UNICEF’s Response to Human Trafficking and Child Protection

To protect children from exploitation, risk factors such as poverty and discrimination
need to be addressed. UNICEF’s efforts in countries around the world include:

 Helping to provide a living wage for parents so that their children do not have to work to
support the family and can attend school instead
 Lobbying governments and other partners to develop laws and strengthen child
protection systems to prevent and respond to violence and abuse
 Advocating for the legal birth registration of all newborns
 Working with communities and faith-based organizations to change harmful societal
norms that make children more vulnerable to exploitation
 Supporting the training of professionals working with children including social workers,
health workers and police and border officials to help stop trafficking

UN and OHCHR

From the rights of women and children, to persons with disabilities and minorities and
indigenous peoples, the creation of a body of international human rights law is one of the United
Nations’ great achievements. Together, these treaties and declarations have helped create a
‘culture of human rights’ throughout the world, providing a powerful tool to protect and promote
all rights. The United Nations promotes respect for the law and protection of human rights in
many ways, including: There are 10 human rights treaty bodies, which are committees of
independent experts, that monitor the implementation of the core international human rights
treaties, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Under the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Universal Periodic Review is a
review of the human rights records of all Member States. This State-driven process provides an
opportunity for each State to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights
situations in their countries and to fulfil their human rights obligations.
OHCHR

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) works to offer the best
expertise and support to the different human rights monitoring mechanisms in the United
Nations system: UN Charter-based bodies, including the Human Rights Council, and bodies
created under the international human rights treaties and made up of independent experts
mandated to monitor State parties’ compliance with their treaty obligations. Most of these bodies
receive secretariat support from the Human Rights Council and Treaties Division of the Office of
the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

Human Rights Bodies

Charter-based bodies

 Human Rights Council

 Universal Periodic Review
 Commission on Human Rights (replaced by the Human Rights Council)
 Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council
 Human Rights Council Complaint Procedure

Treaty-based bodies
There are ten human rights treaty bodies that monitor implementation of the core international
human rights treaties:

 Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)

 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR)
 Human Rights Committee (CCPR)
 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
 Committee against Torture (CAT)
 Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
 Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW)
 Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT)
 Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)
 Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED)

Differences between Charter-based and treaty-based is that treaty bodies are composed of
independent experts, the charter-based bodies operate mainly through conferences and
meetings at which representatives of governments and NGOs advocate their positions.
Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights

The Sub-Commission, as it is universally known, is composed of 26 individual

experts, nominated by their governments and elected by the Commission. Individual Sub-
Commission members may serve as “rapporteurs” who prepare studies for the Sub-
Commission on particular topics. The Sub-Commission has working groups on minorities,
communications (discussed further below), indigenous populations, and contemporary forms of
slavery.
Sub-Commission was conceived of as a kind of “think tank” for the Commission. Its
tasks are to identify, initiate, carry out, and debate studies on human rights topics. Until 1999, it
was named the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities,
but its current name more accurately reflects the broad range of its competence. The Sub-
Commission’s annual agenda always includes an item on the protection of minorities, and it
receives a report each year from its Working Group on Minorities, which normally meets every
year for one week in May. You should consult Pamphlet No. 2 in this series, which discusses
the Working Group in detail. It is through the Working Group that many minority issues are
brought to the attention of the Sub-Commission, although new issues can also be raised during
the Sub-Commission’s sessions each August.
The Sub-Commission’s activities include general debates - mainly thematic,
recommendations for action forwarded to the Commission on Human Rights, and the adoption
of resolutions. The Sub-Commission is viewed by many NGOs as their forum, as NGOs with
consultative status can participate in the discussions and use attendance at the Sub-
Commission as an opportunity to speak to a wide range of people on matters of concern. Many
Sub-Commission members are interested in issues relating to minorities; and NGOs that are not
focused on minorities may also be prepared to take up the cause of minorities. However, the
open approach to accreditation that exists at the Working Group on Minorities does not apply to
the Sub-Commission. Only those NGOs that have formal “consultative status” with ECOSOC
are allowed to submit documents and give oral presentations at Sub-Commission sessions.