What: The Latin American regional Consultation to provide input to the landmark study of the United Nations Secretary General on Violence Against Children.
Who: Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, Independent Expert designated by the UN Secretary General for the Study on Violence Against Children; Rima Salah, Deputy Executive Director, UNICEF; Nils Kastberg, UNICEF Regional Director; Alicia Margarita Kirchner, Minister of Social Development; Argentina; Daniel Arroyo, Secretary of Social Policies and Human Development, Argentina; Carlos Felipe Martínez, UN Resident Co-ordinator for Argentina; Roberto Garretón, Regional Office Head, UNHCR; José Antonio Pagés, Representative in Argentina, PAHO/WHO; Susana Villarán, Member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights; Mary Beloff, Member of the NGO Advisory Panel for the Study; children and experts on violence in Latin America.
When: Consultation runs from 30 May, 31 May, 1 June 2005
Press conference to be held on the 30th at 11:45 at the Centro de Docencia y Capacitación Pediátrica “Dr. Carlos A.Gianantonio,” Sociedad Argentina de Pediatría. Salguero 1244, Buenos Aires – Federal Capital
Why: In February 2003, the Secretary-General appointed Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro as the independent expert to lead the UN Study on Violence against Children. Professor Pinheiro has vast experience in the protection of child rights and the prevention of violence and has served as a special rapporteur for the UN in a number of assignments. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the World Health Organisation (WHO) were assigned to support the work of the independent expert. The ultimate purpose of the Study is to urge action to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against children at local, national, regional and international levels. The Study will address violence in five settings: home/family, schools and educational settings, other institutional settings, community, and work situations. Violence against children during armed conflict will not be covered, since this issue was fully addressed in the 1996 Graca Machel study on the impact of conflict on children. Regional consultations are being held in a number of venues around the globe.