Workshop on Reporting on the Implementation of the Convention of the Rights of the Child Held in Tehran

A three-day training workshop on “Reporting on the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC),” organized jointly by the National Body on the Convention on the Rights of the Child (NBCRC) and UNICEF Iran Office, brought together more than 40 officials and experts from various governmental ministries and organizations, as well as civil society and non-governmental organizations NGOs, AVA Diplomatic Reports.At the opening ceremony, Secretary of the NBCRC, Mr. Mozaffar Alvandi, , elaborated on the NBCRC’s role as the national body primarily responsible for monitoring implementation of the CRC in Iran. He also referred to NBCRC’s partnership with UNICEF in promoting child rights in Iran, and expressed appreciation of UNICEF’s support to joint initiatives in this area. Mr. Alvandi emphasized the importance of preparing reports on CRC implementation based on standard guidelines and effective data collection and analysis. He further stressed the importance of the best interest of the child in all decisions and actions taken by relevant organizations.

 In his opening remarks, UNICEF Representative in Iran, Mr. Mohamed El Munir Safieldin, praised the establishment of the NBCRC as a national authority that oversees and coordinate the CRC implementation and reporting.  Mr. Safieldin emphasized the importance of a wide range of national organizations in fulfilling children’s rights, which makes coordination between different stakeholders a very critical function of the NBCRC. He also stated that countries have voluntarily and on their own chose to join the CRC and have therefore accepted the obligations implied by ratifying the Convention. (Full text of Mr. Safieldin’s speech )

The lead facilitator of this three-day workshop Ms. Rachel Hodgkin, is an international expert on child rights and co-author of the “UNICEF Implementation Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child”. In her remarks, Ms. Hodgkin elaborated on the CRC articles and their interpretation in relation to data collection, monitoring and reporting on child rights and explained the structure and function of the Committee on the Rights of the Child as the Treaty Body.

The second and third days of this workshop included sessions on: Guidelines for preparation of country reports to the CRC, Concluding Observations of the CRC, data collection methods, analysis and preparation of reports, review of previous periodic reports of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the CRC, and review of good country practices in monitoring and reporting on the CRC.