Meg's update: 6-3-10: WGG Meeting

Our guest speaker today was Ms. Marta Santos Pais, Special Rep. to the Sec. General on Violence against Children. Her presentation was excellent. She highlighted her mandate as given which included a follow-up of the twelve recommendations agreed upon at the Sixty-second session of the GA. In visiting the countries that had signed on to protect children from violence, she was particularly attentive to national strategies, policies or plans of action, integrated into the national planning process with realistic, time-bound targets, coordinated by an agency to involve multiple sectors and systematically evaluated. Not all governments were following through on commitments made; more cooperation from members of civil society, UN agencies, and others is still needed. Data gathering is seen as being a tool to better access current conditions, and is one area where much more attention is being called for. Another area reported needing ongoing challenge is the adoption of measures to fight impunity, investigating, and prosecution of violence against children and imposition of appropriate penalties. Ms. Pais expressed her willingness to work with us and offered her services as we develop our programs.