This briefing note, produced by an Interagency Working Group on children without parental care, is designed to highlight the vulnerability of children to violence in the family and alternative care settings, and to encourage members of the CAT Committee to consider the potential added value of reference to the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children in developing their arguments and recommendations, especially when reviewing State Party reports. The document includes descriptions of the particular vulnerabilities and conditions of children in the family and in alternative care who are at risk of experiencing violence; the international conventions, including the UN CAT, that provide general protection for children against violence in the family and in alternative care; and the UN Guidelines on Alternative Care, which serve as supplementary guidelines for the protection of children against violence.
The briefing note concludes with a recommendation from the Working Group which suggests that the CAT have regard to the Alternative Care Guidelines when examining State Parties’ reports and reflect them in their Concluding Observations, as is being regularly done by the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The recommendations goes no to state that since the CRC does not always explicitly address the issue of violence against children in alternative care, such an initiative on the part of the CAT would constitute a vital step towards ensuring that children are less discriminated in alternative care matters.
©ISS, SOS Children's Villages, Better Care Network, UNICEF, Family for Every Child, RELAF
