, and also for them to enhance their capabilities
as children leaders and representatives of their generation.

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In the Philippines, the Council for the Welfare of Children leads in the conduct of
the Philippine National Children’s Conference. It is the counterpart of the ASEAN
Children’s Forum at the ASEAN level, which is a biennial gathering of children from all
over the country involving the 17 regions wherein children are gathered and provided
opportunities to discuss issues affecting them and the proposed courses of actions
addressed to national government, local government, the community leaders, the
parents, and the children’s sector.

On the part of the DSWD in 2016, the Department started to implement the Youth
Development Sessions for high school students who are beneficiaries of Pantawid
Pamilya Pilipino Program or in other countries this is known as the conditional cash
transfer. This is one of the biggest programs of the country led by the Department of
Social Welfare and Development.

The topics discussed are envisioned to address the challenges faced by Philippine
adolescents and what can be done by various stakeholders, including the children
themselves. Relatedly in this year’s celebration of the National Children’s Month which
is observed every November, a Children’s Congress participated by children of 4Ps or
CCT families was held and the focus was on poverty, issues affecting them, and their
recommendations addressed to the various stakeholders.

Moreover, at the local government level, the local social welfare and development
offices, which are the frontline implementers of social welfare and development policies,
programs, and services, are provided with the needed technical assistance and resource
augmentation to ensure that, among others, the local councils for the protection of
children are functional. We recognize that these councils are primarily the partners of
the national government agencies in directly protecting and promoting the rights and
welfare of children.

For the next two days, we shall be sharing and discussing our experiences which may
include good practices as well as challenges, updates, and our recommendations.

Let me congratulate in advance the organizers and the participants of this Dialogue for
this opportunity to enhance our understanding of the UN CRC with focus on the two
General Comments – General Comment No. 12 on the right of the child to be heard and
General Comment No. 14 on the right of the child to have his or her best interests taken
as primary consideration.

I will close with a challenge to all of us, including myself. This is based on the theme of the
Asia-Pacific Decade for Persons with Disabilities. To all of us here in attendance, I would
like to leave this message for today and tomorrow: Let us try to continue discussing and
exerting efforts to make the rights of our children real.

With that, thank you, God bless, and magandang umaga, again, sa inyo!

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REMARKS

H.E. Bjørn Staurset Jahnsen

Norwegian Ambassador to the Philippines

Excellencies, members of the ASEAN, distinguished guests and their friends, the
Convention on the Rights of the Child sets out that all children have fundamental rights
relating to survival, participation, development, and protection against discrimination.

I am proud to say that Norway is at the forefront of international efforts to protect

children’s rights and ensure compliance with the UN Conventions and other international
instruments relating to children.

In my country, Norway, we have a tradition that children and young people should be
heard in matters that affect them. This means that we also emphasize this as policy. The
importance of establishing and maintaining independent institutions that children can
turn to and speak out for them.

The Convention has been ratified by almost every country in the world as was mentioned.
But a number of countries has made extensive reservations. There have been positive
developments in recent years on key areas of education and survival. However,
challenges remain.

Twenty-five years after the Convention was adopted, a huge number of children are still
living in conditions that are far below standards set. The universality of the Convention
on the Rights of the Child must be upheld. All governments must be held accountable
for realizing children’s rights through legislation and by establishing the necessary
institutional mechanisms.

Governments must ensure that children and young people are protected against
violence, abuse, exploitation, and recruitment to armed groups. They must give priority
to safeguarding children’s rights to survival, development, and education when they
allocate resources.

So, dear friends, it is important that measures here in the ASEAN region and even globally
target the poorest and marginalized children, and that children and young people have
the opportunity to participate, to express their opinions, and to organize themselves in
order to promote their interests and define their needs.

Norway’s intensified efforts to promote education will improve the realization of children’s
rights such as the opportunity to participate and will increase children’s awareness of
human rights. When children are kept out of school or when schools failed to achieve
adequate learning outcomes, this is a fundamental violation of children’s rights with far-
reaching social and economic impacts.

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In order to ensure that our efforts to reach all children who are still out-of-school or not
learning enough in school, my government is giving particular priority to girls, children
with disabilities, and children in crisis and conflict situations. These groups account
for most of those who do not have opportunities for personal development through
education.

I would like to share Norway’s three priorities. First, we want to strengthen the
implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, for instance, by
incorporating the Convention into national legislation. We want to ensure that children
are protected in armed conflicts and combat violence against children. We want to help
all children to have the same opportunity to start and complete school so that all children
and young people can learn basic skills and are equipped to tackle adult life.

Lastly, as your Filipino national hero once said, “The youth are the hope and the
future.” Empowering children and young people is a good investment as it fosters the
development of active citizens who can assert the social, economic and political rights.

So, with those words I just want to say salamat po! Thank you!

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REMARKS

Ms. Amihan Abueva

Regional Executive Director, Child Rights
Coalition Asia

Good morning everyone, your excellencies, and friends from various countries. We are
very happy to welcome you to Manila.

The Child Rights Coalition Asia aims to work very closely with governments and also
strengthen the role of civil society organizations. In the past years, CRC Asia has really
made it a point to create more opportunities for children to express their views and to
make sure that those views of children are really taken seriously and also included in the
discussions about laws, policies, and programs.

We are very happy to help organize this event. As you know, the General Comments
are quite numerous. There are already 25 General Comments. We are going to be
discussing two of the General Comments. But we feel that the two Comments that we
are going to discuss this time are very important – the best interests of children as well as
the children’s right to participate.

CRC Asia hopes to work more closely with the AICHR, ACWC, and the various ASEAN
bodies as well as with the governments at the national level. CRC Asia is a network of
16 organizations located in 13 countries and territories of Asia. At the moment, we have
been prioritizing our work on public investment for children, for example, making sure
that the promises of governments to implement children’s rights are actually seen in
the way precious resources are used to improve the situation of children. We are also
working on the protection of children online as well as our continuous work on protecting
children from violence, and helping the ASEAN implement the Regional Plan of Action
for the Elimination of Violence against Children.

We are very happy that on this occasion we have both governments as well as civil
society organizations present. We hope that through this Dialogue we can discuss
our experiences as well as share how we are trying to overcome our obstacles on fully
implementing the rights of the child.

This also comes at a very good time because many of our ASEAN countries are about to
present or have just presented their reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
We hope that this process of dialogue with the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the
civil society, and a child representative will help governments to move it forward.

Thank you again for coming and please share your ideas. Thank you very much!

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OVERVIEW: ASEAN AND THE UN CONVENTION

ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

The UN CRC is a universal convention, and is the only treaty ratified by all UN States Parties
except for one. It is the first legally binding international instrument that incorporates the
full range of human rights, including civil, cultural, economic, political, and social rights
of children.

The UN CRC sets out the rights that must be realized for children to develop their
full potential. It reflects a new vision: A child is neither the property of their parents
nor helpless objects of charity. A child is an individual with rights and responsibilities
appropriate to his or her age and stage of development.

The four Guiding Principles of the UN CRC are:

• The right of all children to survival and development;

• The respect for the best interests of the child as a primary consideration in all
decisions relating to children;
• The right of all children to express their views freely on all matters affecting
them; and
• The right of all children to enjoy their rights without discrimination of any kind.

ASEAN AND THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

All ten AMS have ratified the UN CRC,
ASEAN Year of UN CRC
although a few of them have, for
MEMBER STATE Ratification/Accession
various reasons, made reservations or
Brunei Darussalam 27 December 1995 declarations on certain articles. Some of
these reasons are related to the different
Cambodia 15 October 1992
interpretations of the articles and the
Indonesia 5 September 1990 perceived implications of these articles
when applied to the State Party’s local
Lao PDR 8 May 1991 context. Another reason may also be
17 February 1995 that the State Party is not fully confident
Malaysia
in its ability to fulfill the obligation to
Myanmar 15 July 1991 uphold these articles. Nonetheless, a
historical look reveals that the number
Philippines 21 August 1990
of reservations and declarations is
5 October 1995 declining over time. The reservations
Singapore
and declarations that were made during
Thailand 27 March 1992 the date of ratification or accession were
eventually withdrawn.
Viet Nam 28 February 1990

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THE OPTIONAL PROTOCOLS OF THE UN CONVENTION ON THE

RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
Like many other human rights treaties, the UN CRC has Optional Protocols. These are
additional parts to a treaty that can further address something in the original treaty, or
address something not mentioned in the original treaty, such as an issue that did not
exist when the treaty was first adopted.

The Optional Protocols to the UN CRC

• Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (OPAC)
• Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography (OPSC)
• Optional Protocol on a Communications Procedure (OPIC or OP3 CRC)

The first two Optional Protocols require States Parties to submit their initial reports two years upon
ratification of the Optional Protocol, and then the succeeding reports are to be included in the next
UN CRC reports.

What are Optional Protocols?

• They give additional details about the area they discuss and, in turn, expand a state’s
obligations beyond those given in the original treaty.
• They complement and add to existing treaties.
• They are treaties in their own right, and are open to signature, accession, or ratification
by States Parties that are party to the main treaty. As such, they are legally binding on the
individual States Parties that ratified it.
• They should be ratified by the maximum number of Member States to strengthen their
acceptance as a normative standard

THE UN COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

The CRC Committee is a UN body that monitors the implementation of the UN CRC and
its Optional Protocols by States Parties. It is made up of 18 independent experts from a
range of countries.

The CRC Committee holds regular sessions every year to review reports by the States
Parties on their progress in fulfilling their obligations. Once it has reviewed all the
information, it issues Concluding Observations with recommendations that will lead to
the full enjoyment of children’s rights.

Aside from reviewing reports, the CRC Committee also holds the biennial Day of
General Discussion. It is a platform that provides an opportunity to develop a deeper
understanding of the contents and implications and implementation of the UN CRC and
its Optional Protocols. Additionally, the CRC Committee issues ‘General Comments’ or
‘General Recommendations.’ These comments are not specific to a country but provide
guidance to all countries.

UN CRC Article 43 1. For the purpose of examining the progress made by States
Parties in achieving the realization of the obligations undertaken in the present
Convention, there shall be established a Committee on the Rights of the Child,
which shall carry out the functions hereinafter provided.

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 UN CRC
GENERAL
COMMENTS
Presenter:
Introduction: What are General Comments?
Ms. Hazelyn Joy Bitaña
Program Manager
Child Rights Coalition Asia
 THE ASEAN DIALOGUE ON THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD GENERAL COMMENTS

UN CRC GENERAL COMMENTS

The CRC Committee produces General Comments to explain the rights contained
in the UN CRC and its Optional Protocols and to provide guidance with respect to
particular issues.

What are General Comments?

• They help improve
both the way States
Parties write reports and
implement the treaties.

• They are based on

the CRC Committee’s
experiences in monitoring
reports from States
parties and the systematic
violations, misunderstood
provisions, or emerging
issues relevant to the
treaties.

All human rights bodies issue general comments or recommendations.

They are used by some courts (for example, in the UK, South Africa, and Europe) to
interpret the CRC and inform court judgments. They reinforce links of the CRC with
other international instruments such as The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms
of Discrimination Against Women and International Convention on the Protection of the
Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.

The General Comments are prepared by the CRC Committee. The mandate or
authority to make General Comments is based on Article 45 (d) of UN CRC:

“The Committee may make suggestions and general recommendations based

on information received pursuant to articles 44 and 45 of the present Convention.
Such suggestions and general recommendations shall be transmitted to any
State Party concerned and reported to the General Assembly, together with
comments, if any, from States Parties.” (art. 45 (d) of CRC)

Furthermore, the process for drafting and adopting general comments is based on
the GA Resolution 68/268 in 2014:

“Encourages the human rights treaty bodies to develop an aligned consultation

process for the elaboration of general comments that provides for consultation
with States parties in particular and bears in mind the views of other stakeholders
during the elaboration of new general comments.” (para. 14 of GA Resolution
68/268 in 2014)

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The Committee has issued 24 General Comments, the last of which

is on children’s rights in the child justice system. Currently, the
CRC Committee is drafting the General Comment on the rights of the
child in relation to the digital environment.

Why are General Comments important?

The main purpose of a General Comment is to improve the implementation of the UN

CRC, OPAC, and OPSC by increasing understanding of particular provisions, ultimately
helping States Parties fulfill their related obligations. It draws attention to inadequacies
in the implementation of the UN CRC, OPAC, and OPSC. Although not legally binding,
General Comments can make valuable contributions to the development and application
of international law.

General Comments help in strengthening advocacy and in having a framework for

accountability. They show how CRC articles remain relevant to the current situation of
children. The Committee reinforces the links between the rights of the child and other
international instruments by referencing these links in the General Comments.

General Comments should be brought to the attention of relevant government officials

working on these specific areas; circulated to relevant stakeholders; distributed to
judges, lawyers and national human rights institutions; translated into local languages;
and disseminated widely.

The CRC Committee refers to General Comments when developing their Concluding
Observations to the CRC Report. It must be noted that General Comments can affect the
working methods of the CRC Committee. General Comments can be updated later on
(e.g., the General Comment on Juvenile Justice - General Comments 10 and General
Comments 24).

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UN CRC GENERAL COMMENTS

General Comment No. 1 (2001) The Aims of education

General Comment No. 2 (2002) The role of independent national human rights institutions in the
promotion and protection of the rights of the child

General Comment No. 3 (2003) HIV/AIDS and the rights of the child

General Comment No. 4 (2003) Adolescent health and development in the context of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child

General Comment No. 5 (2003) General measures of implementation of the Convention on the
Rights of the Child
General Comment No. 6 (2005) Treatment of unaccompanied and separated children outside their
country of origin
General Comment No. 7 (2005) Implementing child rights in early childhood

General Comment No. 8 (2006) The right of the child to protection from corporal punishment and
other cruel or degrading forms of punishment (Arts. 19; 28, para. 2; and 37, inter alia)
General Comment No. 9 (2006) The rights of children with disabilities

General Comment No. 10 (2007) Children’s rights in juvenile justice

General Comment No. 11 (2009) Indigenous children and their rights under the Convention
General Comment No. 12 (2009) The right of the child to be heard

General Comment No. 13 (2011) The right of the child to freedom from all forms of violence

General Comment No. 14 (2013) on the right of the child to have his or her best interests taken as
a primary consideration (Art. 3, para. 1)

General Comment No. 15 (2013) on the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest
attainable standard of health

General Comment No. 16 (2013) on State obligations regarding the impact of the business sector
on children’s rights

General Comment No. 17 (2013) on the right of the child to rest, leisure, play, recreational
activities, cultural life and the arts (Art. 31)

Joint general recommendation No. 31 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination

against Women/General Comment No. 18 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on harmful
practices

General Comment No. 19 (2016) on public budgeting for the realization of children’s rights (art. 4)
General Comment No. 20 (2016) on the implementation of the rights of the child during
adolescence
General Comment No. 21 (2017) on children in street situations
Joint General Comment No. 3 (2017) of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All
Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and No. 22 (2017) of the Committee on the Rights
of the Child on the general principles regarding the human rights of children in the context of
international migration

Joint General Comment No. 4 (2017) of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All
Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and No. 23 (2017) of the Committee on the
Rights of the Child on State obligations regarding the human rights of children in the context of
international migration in countries of origin, transit, destination and return

General Comment No. 24 (2019) replacing GC No. 10 (2007) - The rights of the child in the child
justice system

*Updated as of 2019

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General Comment Development Process

(Approximate)
Recently, the CRC Committee agreed to work on one General Comment at a time.
The development of a General Comment takes approximately 18-24 months.

Theme/Topic Selection
Theme/topic selection can come from the CRC Committee members’ experience in
monitoring the reports on the implementation of the UN CRC. Themes/topics may
also come from submissions from UN agencies and non-government organizations
(NGOs) and from recommendations/follow up to the Day of General Discussion.

Call for Submissions

The Call for Submissions regarding the selected theme/topic is released through
the CRC Committee’s website and communication with governments. Inputs can
come from Member States, regional bodies, national human rights institutions,
CSOs, children’s groups, individuals, and former CRC Committee members.

Children’s Consultations
Organized by the CRC Committee with their drafting teams and outsourced
consultants, Children’s Consultations are done through online surveys and face-to-
face consultations.

Experts Group Consultations

When writing General Comments, the CRC Committee often consults with
organizations or individuals with expertise on the topic. Representation of experts
from different parts of the world is crucial.

Call for Inputs to the Draft

Once a draft has been made, the CRC Committee publishes the Call for Inputs in its
website and conducts regional consultations.

Finalization
General Comments are finalized by the CRC Committee, taking into
consideration the inputs and the required word limit.

Dissemination
The CRC Committee publishes the final document in its website, and makes a
separate communication about it to the States Parties. With the support of other
stakeholders like civil society organizations (CSOs), the General Comments are
disseminated in popular version and child-friendly version.

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For the 2019 Dialogue, two General Comments were discussed:

General Comment No. 14 (2013) on the right of the child to have his or her
best interests taken as a primary consideration (Art. 3, para. 1)

General Comment No. 12 (2009) on the right of the child to be heard

30
GENERAL
COMMENT
NO. 14 – BEST
INTEREST OF
THE CHILD
Presenter:
General Comment No. 14 – Best Interest of
the Child
Atty. Mikiko Otani
Member
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

Moderator:
H.E. Elizabeth P. Buensuceso
Ambassador and Representative of the
Philippines to the ASEAN Intergovernmental
Commission on Human Rights
 THE ASEAN DIALOGUE ON THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD GENERAL COMMENTS

GENERAL COMMENT NO. 14 – BEST INTEREST OF THE CHILD

UN CRC Article 3

1. In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social

welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the
best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.

2. States Parties undertake to ensure the child such protection and care as is necessary
for his or her well-being, taking into account the rights and duties of his or her parents,
legal guardians, or other individuals legally responsible for him or her, and, to this end,
shall take all appropriate legislative and administrative measures.

3. States Parties shall ensure that the institutions, services and facilities responsible
for the care or protection of children shall conform with the standards established by
competent authorities, particularly in the areas of safety, health, in the number and
suitability of their staff, as well as competent supervision.

The CRC Committee identified UN

CRC’s Article 3 paragraph 1 referring to
the “best interests of the child” as one of
the four general principles of children’s
rights.

The “best interests of the child” is a right,

a principle, and a rule of procedure that
should be the primary consideration,
not only of parents and caregivers, but
also of all those concerned with the
adoption of laws, policies, strategies, programs, plans, guidelines, budgets, and other
child rights implementation measures. For example, the best interest of the child should
be the primary consideration when discussing the child justice system, foster care or
alternative care, children in street situations, and children in armed conflict and at risk of
recruitment to violent extremism.

Three-Fold Concept of Best Interests of the Child

1. A substantive right: Children have the right to have their best interests assessed and
taken as a primary consideration, especially when different interests are being considered
to reach a decision. The best interest of the child should be implemented whenever a
decision is to be made concerning a child, a certain group of children, or children in
general.

2. A fundamental, interpretative legal principle: If a legal provision is open to more than

one interpretation, the interpretation that most effectively serves the child’s best interests
should be chosen.

3.A rule of procedure: Whenever a decision is to be made that will affect a specific child,
an identified group of children, or children in general, the decision-making process must
include an evaluation of the possible impact (positive or negative) of the decision on the
child or children concerned.

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BEST INTEREST OF THE CHILD

UN CRC Article 3 is an important article that can be difficult to understand, interpret, and
implement because of its complexity.

When to apply?
“In all actions concerning children”

Best interest of the child is applied not only in formal decisions but also in actions
concerning children, where ‘concerning’ means direct or indirect impact on or
involvement of children. Direct actions or situations refer to those that clearly involve
or affect children. Indirect actions or situations pertain to those that do not focus
primarily on children, but have an impact on the realization of child rights (e.g.,
budgeting process, environmental decisions, or urban planning).

The term ‘children’ has three meanings:

• As individual (e.g., in cases of adoption, medical treatment, or custody decision);
• As a group (e.g., migrant children, children with disabilities, siblings of separating
parents); and
• In general (e.g., when used in laws and policies that affect children in general).

Who should apply?

“By public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities
or legislative bodies”

The principle of the best interest of the child should be implemented by:
• All institutions, and not only social welfare institutions
• The public or private stakeholders
• All judicial proceedings including lay and customary courts or mediation
• Administrative authorities who make all administrative decisions
• Legislative bodies that adopt laws or regulations, or make collective agreements,
such as bilateral or multilateral trade or peace treaties that affect children
• Parents and caregivers

How to apply?
“Shall be a primary consideration”

In implementing the best interest of the child, there should be:

• Assessment and determination of the best interest of the child
• Procedural safeguards to formal processes designed to assess and determine
the best interest of the child

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Best interests assessment and determination

Assessment: evaluating and balancing all the relevant elements, conducted by a
multidisciplinary team and with participation of the child

Determination: formal process to determine the child’s best interests on the basis of the
best-interests assessment

When assessing and determining the best interest of the child, the following elements
are taken into account: the child’s views, identity, family environment, care and protection,
situation of vulnerability, health, and education.

Procedural Safeguards
The best interest of the child is a “rule of procedure” and this procedure should have
safeguards and guarantees. The processes should be transparent and objective, and
special attention must be given to the following safeguards and guarantees during the
best interest assessment and determination: expression of children’s views, establishment
of facts and information, time perception, expertise of professionals dealing with children,
legal representation, legal reasoning, review and revision of legal decisions, and child rights
impact assessment.

CASE STUDY
On Custody Decision

If the child is only one (as individual) or if there are three

siblings (as a group), when parents separate/divorce,
the court will decide who will have custody of the child
or children.

Assessment, determination, and application of the best interest of the child have to
be done individually for each child because each of them has a different situation
(e.g., on the basis of age, disability, etc.). The court should consider elements such as
the child’s evolving capacity, special needs, identity, religion, health, and preference.
The court should also take into consideration the financial capacity of the parent, the
parent’s capacity to take care of the child (e.g., if the child is a baby, if both parents
are working, etc.), the views of grandparents, the caring capacity of the family, and
the consideration for siblings to not be separated.

To aid in decision-making, there should be guidelines on what elements should be

considered by the courts, judges, family court consultants, social workers, or lawyers
to assess and determine the best interests of the child.

Of Children of Parents in Prisons

If the mother of a one-year old child was found guilty, the

court has to decide on the sanctions on the mother and
on the actions related to the care of the child (e.g., what
will happen to the child if the mother is incarcerated).
In these cases, there are many conflicts among the child’s interests, including the
right not to be separated from the parents and the right to live in a safe environment.
As such, the court can decide to give a different kind of sanction to the mother to
avoid the situation in which the child has to live in prison.

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On Free Pre-School Education

In 2019, the Japanese Government decided to provide free pre-school education to all,
but not everyone views this law to be for the children’s best interest. According to pre-
school teachers and daycare centers, this measure encourages parents to put children
in pre-schools and daycare centers for longer hours, which is not good for the children.

In this case, many elements are involved. While the action fulfills the rights of children
to have access to free pre-school education, it may have a negative impact on children’s
overall development because, according to teachers and daycare centers, children will
be spending longer hours in education institutions separated from the parents.

Is the law motivated by the parents’ need to work or is it motivated by the best interest
of children?

SAMPLE RECOMMENDATIONS TO STATES PARTIES

In developing the Concluding Observations, the CRC Committee referred to the
principle of the best interest of the child as guided by General Comment No. 14.

“
Lao People’s Democratic Republic (2018)

“While noting with appreciation that the State party has integrated the principle of
the best interests of the child into several laws and as a basis for action in several
key sectors such as health, education and justice, the Committee is concerned that
this principle is not properly applied in practice and that the judicial, administrative
and legislative bodies do not take into account the best interests of the child in
all decisions relevant to children. With reference to its general comment No. 14
(2013) on the right of the child to have his or her best interests taken as a primary

“
consideration, the Committee recommends that the State party establish
compulsory processes for ex ante and ex post impact assessments of all laws and
policies relevant to children.”

“
Japan (2019)

“The Committee notes that the right of the child to have his or her best interests
taken as a primary consideration is not appropriately integrated and consistently
interpreted and applied, particularly in education, alternative care, family disputes
and juvenile justice, and that the judicial, administrative and legislative bodies do
not take into account the best interests of the child in all decisions relevant to
children. Recalling its general comment No. 14 (2013) on the right of the child
to have his or her best interests taken as a primary consideration, the Committee
recommends that the State party establish compulsory processes for ex ante and
ex post impact assessments of all laws and policies relevant to children. It also

“
recommends that a best-interests-of-the-child assessment always be carried out
in individual cases concerning the child by a multidisciplinary team with the
obligatory participation of the concerned child.”

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A Few Key Issues

Child Rights Impact Assessment: In the examples given, the CRC Committee
recommended to both Lao PDR and Japan to conduct child rights impact
assessments before and after the creation of laws and policies relevant to children.

Complexity of the Principle: The application of the best interests of the child
principle faces so many challenges. The scope of application is so wide and
different when applied to individual cases (by the court or administrative bodies)
and collective cases (by the Parliament or ministries). With the varied situations
and procedures, different professionals are involved (e.g., lawmakers, judges and
lawyers, parents, and other professional stakeholders), all of whom require different
guidelines, procedures and training.

GOOD PRACTICE!
The conduct of Child Rights Impact Assessment is recommended
in General Comment No. 14 paragraph 99. It is a procedural
safeguard in implementing the best interest of the child.

99. The child-rights impact assessment (CRIA) can predict the impact
of any proposed policy, legislation, regulation, budget or other
administrative decision which affects children and the enjoyment
of their rights and should complement ongoing monitoring and
evaluation of the impact of measures on children’s rights. CRIA needs
to be built into Government processes at all levels and as early as
possible in the development of policy and other general measures in
order to ensure good governance for children’s rights.

The Children’s Rights Impact Assessment is a useful tool for child rights advocates
to use with and for businesses. It provides criteria that must be taken as a priority
in policy program and action.

Child Impact Assessment Tool (New Zealand, 2018)

New Zealand’s Child Impact Assessment Tool was developed to help government and
non-government organisations in New Zealand to assess whether policy proposals
will improve the wellbeing of children and young people. It supports New Zealand’s
commitment to the UN CRC and the development of policies that explicitly consider the
potential impacts on children and young people.

The tool includes templates that agencies can use to identify, analyze, and assess the
impacts of any proposed law or policy on the rights and wellbeing of children and young
people.

The Child Impact Assessment Tool has:

• A screening sheet
• A three-step (full) child impact assessment
• A guidance document

Scan to know more about

New Zealand’s Child
Impact Assessment Tool

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 THE ASEAN DIALOGUE ON THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD GENERAL COMMENTS

Child Impact Assessment: Best Practice Guideline

This tool has been designed to offer guidance to you as policy makers in New Zealand on how you can improve practice to consider the
impacts of your advice on children and young people. The guideline has been designed in a way that makes it applicable to a range of
policy settings and should be used in the way that is most appropriate for you and your organisation.

1. Impact of the decision • Could the proposal affect

a parent’s income or their
ability to use their resources • Does the proposal result
• Will the proposal reduce access to meet their child’s basic in different levels of
to services within the needs? access or standard of
community? educational services?
• If so, is there a
• Will it affect a child’s right to possibility that this
leisure and recreation? • Does the proposal
will have a positive or
• Will it affect an entire affect the provision of
negative flow-on effect
community or a segment of it? education in any way?
to any children or young
• Does the proposal people? • Could the proposal affect a
directly or indirectly child’s access to healthcare?
affect any children living
• Will the in that community? If
Adequate • Could the proposal affect a
proposal affect so, how – positively income to Education child’s mental, physical or
the dynamic of the meet needs that emotional health? If so, how –
or negatively?
positively or negatively?
family or whānau unit? (Articles 26 develops
Supportive
• Will it support or hinder and 27) the child
community
the ability of parents/caregivers (Articles 28 Access
to nurture their children? and play • Could the
and 29) to health
(Article 31) proposal
• Will it affect how the family or services affect a
whānau unit functions (Articles 6 • Could the child’s
on a daily/weekly/yearly basis? and 24) proposal home?
• Will any children in that impact If so, how
How will this proposal
family or whānau unit Stable, stability of a – positively
affect me?
be directly or indirectly nurturing Safe, child’s home? or
affected by the proposal? family healthy homes If so, how – negatively?
If so, how – positively positively or
(Article 8) (Article 27)
or negatively? negatively?

• Does the proposal

• Could the proposal
affect the identity Sense of Safe, healthy affect a child’s
of the child or their belonging environment environment or
sense of belonging?
(Article 8) (Article 27) standard of living?

2. Diffe
rent ial Impa
cts

• Consider the impacts of your proposal on relevant groups, such as: • How would the proposal impact on disadvantage faced by these
groups?
- Māori and Pasifika - children with disabilities • Where the proposal targets a specific group of children, is there a
- migrant/refugee - different age groups rationale for a group of children being targeted over other groups?
- those rurally isolated - sexuality diverse young • Are there unintended consequences for the children being targeted
- those socially isolated in people; for example, lesbian, or those left out? (For example, stigma or perception of unfair
urban areas gay, bisexual, transgender, advantage.)
those questioning their gender
- children in sole parent • Where positive impacts of the proposal are identified, they should be
identity
families or in different highlighted.
family structures, sizes - children of parents with certain
characteristics; for example, • Where any negative impacts or unintended consequences are
and types
parents with disabilities or established, provide some potential mitigations for them.
- children in care/youth Alternatively, explain why the proposal is required given
parents in prison
justice system the accepted trade-offs.

3. Voice
s of child
ren and youn
g people
• A key part of considering the • Organisations that can provide assistance on engaging well with
impacts of policies and legislation on children children are:
involves seeking input directly from children and young people
- the Office of the Children’s Commissioner
themselves.
- UNICEF New Zealand
• There are a variety of best practice methods and approaches.
- Save the Children New Zealand
- Ministry of Youth Development
4. Wha
t to do on
your po ce you ha
licy asse ve compl
ssment eted

• The guideline should be used to inform your proposal: • Alternatively, if it is necessary for the proposal to proceed in
spite of the negative impacts, the reasons for this should be
- Where positive impacts have been identified, they should be
explained, so there is an explicit understanding of the accepted
highlighted.
trade-offs.
- Where negative impacts have been identified, they should be
noted, along with, where possible, mitigations for those negative
impacts.

Source: New Zealand’s Ministry of Social Development. (2018). Child Impact Assessment: Best Practice Guideline

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 THE ASEAN DIALOGUE ON THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD GENERAL COMMENTS

Source: New Zealand’s Ministry of Social Development. (2018). Child Impact Assessment: Best Practice Guideline

Child-Centered Decision Tool (New Zealand, 2017)

The Office of the Children’s Commissioner

of New Zealand developed a five-step tool Scan to view the
Decision Tool
that supports child-centered decision-making
anchored on the UN CRC.

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 THE ASEAN DIALOGUE ON THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD GENERAL COMMENTS

DIALOGUE DISCUSSION POINTS

During the Open Forum of this session, the following points were raised, clarified, and
discussed:

On the General Comments

• The AMS must have political will to make their laws in accordance with the UN CRC
and its Optional Protocols.

There are some countries where international conventions must be adopted

as a domestic law in order for the convention to be enforced in the country.
However, due to lack of understanding, stakeholders, including lawyers and
judges, are not able to say that the international conventions are part and
parcel of the existing laws.

In other countries, the lack of facilities that protect the best interest of the
child, red tape, and the weak implementation of laws and policies hinder the
full realization of child rights.

• Previously, States Parties were not included in the consultations for the development
of General Comments. This, however, was changed recently because involving States
Parties in the development process contributes positively to the implementation
of the General Comment. Now, States Parties are consulted and encouraged to
submit their inputs to the CRC Committee whenever a General Comment is being
developed.

• States Parties, civil society, and other stakeholders should provide feedback to the
CRC Committee regarding unclear provisions in the General Comments and/or
articles of the UN CRC and its Optional Protocols.

• Still, there is a need to increase the awareness and understanding of the States
Parties about the UN CRC General Comments. One way to do this is through the
conduct of global platforms and regional dialogues. Aside from understanding the
contents of the General Comments, the global platforms and regional dialogues
can also facilitate the sharing of good practices and challenges in implementation.

On linking the General Comments with the

Sustainable Development Goals
• The CRC Committee sees the importance of linking the UN CRC and its Optional
Protocols and General Comments with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Recently, the CRC Committee refers to the SDGs in the Concluding Observations to
the State Party reports. The CRC Committee also submits inputs to the High-Level
Political Forum on Sustainable Development. In relation to the General Comment
No. 14, however, the UN Committee has yet to frame or link it to SDGs No. 5 (Gender
Equality) and No. 16 (Peace and Justice).

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 THE ASEAN DIALOGUE ON THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD GENERAL COMMENTS

On the Best Interest of the Child in diversion decisions

• Multidisciplinary approach to diversion and other decisions is key in implementing

the best interests of the child in the child justice system.

From UN CRC General Comment No. 24:

Diversion refers to “measures for referring children away from the judicial system at any
time prior to or during the relevant proceedings” (paragraph 8). It involves the referral
of children to programmes or activities, instead of resorting to judicial proceedings.
It avoids stigmatization and criminal records. It also yields good results for children,
promotes public safety, and is cost-effective.

“Diversion should be the preferred manner of dealing with children in the majority
of cases. States parties should continually extend the range of offences for which
diversion is possible, including serious offences where appropriate. Opportunities for
diversion should be available from as early as possible after contact with the system,
and at various stages throughout the process” (paragraph 5).

On child trafficking for organ transplantation

• Better coordination among
AMS is necessary to address
organ trafficking involving
children, especially with
the increasing demand for
organ transplantation due
to lifestyle diseases that lead
to organ failure. There are
also reports of abduction
of children for illegal organ
transplantation and in some
AMS.

• In the Philippines, the process of identifying donors requires rigorous

documentation. Child rights advocates were able to help the Inter-Agency
Council against Trafficking to put in place more effective rules regarding organ
transplantation involving children.

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 THE ASEAN DIALOGUE ON THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD GENERAL COMMENTS

On Joint General Comments

• Having Joint General Comments is a valuable opportunity for the CRC Committee
to collaborate with other treaty bodies. So far, the CRC Committee has adopted
joint General Comments with the Commitee on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and with the Committee on the Protection
of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. However, this
process could take some time.

• In this context, the CRC Committee had to find ways to be more creative, practical,
and efficient in providing advice on emerging issues and in collaborating with other
treaty bodies. For example, five UN treaty bodies, including the CRC Committee,
issued a Joint Statement on Human Rights and Climate Change in 2019.

On ‘Primary Consideration’ and ‘Paramount Consideration’

• The use of the terms ‘primary consideration’ and ‘paramount consideration’ is a

source of confusion. General Comment No. 14 para. 38 clarified the distinction
between the two.

The UN CRC uses the terms “primary consideration” and “paramount

consideration” regarding the best interest of the child. In general, the term
“primary” consideration allows exemption or discretion to give priority to
other considerations, while “paramount” gives no exceptions.

• UN CRC Article 3 paragraph 1

mentions that “the best interest of the
child shall be a primary consideration.”
In various articles throughout the UN
CRC, the best interest of the child is
used as a guiding principle, such as
in Article 9 on the separation of the
child from the parents or maintaining
contact with both parents.

• In the UN CRC, the word “paramount”

only appears in Article 21 regarding
adoption.

• The CRC Committee deems it good to continue using the term “primary
consideration” as it always has.

• When used in national laws, the meaning of the “paramount consideration”

or “primary consideration” shall be looked at to avoid confusion. For instance,
“paramount consideration” can be used not only in adoption cases, but also in
custody cases.

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THE ASEAN DIALOGUE ON THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD GENERAL COMMENTS
 THE ASEAN DIALOGUE ON THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD GENERAL COMMENTS

GOOD PRACTICES AND

CHALLENGES IN IMPLEMENTING
THE PRINCIPLE OF THE
BEST INTERESTS OF THE CHILD

Presenters:

Children’s Rights in the Context of ASEAN Economic Integration and

Immigration Proceedings
Dr. Seree Nonthasoot
Former Thailand Representative to the ASEAN Intergovernmental
Commission on Human Rights

Children Exposed to Domestic Violence, Either as Witnesses or Victims

Prof. Dato’ Noor Aziah Mohd. Awal
Commissioner for Child Affairs
SUHAKAM (Malaysia)

Adolescent Health Care: Ensuring a Right, the Right Way

Dr. Emma Llanto
President
Philippine Society of Adolescent Medicine Specialists

Children in Situations of Vulnerability

Dr. Hartini Zainudin
Co-Founder
Yayasan Chow Kit

Moderators:
Ms. Amihan Abueva
Regional Executive Director
Child Rights Coalition Asia

Ms. Maria May-i Fabros

Dialogue’s Overall Moderator/Facilitator
 THE ASEAN DIALOGUE ON THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD GENERAL COMMENTS

CHILDREN’S RIGHTS IN THE CONTEXT OF

ASEAN ECONOMIC INTEGRATION AND
IMMIGRATION PROCEEDINGS
All human rights instruments are
interconnected. Even if a country has
not yet ratified the treaty on enforced
disappearances, all individuals still
have the right to be protected against
enforced disappearance.

When it comes to children’s rights,

the UN CRC does not operate alone.
Children’s rights are enshrined in our
treaties. Also, the broader ecosystem
of human rights is demonstrated by
the multiplicity of the International Labor Organization (ILO) Conventions. However,
the status of ratification of the four categories of the ILO Conventions (freedom of
association, forced labor, discrimination, and child labor) is a telling sign of the degree
of reception of the AMS, in spite of being sincere to the UN CRC.

Moreover, the AMS’ reservations fundamental rights of children – such as non-

discrimination, freedom of expression, freedom of thought, special protection in the
event of family separation (Articles 2, 12, 14, 20), among others – is a cause of concern.
The reservation to Article 37 on torture is especially alarming. Therefore, there is a lot
more work to do in lifting up the standards of the UN CRC in AMS, despite the fact the
ratification of the whole convention. The goal of ASEAN that should be set at the third
decade of the UN CRC should be the withdrawal of all reservations.

UN CRC and ASEAN

Out of the nine core Human Rights Treaties in the world, three Human Rights Instruments
have been ratified by all ten AMS.

The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and
Members of Their Families is ratified by Indonesia and the Philippines only, while the
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance
was ratified by Cambodia only.

Also, the UN CRC does not equally apply in full to all AMS due to the reservations on
certain articles of the UN CRC and to the partial ratification of the three UN CRC Optional
Protocols.

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 THE ASEAN DIALOGUE ON THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD GENERAL COMMENTS

Human Rights Treaty Treaty Date

ICERD International Convention on the Elimination of All 21 Dec 1965

Forms of Racial Discrimination

ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political 16 Dec 1966

Rights

ICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social and 16 Dec 1966

Cultural Rights

CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of 18 Dec 1979

Discrimination against Women

CAT Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, 10 Dec 1984

Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

CRC Convention on the Rights of the Child 20 Nov 1989

ICMW International Convention on the Protection of the 18 Dec 1990

Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of
Their Families

CPED International Convention for the Protection of All 20 Dec 2006

Persons from Enforced Disappearance

CRPD Convention on the Rights of Persons with 13 Dec 2006

Disabilities

RATIFICATION OF CORE HUMAN RIGHTS TREATIES BY ASEAN MEMBER STATES

Philippines
Cambodia

Singapore

Thailandd
Indonesia

Myanmar

Viet Nam

Human
Malaysia
Brunei

Rights
%
Laos

Treaty

ICERD R R R R R R R 70

ICCPR R R R R R R 60

ICESCR R R R R R R R 70

CEDAW R R R R R R R R R R 100

CAT S R R R R R R 60

CRC R R R R R R R R R R 100

ICMW S R R 20

CPED R S S S 10

CRPD R R R R R R R R R R 100

% 34 89 89 78 34 44 89 44 78 78

Legend: R - ratified S - signed

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 THE ASEAN DIALOGUE ON THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD GENERAL COMMENTS

RATIFICATION OF THE UN CRC AND ITS OPTIONAL PROTOCOLS

IN ASEAN MEMBER STATES
Country Ratification/Accession Reservations

Brunei Darussalam CRC:27/12/1995 Art. 14, 20, 21

OP1: Not signed
OP2: 21/06/2006

Cambodia CRC:15/10/1992 NO
OP1: 16/07/2004
OP2: 30/05/2002

Indonesia CRC:05/09/1990 NO
OP1: 24/09/2012
OP2: 24/09/2012

Lao PDR CRC:08/05/1991 NO

OP1: 20/09/2006
OP2: 20/09/2006

Malaysia CRC:17/02/1995 Art. 2,7,15,28,37

OP1: 12/04/2012
OP2: 12/04/2012

Myanmar CRC:15/07/1991 NO
OP1: Signed 25/09/2015
OP2: 16/01/2012

Philippines CRC:21/08/1990 NO
OP1: 26/08/2003
OP2: 28/05/2002

Singapore CRC:05/10/1995 Declarations on Art. 12-17, 19&39/ Reservations to

OP1: 11/12/2008
Art. 7,9,10,12,22,28 and 32
OP2: Not signed

Thailand CRC:27/03/1992 Art. 22

OP1: 27/02/2006
OP2: 11/01/2006
OP3: 25/09/2012

Viet Nam CRC:28/02/1990 NO

OP1: 20/12/2001
OP2: 20/12/2001

Source: Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies, Mahidol University. (2016). Child Rights Analysis
within ASEAN Region

RATIFICATION OF ILO CONVENTIONS BY ASEAN MEMBER STATES

Country Freedom of association Forced Labour Discrimination Child Labour

C.87 C.98 Right C.29 C. 105 C. 100 C.111 C.138 C.182 Worst
Freedom of to Organize Forced Abolition Equal Discrimination Minimum Forms
Association and Labor of Forced Remuneration (Employment Age of Labor
and Collective Convention, Labor Convention and Convention, Convention,
Protection Bargaining 1930 Convention, Occupation) 1973 1999
of the Right Convention, 1957 Convention,
to Organize 1949 1958
Convention,
1948

Brunei - - - - - - 2011 2008

Darussalam

Cambodia 1999 1999 1969 1999 1999 1999 1999 2006

Indonesia 1998 1957 1950 1999 1958 1999 1999 2000

Lao PDR - - 1964 - 2008 2008 2005 2005

Malaysia - 1961 1957 (1958)87 1997 - 1997 2000

Myanmar 1955 - 1955 - - - - 2013

Philippines 1953 1955 2005 1960 1953 1960 1998 2000

Singapore - 1965 1965 (1965) 2002 - 2005 2001

Thailand - - 1969 1969 1999 - 2004 2001

Viet Nam - - 2007 - 1997 1997 2003 2000

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 THE ASEAN DIALOGUE ON THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD GENERAL COMMENTS

Children’s Rights and the ASEAN Economic Integration

The impact of economic integration on children’s rights in ASEAN involves the

implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights,
the Comprehensive and Progressive for Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Regional
Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and the ASEAN Community.

United Nations Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights

The “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework on human rights and business, was
adopted on 16 June 2011. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
have a framework consisting of three pillars: (1) States have the duty to protect human
rights; (2) Transnational corporations and other business enterprises have the respon-
sibility to respect human rights: and (3) States and businesses have responsibility to
provide effective remedy in case of human rights violation.

Pillar 1: Pillar 2: Pillar 3:

States’ Duty to Protect Businesses’ Responsibility Effective Remedy
(Investigate, provide to Respect (Policy Com-
guidance, requiring Human mitment, Human Rights
Rights Due Diligence) Due Diligence Process,
Mitigation of impacts)

“States should maintain adequate domestic policy space to meet their human rights
obligations when pursuing business-related policy objectives with other States or
business enterprises, for instance through investment treaties or contracts.”

-Principle 9 of UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for

Trans-Pacific Partnership

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement

for Trans-Pacific Partnership is a trade and
investment agreement signed by Australia, Brunei
Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico,
New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Viet Nam, and the
United States. The TPP began as an agreement
between the four Pacific states of Brunei Darussalam,
Chile, New Zealand, and Singapore.

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 THE ASEAN DIALOGUE ON THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD GENERAL COMMENTS

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership

The Regional Comprehensive Economic

Partnership is a mega-regional trade
agreement currently being negotiated by
the AMS and those countries with existing
bilateral trade agreements with ASEAN. The
RCEP negotiations were launched by leaders
from the ten AMS and its free trade agreement
partners during the East Asia Summit in Phnom
Penh, Cambodia in 2012. 9 Once signed, the
RCEP will create the largest free trade area in
the world.

The ASEAN Community Vision 2025

At the 23rd ASEAN Summit in November 2013, ASEAN leaders took the decision to
develop a Post-2015 Vision to realize a politically cohesive, economically integrated,
socially responsible, and a truly people-oriented, people-centered, and rules-based
ASEAN. As community building is a continuous and evolving process, the vision shall
chart the future direction of the ASEAN community in the next decade, and when
realized, will further consolidate and deepen the ASEAN community-building and
regional integration process.

The comprehensive document covers all three aspects of the ASEAN Community, namely
the Political-Security Community Pillar, the Economic Community Pillar and the Socio-
Cultural Community Pillar . A specific blueprint was developed for each Pillar detailing the
outcomes the ASEAN wants to achieve in the next ten years. Children’s rights belong to all
the ASEAN Community Pillars.

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 THE ASEAN DIALOGUE ON THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD GENERAL COMMENTS

Through the ASEAN Vision 2025, the ASEAN integrates the SDGs, which are founded
substantively on human rights.

In 2013, 38.1% of the total ASEAN

population was below 19 years of ASEAN Human Rights Declaration Art.
age. The ASEAN, through its Charter 27
and 2012 Human Rights Declaration,
particularly Article 27 paragraph (1) Every person has the right to work, to
3, expressed in unity that it would the free choice of employment, to enjoy
promote and protect children’s rights. just, decent and favourable conditions
of work and to have access to assistance
The ASEAN Community has adopted schemes for the unemployed.
a number of “soft law” instruments on (2) Every person has the right to form
children. These instruments are not
trade unions and join the trade union of
binding, as they are not subject to
his or her choice for the protection of
ratification.
his or her interests, in accordance with
national laws and regulations.
• Ha Noi Declaration on the
Enhancement of Welfare and (3) No child or any young person
Development of ASEAN Women shall be subjected to economic and
and Children social exploitation. Those who employ
• Declaration on the Elimination children and young people in work
of Violence Against Women and harmful to their morals or health,
Elimination of Violence Against dangerous to life, or likely to hamper
Children in ASEAN their normal development, including
• Bandar Seri Begawan Declaration their education should be punished
on Youth Entrepreneurship and by law. ASEAN Member States should
Employment also set age limits below which the paid
• ASEAN Declaration on employment of child labour should be
Strengthening Education for Out- prohibited and punished by law.
of-School Children and Youth

At the moment, ASEAN has one legally binding instrument. Signed in November 2015,
the ASEAN Convention against Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children
entered into force in March 2017 after being ratified by six AMS.

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 THE ASEAN DIALOGUE ON THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD GENERAL COMMENTS

A Few Key Issues

Children’s Rights in the ASEAN Community: Just like all human rights, children’s
rights are cross-cutting. Children wear the status of an economic actor, a political
actor, and a socio-cultural actor. However, there is a perception that all human rights
belong to just one ASEAN Community pillar.

Children’s Rights in Free Trade Agreements: Trade liberalization can have positive and
negative impacts on the realization of child rights in ASEAN. Stronger commitment
and action must be taken to ensure that the economic integration does not pose
more risks for children, but instead contributes to greater political, economic, social,
and cultural opportunities for them.

What ASEAN Integration Could Mean for Children

Following the Bangkok Human Rights Dialogue on the Impact of ASEAN Integration to
Children’s Rights in 2015, AICHR produced a study “What ASEAN Integration could mean
for Children: Assessment of the ASEAN Community Blueprints and Potential Impacts on
Children” with the support of UNICEF East Asia and the Pacific Regional Office. The study
looked at the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and the three Community Blueprints, and
identified their possible impacts on children’s rights.

Scan the view the 2018

publication“What ASEAN Integration
Could Mean for Children:
Assessment of the ASEAN
Community Blueprints and potential
impacts on children”

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 THE ASEAN DIALOGUE ON THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD GENERAL COMMENTS

The ASEAN 2025 Vision and the Blueprints are intended to provide ASEAN with its
integration plan. Children’s rights and the core principles of the UN CRC are represented
in these to varying degrees.

The study examined the four core principles of children’s rights – the best interest of the
child, non-discrimination, survival and development, and the participation rights of the
child – and how these general principles evolved in the normative legal, institutional and
policy framework of ASEAN, and their current incorporation within the ASEAN 2025:
Forging Ahead Together framework and the related Blueprints.

Frameworks such as the ASEAN Community

Blueprints provide a mechanism for OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
coordination and cooperation amongst
various government bodies and different Elaborate the multi-dimensional
stakeholders. The blueprints of the three aspect of the right of development
ASEAN Community Pillars are a guiding in the context of ASEAN integrated
force for all sectoral bodies. The statement in community and its implication
ASEAN’s Vision was used in the study to map to marginalized and vulnerable
out possible positive and negative impacts on members of the population
children.
Identify opportunities and
Based on the study, ASEAN integration can challenges in mainstreaming the
have negative or positive impacts on children right to development in ASEAN
as a whole, or on specific groups of children. regionalism projects in the context
These impacts could be direct or indirect, of globalization and sustainable
depending on the way the policies are shaped development goals
and implemented at national and regional
levels. Explore possible steps to be taken
to narrow development gaps and
the impact of globalization and
Regarding the alignment of UN CRC
regionalism project to the people in
general principles with ASEAN’s working
ASEAN
principles of respect for state sovereignty,
non-interference, consultation and
consensus, the study noted some
observations:

• Non-discrimination is either specifically or implied in two Blueprints: ASEAN Socio-

Cultural Community Blueprint (ASCC) and ASEAN Political-Security Community
(APSC).
• There are no specific mentions of LGBTQ children, irregular migrants, child migrants,
stateless children, refugee children and children seeking asylum.
• The Principle of the Best Interests of the Child is not specifically mentioned in the
ASEAN Blueprints.
• The Child’s Right to Life, Survival and Development has most attention in the three
Blueprints
• ‘Elimination of all forms of discrimination, exploitation, trafficking and violence and
abuse against children’ are in the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint (ASCC)
and ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC).
• Other human security threats are dealt with minimally.
• The ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint (ASCC) is the only one that explicitly
mentions child participation.

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 THE ASEAN DIALOGUE ON THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD GENERAL COMMENTS

ASEAN SOCIO-CULTURAL COMMUNITY BLUEPRINT 2025 AND IMPACTS ON CHILDREN

ASSC BLUEPRINT
EXAMPLES OF POSITIVE IMPACTS EXAMPLES OF NEGATIVE IMPACTS
• Access to ICT gives children • Risk of online child abuse
more opportunities • ASEAN could result in some
• Ensure caring, peaceful and freedoms being curtailed
harmonious societies • Increased in juvenile
• Children’s exposure to illicit offenders end up in prison
drugs reduced

ASEAN POLITICAL-SECURITY COMMUNITY BLUEPRINT 2025 AND IMPACTS ON CHILDREN

APSC BLUEPRINT
EXAMPLES OF POSITIVE IMPACTS EXAMPLES OF NEGATIVE IMPACTS
• Promote understanding • Harmful traditional practices
and appreciation of political against children continue-
systems, culture and history ’ASEAN values’ used to mask
of AMS different interpretations of
• Reduced number of human rights
children trafficked • Distinction between trafficked
children and irregular child
migrants blurred further

ASEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY BLUEPRINT 2025 AND IMPACTS ON CHILDREN

AEC BLUEPRINT
EXAMPLES OF POSITIVE IMPACTS EXAMPLES OF NEGATIVE IMPACTS
• Remittances sent home • Child left behind
contribute to child • Improved access to health
development care services does not
• Better healthcare facilities, necessarily mean they are
products and services affordable
• Increased ASEAN tourism • Great risk of the sexual
alleviates poverty exploitation of children in
• Increased food production travel and tourism
reduces malnutrition • Child labour mostly found in
agriculture

Source: What ASEAN Integration Could Mean for Children (UNICEF, 2018)

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ASEAN Institutional and Policy Framework

The study also looked at the ASEAN Institutional and Policy Framework, focusing
specifically on the institutional dimensions, which are reflected in regional legal
documents (both binding and non-binding), policies, and mechanisms.

The following challenges in the ASEAN regional legal documents and policies were
presented:

• The Declaration on the Elimination

of Violence against Women and
From 1969 to 2013, ASEAN has adopted
Elimination of Violence against
several hundreds of declarations and
Children in ASEAN includes the
agreements. The study cited that,
phrase “taking into consideration
based on the ASEAN website and a list
the regional and national contexts
compiled by the National University
bearing in mind the different
of Singapore (with material dating
historical, political socio-cultural,
from 1969 to 2013), a total of 209
religious, legal and economic
declarations/protocols, frameworks,
backgrounds in the region”
agreements, Memorandums of
as a qualifier in promoting
Agreement, Joint Ministerial Meeting
and protecting human rights.
Statements, and letters of understanding
This particular clause is very
were developed, integrated, and
problematic as it allows ‘relativism’
classified under what now comprises the
rather than universality for rights
Economic Community.
of women and children. It fails to
recognize that violence is violence,
At present, there are 81 items listed on
and that it does not depend on
the ASEAN website as legal instruments:
the different historical, political
14 of which are under the Political and
socio-cultural, religious, legal and
Security Community, 59 are under the
economic backgrounds in the
Economic Community, and 8 are under
region. The regional aspiration
the Socio-Cultural Community.
does not represent one regional
standard.

• The ASEAN Economic Community projects a single market and production base
with a free flow of goods, services, investment, capital, and skilled labor. It envisages
a highly competitive economic region provided for an environment conducive for
economic growth but not for the promotion and protection of the rights of people,
and of children in particular. It does not grant legal protection to citizens, except to
investors, or protection to free movement of ordinary citizens, etc.

• Under the ASEAN Political and Security Community, the ASEAN Convention on
Counter-Terrorism, which was adopted in 2007, stipulates that “subject to the
consent of the Parties concerned, Parties shall cooperate to address the root causes
of terrorism and conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism to prevent the
perpetration of terrorist acts and the propagation of terrorist cells” (Article 5),
which may well support ASEAN Member States to address issues of poverty and
inequality, discrimination, persecution and human rights violations, and conflicts
and violence within national borders.

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• With the vision for a drug-free ASEAN, the ASEAN Declaration of Principles to Combat
the Abuse of Narcotics Drugs was adopted in 1976. Although a drug-free society
is desirable and it is recognized that drug abuse is harmful to society and future
generations, by examining Clause I of the Declaration, there are some worrying
messages which, in many cases, may lead to abuses and violations that are harmful
to people and children. While the original focus of a drug-free ASEAN is the ‘health
and welfare of humankind’, in practice, there has been an overwhelming focus on
punishment, law enforcement and criminal justice.

• While the concepts of ‘people-oriented’ and ‘people-centered’ have been adopted

in all three communities, these concepts were not well understood and subject to
different interpretations and practices.

• There has also been confusion over

which ASEAN sectoral body will be The ASEAN has various sectoral
addressing issues related to child rights. bodies, such as ASEAN Senior
A few sectoral bodies can be identified Officials Meeting on Social Welfare
to have direct work on matters related to and Development (SOMSWD),
children, but each of the sectoral bodies the ASEAN Senior Labor Officials
has its own work plan or programs that Meetings (ASLOM), the Senior
could overlap with the work plans or Officials Meeting on Education
programs of the others. (SOMED), the ASEAN Senior
Officials Meeting on Youth
• ASEAN and its Member States have (SOMY), the ASEAN Commission
shown their commitment to the on the Promotion and Protection
promotion and protection of the rights of the Rights of Women and
of children through its various policies, Children (ACWC), and the ASEAN
legal framework, and institutions. Its Intergovernmental Commission on
different declarations and various work Human Rights (AICHR).
plans designed and adopted by various
bodies, especially by the ACWC and
the AICHR, are geared towards realizing
child rights and could potentially The AMS have adopted the
contribute to mitigating negative following fundamental principles,
impacts of the blueprints. However, none as contained in the Treaty of Amity
of these bodies has monitoring power and Cooperation in Southeast Asia
to investigate human rights violations, of 1976:
despite the mandate to ‘promote’ and 1. Mutual respect for the
‘protect’, as in the case of ACWC and independence, sovereignty,
AICHR. Implementation of laws, policies equality, territorial integrity,
(in the form of declarations), and work and national identity of all
plans are all subject to the discretion of nations;
the AMS. 2. The right of every State to
lead its national existence free
• As legal documents and policies are from external interference,
based on ASEAN’s working principles, subversion or coercion;
existing regional human rights 3. Non-interference in the
commissions are not equipped with internal affairs of one another;
the mandates to receive complaints 4. Settlement of differences or
or to investigate cases of violations. In disputes by peaceful manner;
addition, the overall implementation of 5. Renunciation of the threat or
policies and laws on children are left to use of force; and
national governments, which can lead to 6. Effective cooperation among
conflicts with international human rights themselves.
standards.

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Engaging ASEAN Stakeholders, Duty Bearers, and Civil Society on

Children’s Rights

The three 2025 ASEAN Community Blueprints recognize the link between different
stakeholders and the achievements of the established goals and targets. Consultation,
interaction, engagement, cooperation, and collaboration with stakeholders are
the approaches identified from a socio-cultural, political, security, and economic points
of view.

The engagement and strengthened cooperation with the private sector are especially
prominent in the Community Blueprints as a way to instill a culture of good governance
and corporate social responsibility, promote integrity and anti-corruption, and combat
transnational crimes and cybercrimes.

All Community Blueprints recognize the essential contribution of civil society and the
civil society organizations to the regional integration efforts. Although the reference to
CSOs are weak in the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint, the ASEAN Political-
Security Community Blueprint considered collaboration and cooperation with CSOs as
essential not only to promote and protect the principles of democracy, human rights,
fundamental freedoms, and social justice, but also to combat transnational crimes and
strengthen peace-oriented values.

The desired child-focused implementation of the activities provided by the Community

Blueprints is envisioned to be realized through the cooperative engagements and
commitments among Member States, ASEAN, and the United Nations.

Conclusions and Recommendations of the Study

ASEAN people and children should benefit from ASEAN integration in many ways.
However, there are certain risks to be considered as detailed in the analysis of potential
positive and negative impacts of the Community Blueprints on children. Generally, the
Community Blueprints are more principled than action-oriented. Plans of actions are left
to sectoral bodies. The challenge is how to monitor and evaluate their implementation.

While the ASEAN Community Blueprints were developed before the SDGs were
finalized, the goals and targets as set out by SDGs are more or less in line with the
Community Blueprints. Linking and complementing the Community Blueprints to the
SDGs are essential and can enable the meaningful involvement of all stakeholders.

Identifying child rights champions in different mechanisms and institutions would also
contribute to facilitating closer engagement and positive impacts for children. A system
for ‘child rights impact assessments’, across all Community Blueprints could help inform
planning based on the best interests of the child.

Recommendations of the Study to ASEAN as a Regional Body

• Advocate for the ratification all international human rights instruments

• Develop child rights indicators for the ASEAN Integration Scorecards and
collect better data
• Improve institutional coordination with all stakeholders
• Systematize consultation with children and youth

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Recommendations of the Study to ASEAN Member States

• Strengthen legal frameworks, enforcement mechanisms, national policies,

coordination and implementation plans in relation to children.
• Carry out Children’s Rights Impact Assessments, in collaboration with CSOs,
on all policies and investments proposed with in the three ASEAN Community
Blueprints, particularly in key areas of focus or concern: tourism, migration,
health care, information and communication technology, and employability
• Increase public investment in social spending and basic services that impact
children, especially those considered most vulnerable

Recommendations of the Study to CSOs, international non-government

organizations and the UN

• Promote, facilitate and support regional debate and action on children’s

rights (in line with the SDGs) with appropriate ASEAN mechanisms and
bodies such as the ACWC, AICHR, Senior Officials Meeting on Social Welfare
and Development, and the ASEAN Children’s Forum
• Stronger links between the Blueprints and the SDGs
• Go beyond the usual child rights actors to work with private sector (such as
the primary industries, tourism and services sector, ICT and infrastructure,
etc.) and law enforcement

Children’s Rights in Immigration and Asylum Proceedings

The Joint General Comment No. 22 (2017) of the CRC Committee with the Committee on
the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families clearly
indicates the principles with regard to children’s rights in the context of international
migration:

• Non-Discrimination (Art. 2)
• Best Interests of the Child (Art. 3)
• Right to be heard, express his or her views and participation(Art. 12)
• Right to life, survival and development (Art. 6)
• Non refoulement, prohibition of collective expulsion (Arts. 6, 22, 37)

However, countries are still putting children in detention, either in immigration detention
centers or in prison or police stations. This remains a problem in all AMS. Worse, the
conditions of detention centers are widely reported as substandard. A number of global
and regional studies support the advice that children should not be put in detention
centers and that detention should be the measure of last resort.

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From the Joint General Comment No. 3 (2017) of the Committee on the Protection of
the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and No. 22 (2017)
of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the general principles regarding the
human rights of children in the context of international migration

Non discrimination (Art. 2)

21. . . . All children involved in or affected by international migration are entitled

to the enjoyment of their rights, regardless of the children’s or their parents’, legal
guardians’ or family members’ age, gender, gender identity or sexual orientation,
ethnic or national origin, disability, religion, economic status, migration/
documentation status, statelessness, race, colour, marital or family status, health
status or other social conditions, activities, expressed opinions, or beliefs....

Best Interests of the Child (Art. 3)

32. The Committees stress that States parties should:

e) Assess and determine the best interests of the child at the different stages
of migration and asylum procedures that could result in the detention or
deportation of the parents due to their migration status. Best-interests
determination procedures should be put in place in any decision that would
separate children from their family, and the same standards applied in child
custody, when the best interests of the child should be a primary consideration;

f) Conduct a best-interests assessment on a case-by-case basis in order to

decide… the type of accommodation that would be most appropriate for an
unaccompanied or separated child, or children with parents. In that process,
community-based care solutions should be prioritized. Any measure that
constrains children’s liberty in order to protect them (e.g., placement in secure
accommodation) should be implemented within the child protection system
with the same standards and safeguards; ....

Right to be heard, express his or her views and participation (Art. 12)

35. … Children may have their own migration projects and migration-driving
factors, and policies and decisions cannot be effective or appropriate without
their participation. The Committee also emphasizes that these children should
be provided with all relevant information, inter alia, on their rights, the services
available, means of communication, complaints mechanisms, the immigration
and asylum processes and their outcomes. Information should be provided in the
child’s own language in a timely manner, in a child sensitive and age-appropriate
manner, in order to make their voice heard and to be given due weight in the
proceedings.

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Non-refoulement, prohibition of collective expulsion (Arts. 6, 22, 37)

40. … The Committees highlight that the principle of non-refoulement has been
interpreted by international human rights bodies, regional human rights courts
and national courts to be an implicit guarantee flowing from the obligations
to respect, protect and fulfil human rights. It prohibits States from removing
individuals, regardless of migration, nationality, asylum or other status, from their
jurisdiction when they would be at risk of irreparable harm upon return, including
persecution, torture, gross violations of human rights or other irreparable harm.

Right to life, survival and development (Art. 6)

40. … At any point during the migratory process, a child’s right to life and survival
may be at stake owing to, inter alia, violence as a result of organized crime,
violence in camps, push-back or interception operations, excessive use of force
of border authorities, refusal of vessels to rescue them, or extreme conditions
of travel and limited access to basic services. Unaccompanied and separated
children may face further vulnerabilities and can be more exposed to risks, such
as gender-based, sexual and other forms of violence and trafficking for sexual or
labour exploitation. Children travelling with their families often also witness and
experience violence. While migration can provide opportunities to improve living
conditions and escape from abuses, migration processes can pose risks, including
physical harm, psychological trauma, marginalization, discrimination, xenophobia
and sexual and economic exploitation, family separation, immigration raids and
detention.

“
Throughout the Southeast Asian region, detention as a response to the
irregular entry of stay of refugees, asylum seekers, stateless people and
trafficked people including children, is the norm rather than an exception.
The negative and long lasting physical and psychological impacts of
immigration detention on children have been widely documented.
‘Alternative to Detention (ATD) on the other hand have proven to be
effective in meeting states’ migration management objectives including
upholding national security and achieving timely case resolution, whilst
also removing the negative impacts of detention on children. Yet, little
progress has been made in Southeast Asia in developing sustainable
and comprehensive ATD for children and other vulnerable populations,
including those seeking asylum.

“
- From the Report on Regional Expert Roundtable on
Alternatives to Immigration Detention for Children,
19-20 November 2015, Bangkok, Thailand

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The 2015 Regional Expert Roundtable on Alternatives to Immigration Detention for

Children organized by AICHR Thailand, Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network, and
International Detention Coalition came up with a study, but the matter remains sensitive
to ASEAN governments and most of them do not reveal the number of children in
detention.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Global Strategy Beyond Detention
2014-2019 Goal 2 is to ensure that alternatives to detention are available in law and
implemented in practice. It explains that “alternative to detention” is any legislation,
policy or practice that allows asylum-seekers to reside in the community subject to a
number of conditions or restrictions on their freedom of movement.

The ASEAN does not have the maximum periods for detention, so children are put in
detention center with no maximum time limit. Some children can stay in detention until
they become adults.

Maximum time limits in detention and automatic release

“To guard against arbitrariness, maximum periods of detention should be set in national
legislation. Without maximum periods, detention can become prolonged, and in some cases
indefinite, including particularly for stateless asylum-seekers. Maximum periods in detention
cannot be circumvented by ordering the release of an asylum-seeker only to re-detain them
on the same grounds shortly afterwards.”

-From the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Guidelines on the Applicable Criteria
and Standards relating to the Detention of Asylum-Seekers and Alternatives to Detention,
Guideline 6, para. 46.

In the manual titled There are Alternatives published in 2015 by the International
Detention Coalition, detention and alternatives to it were compared, showing that
detention is more harmful and costlier. The International Detention Coalition advocates
for placement options (i) in community without conditions, (ii) with conditions or limited
restrictions in the community with review, or (iii) detention as a last resort with review.
14

Source: Sampson, R., Chew, V., Mitchell, G., and Bowring, L. There Are Alternatives: A Handbook for Preventing
Unnecessary Immigration Detention (Revised), (Melbourne: International Detention Coalition, 2015)., page III

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15

Source: Sampson, R., Chew, V., Mitchell, G., and Bowring, L. There Are Alternatives: A Handbook
for Preventing Unnecessary Immigration Detention (Revised), (Melbourne: International Detention
Coalition, 2015), page 18

UNICEF, in 2019, also produced the Working Paper on the Alternatives to Immigration
Detention of Children with the following recommendations on alternatives to immigration
detention of children:

• Develop National Action Plans to end immigration detention of children and their
families
• Invest in inclusive child protection systems
• Invest Overseas Development Assistance into building and strengthening
alternatives to detention
• Provide access to clear, objective information about migration options, migrants’
rights and the forms of assistance and support available to migrants
• Ensure host community support
• Strengthen referral networks to avoid any referral into detention

In the European region, a similar study was conducted in 2015. The publication
Alternatives to Immigration and Asylum Detention in the EU: Time for Implementation
puts in place principles of decision-making regarding detention of children.

Some countries in Europe have

introduced the following measures as
alternatives to children detention:
i. Reporting
ii. Financial guarantee
iii. Guarantor/sponsor
iv. Surrender document
v. Electronic tagging,
vi. Designated residence (in private
housing)
Designated open center (for asylum
seekers and returnees)

Source: De Bruycker, et al. (2015). Alternatives to immigration

and asylum detention in the EU: Time for implementation

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AUSTRIA BELGIUM LITHUANIA SLOVENIA SWEDEN UK

MECHANISMS
Law Practice Law Practice Law Practice Law Practice Law Practice Law Practice

Reporting x x x x x only x only x x x x

return return

Financial x x
guarantee

Guarantor/ x x x only x x x
sponsor return

Surrender x x
document

Electronic x x
tagging

Designated x only x only x only x x

residence return return return
(in private
housing)

Designated x x x x only x only x only x x x

open centre families asylum asylum House House only
(for asylum seekers seekers Arrest Arrest return
seekers and
returnees)

Source: De Bruycker, et al. (2015). Alternatives to immigration and asylum detention in the EU: Time for implementation

In 2018, The Council of Europe published an analysis titled Legal and practical aspects
of effective alternatives to detention in the context of migration. This analysis provides
a comprehensive overview of the relevant international human rights standards in the
context of alternatives to immigration detention. It also puts forward different types of
alternatives with due consideration given to the special needs and protection of persons
in vulnerable situations.

Persons in vulnerable situations may include the following:

• Children
• Asylum seekers
• Persons in stateless situations
• Persons with serious health conditions, including mental health
• Victims of human trafficking
• Victims of torture, ill-treatment, and domestic violence
• Pregnant women and nursing mothers
• LGBTI persons
• The elderly
• Persons with disabilities

The necessity of examining alternatives is of particular importance as regards to persons

in vulnerable situations. Due consideration must be given to the special needs of persons
concerned, ensuring that they have access to appropriate protection and care. While
identified categories of vulnerability can vary between different international instances,
the following groupings have been specifically addressed to one or more international
bodies in non-exhaustive, indicative listings.

Vulnerable individuals/groups and/or persons in vulnerable situations require special

protection. This narrows both the scope for detention and the State’s margin of
appreciation. In such cases, detention will be unlawful if the aim pursued by detention
can be achieved by other less coercive measures. Alternatives must be thoroughly
considered and detention used as a last resort. States should detect vulnerabilities that may
preclude detention by virtue of vulnerability assessment procedures.

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IN FOCUS: THAILAND
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, there are around 97,000 refugees
in Thailand, most of whom come from ethnic minorities in Myanmar.

Thailand is not a signatory to the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or the
1951 Refugee Convention. The country also lacks a domestic legal framework that
recognizes and protects the rights of refugees. Legal protection is usually ad hoc cabinet
resolutions regarding various populations. As such, refugees and asylum seekers can
be treated as illegal migrants. They are vulnerable to arrest, detention, discrimination,
deportation, and refoulement. They may be subjected to exploitation and abuse by
authorities, with limited access to justice. Arrested migrants, refugees, and asylum
seekers could end up in police lock-ups or immigration detention centers.

Conditions in Thai detention facilities

In 2014, Human Rights Watch, through its publication Two Years with No Moon:
Immigration Detention of Children in Thailand, reported that Thailand arbitrarily detains
thousands of infants and toddlers and older children in substandard immigration
facilities and police lock-ups. They are detained due to their own immigration status
or that of their parents. The report added that while children are in the immigration
detention facilities, they do not get access to education, proper nutrition, exercise, or
clean sanitation facilities.

Displaced Persons in Rakhine State

According to the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network in 2017, there is a sizable population
of displaced persons who arrive in Thailand to escape violence and persecution. They
reach Thailand by land and sea, en route to Malaysia, their intended final destination.
Due to desperation, some of them rely on smugglers working with deeply-entrenched
human trafficking networks. Refugees who have been rescued by authorities from
human traffickers are subjected to indefinite detention in immigration detention centers
or government-run shelters.

Urban Refugees in Bangkok

The Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network in 2017 reports that there are 3,801 urban
refugees and 4,130 asylum seekers registered with the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees in Thailand. The sudden increase in the number of asylum seekers in the capital
city of Bangkok exacerbates the problem regarding under-resourced service providers.

Thailand’s Policy Reform in 2019

As a step to reduce the detention of migrant children and children in refugee situations,
the Thai government signed the Memorandum of Understanding on the Determination of
Measures and Approaches Alternative to Detention of Children in Immigration Detention
Centers, which knowledges that children should only be detained as a measure of last
resort and that any detention period should be as brief as possible. It is signed by seven
concerned Thai agencies: the Royal Thai Police, Ministry of Social Development and
Human Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Public Health,
Ministry of Education, and Ministry of Labour. It commits to upholding the best interests
of the child and affirms the responsibility of the government to ensure that children
remain under the care of their family.

Sources:
-Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network. (March 2017). Thailand Factsheet.
-Fortify Rights. (2017). A work in progress: Thailand’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights.
-Human Rights Watch. (2014). Two Years with No Moon: Immigration Detention of Children in Thailand
-UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Refugees in Thailand. [Link]

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A Few Key Issues

The following are points that need to be addressed in relation to children’s rights in
immigration and asylum proceedings:

• Having a better database system within and among AMS

• Addressing the concerns for marginalized groups (e.g., children who are
indigenous, children who identify as LGBT, children who are refugees or
seekers, children in migration, and children with disabilities)
• Gender mainstreaming and addressing the vulnerability of girls
• Having concrete action lines
• Developing ASEAN SDG Indicators on Children or Child-Friendly Community
Guidelines
• Designating duty-bearers or agencies
• Engaging with and empowerment of other stakeholders
• Implementing a regional approach to UN CRC obligations, such as studying
how to address the commonalities to Concluding Observations
• Review of ASEAN Charter and AICHR TOR for more effective protection
mandate

CHILDREN EXPOSED TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

EITHER AS WITNESSES OR VICTIMS
General Comment No. 14 provides advice on the best interest of the child in relation to
the preservation of family environment and maintaining relations (paras. 58-70) and to
the care, protection, and safety of the child (paras. 71-74). An issue closely linked with
these is the situation of children who witness or become victims of violence at home.

IN FOCUS: MALAYSIA
Best Interest of the Child vs. Welfare of the Child
Just like the United Kingdom, Malaysia prefers the wording ‘welfare of the child’ rather
than ‘best interest of the child.’ However, the two terms are used interchangeably in
various scholarly works as well as in practice and decisions by courts. In Malaysia, the
welfare of the child is of paramount consideration.

The Pluralistic Legal System in Malaysia

Malaysia is a federation with a pluralistic legal system which includes family laws and
laws for Muslim and non-Muslim children, aside from the customary law that governs
native children in some states.

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Laws and Courts in Malaysia

FEDERAL ISLAMIC NATIVE

Federal Court Syariah Appeal Court Native Court of Appeal

| | |
Court of Appeals Syariah High Court Native Resident’s Court
| | |
High Court Syariah Subordinate Court District Native Court
| |
Session Court Chief’s Court
| |
Magistrate Court Penghulu’s Court
|
Headman’s Court

Islamic laws in Malaysia are state laws that are applicable to Muslims only. In each state,
there exists a Syariah Court where matters relating to Islamic laws are adjudicated.

Occasionally, the two laws, federal laws and Islamic laws, come into conflict. As a solution
to this, at the moment, civil courts (under ‘Federal’ in the table above) cannot interfere
into matters under the jurisdiction of the Syariah court. However, in the recent case of
Indira Ghandi in 2018, the High Court may judicially review the decision of various Islamic
authorities or bodies, such as the Religious Department.

Family Laws in Malaysia

NON-MUSLIM MUSLIM NATIVE

Law Reform (Marriage Islamic Laws enacted in Customary laws in each

and Reform) Act 1976 each state native group

Guardianship of Infants
Act 1961

Maintenance Act 1950

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In Cases of Child Custody

Under the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce)
Act 1976 for non-Muslims, the welfare of the
child serves as the paramount consideration for
the court in deciding on child custody cases, but
due regard is given on the wishes of the parents
and of the child being of an age to express an
independent opinion. A child psychologist or
counselor may be called to make an independent
assessment as to what is “the best interest of the
child” in relation to custody.

In handling child custody upon divorce, the provisions for family laws for Muslims
are similar to the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976, but the mother and
grandmother have better rights to custody. The father, whether or not he has custody of
the child, is responsible for the sustenance of the child. In Syariah Court, judges often call
independent counselors to review a child’s custody.

Custody of Children upon Divorce under the Law Reform Act (Marriage and Divorce)
1976, Section 88:

1. The court may at any time by order place a child in the custody of his or her father
or his or her mother or, where there are exceptional circumstances making it
undesirable that the child be entrusted to either parent, of any other relative of
the child or of any association the objects of which include child welfare or to any
other suitable person.
2. In deciding in whose custody a child should be placed the paramount
consideration shall be the welfare of the child and subject to this the court shall
have regard—
3. to the wishes of the parents of the child; and (b) to the wishes of the child, where
he or she is of an age to express an independent opinion.
4. There shall be a rebuttable presumption that it is for the good of a child below
the age of seven years to be with his or her mother but in deciding whether that
presumption applies to the facts of any particular case, the court shall have regard
to the undesirability of disturbing the life of a child by changes of custody
5. Where there are two or more children of a marriage, the court shall not be bound
to place both or all in the custody of the same person but shall consider the
welfare of each independently

In cases of divorce:
i. One parent get custody and the other access/ visiting unless parent found guilty
of abuse
ii. Paternal and maternal grandparents can apply for custody if parents are not
available (abandoned/neglect children, imprisonment or death)
iii. Wishes of children –child psychologist /counsellors may be called to make an
independent assessment as to what is “the best interest of the child” in relation
to custody

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Laws on Violence against Children in Malaysia

Statutes have been passed in relation to violence against children (VAC). The Child Act
2001, amended in 2016, introduced the concept of family-based care to provide a more
loving environment for every child. For example, a child in need of protection, care, and
rehabilitation, including children in conflict with the law, is placed in a family or family
setting. The whole idea of deinstitutionalization was to ensure children are integrated
with their families, relatives, neighbors, friends, community, and not in an institution.

Of the 1,200 children in homes under

the Ministry and 11,000 children in 200
homes run by NGOs, 451 children have
been deinstitutionalized in 2017 and
were in family-based care. The target is to
deinstitutionalize 450 children annually.
However, there are pitfalls when it comes
to domestic violence and child abuse cases
wherein children are returned to homes
where they were abused.

Under the welfare services, the

Malaysian government provides
‘children’s homes’ – a place of safety for
abused children and a place of refuge
for trafficking victims. The government
also provides different types of
institutions for children in conflict
with the law: 1) Sekolah Tunas Bakti,
2) Tunas Harapan Homes, 3) Akhlaq
Hostels; and 4) Seri Putri School. For
children with disabilities, the Persons
with Disabilities Act is all encompassing
and does not have a special heading
for children.

The whipping of children executed With technical support from UNICEF

by the courts was also abolished in
The Government of Malaysia is in
the amended Child Act 2001. Instead,
child offenders receive a Community the final stages of introducing a pilot
Service Order as a form of correctional project for diversion for children
approach. When the Child Act was in conflict with the law in selected
amended in 2016, ‘children beyond and identified districts. Tentatively,
control’ as a category of children
the Diversion Programme will be
protected under this law was not
removed. implemented in 2020 where children
that conflict with the law shall not be
In December 2017, the Special sent to detention center. They are
Guidelines for Managing Cases of
not to be charged but diverted and
Sexual Offence Against Children in
Malaysia were introduced to improve rehabilitated in a family-based care.
the procedures and handling of
child victims/witnesses to guide
stakeholders in the management of
court proceedings related to sexual
offences against children.

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Statutes, which has been passed in relation to Violence Against Children (VAC)
• Penal Code
• Child Act 2001 (Act 611) and amended 2016
• Domestic Violence Act 1994 and amended 2012
• Evidence Of Child Witness Act 2007 (Act 676)
• Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017
• Children and Young Person (Employment) Act 1966 (Act 350), amended 2011 (Act 1386)
• Person with Disabilities Act 2008

Challenges in protecting the best interest of the child in Malaysia

• Malaysia has not ratified the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International
Child Abduction, also known as Hague Abduction Convention, or the Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees.

• In the laws in Malaysia, the definition of ‘family’ does not include unmarried couples
and same-sex couples.

• In domestic violence and child abuse cases, 80% of the abusers are family members,
while in sexual offenses, 50% of the abusers was the father or the stepfather. More
often, children are sent back to their family or to the mother. In all cases of abuse,
there is no structured and continuous counselling or psychological help for the
child victim-survivors.

• The Powers of Protectors in the Child Act of 2001 are quite limited. On many
occasions, the protector refused to get involved, especially in cases of custody.

• Medical officers felt restricted from having to require parental consent for certain
medical services for children.

• Children in institutions lack a family-based environment. Foster parenting needs

to be encouraged to give children the opportunity to live in a family atmosphere.

• Public and private shelters should have proper procedures regarding handling of
child abuses cases.

• For children whose parents are in prison because of criminal offenses, the prison
rule is that the mother can only keep the child with her until the child reaches the
age of 3 years because there are no special prisons for mothers with children. If the
child has no other family member to go to, the child will be sent to a shelter.

• For children whose parents are in prison because of immigration or immigration

cases, the mother and child are kept together until the child is 7 years old. Afterwards,
the child will be moved to another cell with other children of the same age group,
but once children reach the age of 12 years, they have to stay with adults. Given that
unaccompanied children run the high risk of children being abused and exploited,
children should be taken out of immigration detention, be provided a foster family,
and be allowed to go to school.

• To date, Malaysia has 5 reservations on UN CRC articles, including on the article

on education. Nonetheless, Malaysia has declared that, even though primary
education is not compulsory and not available for free to all children in Malaysia,
primary education is available to everybody and Malaysia achieved 98% enrolment
rate for primary education.

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DIALOGUE DISCUSSION POINTS

During the Open Forum of this session, the following points were raised, clarified, and
discussed:

On UN CRC and ASEAN

• Regional standards should
not fall behind international
standards. Instead, ASEAN
conventions or standards must
be developed to enhance the
standards that already exist at
the international level.

• The ASEAN Convention against

Trafficking in Persons, Especially
Women and Children does not stipulate obligations for monitoring and evaluation.
The next ASEAN convention to be developed must have a monitoring mechanism.

• The Council of Europe’s Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against

Women and Domestic Violence or the Istanbul Convention may be considered as
one of the best examples of a legally binding regional framework on human rights.

• There is a need to examine the reasons behind the reservations on some articles in
the UN CRC in order to properly address these issues, which could then eventually
lead to the withdrawal of reservations. Part of the mandate of AICHR and ACWC is
to advise governments not only of ratification of human rights instruments, but also
of withdrawal of reservations.

• Ratifying treaties takes a long time since everything must be agreed between
States Parties. With the openness to share good practices and challenges in the
region, ASEAN could offer a regional platform to look at good practices, identify
challenges, and discuss collaborative efforts.

• ASEAN should consider expanding its cooperation to its dialogue partners, such as
China, Japan, and Republic of Korea, not only in the context of regional economic
cooperation and trade partnership agreements, but also on the realization of
human rights, including children’s rights.

• AICHR Philippines might be able to conduct a regional dialogue to discuss

collaborative efforts to follow up on the UN CRC Concluding Observations of the
AMS. A regional platform like this has not been conducted in the world yet, and
ASEAN could set an example. There should be more focus and energy on the
follow up to the Concluding Observations, especially because it is a challenge to
every country.

• Education is a basic right and a child’s nationality should not be a prerequisite to

have access to education. However, some AMS are unable to provide free and
compulsory education to children that are not citizens of the country due to lack
of resources.

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On Child Rights Impact Assessment

• As part of ensuring the best interest of the child as a primary consideration in

legislation and policy development and delivery, there should be child rights
impact assessment of all laws and policies relevant to children. The assessment
should be done before and after these laws and policies were adopted.

• All government ministries should integrate the children’s perspective in their work
and one way to do this is by conducting a child rights impact assessment.

On Access to Justice and Alternatives to Detention

• AICHR has thematic studies on legal aid and child justice. One of the challenges
for the majority of the AMS is that legal aid is only given to children who are their
nationals or citizens. In some cases, legal aid is given only to those who are proven
to be very poor or indigent by the Ministry.

• Just like in having access to education, a child’s nationality should not be a

prerequisite to have access to child justice.

• Some AMS are reluctant to ratify the International Convention on the Protection of
the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families because of the
obligation mandating the state to provide legal aid to those in need, regardless of
nationality and equal standing.

• Bilateral agreements for cooperation (e.g., between the governments of Thailand

and Malaysia) can help in providing legal aid to children who are not their nationals
or citizens.

• A multi-disciplinary approach is important in child rights policymaking, including in

the area of child justice system. The diversion of children from the formal judicial
processes entails working together to make assessments to implement a diversion
program. In some countries, however, a multi-disciplinary approach is applied in
other areas, such as addressing child victims of sexual abuse, but not yet in the
process of developing diversion programs.

• Indonesia has community-based housing for asylum seekers in transit. However,

adult asylum seekers cannot work in Indonesia, and this may have an impact on the
children of asylum seekers.

• Foster care is an alternative to detention or institutionalization. If there is awareness

and proper education regarding foster care, there might be more willingness in
becoming foster parents.

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On Eliminating Physical and Humiliating Punishment

• Out of the ten AMS, five of them have their own national human rights institution.
The role of national human rights institutions should be part of the discussions on
eliminating physical and humiliating punishment of children in all settings.

• All actors – the children, parents, family members, teachers, and the community –
should receive the same message about the importance of eliminating corporal
punishment as a way to discipline children.

• In some countries, a documented good practice to end physical and humiliating

punishment of children was not about the adoption or revision of a legislation,
but about strategies that worked to overcome the resistance from the parents,
caretakers, and teachers. In this regard, a mechanism or platform to collect good
practices and adjust these to the local context might be a strategy to address the
issue in each AMS.

• Addressing corporal punishment in AMS should take into consideration the existing
norms within the family unit. In some cases, children are used to being hit at home
that when corporal punishment is used in the classroom, children see view it as a
normal occurrence.

• In some AMS, there is a disparity in the acceptance of the use of corporal punishment
between those in rural and urban areas. In most cases, physical and humiliating
punishment is still accepted in rural communities.

• Gender plays a role in the use of physical and humiliating punishment of children.
In some AMS, caning is accepted and allowed as a disciplining practice for boys in
the school setting.

• Some AMS have guidelines about the prohibition of the use of physical and
humiliating punishment in the school setting. In line with this, some teachers or
coalitions of teachers request for training on implementing positive discipline. A
few of them, however, feel threatened by these new child protection guidelines. To
address this, teachers and educators have to understand the fundamental reason
behind these guidelines, especially because in reality, there is difficulty in drawing
clear lines on disciplining children. Most often, the training is centered on the Do’s
and Don’ts, which can be limiting and can overlook the core concepts of human
rights, including the respect on the rights and dignity of a child.

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ADOLESCENT HEALTH CARE:

ENSURING A RIGHT, THE RIGHT WAY
General Comment No. 14 provides advice on the best interest of the child in relation
to child’s right to health (paras. 77-78), especially because a child’s health or health
condition is essential in assessing the child’s best interest. In the General Comment,
the CRC Committee also highlighted the obligation of States Parties to ensure that all
adolescents have access to health information and services, including those related
to early pregnancy, HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases, and sexual and
reproductive health and rights.

Adolescents or young people

need care and protection. Around
1.8 billion adolescents in the world
today are facing unemployment,
armed conflict, unhealthy lifestyles,
less stable families, environmental
degradation, and mass migration.

According to Patton, et al. in the

report called Our future: a Lancet
commission on adolescent health
and wellbeing (2016), the global
patterns in young people showed
that there were 2.6 million deaths
Source: The Lancet. (2016). Infographic - Our future: a Lancet in 2004. Out of these, 2.56 million
commission on adolescent health and wellbeing. or 97% occurred in lower middle-
income countries.

The report also reveals the different types of

burdens that adolescents experience today:

1. Multi-burden, experienced by 51%

of the global adolescent population
and includes problems related to
infectious and vaccine-preventable
diseases, undernutrition, and sexual and
reproductive health;
2. Injury excess, experienced by 12%
of the global adolescent population
includes problems related to violence,
unintentional injury, and traffic accidents;
and
3. Non-communicable diseases, experienced
by 37% of the global adolescent
population and includes problems related
to physical disorders, mental disorders,
and substance abuse disorders.

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The Science of Adolescent Brain

Science has shown that the back part

of the brain – or the part in charge of In the Philippines, young people at age
emotions, motivations, and rewards 18 can marry, buy alcohol, and get a
– develops first during adolescence, driver’s license. The minimum age of
while the front part of the brain – or criminal responsibility is presently at 15
the part in charge of decision-making, years old, but there are moves to lower
impulse control, future orientation, and it to either 12 years old or 9 years old,
planning – continues to develop until implying that children fully understand
the third decade of life. As such, adults the consequences of their actions.
must understand the cognitive or brain Thus, there is a lot of discrepancy in
development of adolescents in order to laws and policies on adolescents that
provide appropriate response and care. need to be addressed. The science of
The science of brain development should the adolescent brain can assist in and
be referred to when crafting child-related impact the crafting of child-related laws
laws that are logical and evidence-based. that are evidence-based and logical.

Investing in Adolescent Health

Adolescence presents both new health risks and unique opportunities for health
promotion. An estimated 70% of premature adult deaths are due to behaviors that begin
in adolescence, such as unhealthy eating, tobacco use, inactivity, and excessive drinking.
However, in terms of health care, adolescents are invisible because they are often
perceived as healthy and, as such, they are not prioritized when it comes to budgets,
programs, or medical training.

Additional nutrition is required during

adolescence, which is characterized
as a period of rapid physical growth.
The nutritional status of adolescents
can be improved through distribution
and practice of nutrition knowledge.
Female adolescent nutrition is a
predominantly significant tool as
undernourished mothers produce
low birth weight babies, who grow
into undernourished children and
adolescents. In this regard, investing
in adolescents ensures a healthy future
generation.

Source: Sakir, G. (2017). Breaking The Vicious Cycle Of

Intergenerational Undernutrition. Share-Net Bangladesh

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Moreover, early or teenage pregnancies present challenges to the full realization of

rights. Adolescents who become parents at an early age experience gender-based
issues, coercion, abuse, and discrimination from health service providers and school
representatives. These adolescents also do not get access to comprehensive sexuality
education and services. Complications from pregnancy and childbirth are a leading
cause of death of girls aged 10-24 years in Asia and the Pacific.

According to the World Health Organization in its 2012 publication called Making Health
Services Adolescent Friendly: Developing national quality standards for adolescent
friendly health services, young people, particularly unmarried and marginalized
adolescents, face major barriers to sexual and reproductive health and rights. Health
services for adolescents are not available or accessible, and if they are, these services
are either too expensive or of poor quality. Adolescents also have to deal with health
service providers who are judgmental and discriminatory, who do not respect the
adolescents’ right to privacy and confidentiality, or who do not have the communication
skills to effectively provide adolescent-friendly information.

Challenges also occur when adolescents:

• Have low knowledge on sexual and reproductive health and rights;
• Have poor health literacy
• Experience shame and stigma
• Are not involved the decision-making process
• Have to deal with socio-cultural norms and community/family objections

If the rights of adolescents are not recognized

and if government does not invest in adolescent
health, the country suffers economic loss
because of malnutrition, with the impact
evident on education outcomes and workforce
productivity. Investing in adolescents is a must
because it yields triple dividends. It results
to healthy teens, healthy adults, and healthy
future generation.

Source: Patton, et al. (2016). Our future: a Lancet To provide more advice on the realization of
commission on adolescent health and wellbeing
the rights of children during adolescence,
the CRC Committee released General
Comment No. 20 in 2016.

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IN FOCUS: SILID KANDUNGAN (PHILIPPINES)

Silid Kandungan of the Philippine General Hospital runs a comprehensive one-stop
shop and adolescent-responsive services. It offers obstetric care, contraceptive
services, nutrition, and adolescent health care. It conducts psychosocial risk assessment,
options counseling, child protection services, social services (i.e., adoption), and health
classes. It also has modules on anger Signs and Birth Planning, Family Planning, and
Breastfeeding and Infant Care.

Silid Kandungan uses a human rights-based approach to adolescent health care,

following the standards of the World Health Organization. It ensures that the services
to adolescents are:
• Accessible
• Affordable
• Acceptable
• Appropriate
• Equitable
• Effective

The operations of Silid Kandungan are also anchored on adolescent-friendly basics.

The Program for Young Parents, a project with USAID and EngenderHealth
Philippines, covers 33 hospitals in the Visayas, involves male partners,
strengthens the social health insurance (PhilHealth membership), and gives
emphasis on education and jobs.

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A Few Key Issues

Engagement and empowerment: Adolescents need care and protection, but they
also need to be engaged and empowered. Adults have the responsibility to find the
balance, taking into consideration the adolescents’ evolving capacities.

Making adolescents visible: Adolescence offers a huge opportunity for intervention

and for laying the foundation of future health. The rights of children during
adolescence must be recognized and, along with this recognition, investments in
the fulfillment of their rights should be done.

Human rights-based approach: More work needs to be done in systematically

integrating the human rights-based approach in the planning, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation stage of health programs and services; in the professional
training and capacity building of health service providers; and in the development
of an evidence based for a rights-based approach to child health.

CHILDREN IN SITUATIONS OF VULNERABILITY

General Comment No. 14 provides advice on the best interest of the child in situations
of vulnerability (paras. 75-76). The CRC Committee highlights that the best interests of
an individual child in a specific situation of vulnerability – such as disability, belonging to
a minority group, being a refugee or asylum seeking, living in street situations, among
others – will not be the same as those of all the children in the same vulnerable situation.

IN FOCUS: YAYASAN CHOW KIT (MALAYSIA)

Before becoming an independent foundation, Yayasan Chow Kit (or Chow Kit
Foundation) started as a collaborative project between Yayasan Salam Malaysia and the
Social Welfare Department of Wilayah Persekutuan, Kuala Lumpur, building on programs
already present at Pusat Aktiviti Kanak-Kanak Chow Kit, a child activity centre.

Yayasan Chow Kit strives to address the gaps in child protection services in Chow Kit, a
suburb in central Kuala Lumpur. The foundation provides direct services and programs
to children registered with the foundation and works for children and families living in
poverty. It aims to provide safe spaces that present children with positive opportunities
and allow each child to reach their full potential.

Of the children registered at Yayasan Chow Kit, 60% are Malaysians and 40% are children
in stateless situations, refugee childreen, migrant children, and undocumented children.

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Yayasan Chow Kit’s work is compartmentalized into pillar-components: services, thought

leadership, and collaboration.

Yayasan Chow Kit’s daycare

centers provides homeschooling
program for children aged 7 to12
years old who have not been
allowed into the government
educational track. Its teenage center for 13 to18 years old also has a homeschooling
program, as well as extracurricular and skills development program, and internship
program.

Yayasan Chow Kit believes that the best forms of child protection for children are self-
empowerment and self-care through education and obtaining life skills.

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CHOW KIT: A Closer Look

Average Income per Household:

Less than RM800- RM1000 (approx. USD 200-250 a month)

General Environment:
Thriving trading hub
Presence of prostitution, drug use, baby selling, and illegal activities

State of Children:
Marginalization and discrimination are experienced by children born out of
wedlock, children with no documents, non-Malaysian children, children of women
in prostitution, children who are homeless, children who dropped out of school,
children in the street situations.

Cases of children who are: victims of rape or abuse; homeless; living without parents;
exploited through prostitution; victims of “baby selling” or “baby dumping”; forced
into child marriage; having problems with drug addiction; not in school or are
dropouts; missing; in conflict with the law; malnourished or obese; or going through
early pregnancy.

A Few Key Issues

Child Protection Legislation: Malaysia’s child protection system is based on Child Act
2001 and its amendments. However, there is uncertainty whether or not Child Act
2001 supersedes other laws and policies related to the protection of certain groups
of children (i.e., children in conflict with the law and marginalized or non-Malaysian
children victims of trafficking).

Right to identity: There is a conflict between Syariah laws and civil laws concerning
the right to identity of children born out of wedlock, children who are stateless, or
children who are abandoned.

Moving away from charity-based approach: There is a need to uphold a rights-based

approach, instead of a charity-based approach, in designing programs.

Child-centered perspective: Programs for children should be anchored on the

rights of the child. Solutions to child rights issues should not be based on knee-jerk
reactions and punitive approaches. Interventions should be data driven and based
on careful planning.

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DIALOGUE DISCUSSION POINTS

During the Open Forum of this session, the following points were raised, clarified, and
discussed:

On Early/Child Marriage
• Early marriage happens not only because of unwanted pregnancy but also because
of lack of information on sexual and reproductive health and rights.

• In some cases, early marriage is believed to be better than committing adultery in

cases where polygamy is acceptable. The perception that children who are victims
of rape are better off marrying the perpetrators also persists. Other factors, such as
gender stereotype and poverty, play a part in contributing to child marriage.

• In some countries, the principle of the best interest of the child is used as a basis
to allow child marriage. There are laws prohibiting child marriage that allow
exceptions if marriage is believed to be for the best interest of the child (i.e., due
to the stigma attached to early pregnancy, early marriage is assumed to be for the
child’s best interests).

• Using the experience of African countries, community clinics can help in detecting
cases and religious leaders can help in reshaping views on child marriage and the
stigma of being pregnant at a young age. In the same light, South Asia has invested
a lot in working with religious leaders to prevent child marriage.

On Early Pregnancy

• One contributor for early sex and early pregnancy is the lack of access to sexual
and reproductive health information and services due to restrictive laws on
contraception. Among the solutions is to have comprehensive sexuality education,
which, as part of its implementation, should include training for teachers.

• The discourse on early pregnancy involves gender issues, abuse, discrimination,

and lack of access to free or affordable adolescent-friendly services. Service
providers should use non-discriminatory approach, respect the rights to privacy
and confidentiality of ado-lescents, and communicate in a language that the
adolescent would understand.

• Religion can also be a big barrier to providing sexual and reproductive health
information and services to adolescents.

On the Application of the Best Interest of the Child

• The science of brain development should be referred to when crafting child-related

laws. It would help in having legislations that are logical and evidence-based.

• In child custody cases involving a mother in prostitution, several factors have

to be weighed in, including the safety of the child, the child’s age and level of
understanding, and the resources of the parents, among others. In some countries,
there are specific laws for children with a mother or father in prostitution.

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On Young People in Situations of Vulnerability

• Young people beyond 18 years old who are still in vulnerable conditions should
still be able to get support. Child rights advocates are increasingly using the term
“children and young people” to recognize the additional support needed during
this age. One sustainable approach is to teach life skills to children before they
reach adulthood.

• In Thailand, a consulting firm

works with the government to
find ways to allow the refugees
to leave the camps. Refugees
will be provided with life skills
so they can go elsewhere and
be able to live by themselves.

• CSOs in Malaysia that run

children’s homes set up a group
so that young people over the
age of 18 years can still return to
the house.

• Yayasan Chow Kit’s approach to case management can serve as a good example
of providing support to young people who reached 18 years old. Yayasan Chow
Kit’s educational track does not stop even when the child reaches 18 years old. The
support continues until the young person gets a job. Children, before they become
adults, are provided with life skills. Once they are old enough, Yayasan Chow Kit
helps these children find jobs (i.e., by posting online or by talking to different
companies).

On Public Investments in Children and Adolescents

• Adolescence is a critical period of a child’s development. The basic recognition of

the rights of children during adolescence and investing in adolescent health are
necessary and crucial, not only to the child’s individual development, but also to the
country’s economic development.

• Good initiatives and practices on upholding the rights of the child – like the case
of Silid Kandungan – must be documented and, when appropriate, replicated.
Public resources must be invested in effective, efficient, equitable and sustainable
solutions.

• The UN CRC has articles about international cooperation, indicating that States
Parties with resources should assist other States Parties that have difficulty fulfilling
their obligations due to limited resources.

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80
GENERAL COMMENT
NO. 12 –
RIGHT OF THE CHILD
TO BE HEARD

Presentor:
General Comment No. 12 –
Right of the Child to be Heard
Atty. Mikiko Otani
Member
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

Moderator:
Ms. Amihan Abueva
Regional Executive Director
Child Rights Coalition Asia
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GENERAL COMMENT NO. 12 –

RIGHT OF THE CHILD TO BE HEARD
UN CRC Article 12

1. States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own
views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the
views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity
of the child.

2. For this purpose, the child shall in particular be provided the opportunity to be
heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child, either
directly, or through a representative or an appropriate body, in a manner consistent
with the procedural rules of national law.

The CRC Committee identified UN CRC Article 12 as one of the four general principles
of child rights.

Children as Rights-Holders

“Article 12 manifests that the child holds rights

which have an influence on her or his life,
and not only rights derived from her or his
vulnerability (protection) or dependency on
adults (provision). The Convention recognizes
the child as a subject of rights, and the nearly
universal ratification of this international
instrument by States parties emphasizes this
status of the child, which is clearly expressed
in article 12.”

-UN CRC General Comment No. 12,

paragraph 18

The UN CRC serves as the first international document that identified children as rights-
holders. Although the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other conventions
use the term “every person”, which includes children, the UN CRC is the convention that
explicitly recognized children as subjects of human rights.

Through UN CRC Article 12, children are acknowledged to have not only the right to
be protected, but also the rights which they can claim and exercise, such as their civil,
political, economic, and socio-cultural rights.

General Comment No. 12 paragraph 18 is a clear recognition of the status of children

as rights holders.

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Evolving Capacities of Children

“Capable of forming his or her own views”

General Comment No. 12 refers several times to the children’s evolving capacities,
highlighting that the children’s capacity to form their own views should not be seen as
a limitation, but as an obligation for the adults to assess, to the greatest extent possible,
this capacity of children. General Comment No. 12 also discourages setting age limits, in
law or in practice, on the children’s right to express their views.

“... This means that States parties cannot begin with the assumption that a child is
incapable of expressing her or his own views. On the contrary, States parties should
presume that a child has the capacity to form her or his own views and recognize that
she or he has the right to express them; it is not up to the child to first prove her or
his capacity.”

-UN CRC General Comment No. 12, paragraph 20

In upholding the children’s right to be heard, the CRC Committee underlines the
following:

• Recognition of non-verbal forms of communication – Children are able to form

views from youngest age, even when they are unable to express these views
verbally. They may communicate their understanding, choices, and preference
through play, body language, facial expressions, drawing, painting, and the like.

• Sufficient understanding vs. Comprehensive knowledge – Children do not need

to have comprehensive knowledge of the matter. They only need to have sufficient
understanding to be able to form their views on the matter.

• Obligation to support – Children experiencing difficulties to make their views heard

must be equipped with the tools and skills to express their views. These include
support to children with disabilities, children in minority and indigenous groups,
children in the context of migration, and children who do not speak the language.

• Protection against negative consequences – Adults must be aware of the potential

negative consequences of an inconsiderate practice of this right. There must be
measures to ensure that the right to be heard is exercised with the full protection
of the child.

Due weight on the views of the child

“Being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child”

UN CRC Article 12 makes it clear that simply listening to children is insufficient. The
children’s views should be seriously taken into consideration. In addition, the age alone
cannot be the basis to determine the significance of the child’s view, especially because
children’s level of understanding is not uniformly linked to their biological age. Children
mature at different rates and, as such, the views of a child shall be assessed on a case-
by-case examination.

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“Child Participation”

UN CRC Article 12 does not explicitly mention “participation”, but as explained in

paragraph 3 of General Comment No. 12, a widespread practice in previous years forms
the concept of participation.

“Child participation” is now widely used to describe ongoing processes with three
important components:
1. Sharing information to children in a way that they understand
2. Dialogue between children and adults done on an equal basis and with mutual
respect
3. Feedback to children on how their views were given due weight

Child participation” can also be done in two ways:

1. Individual child participation
2. Collective child participation

”Since the adoption of the Convention in 1989, considerable progress has been
achieved at the local, national, regional and global levels in the development of
legislation, policies and methodologies to promote the implementation of article
12. A widespread practice has emerged in recent years, which has been broadly
conceptualized as ‘participation’, although this term itself does not appear in the
text of article 12. This term has evolved and is now widely used to describe ongoing
processes, which include information-sharing and dialogue between children and
adults based on mutual respect, and in which children can learn how their views and
those of adults are taken into account and shape the outcome of such processes.”

-UN CRC General Comment No. 12, paragraph 3

Children’s views in all matters that concern them

“In all matters affecting the child”

The right of the child must be heard if the decision has an impact on the child, whether
directly or indirectly.

”...it was decided that the right of the child to be heard should refer to ‘all matters
affecting the child’. The Committee is concerned that children are often denied the
right to be heard, even though it is obvious that the matter under consideration is
affecting them and they are capable of expressing their own views with regard to
this matter. While the Committee supports a broad definition of ‘matters’, which also
covers issues not explicitly mentioned in the Convention, it recognizes the clause
‘affecting the child’, which was added in order to clarify that no general political
mandate was intended....”

-UN CRC General Comment No. 12, paragraph 27

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IN FOCUS: JAPAN
In Japan, there are still gaps in upholding child participation in certain proceedings. For
example, in adoption proceedings, children are not consulted during administrative or
judicial decisions about their preferred alternative care or child protection institution. In
immigration proceedings, the deportation case is often against the whole family in which
parents are given the chance to speak up, but not the children.

Another example is on the process related to citizenship and nationality. Previously,

children born from an unmarried Japanese father and a non-Japanese mother were
denied Japanese nationality based on the Japanese Nationality Act. Later on, the
Japanese Supreme Court regarded this to be contrary to the equality provision under
the Japanese Constitution and to the non-discrimination principle under the UN CRC
and CEDAW. However, there is still a child rights concern under the Japanese Nationality
Act, particularly on child participation regarding dual nationality. Under the Act, a
child with parents of different nationalities (one who is Japanese and one who is non-
Japanese) can hold a dual nationality until the age of 21, but the Japanese nationality
can be renounced even before that age. A child of legal age can make this renunciation
decision, but parents can also make the decision as the legal representative of the child,
if the child is still a minor.

A Few Key Issues

Age Limits: Challenges remain in setting age limits in legislations that restrict the
child’s right to be heard in all matters affecting him or her.

In all settings and proceedings: In the CRC Committee’s review of reports, many
States Parties provide the opportunity for children to be heard in child custody
cases or in the child justice system. However, most States Parties have not fully
implemented child participation in all settings and proceedings. A review of
processes and issues using the child rights lens can help in improving the
understanding on the impact of decisions on children.

Free legal representation for children: UN CRC Article 12 does not explicitly say
that children always need to have legal representation. This emerged as an issue in
many countries wherein children are not represented by lawyers in deportation or
asylum-seeking proceedings.

Collective child participation: Certain challenges have to be addressed in

upholding collective child participation. These include the preference for older
children (15 to below 18 years old) over younger children to attend child-focused
forums and consultations; representation issues that discriminate against children
of certain situations, backgrounds, language, and capacities; existing social norms
and culture that do not encourage children to speak out even if mechanisms for
child participation are available; and attack, harassment, or intimidation against
children who exercise their right to be heard.

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CHILD PARTICIPATION AND THE CRC COMMITTEE

The CRC Committee integrates child participation in its work.
This is reflected in the following examples:
The OPIC is another
• Children can submit their own reports to the CRC
manifestation of
Committee as part of the process to monitor the progress
children recognized
made by State Parties in implementing the UN CRC
as rights holders.
• Children, as part of the UN CRC reporting cycle, can attend
OPIC gives children
the pre-session, either through face-to-face meeting or
the right to remedy
through video conferencing
at the international
• Children can submit complaints/communications to the
level.
CRC Committee through the OPIC
• Children’s consultations are being conducted as part of
the development process of UN CRC General Comments
• Children are involved in the CRC Committee’s Day of
General Discussion

DIALOGUE DISCUSSION POINTS

During the Open Forum of this session, the following points were raised, clarified, and
discussed:

On Improving Child Participation

• Adults might have the difficulty seeing that all matters actually concern children.
For instance, the ministries of foreign affairs or other ministries not related to social
welfare may not clearly see how their work impacts children. To address this, all
ministries should integrate the children’s perspective in their work by involving
children in the process, by conducting a child rights impact assessment, and by
engaging deeply with child rights experts through an open dialogue.

• Professionals working with and for children have different points of view regarding
child participation. Some family court judges think that hearing the children’s views
is not a difficult task. Others, however, consider this as a sensitive matter and believe
that adults need training or assistance from specialists on child participation.

• Having a Child Safeguarding Protocol, like the one signed by the delegates of this
Dialogue, is one way to help create a safe environment for children to take part. A
child-friendly environment must be ensured every time there are children involved
in order to encourage participation and maximize engagement.

• Child participation and

the best interest of the
child are interrelated and
are present in all areas
of the life of the child.
It is a question of how
these can be integrated
in all stages of a child’s
development and their
life in the community.

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On Working with Children and CSOs

• In advancing child participation, children should be taught and asked to also think
about issues that may not affect them, but may affect other children; they should be
asked how they can contribute in protecting themselves; and they should be asked
how they want to be heard or how they want to participate.

• The preparation of the dialogue between the CRC Committee and the children
as part of the reporting process is preceded by several preparatory activities on
the ground done by CSOs that usually try to bring together children from different
situations and contexts. CSOs also conduct child rights impact assessments when
lobbying for policies. In this regard, the CSOs could be tapped by ministries and
government agencies to advance child participation.

On Follow-up Actions
• Part of the child participation process is the follow-up action. When involving
children in activities or other efforts, adults must always have a plan for follow-
up, such as how to put forward the children’s recommendations. Moreover, there
should be efforts to learn from the lessons from previous opportunities in order to
improve the succeeding processes.

• Children have views on how they want to be heard or how they want to participate.
As such, adults can learn from the children’s feedback on how to better interact
with children.

On Child Participation and the CRC Committee

• The CRC Committee also experiences challenges in implementing child
participation in its work, other than in the UN CRC reporting process. For example,
the Day of General Discussion stared in 1992, but children were only invited to
participate in 2016 when children joined as speakers and as audience members.
In the 2018 Day of General Discussion, children became more involved, and to
prepare for the activity, the CRC Committee sought the assistance of an expert to
train the CRC Committee members on how to interact with children.

• A documentation prepared by the CRC Committee regarding child participation

good practices – such as the conduct of adult training on interacting with children
and on organizing dialogues with children – would be useful for governments in
institutionalizing child participation. The CRC Committee can seek the help of Child
Rights Connect in producing these reports.

On Child Participation in ASEAN

• ASEAN could explore advancing child participation by involving children at the
planning stage of ASEAN efforts.

• AMS can develop compilations of good practices in upholding child participation

and evidences of the outcomes and advantages of involving children in the process.

• ASEAN Member States should consider ratifying the OPIC.

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88
GOOD PRACTICES AND
CHALLENGES IN IMPLEMENTING
THE PRINCIPLE OF
CHILD PARTICIPATION
Presenters:
The Right to be Heard in Judicial and Administrative Proceedings
Dr. Farah Nini Dusuki
Senior Lecturer of the Faculty of Law
University of Malaysia

The Right to be Heard in International Settings

Ms. Amihan Abueva
Regional Executive Director
Child Rights Coalition Asia

Ms. Hazelyn Joy Bitaña

Program Manager
Child Rights Coalition Asia

A Child's Perspective
Ericka
Child Advocate, Children Talk to Children

Moderators:
Ms. Amihan Abueva
Ms. Hazelyn Joy Bitaña
 THE ASEAN DIALOGUE ON THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD GENERAL COMMENTS

THE LADDER OF PARTICIPATION

The Ladder of Participation was developed by sociologist Roger Hart for UNICEF, when
he proposed the first definition for the concept of participation. There are 8 levels or
rungs of participation.

THE RIGHT TO BE HEARD IN JUDICIAL AND

ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDINGS
UN CRC Article 12 provides specific obligations of States Parties in upholding child
participation in judicial and administrative proceedings.

General Comment No. 12 identified the main issues related to civil and penal judicial
proceedings:
• Divorce and separation
• Separation from parents and alternative care
• Adoption and kafalah of Islamic law
• The child in conflict with the law
• The child victim and child witness

In terms of administrative proceedings, the following examples were presented in

General Comment No. 12:
• Mechanisms to address discipline issues in schools (e.g., suspensions and
expulsions)
• Refusals to grant school certificates and performance-related issues
• Disciplinary measures and refusals to grant privileges in detention centers
• Asylum requests from unaccompanied children
• Applications for driver’s licenses

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IN FOCUS: MALAYSIA

“
Acknowledging that a child, by reason of his physical, mental and emotional
immaturity, is in need of special safeguards, care and assistance, after birth, to

“
enable him to participate in and contribute positively towards the attainment of
the ideals of a civil Malaysian society…
- Malaysia’s Child Act 2001

For quite some time, Malaysia has

legislations that uphold the right to
participation of children in private
law practice. These laws include
the expressed provisions under the
Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce)
Act 1976, the earlier Islamic family
enactments, and the acts of the States
and the Federal Territories. In cases
of custody, judges are obliged to
seek the views of children who have
reached the age of 7 years. However,
there are no provisions in Malaysian
law that specifically mandates the compulsory legal representation for children, but the
right to legal counsel under Article 5 of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia applies to
both adults and children.

In public proceedings, children were given the participation space only recently. The
Child Act 2001, since 2016, requires the National Council for Children to have two child
representatives. Through this space, children have a voice when the National Council for
Children provides advice and recommendations to the government on all issues and
aspects relating to the care, protection, rehabilitation, development, and participation
of children at the national, regional, and international levels. Government ministries are
also progressively including children in their technical committees on matters relating
to children and youth.

“The [National Council for Children] shall consist of the following members:

(a) the Minister charged with the responsibility for welfare services who shall
be the Chairman;
(b) the Secretary General of Treasury or his representative;
.
.
.
(r) two representatives from amongst the children who shall be appointed
by the Minister, on the recommendation of the Director General of Social
Welfare; and ...”

-Malaysia’s Child Act 2001, Part II, Section 4

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Malaysia’s Evidence of Child Witness Act 2007

In this Act, optional mechanisms are made available to support a child witness/victim in
testifying or producing evidence. The Act facilitates child participation by:

1. Allowing the admissibility of video testimony of the child to replace the examination-
in-chief;
2. Having a closed-circuit television link allowing the child to be away from the actual
courtroom; and
3. Allowing the use of screen to shield the accused perpetrator from the sight of the
child in the courtroom.

Laws in Malaysia with Participatory Elements:

• Child Act 2001 (Act No. 611)
• Youth Societies and Youth Development Act 2007 (Act No. 668)
• Evidence of Child Witness Act 2007 (Act No. 676)

A Few Key Issues

Ensuring meaningful and safe child participation: In child custody cases, if the
judge is not sensitive, the judge would ask the child about his or her views in open
court – in front of both parents – which could limit the child in expressing an honest
opinion.

Utilizing the available mechanisms: While there are existing mechanisms, such
as those mentioned in Malaysia’s Evidence of Child Witness Act 2007, in reality,
judges or prosecutors do not use these mechanisms.

THE RIGHT TO BE HEARD

IN INTERNATIONAL SETTINGS
The CRC Committee, through General Comment No. 12, emphasizes that the right of the
child to be heard has to be implemented in diverse settings and situations, including in
the national and international setting (paragraphs 127-131).

To facilitate child participation at different levels of governance, children should be

supported and encouraged to form their own child-led organizations and initiatives. They
should also be included in calls for public consultations and be given the opportunity
to present their views and make them known to relevant audiences. In addition, States
Parties can develop partnerships with UNICEF, NGOs, and CSOs that have developed
practices to support children in exercising their right to be heard in all matters affecting
children, including at the grassroots, community, national, regional, or international
levels.

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IN FOCUS: 2018 DAY OF GENERAL DISCUSSION

The Day of General Discussion is one of the regular activities of the

CRC Committee. Held in Geneva around September, the Day of General
Discussion started in 1992 and was held yearly until 2008 when it became
a biennial activity. The theme for the Day of General Discussion is selected
by the CRC Committee and announced at least one year in advance.

In 2018, the Day of General Discussion centered on “Protecting and empowering

children as human rights defenders”, a theme proposed by Child Rights Connect where
CRC Asia is a member. As such, Child Rights Connect provided support to the CRC
Committee in the conduct of the one-day activity.

The 2018 Day of General Discussion on Children can be considered as a milestone

because, since the first time it was held, this is the first Day of General Discussion
that involved children in the activity process. A Child Advisory Team, composed of 21
children from 19 countries, was formed to participate in each step of the planning,
implementation, and follow-up of the activity.

During the planning stage, the Child Advisors provided concrete suggestions to make
the program more interactive, improve the working methods, and involve child speakers
and child moderators, instead of having a traditional high-level panel. The Child Advisors
also provided inputs to the production of child-friendly materials and helped facilitate
the Global Children’s Consultation at the national level.

At the activity proper, the children served as speakers in the plenary and the working
groups and moderators in the dialogue. They also played a central role in creating an
interactive dynamic with the audience.

For the follow up and evaluation, the children provided feedback to the CRC Committee.
The comments, assessments, and criticisms from the children were being referred
to by the CRC Committee in the conduct of succeeding activities, including the
commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the UN CRC in 2019. In addition, with the
support of Child Rights Connect, the Child Advisors are continuously engaging in the
follow up activities.

Scan to view the

Outcome Report
of the 2018 Day of
General Discussion

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Children as human rights defenders

The UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders states that “everyone has the right,
individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and
realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international
levels”. Based on this, children have the same rights as adult human rights defenders.
While the UN CRC does not specifically mention “children as human rights defenders”,
it recognizes children as rights holders, and it particularly states that children have the
right to be heard and are entitled to civil and political rights.

Who are Children Human Rights Defenders?

“Children who take actions to promote, protect and fulfil their own human rights,
or the human rights of their peers or of others, including adults, are human rights
defenders, even if they do not see themselves as such, or are not considered and
called as such by others.”

-From the Outcome Report of the 2018 Day of General Discussion

The 2018 Day of General Discussion (#DGD2018) aimed to collect children’s views
about their experiences; assess legislation, jurisprudence, policies and measures; clarify
the obligations of States; and identify key elements for an effective implementation of a
child rights approach.

According to the results of the Children’s Survey conducted as part of the Day of General
Discussion, children as human rights defenders experience the following problems,
issues, and challenges:
• Adults who do not take children seriously
• Children do not feel safe
• Children lack information
• Children struggling to act due to a lack of time, money, and ability to travel to
meetings
• Children with disabilities, girls and children from other marginalized and deprived
groups face additional challenges to promote and defend human rights

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In the Regional Day of General Discussion Hub organized by CRC Asia during the Asia-
Pacific Partnership Meeting of Child Rights Coalitions and Networks in June 2018 in
Manila, three key points were identified. These key points were also shared in the Day of
General Discussion in Geneva:

• Children should be given the choice to be or not to be a human rights defender.

• Adults should be ready to provide support to children as human rights defenders.
• Adults must recognize that human rights work comes in many forms, especially with
the creativity and imagination of children.

IN FOCUS: 2019 ASIAN CHILDREN’S SUMMIT

“
We’re not looking for easy. We’re looking for effective. So it’s fine if [the solution]

“
is hard.... The world will end before our spirit will and we would like to prevent that
from happening.

- Child delegate of the 2018 Asian Children’s Summit

The 2019 Asian Children’s Summit created a space for children from Southeast Asia, South
Asia, and East Asia to come together to form their opinions and give recommendations
that would inform the decisions and actions at the international, regional, and local
levels. At the culmination of the Summit, these recommendations were presented to
representatives from UN mechanisms, regional intergovernmental bodies, and civil
society organizations.

The 2019 Asian Children’s Summit, held in November Scan to know more
2019 in Bangkok, Thailand, was organized by ACWC about the 2019 Asian
Thailand, South Asia Initiative to End Violence against Children’s Summit,
including the children’s
Children, and CRC Asia, in collaboration with ECPAT recommendations
International, International Justice Mission, Thailand
Institute of Justice, VSO International, WePROTECT Global
Alliance, UNICEF, and the Joining Forces, a coalition of six
child-focused organizations namely ChildFund Alliance,
Plan International, Save the Children, SOS Children’s
Villages, Terre des Hommes, and World Vision.

The Summit focused on four key themes – the right to

be protected from violence against children, the right
to a healthy environment, children's rights in the digital
environment, and the rights of children on the move
– with children and the SDGs, child participation, and
justice for children serving as the cross-cutting themes.

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The Summit’s Consultation Process

To ensure that the children are adequately prepared and are able to represent the
views of the wider group of children and young people in their respective countries,
preparatory activities were conducted before the regional activity in Bangkok. Country-
level consultations and selection processes were done wherein children were provided
information about the Summit, including its themes and sessions, and were asked to
prepare the issues and recommendations that they want to raise during the Summit.
This stage also helped the children decide and elect who among them should be their
representative in the Summit.

During the Summit, the selected child delegates were supported by their adult
mentors whose responsibilities, among others, include being the translators. A group
of facilitators helped the children in developing their recommendations, as well as
in preparing the children’s presentations during the Dialogue Session between child
delegates and adults. Child speakers were given the space to share their experiences
and inputs regarding the Summit’s key themes. In between the learning sessions and
workshops, there was a cultural night and a tour of the market booths prepared by
the children to introduce themselves and their child-led organizations, distribute their
advocacy materials, and share their traditional wear, food, and games.

At the end of the Summit, child delegates shared their feedback and evaluation. As
part of the follow-up action, CRC Asia continues to promote and act on the children’s
recommendations, sharing them with the relevant UN bodies and special procedures, and
incorporating them in CRC Asia’s strategic plan and advocacy calls. The child delegates,
supported by their adult mentors, also shared their experience and recommendations
to their respective child-led groups.

A Few Key Issues

Ensuring representation: In the conduct of national, regional, or international

children’s consultations, one of the challenges is ensuring that children from
different backgrounds and situations are represented in the activity. To address this,
preparatory activities – such as pre-meetings with children and child-led groups
and a selection process wherein children get to decide on their representative –
can be conducted.

Addressing the language barrier: In Asia, English serves as the official language of
the regional consultations, but this should not mean that only children who speak
English can take part in regional and international consultations. Organizers and
supporters of regional and international consultations should make the necessary
arrangements to accommodate children who do not speak the majority language.

Selection of themes: National, regional, and international discussions and

consultations are usually centered on key themes selected by adults. When children
are to be involved, however, efforts should be made to provide a space for children
to inform the selection of themes.

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DIALOGUE DISCUSSION POINTS

During the Open Forum of this session, the following points were raised, clarified, and
discussed:

On the Child Rights Situation

• The enjoyment of the child’s right to be heard may be hindered by the overall
human rights situation. Challenges occur when the mainstream political narrative is
not human rights-centered but is well-known and socially and culturally acceptable.
For instance, there are some opinions in AMS that view children of other races as
inferior to theirs.

• The children’s sector cannot be isolated from other human rights work. Child rights
advocates must talk about children’s issues whenever there is an opportunity, even
if the activity is not focused on children.

• Discussions on human rights must begin early in life in order to discontinue the
cycle of abuse and disregard for human dignity.

• Human rights education is crucial in creating a society that respects the rights and
fundamental freedom of every person and every child. In Malaysia, the Ministry of
Education collaborated with the Human Rights Commission in launching a post-
exam syllabus on human rights. The Human Rights Commission also requested
colleges and universities to include child rights in the curriculum for students
training to become teachers.

On Children’s Recommendations
• The ASEAN Secretariat can help in sharing the recommendations of the 2019 Asian
Children’s Summit to the ACWC and ASEAN other sectoral bodies, especially to
those in the ASEAN Economic Community Pillar.

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On Mechanisms for Child Participation

• Some AMS have designated child and family courts, but problems arise when there
is no budget allocated for them.

• Technology and the digital

environment can provide tools
that improve the access to child
participation platforms by children
with disabilities, children who do
not speak the majority language,
and other marginalized children.
At the same time, however, the
use of digital media and tools can
also exacerbate discrimination
against children.

• In court proceedings, using a child’s local language, getting the assistance of a

child psychologist, and putting children in a comfortable setting enable children to
speak out and not feel intimidated.

On Promoting Child Participation

• In the Philippines, the Department of Foreign Affairs, in partnership with the
Australian Embassy and Anvil Publishing, launched the children’s book “Ayaw Ko Po
Sana/I am Sorry, But…” in November 2019 in commemoration of the 30th Anniversary
of the UN CRC. This book aims to encourage parents to listen to children and uphold
their right to be heard.

On Disciplining Children without Harm

• Adults need to understand the complexity of upholding the best interest of the
child and child participation. For instance, even if a child says that he/she does not
feel degraded by receiving corporal punishment; adults know that this is a form of
violence against children. The child’s opinion, then, must not be the final decision.

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A CHILD’S PERSPECTIVE
Experience of a Child Rights Advocate

Ericka is a 17-year old child rights

advocate. She is a Council Member of
the Children Sector of the National Anti-
Poverty Commission, a government
agency in the Philippines coordinating
poverty reduction programs by national
and local governments.

As an advocate, Ericka started as a

Project Team Member of the child-led
organization Children Talk to Children
Coalition and a youth leader of the
organization called VIDES Philippines.
She lives in an informal settler area where her organization not only educates children
about their rights, but also nurtures them to become youth leaders. Her basic knowledge
about child rights developed through the series of activities that she became a part of
since she was 12 years old. By continuously joining these activities, she learned to see her
rights in different ways. The constant engagements also opened more opportunities for
her to speak, recommend, and listen to children’s views.

She sees her involvement in the Children Sector of the National Anti-Poverty Commission
as her platform to bring children’s voices to the processes of governance. As an elected
Council Member, she is part of crafting resolutions that are submitted to concerned
government agencies, and of identifying the Children Sector’s three priority agendas:
teenage pregnancy, child labor, and corporal punishment. For Ericka, being a Council
Member is important because it enables her to participate in the government planning
and budgeting proceses for programs for children.

As a Project Team Member of Children Talk to Children Coalition, she took part in the
monitoring of UN CRC, in conducting island-wide consultations, and in developing the
children’s report submitted to the CRC Committee. Ericka’s most recent engagement with
the CRC Committee is when she attended the commemoration of the 30th anniversary
of the UN CRC in Geneva as a panelist and keynote speaker in the Children in Justice
Working Group. In this international platform, Ericka was able to talk about the issues and
recommendations that were raised during the island-wide consultations in the Philippines.

As a child advocate, Ericka believes that the right to be heard is important. Listening
and giving children more opportunities to speak must go hand in hand. Children should
have the opportunity to be part of formal meetings, like the commemoration activity
she attended in Geneva and this ASEAN Dialogue. She believes that having children in
discussions and letting them speak is a solution itself.

Children are not problems to solve. They are part of the solution.

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DIALOGUE DISCUSSION POINTS

The open forum served as a way for the adult delegate to seek Ericka’s points of view on
certain matters. Below are Ericka’s inputs and recommendations.

On addressing teenage pregnancy

• The Children’s Sector of the National Anti-Poverty Commission recommended

that the Philippine Department of Health and the Commission on Population and
Development should develop child-friendly modules on adolescent and sexual
reproductive health and rights. These modules should be accompanied by forums
or discussions conducted not only in schools, but also in the community at the
barangay (village) level.

• In addition to this, all levels of governance – from the barangay, municipal, city,
and provincial levels – should have an accessible and functional council for the
protection of children.

On the education system

• ricka is a Grade 12 student who is taking up the Humanities, Education, and Social
E
Sciences strand of the Philippines’ K to 12 Basic Education Program. She chose this
strand because she wants to be a social worker in the future. However, she and
other students became worried about the certainty of their education when news
came out the Program will be abolished due to the pending case in the Supreme
Court. At the moment, there are different perceptions about the Program.

• To avoid children from worrying like this, the concerned ministry/department

should release statements so that the children will understand what is happening.
Also, if the education Program needs improvement, consultations should be done
with students in both public schools and private schools.

• Ericka shared that before

becoming a youth leader, she
attended workshops that helped
develop her confidence to
speak out and share her views.
She wants other children to
have this experience too. The
government can help by allotting
time for workshops or sessions
on confidence building, public
speaking, and child rights as
part of the school curriculum or
school schedule. Doing this will
encourage children to express
their views.

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On being a child human rights defender

• Ericka considers herself both as a child rights advocate and a human rights
defender. She and other children need support because they experience different
kinds of attacks online and offline.

• Adults should be oriented on how to understand and respond to children,

including children human rights defenders. As Save the Children practiced when
Ericka attended one international event, having risk assessments and guidelines to
protect children human rights defenders in social media are helpful when children
participate in public events.

On attending national, regional, and international proceedings

• Ericka’s involvement in the National Anti-Poverty Commission is a good example

of child participation in national proceedings. Through this platform, children get
to have dialogues with government agencies regarding children’s concerns and
emerging child rights issues.

• Children should be invited more often in formal meetings with leaders because
children do not have many opportunities to talk with the adults.

• In attending formal meetings though, the participation of children is limited due to

time restrictions. Nonetheless, children become more comfortable speaking when
other children are present as well.

• Ericka attended the ASEAN regional children’s consultation for ACWC’s baseline
study on child participation held in Manila in 2016. The children’s recommendations
here were included in the ethical considerations in the conduct of the research.

• Adults should make sure that the national, regional, and international proceedings
not only allow children to speak up, but also make the experience an enjoyable
one for the children. For instance, when Ericka attended the 30th anniversary
commemoration of the UN CRC in Geneva, she saw how the adults listened to
her and felt the sincerity of the adults in position. However, the sessions were still
quite formal and some children lost their attention in the middle of some sessions
because of this.

• Some government officials become sensitive to the views expressed by the children
and resort to defending the government rather than dealing with the criticism
constructively.

• When children appear to be “criticizing” the government, the governments must

not take it negatively. Children being critical of the government must be viewed
positively because it shows that the children care and are concerned with what is
happening in society.

• By being critical of the situation, children also learn to come up with recommendations
and these recommendations, just like what Ericka and her group is doing, are
submitted for consideration of relevant government agencies.

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102
UPDATES FROM THE
UN COMMITTEE
ON THE RIGHTS
OF THE CHILD

Presenter:
Atty. Mikiko Otani
Member
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

Moderator:
Ms. Maria May-I Fabros
Dialogue’s Overall Moderator/Facilitator
 THE ASEAN DIALOGUE ON THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD GENERAL COMMENTS

RECENT DOCUMENTS
UN CRC General Comment No. 24
Scan to view the UN
In 2019, the CRC Committee adopted General Comment No. 24 CRC General Comment
on children’s rights in the justice system. No. 24 (2019) on
children’s rights in the
child justice system
The salient features include:
• The use of the term “child justice” as non-stigmatizing
language
• Setting the minimum age of criminal responsibility at
14 years old
• Diversion throughout the proceedings
• Establishment of child justice courts either as separate units
or as part of existing courts

Guidelines regarding the implementation of the OPSC

During its 81st session in 2019, the CRC Committee adopted the Guidelines regarding the
implementation of OPSC to provide interpretations that are adapted to today’s realities,
especially with the development of information and communications technology and
social media. The Guidelines aims to provide a deeper understanding on the substantive
provisions of the OPSC, to enable a more effective implementation, and to ensure that
the OPSC remains as an instrument that enhances the protection of children from sale
and sexual exploitation online or offline.

Among the areas discussed in the Guidelines include:

• Ensuring that legal frameworks’ applicability are not eroded by technological

advancement and future developments
• New forms of online sale and sexual exploitation of children
• Sale and sexual exploitation of children in the context of travel and tourism
• Terminologies to be used in the development of legislation and policies addressing
the prevention of and protection from the sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of
children
• Extraterritorial jurisdiction

The official word limit on any document adopted by the UN monitoring bodies
became a challenge for the CRC Committee in developing the Guidelines. As such,
the CRC Committee, in consultation with ECPAT International and others, produced an
Explanatory Report as the accompanying document to the Guidelines.

Scan to view the Guidelines Scan to view the Explanatory Report

regarding the implementation to the Guidelines regarding the
of the OPSC implementation of the OPSC

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The CRC Committee is currently drafting General Comment No. 25

on children’s rights in relation to the digital environment. All States
Parties and other stakeholders are encouraged to provide comments
on the draft.

WORKING METHODS
Treaty Body Strengthening Scan to know more about
the strengthening of the
UN Treaty Bodies
In 2020, the UN is set to adopt a resolution regarding
the strengthening of Treaty Bodies, including the
CRC Committee. The Treaty Body System review aims
to address challenges such as the growing backlog
of State reports and individual communications,
insufficient compliance by States, and different
working methods among the ten Treaty Bodies.

Scan to know more about the Simplified Reporting Procedure

Simplified Reporting Procedure
The CRC Committee now gives States Parties the choice
to opt-in to the Simplified Reporting Procedure, a
reporting procedure to the Treaty Bodies adopted by
the UN General Assembly. The Simplified Reporting
Procedure is made available to States Parties that with
UN CRC periodic reports that are due on 1 September
2019 onwards.

In the Simplified Reporting Procedure, the States Parties

are no longer required to submit a State Party Report in the beginning of the reporting
cycle. Instead, the CRC Committee sends a request for information containing up to 30
questions, known as List of Issues Prior to Reporting.

The CRC Committee recognizes that the Simplified Reporting Procedure could help
States Parties whose reports are long overdue or who are having difficulty in writing its
State Party report.

At the moment, none of the AMS has opted-in to the Simplified Reporting Procedure.

Regional Dimensions

The CRC Committee is now exploring to bring some of its work outside Geneva. There
was also a suggestion for the CRC Committee to come to the country or the regional
centers of the UN to have a continuing dialogue with the government and civil society to
help or follow up in the implementation of the Concluding Observations.

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DIALOGUE DISCUSSION POINTS

During the Open Forum of this session, the following points were raised, clarified, and
discussed:

On Using Non-Discriminatory Language

• Language influences the mindset. As

such, the CRC Committee and other
child rights advocates recommend
the use of non-discriminatory
terminologies when referring to
children or the situation they are in.

• In General Comment No. 24, the

CRC Committee uses “child justice
system” instead of “juvenile justice.”

• In the Guidelines regarding the implementation of the OPSC, the CRC Committee
refers to another document, the Terminology Guidelines for the Protection of
Children from Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, for guidance on terms that are
now being used internationally and regionally to avoid language that can provide
misleading interpretations, undermine the gravity of the crime, or switch the blame
to the child, among others.

• A review of the CRC Committee’s Concluding Observations in the past years would
reveal the transition from using the term “children born out of wedlock” to “children
born to unmarried parents”.

On Mainstreaming Child Rights

• The children’s sector cannot be isolated from other human rights work. Child rights
advocates must talk about children’s issues whenever there is an opportunity, even
if the activity is not focused on children.

• The new General Comment No. 24 on children’s rights in the child justice system
could be taken as an agenda for a future ASEAN Dialogue because the topic is a
common challenge to many AMS.

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On Learning from Good Practices

• Learning about "what worked" and "what did not" can help in implementing the
obligations to respect, protect, and fulfill the rights of the child. There is a need to
build people’s confidence and capacities to learn from experience – whether it is
from their own experience or the experience of others – and encourage one other
about the progress made.

• Experiences from different cultures and contexts could be converted into

sustainable programs.

• The concept of best practices still has its skeptics, mainly arguing that local contexts
differ and that what worked for some countries may not work for others. To address
this, good practices can be treated either as something that can be replicated or as
something that can be appropriated to the local context.

• There should be a forum or any platform where progress or good examples in the
implementation of human rights treaties can be shared. ASEAN, as a regional body,
could provide these platforms.

• With the CRC Committee’s nature of mandate, which is to monitor the gaps
in implementation, it may not be the ideal body or platform to collect good
practices.

On Concluding Observations
• Due to the word limit, the CRC
Committee’s Concluding Observations
tends to focus on the gaps and not on
the good practices.

• The actions after the Concluding

Observations are critical, and there
should be more focus and energy on
these, especially because every States
Party faces the challenge of following
up on the Concluding Observations.

• The Concluding Observations should be referred to not only when making decisions
at the national and sub-national levels, but also when developing regional and
international cooperation agreements.

• The UN Treaty Body Review is expected to recognize the regional dimensions of

the treaty bodies’ work. In line with this, ASEAN could offer a regional platform to
discuss collaborative efforts to follow up on the UN CRC Concluding Observations.
A regional platform like this has not been conducted in the world yet, and ASEAN
could set an example.

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EXHIBIT,
PERFORMANCE,
AND
WORKSHOP

Exhibit of Children’s Illustrations on the UN CRC

Undersecretary Josephine Maribojoc
Department of Education (Philippines)

Performance
Philippine National School for the Blind

Workshop: Ways Forward

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EXHIBIT OF CHILDREN’S ILLUSTRATIONS

ON THE UN CRC
In commemoration of the 30th
anniversary of the UN CRC, the
Department of Education held its
first National Summit on Child Rights
in Education last November 2019. It
brought together key stakeholders
who gave statements of commitment,
signed a covenant, and took the oath
to uphold the rights of the child. The
participants include representatives
from the executive, legislative, and
judiciary branches of government; the
Commission on Human Rights; the
Permanent Mission of the Philippines to the UN in Geneva; AICHR; the CRC Committee;
child rights-focused NGOs, business groups, media, the academe, and children.

The Summit, through plenary and breakout sessions, aimed to celebrate success and
identify challenges in realizing child rights in the context of basic education, while using
a child rights-based education framework.

Artworks created by Grade 5 and junior high school students on children’s rights were
featured in the Summit’s Souvenir Program, which also includes a child-friendly version
of the UN CRC translated into the different local languages in the Philippines and into
braille.

PERFORMANCE
Philippine National School for the Blind

The Dialogue featured a cultural

performance by dancers from the
Philippine National School for the Blind.
The performance showcased that the
advocacy for children’s rights is inclusive
of all children from different situations and
backgrounds.

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WORKSHOP: WAYS FORWARD

The body was divided into four groups to focus on discussions on identifying ways forward
at the national and regional levels.

To guide the discussions, the four groups were tasked to answer the following questions:
1. How does your country disseminate the General Comments?
2. Do you/does your country conduct child rights assessment before and after passing
a law?
3. What kind of support do you need to implement the principles of the best interest of
the child and child participation in your work?
4. When do you start human rights education in your country? How?
5. Any other recommendations to AICHR, ASEAN, and the CRC Committee?

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Summary of Workshop Results

On the dissemination of the General Comments

• There is limited dissemination of the General Comments in their respective countries.

• For AMS, the General Comments need to be translated into the local language. In
some countries, like Japan, the CEDAW General Recommendations are translated
into Japanese because the government has the political will to do so.

• The CRC Committee’s Note Verbale about the General Comments must be officially
shared to the national governments once the Missions received it from the CRC
Committee.

On the conduct of a child rights impact assessment before and after passing a law
• Child rights pre-assessment of law is done. Most of the time, however, this is done
by CSOs.

• There is also usually no post-assessment.

• The AMS can learn from New Zealand’s child impact assessment tool, which is an
example of good practice.

On support and recommendations on the implementation of principles of the best

interest of the child and child participation in practice
• There is a need to conduct learning sessions on child rights impact assessment,
trainings of enforcement agencies for these principles, and sharing of good practices/
examples from other countries.

• Thers should be regular dialogues between the CRC Committee and AMS to promote
communication, and the work of UN Geneva and UN New York (e.g., interconnection
between SDGs and human rights treaty bodies) must be strengthened.

• There should be closer collaboration between AICHR Representatives and national

governments in order for recommendations from regional dialogues and workshops
to be disseminated.

On human rights education

• Cambodia and Myanmar shared
that human rights education is
present in high school. In the
Philippines, there is a subject on
social studies and values education
but still needs enhancement. In
Malaysia, high schools are expected
to have compulsory human rights
education in between exams and
classes starting 2020.

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Workshop Results

COUNTRY: INDONESIA

How does • Not specific for General Comments

your country • In the case of UN CRC, the Ministry on Women and Children
disseminate has socialization program involving different stakeholders
the General • CSOs did outreach - translated into Indonesian (harmful
Comments? practices)

Do you/does your • Government has started passing laws to address issues

country conduct directly affecting children but not those that are indirect
child rights • Role of the National Commission on Children is more on
assessment before monitoring and evaluation of implementation of law
and after passing • Only CSOs brought children Constitutional Court
a law? • Jurisprudence / judicial activism

What kind of • Raising awareness of senior management to get them to

support do you support
need to implement • More capacity building / information-sharing support,
the principles of synergizing with rights of women and girls (e.g., SDG 5)
the best interest of
the child and child
participation in
your work?

When do you • No school subject on human rights but there is citizenship

start human rights subject in higher education/ university level
education in your • ASEAN Curriculum Source Book - in the process of
country? How? producing a module on ASEAN
• Since 1998 in schools and universities

Any other • Grassroots need to be informed by use of practical/layman

recommendations words
to AICHR, ASEAN, • Integrated calendar of events and invitations - Avoid timing
and the UN overlap or work in silos
Committee on • Dissemination and increased visibility especially of ACWC’s
the Rights of the work linkage with AICHR and ASEAN
Child? • ASEAN Representative should get more support
• Dissemination and wide human rights education
• Policy formulation with clear-cut focus areas
• Children as human rights defenders are amplified & Youth-
led movement building in certain focus areas
• UN CRC General Comment No. 25 in 2021 on digital
environment
• Plans of action: radicalism and violent extremism;
trafficking

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COUNTRY: LAO PDR

How does • Dissemination is not that institutionalized/systematic

your country • Unit for women and children provides information
disseminate • Community leaders disseminate at the local level through
the General partners (INGOs & Local NGOs)
Comments? • UN CRC mainly disseminated but not General Comments
• Concluding Observations disseminated as well

Do you/does your • Law on Gender Equality was recently passed

country conduct • Villages were consulted first, it goes through the CSOs,
child rights Ministries, and then the Parliament
assessment before
and after passing
a law?

What kind of • Gets support from all the Ministries for the implementation
support do you • Need more information regarding policy position
need to implement
the principles of
the best interest of
the child and child
participation in
your work?

When do you • Only people with access to education get it

start human rights
education in your
country? How?

Any other • Need child-friendly/digestible/practical version of UN CRC

recommendations and the General Comments
to AICHR, ASEAN, • Integrated calendar of events and invitations - Avoid timing
and the UN overlap or work in silos
Committee on • Dissemination and increased visibility especially of ACWC’s
the Rights of the work linkage with AICHR and ASEAN
Child? • ASEAN Representative should get more support
• Dissemination and wide human rights education
• Policy formulation with clear-cut focus areas
• Children as human rights defenders are amplified & Youth-
led movement building in certain focus areas
• UN CRC General Comment No. 25 in 2021 on digital
environment
• Plans of action: radicalism and violent extremism;
trafficking

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COUNTRY: MALAYSIA

How does • No proper policy on dissemination so it is not

your country institutionalized or done systematically
disseminate • Only CSOs did in reports, and only the General Comment
the General on harmful practices
Comments? • Concluding Observations only within selected institutions:
AG’s Chambers, Judicial and Legal Training Centre

Do you/does your • Ad hoc; speedy passage of law related to children happens

country conduct if high profile cases come up and there is public outcry
child rights • Legislative reform consultations are not systematic
assessment before • None/not mainstreamed impact
and after passing • assessment (e.g., Child Act amendments and Sexual
a law? Offences against Children Act)

What kind of • Resource mapping and tracking of implementation costs

support do you (e.g., corruption/wastage)
need to implement • Building new linkages and networks on evidence-based/
the principles of lived realities
the best interest of
the child and child
participation in
your work?

When do you • Since December 10, 2019 - International Human Rights Day
start human rights • There is SUHAKAM but is often called a “toothless tiger”
education in your
country? How?

Any other • Grassroots need to understand the spirit of the General

recommendations Comments, especially on the right of the child to be heard
to AICHR, ASEAN, • Integrated calendar of events and invitations - Avoid timing
and the UN overlap or work in silos
Committee on • Dissemination and increased visibility especially of ACWC’s
the Rights of the work linkage with AICHR and ASEAN
Child? • ASEAN Representative should get more support
• Dissemination and wide human rights education
• Policy formulation with clear-cut focus areas
• Children as human rights defenders are amplified & Youth-
led movement building in certain focus areas
• UN CRC General Comment No. 25 in 2021 on digital
environment
• Plans of action: radicalism and violent extremism;
trafficking

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COUNTRY: MYANMAR

How does • Concluding Observations-focused work in National

your country Committee, including translated version and outreach
disseminate (Concluding Observations only, not General Comments)
the General
Comments?

Do you/does your • Child Rights Law – In July 2019 had an assessment on

country conduct violence vs. children aspects
child rights • Minimum age of criminal responsibility: Public consultation
assessment before resulted in raising the age to 18 years old
and after passing • Community-based education
a law?

What kind of • Priority to child rights policies through awareness of new

support do you laws
need to implement
the principles of
the best interest of
the child and child
participation in
your work?

When do you • Since 2010 - Gender and Positive Discipline

start human rights
education in your
country? How?

Any other • Integrated calendar of events and invitations - Avoid timing

recommendations overlap or work in silos
to AICHR, ASEAN, • Dissemination and increased visibility especially of ACWC’s
and the UN work linkage with AICHR and ASEAN
Committee on • ASEAN Representative should get more support
the Rights of the • Dissemination and wide human rights education
Child? • Policy formulation with clear-cut focus areas
• Children as human rights defenders are amplified & Youth-
led movement building in certain focus areas
• UN CRC General Comment No. 25 in 2021 on digital
environment
• Plans of action: radicalism and violent extremism;
trafficking

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COUNTRY: PHILIPPINES

How does • Dissemination is champion-based, through lobbying by

your country CSOs, or partnership of CSOs and government agencies
disseminate through training at the policy level
the General • CSO coalitions/networks were focused on General
Comments? Comment No. 19 and General Comment No. 21
• Concluding Observations - Summary and translation into
• different languages (in big posters for 2009 Concluding
Observations’ main points)

Do you/does your • No formal assessment but when a bill is in the legislative

country conduct houses, Committee hearings are done where experts/
child rights different stakeholders give their comments on the bill for
assessment before consideration by the Committee
and after passing • CSOs write to the Legislative Committee to express child
a law? rights position
• Children brought to Senate for key measures (e.g., quality
natural disasters relief)

What kind of • Need to lay groundwork first to get resources (financial and
support do you human)
need to implement
the principles of
the best interest of
the child and child
participation in
your work?

When do you • Through Social Studies subject in school but not exclusively
start human rights on human rights
education in your • Efforts of the Commission on Human Rights
country? How? • Since Martial Law
• Also survival learning methods

Any other • Institutionalize general guidelines on the child rights

recommendations assessment before and after the passage of law
to AICHR, ASEAN, • Integrated calendar of events and invitations - Avoid timing
and the UN overlap or work in silos
Committee on • Dissemination and increased visibility especially of ACWC’s
the Rights of the work linkage with AICHR and ASEAN
Child? • ASEAN Representative should get more support
• Dissemination and wide human rights education
• Policy formulation with clear-cut focus areas
• Children as human rights defenders are amplified & Youth-
led movement building in certain focus areas
• UN CRC General Comment No. 25 in 2021 on digital
environment
• Plans of action: radicalism and violent extremism;
trafficking

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COUNTRY: THAILAND

How does • Not for General Comments, but dissemination of UN CRC is

your country quite widespread
disseminate • Translation is needed for the General Comments and it
the General takes time
Comments? • Ministry of Social Welfare and Department of Children &
Youth oversee dissemination of translated UN CRC

Do you/does your • No specific assessment

country conduct • Drafting of law goes through a consultative process in the
child rights Parliament
assessment before
and after passing
a law?

What kind of • Political will is there so there is funding, but technical

support do you support is needed in some areas (e.g., police force)
need to implement
the principles of
the best interest of
the child and child
participation in
your work?

When do you • Since the establishment of the National Human Rights

start human rights Commission which mainstreams human rights
education in your
country? How?

Any other • For AICHR and ASEAN to encourage AMS to withdraw

recommendations reservations
to AICHR, ASEAN,
and the UN
Committee on
the Rights of the
Child?

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COUNTRY: VIET NAM

How does • General Comments are taken into consideration depending

your country on how relevant it is to country/context
disseminate • UN CRC is already integrated in laws
the General • There is new Department on Children
Comments?

Do you/does your • It takes years to pass a law, but it takes a short time for its
country conduct implementation
child rights • Amendments are not done
assessment before • Bill/draft law is sent to different concerned ministries for
and after passing comments
a law?

What kind of • Get funding support from INGOs, private sectors and
support do you annual budget from government
need to implement • More technical support from local NGOs
the principles of
the best interest of
the child and child
participation in
your work?

When do you • Subject in school teaches about rights but not specific on
start human rights child rights
education in your • Issues related to human rights go to the relevant Ministry
country? How? where there is a technical group headed by the Prime
Minister
• Forums and annual talks with local leaders

Any other • To involve more children in interactive sessions, especially

recommendations marginalized children (e.g., children with disabilities,
to AICHR, ASEAN, minorities, etc.)
and the UN
Committee on
the Rights of the
Child?

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LIST OF ATTENDEES
Speakers, Participants, and Guests

COUNTRY NAME REPRESENTATION

Cambodia H.E. Polyn Hean AICHR Cambodia

Cambodia Ms. Ouch Nipon Cambodian Human Rights Committee

Cambodia Mr. Sokpech Khun Office of the Council of Ministers

Indonesia Ms. Lindi Mahesi Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Indonesia Ms. Liya Yuliana Legal Aid Foundation - Indonesian Women's Association
for Justice

Indonesia Ms. Rena Herdiyani Kalyanamitra

Indonesia Ms. Desiana Natalia Sagita ASEAN Secretariat

Indonesia Ms. Windi Arini Anam ASEAN Secretariat

Japan Atty. Mikiko Otani UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

Laos Mr. Xanaphonh Phonethip National Commission for the Advancement of Women and
Mother-Child

Laos Mr. Vanpaserth Phonsamleth ACWC Representative (Alternate)

Laos Mr. Soulasack Phichit Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lao PDR

Malaysia Prof. Dato' Noor Aziah Mohd. Awal The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM)

Malaysia Ms. Nurdiyana Baharum Ministry of Women, Family, and Community Development

Malaysia Mr. Ridzwan Shahabudin Embassy of Malaysia in the Philippines

Malaysia Dr. Farah Nini Dusuki University of Malaysia

Malaysia Dr. Hartini Zainudin Yayasan Chow Kit

Malaysia Ms. Thanam Visvanathan Johor Women's League

Malaysia Ms. Melissa Akhir Women's Aid Organization

Myanmar Mr. Kyaw Myo Thant  Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief, and Resettlement

Myanmar Mr. Aung Soe Kyaw Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief, and Resettlement

Myanmar Mr. Kyaw Thu Nain Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief, and Resettlement

Norway H.E. Bjørn Staurset Jahnsen  Norwegian Ambassador to the Philippines

Philippines H.E. Elizabeth Buensuceso AICHR Philippines

Philippines Mr. Ivan Frank Olea Department of Foreign Affairs

Philippines Ms. Ramona Jose Department of Foreign Affairs

Philippines Ms. Maria May-I Fabros Department of Foreign Affairs

Philippines Mr. Louie Merced Department of Foreign Affairs

Philippines Usec. Florita Villar ASEAN SOMSWD/Department of Social Welfare and

Development

Philippines Usec. Josephine Maribojoc Department of Education

Philippines Mr. Jose Marco Arosa Department of Education

Philippines Ms. Emily Mallari Department of Education

Philippines Ms. Monica Prieto-Teodero Special Envoy of the President to UNICEF

Philippines Ms. Maria Florinda Cabrido Team Kiko Legislative Unit

Philippines Mr. Ian Caro Team Kiko Legislative Unit

Philippines Ms. Julie Laconico-Tancio Team Kiko Legislative Unit

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COUNTRY NAME REPRESENTATION

Philippines Ms. Ericka Children Talk to Children

Philippines Dr. Emma Llanto Silid Kandungan - Teen Mom Clinic

Philippines Dr. Miriam Domingo-Valenzuela Silid Kandungan - Teen Mom Clinic

Philippines Ms. Amihan Abueva Child Rights Coalition Asia

Philippines Ms. Hazelyn Joy Bitaña Child Rights Coalition Asia

Philippines Ms. Luz Indah Abayan Child Rights Coalition Asia

Philippines Ms. Rosheic Sims Child Rights Coalition Asia

Philippines Atty. Ma. Perpetua Unico Ateneo Human Rights Center

Philippines Ms. Magnolia Eva Jacinto-Escobedo Civil Society Coalition on the Convention on the Rights of
the Child

Philippines Ms. Lizbeth Kollin Women's Legal Bureau

Philippines Ms. Melanie Ramos-Llana Save the Children Philippines

Philippines Ms. Lizbeth Kollin Women's Legal Bureau

Singapore Ms. Sue Cheng Singapore Children's Society

Thailand Dr. Seree Nonthasoot Former Thailand Representative to the AICHR

Thailand Mr. Jharas Boonrak Office of AICHR Thailand

Thailand Mr. Ratchanand Vichaidit Royal Thai Embassy Manila

Viet Nam Ms. Khanh Nguyen An Le Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Viet Nam Ms. Pham Huyan Ngoc ASEAN-Viet Nam

Secretariat

COUNTRY NAME REPRESENTATION

Philippines Ms. Cecille Joyce Lao Department of Foreign Affairs

Philippines Ms. Maria Odessa Cruz Department of Foreign Affairs

Philippines Ms. Carmela Angela Liwanag Department of Foreign Affairs

Philippines Ms. Jeannie Petrola Department of Foreign Affairs

Philippines Ms. Claudia Delos Santos Department of Foreign Affairs

Philippines Ms. Genina Marion Rafal Department of Foreign Affairs

Philippines Ms. Hannah Zulayka Abubakar Department of Foreign Affairs

Philippines Mr. Renz Oliver Tabil Department of Foreign Affairs

Philippines Ms. Cedric Danielle Barcena Department of Foreign Affairs

Philippines Ms. Patricia Alexandra Gwaran Department of Foreign Affairs

Philippines Ms. Nina Angelica Arquiza Department of Foreign Affairs

Philippines Mr. JR Salinas Department of Foreign Affairs

Philippines Mr. Kyle Endozo Department of Foreign Affairs

Philippines Ms. Irma Dela Cruz Child Rights Coalition Asia

Philippines Mr. Francis Copino Child Rights Coalition Asia

Philippines Ms. Joy Carrera Pacete Documenter

Philippines Mr. Elendil Gil-Galad Cañete Photographer

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 THE ASEAN DIALOGUE ON THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD GENERAL COMMENTS

ANNEX

Scan to view the Scan to view the full

full text of the UN text of the UN CRC
Convention on the General Comment
Rights of the Child No. 14 (2013) on the
right of the child to
have his or her best
interests taken as a
primary consideration

Scan to view the full Scan to view the

text of the UN CRC full text of the ASEAN
General Comment Human Rights
No. 12 (2009) - The Declaration
right of the child to
be heard

Scan to view the Scan to visit the

full text of the ASEAN website of AICHR
Community Vision
2025 and ASEAN
Community Blueprints
2025

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